Mrs Tope Kareem, co-founder of HubPharm Africa, a Nigerian health-tech startup, winner of the second edition of the ECOWAS Startup Awards, receives the $30,000 star prize from ECOWAS Commissioner for Economic Affairs and Agriculture, Mr Dehpue Zuo, on Wednesday, in Abuja (NAN).
Awards
A Nigerian health innovation company, HubPharm Africa, has emerged as the overall winner of the 2nd ECOWAS Startup Awards held in Abuja on Wednesday, carting home the 30,000 dollars star prize.
HubPharm Africa, co-founded by licensed clinical pharmacist, Mrs Tope Kareem, beat four other finalists from across West Africa to clinch the first prize, out of a total prize pool of 65,000 dollars.
Gaynako from Senegal, which came second in the contest, went home with 20,000 dollars, while My Opinion, from Côte d’Ivoire, which came third, received 15,000 dollars.
The other top five finalists were Baykart, led by Muhammad Marong from The Gambia, and Afrikan Coders from Cape Verde.
The top three winners will also get access to five million dollars in potential investment deals and investor deal rooms.
Presenting the trophy on behalf of the President of the ECOWAS Commission, the Commissioner for Economic Affairs and Agriculture, Mr Dehpue Zuo, said the awards were more than a competition for money.
“In the case of all the winners, each has a unique story. Saving the life of a mother and looking at life beyond a mother.
“You know, the money is not what we are thinking about, but the idea, the message of saving lives beyond your border.
“That will bring the message of integration and equity for people. I am encouraging other startup businesses to respond to the global need of human health and human development,” Zuo said.
In an emotion-laden acceptance speech, the winner, Kareem, said the award was a validation for young Africans building global solutions.
“Good afternoon, everyone. It is an honour to be here today. I am seeing a lot of innovations from different countries.
“I remember yesterday, I was flabbergasted because I saw a lot of innovations coming out from young people like us, solving global problems, having global solutions that could actually affect millions of lives.
“So on behalf of myself and the business startup that we run, I want to say a very big thank you to ECOWAS for believing in startups like us, because we are truly building something that can change the face of Africa,” she said.
Kareem, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of HubPharm Africa, said the competition had opened doors to partnerships and investors.
“One thing I believe about what we do at HubPharm is that we don’t have to have presence in all countries. We can have presence by collaborating, partnerships.
“Yesterday I was talking to one of the startups in Guinea and I can see how we can actually enter Guinea without HubPharm being there.
“This competition has given me access to partnerships, collaboration, investors and so many other things. Let’s keep impacting and let’s keep saving the world at large,” she said.
Kareem is a licensed clinical pharmacist and health innovator with over 13 years experience in retail pharmacy operations, supply chain management and patient services.
She builds and leads clinical operations and medicine supply chain that now serves over 10,200 chronic care patients across Nigeria and 11 countries in 28 months of operations.
The health-tech entrepreneur trained at the Olabisi Onabanjo University alongside HubPharm’s Founder, Sesan Kareem, and holds a http://B.Pharm and Entrepreneurship Development Certificate from the Lagos Business School.
Earlier, the Acting Director, Private Sector and Industry at the ECOWAS Commission, Mr Peter Oluonye, said the Commission would monitor how winners utilised the prize money.
“One of the things we are going to do is that, we have given you cheques over here, but we are going to follow the money.
“The President says I want to be able in the next two years to report where you are and how you are going about your business,” he said.
He announced three initiatives to support startups beyond the awards.
“The first is the ECOWAS Private Sector Development Academy, an e-learning academy that will handhold entrepreneurs to navigate the whole path of creating and recreating, modelling and remodelling your products, and preparing you for market access within Africa.
“The second initiative is the ECOWAS Startup Network. We have brought them to think regional, to think partnership, to think value chains. The idea is for champions to share experiences, build networks that lead them to market access, to scale up.
“The third is access to finance – the venture capital and investors network. The Commissioner keeps telling me since he resumed that I want us to mobilise investment, to handhold entrepreneurs to finance,” he said.
Oluonye said the academy would train startups on managerial skills, investor readiness and how to raise finance.
In a vote of thanks, he commended partners including GIZ, International Trade Centre, Ecobank and innovation hubs that supported the awards, noting that the journey started two years ago but was delayed by funding challenges.(NAN)
