Peter Awin, CEO/Co-founder of Cowtribe
Ingelheim am Rhein, Germany, August 19, 2019 – Kenya is not only labelled as the cradle of technological innovation in Africa. It is also considered to be one of the most innovative countries in sub-Saharan Africa. So it comes as no surprise that Boehringer Ingelheim, one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies, hosted the latest workshop for the Making More Health’ (MMH) Accelerator in Nairobi, the vivid capital of Kenya. The research-driven pharmaceutical company invited leaders from around the globe, social entrepreneurs from Kenya, Ghana and Nigeria as well as the non-profit organization Ashoka to brainstorm on ways to enhance the start-ups business models and identify opportunities for strategic collaboration to improve human and animal health.
On the last weekend of July, more than 30 professionals participated in the two-day co-creation workshop. Senior leadership of Boehringer Ingelheim from Europe, Africa, the United States and Asia supported the event. The workshop promoted the exchange between social entrepreneurs and top executives. The social entrepreneurs shared new and innovative ideas for improving access to animal and human healthcare for underserved populations in Africa. In return, the executives of Boehringer Ingelheim shared their views on successful business leadership.
As a start of the event, Boehringer Ingelheim’s senior leaders from Europe, the Middle East and Africa gave an outline of the company’s Human and Animal Health strategies for sub-Saharan Africa. This was followed by a discussion of the business strategies and business critical issues of the social entrepreneurs. The projects included for example the raising of the awareness and screening of Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) as well as delivering Animal Health services on the last-mile. Additionally, challenges and potential solutions for these projects were identified in two “pilot clinic” sessions and put into an action plan. The workshop was completed by field visits to both Access Afya, in Ruben slum, and Jacaranda Maternity in Nairobi. As a next step, the social ventures will now proceed to a pilot phase over the next six months where they will develop a minimum viable product specific to the market need. The program will culminate in the social entrepreneurs pitching at Boehringer Ingelheim’s headquarters in Germany for the scale up of the funding.
Eduardo Lioy, Director Corporate Strategy Development at Boehringer Ingelheim said, “The co-creation approach used in the workshop is one of the key tools in realizing our mission of establishing a network of financially sustainable social ventures. We have to challenge the status quo and think differently in order to address the barriers to healthcare in sub Saharan Africa. Such non-traditional partnerships allow us to do so. They create spaces that spur innovation and provide contextualized solutions to patients.”
Sara Jefferson, Senior Change Maker Manager, Making More Health, Ashoka added, “Further to core business and leadership skills that these workshops provide within the accelerator, we are working across multiple disciplines to ensure that the dreams of these entrepreneurs are materialized, they attract the right investment and have the opportunity and tools to scale up. Working with Boehringer Ingelheim, we are keen to ensure that we are supporting these start-ups in strengthening their value propositions and become successful and sustainable businesses.”
Through its Making More Health (MMH) initiative, Boehringer Ingelheim aims to establish an ecosystem of financially sustainable social ventures that are focused on facilitating unmet medical needs in Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana. The MMH accelerator program connects the best corporate minds with innovative social enterprises, to create financially sustainable start-ups that deliver high social impact.
The Making More Health Accelerator is part of Boehringer Ingelheim’s broader strategy to sustainably improve access to healthcare in sub Saharan Africa under the ‘In Reach Africa’ initiative. It focuses on adding more value to overall health systems by driving access to healthcare, support with the development of innovative health solutions, creating community-based partnerships and raising awareness around key disease areas as well as prevention mechanisms.
Through ‘In Reach Africa’, Boehringer Ingelheim works with the partners throughout Africa with the aim empowering health systems and individuals alike to establish a sustainable and holistic approach that connects to human and animal health priorities.
Boehringer Ingelheim
Improving the health of humans and animals is the goal of the research-driven pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim. The focus in doing so is on diseases for which no satisfactory treatment option exists to date. The company therefore concentrates on developing innovative therapies that can extend patients’ lives. In animal health, Boehringer Ingelheim stands for advanced prevention.
Family-owned since it was established in 1885, Boehringer Ingelheim is one of the pharmaceutical industry’s top 20 companies. Some 50,000 employees create value through innovation daily for the three business areas human pharmaceuticals, animal health and biopharmaceuticals. In 2018, Boehringer Ingelheim achieved net sales of around 17.5 billion euros. R&D expenditure of almost
3.2 billion euros, corresponded to 18.1 per cent of net sales.
As a family-owned company, Boehringer Ingelheim plans in generations and focuses on long-term success. The company therefore aims at organic growth from its own resources with simultaneous openness to partnerships and strategic alliances in research. In everything it does, Boehringer Ingelheim naturally adopts responsibility towards mankind and the environment.
More information about Boehringer Ingelheim can be found on www.boehringer-ingelheim.com or in our annual report: http://annualreport.boehringer-ingelheim.com.
Making More Health
Making More Health (MMH) is a global initiative by the pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim in cooperation with Ashoka, a non-governmental organization. Aiming to improve health for humans, animals and communities worldwide Making More Health pursues a multitude of approaches to finding solutions and tailoring these solutions to specific projects.
Executive in Residence
The program fosters high-impact collaborations between Boehringer Ingelheim leaders and social entrepreneurs with the potential to change the dynamics of traditional markets, enhance competitiveness, and create systemic social impact. It is about creating win-win situations to both: the social and the business world.
In Reach Africa
‘In Reach Africa’ program, is an initiative that aims at facilitating quality and innovative human and animal healthcare access across the African continent. The program, set to expand throughout major African markets as Nigeria, Ghana and Ethiopia, includes a range of key elements that aim at adding more value to overall health systems, in an effort to drive access to care, support with the development of innovative health solutions, creating community based partnerships and raising awareness around key disease areas as well as prevention mechanisms.
The ‘In Reach Africa’ shares a collective vision of driving accessibility, sustainability and innovation through enhancing health systems in Africa. This is achievable by providing an accessible range of medication and healthcare solutions, increasing awareness of key disease priorities through reach and enriching knowledge and education initiatives. In doing so, it is designed to add more value to the socioeconomic structure by working with and supporting low-income families on multiple fronts.
A key focus area is the empowerment of individuals to drive social impact across their communities. To that extent, Boehringer Ingelheim has deployed several initiatives such as the ‘Making More Health (MMH) Accelerator program that supports social health entrepreneurs to strengthen and scale their work, by bringing some of the best experiences in social and health innovation as well as global health to improve access across Sub-Saharan Africa.