Nigerian digital health firm, Mobihealth International, makes the Barclays Black Venture Growth Programme cohort’s list as one of the twenty promising startups in the United Kingdom (UK).
The Black Venture Growth Programme − organised by Barclays Eagle Labs and Foundervine – is a 16-week programme funded by the UK government that targets twenty most promising startups in the UK each year in technology and innovation sectors.
Reacting to the news, the founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Mobihealth, Funmi Adewara, stated that the Venture Growth Accelerator programme will help Mobihealth’s strategy within the UK Diaspora market and also help it gain more investor spotlighting.
Adewara noted that Mobihealth has been addressing multiple challenges in the African health sector through its integrated telehealth solution that provides users in Nigeria and Africa access to affordable, quality healthcare from the convenience of their mobile phones, computers and walk-in teleclinics.
She lamented that access to healthcare in rural areas can be challenging and that people in rural areas – who are usually older demographics, with multiple comorbidities and reduced mobility − suffer inequitable access to healthcare.
In light of this, Adewara said the “company has deployed solar and internet-enabled telehealth clinics to rural hard-to-reach areas and communities in Nigeria.”
Adewara assured that they will leverage the Barclays Black Venture Growth Programme to scale up their services which include teleclinics designed with point-of-care diagnostics, point-of-care ultrasound, digital X-ray capabilities, and medicine dispensary for an end-to-end service delivery.
According to Barclays Eagle Labs, the Black Venture Growth cohorts will benefit from programmes such as masterclasses which cover areas of business strategy, supply chain, investment, leadership, intellectual property and legal, and much more.
She said: “In addition, we offer participants the chance to meet with industry experts who will advise them through one-to-one consultations.”
Foundervine, on the other hand, noted that their aim for the programme is to accelerate growth for bold business founders by offering unique business and investment-readiness support that will remove fundraising barriers and foster business growth.
This year, according to Foundervine, 256 applied for the Barclays Black Venture Growth Programme from nine different business industries with twenty Black-led businesses onboarded, and 30 per cent of the businesses are led by women.
The other cohorts for the Black Venture Growth Programme include PebbleScore, Prime Planit, Tech1M, Tisume, The Turmeric Co., Webautomation, Wealth8, HotPatch, Lenuity, Leyton Pharmacy, Loystar, MPH Social, Millicent Labs, ApTap, BankGPT, Bendi, Brain Dump, Checkboard, and FutureMatch.