Fifteen health business start-ups will be able to access $10,000 each from the Mastercard Foundation Higher Education Health Collaborative.

The initiative is by the Health Entrepreneurship pillar of the Collaborative led by Prof. Wilberforce Owusu-Ansah.

“Very soon we’re going to put up a call for people to submit their proposal for pitching. Those who will be deemed eligible will be offered $10,000 dollars each to help get their business to the market.

“We’re not going to give it in a block, we’re making sure every milestone they reach they’ll be given an equivalent of that.

“Some of the funding can come in the form of equipment, license or registration,” he revealed.

The Health Entrepreneurship pillar is one of the three pillars of the Africa Higher Education Health Collaborative.

The pillar aims to develop an entrepreneurial mindset and culture that supports entrepreneurs to create meaningful innovations and employment opportunities in the health sector. Through the interventions, promising entrepreneurs will be nurtured to build resilient health ventures.

Already, four hundred students at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) have received entrepreneurial training in sustainable business start-ups.

This came up when the Director of Health Innovation Hub (H2i) at the University of Toronto, Prof. Paul Santerre and International program and communication coordinator, Amanda Dlamini visited the Health Entrepreneurship pillar team at KNUST.

Health Innovation Hub (H2i) is a partner in the Health Entrepreneurship pillar.

Prof. Santerre urged the prospective beneficiaries of the fund to actively "collect data to demonstrate impact on the health ecosystem. Collecting health data and using it to grow the company is very important."

Prof. Santerre also charged the KNUST team to embed key external stakeholders in the classroom teaching.

“There’s the need for the key partners to come to the classroom and spend time with the students,” he said.

The objectives of the Mastercard Foundation Africa Higher Education Health Collaborative are to Build and strengthen the capacity of healthcare students and professionals to meet the growing demand for Primary Health Care (PHC) in the health sector; enable students to acquire advanced skills in Africa across a broad range of disciplines critical for sustainable health sector growth and transformation; Optimize entrepreneurial ecosystems in and through universities in Africa to launch and scale health start-ups to create jobs; Develop a dynamic, sustainable, long-term network of leading African universities, alumni, government agencies, health care start-ups, and private sector partners working together to create dignified and fulfilling jobs across health ecosystems.

The project will further develop a dynamic, sustainable, long-term network of leading African universities, alumni and government agencies, healthcare start-ups, and private sector partners working together to create dignified and fulfilling jobs across health ecosystems in the next ten years.

KNUST is one of the eight partners of the Higher Education Collaborative in Health with the aim to contribute to all three pillars of the health strategy: Health Employment, Health Entrepreneurship, and Health Ecosystems.