The Home Grown Solutions (HGS) Accelerator for Pandemic Resilience is an initiative that aims to accelerate the growth of African healthcare companies to strengthen the continent’s pandemic resilience, in line with the African Union’s Energize Africa Initiative and Agenda 2063 aspirations. This is achieved through offering hands-on and tailored support to early-, growth- and mature stage healthcare businesses. The African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) founded the Accelerator initiative in partnership with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the official development assistance agency of the Government of Japan.
Our pilot featuring 5 East African HGS was launched in 2021, followed by a successful Pan-African expansion in 2022 supporting 14 HGS, a cohort of 9 HGS were funded in 2023 and another with 10 HGS in 2024. Across the years, these consisted of DrugStoc, AHN, Revital, Rology, and Zuri Health, among others, assisted by a supporting network that includes the likes of GIZ, Rwandan Development Board, AAIC, World Food Programme, World Health Organization, UNIDO, VKAV and others.
This update marks the opening of the Pan-African call for 2025 applications for our fifth cohort. If you represent an African health business with strong ambitions to expand your impact locally or across the continent, we urge you to apply to receive our support over the course of 2025 and, together, help strengthen Africa’s health systems.
Benefits
We will work shoulder-to-shoulder with your team to design and deliver a customized, four-month acceleration roadmap in 2025, to support your company’s specific growth needs across three key areas:
As part of the fifth cohort, you will receive this unique offering for your business while shaping this Acceleration programme for fellow African businesses in the future. After this period and as a future alumnus of the Accelerator, you will continue to have access to our unique and growing network of peers, advisors, mentors, and potential partners.
Eligibility
We have 3 application criteria you will have to meet to be considered for our fifth cohort:
You are a growth or mature stage company, meaning you must …
Be registered as a for-profit entity
Demonstrate clear market traction and sizable customer base
Express ambition and potential to scale beyond your current size
You strengthen Africa’s health system, for example …
You manufacture medical consumables or devices on the continent
You provide healthcare services to patients, be it diagnostic, treatment or otherwise
You provide technology solutions to strengthen health access or delivery
You can be described as a Home Grown Solution, meaning you must …
Operate mainly or solely in Africa (preference for companies operating across countries)
Employ mostly local staff in the markets in which you are active
Have strong African representation in your leadership
Application Process
You can apply for the Accelerator using the form below, with deadline set on the 28th of February 2025. After the submission deadline, shortlisted companies will be asked to provide references of investors and customers and additional high-level information on their finances during March/April 2025. Final decision making will happen towards end of April 2025, with Acceleration support definition and delivery to occur between May and August 2025.
