The Artificial Intelligence for Health in Africa (AI4H Africa) program is a collaboration between Villgro Africa, IDRC, AI4D, Africa Oxford Initiative, Johnson & Johnson Impact Ventures, NVIDIA and I-DAIR to support innovations, policy research, and skills to spur responsible AI development in Africa.
Villgro Africa is an early-stage business incubator and impact investor that supports health, life science and agricultural startups on the African continent to transform product and process innovations into viable, scalable businesses that impact the base of the economic pyramid (BoP).
These partners have come together with the aim of supporting health-focused, African-led AI innovations that will be instrumental in catalyzing the emerging ecosystem towards responsible development of technology, while strengthening the capacity of African innovators with regards to scaling their impact and improving health outcomes.
As part of the initiative, selected innovators will receive funding, focused training and technical support, investor readiness combined within the acceleration program. This has been structured to support these entrepreneurial innovators to develop their ventures with a goal of becoming commercially viable and impactful.
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Eligibility Criteria
Early- and growth-stage health-focused AI innovations with validated proof of concept, recorded revenues and demonstrable potential for growth.
Representatives of the innovations must be a founder/co-founder of an entitywitha legal presence on the continent.
Companies must be owned, led or operated by an African(s). We define this as having an African national with long-term control and management of the business, an equity stake, and an active role in both strategic and day-to-day decision-making.
Business must be AI-enabled and offer data-driven products or services that improve health outcomes.
Must show good management and governance.
Non-profits, consultancies, intermediaries, and consortiums are not eligible.
The program has a special focus on supporting founders who are traditionally excluded, including women-led companies and companies operating in Francophone Africa.
What is the selection process?
The selection committee will include analysts and judges from both Villgro Africa and partner organisations who understand the entrepreneurialjourney and start-up ecosystem, including AI sector specialists.
To ensure equitable representation, the selection committee will include female and Francophone representation.
The selection committee will meet to select the top startups in the initial screening andharmonise the cohort based on:
• AI-based innovation with potential for health impact and scale (25 points).
• AI-based innovation with potential for commercial application (20 points).
• A multidisciplinary team of at least three (3) members e.g., comprising academia and industry/private sector (20 points)
• Align with the principles of Responsible AI (OECD AI principles,Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy AI andSelf-assessment List for AI Developers)design (20).
• Technical proof of concept or demonstrated revenue will be preferred over unproven ideas (15 points).
Following selection by the steering committee, the program coordination team will conduct due diligence on each selected innovator to validate the legal status and charitability of each recommended organisation to ensure they are eligible to receive grant funding. Following due diligence, the cohort will be finalised, and selected innovators informed.
Benefits
• A customized one-year incubation program designed to help scale the innovation toward growth and impact, including access to training, industry experts and mentors.
• Funding to help scale and implement the learnings.
• Potential follow-on funding to promising startups by collaboration partners.
What problems would you like applicants to be solving?
AI4H Africa will support companies who bring affordable, high-quality, AI-enabled health products closer to where patients are. We’re looking for innovations that are solving Africa’s toughest health challenges through artificial intelligence.
