Mobihealth International, Nigerian telemedicine startup, has been selected as one of the United Kingdom’s (UK) twenty startups for the Barclays Black Venture Growth programme.
Barclays Eagle Labs and Foundervine are collaborating to deliver the 16-week Barclays Black Venture Growth Programme; a UK-government-funded programme that targets twenty UK’s most promising technology and innovation startups each year.
Barclays will act as a joint data controller for the programme to assess the startups that would benefit most from the support. Foundervine on the other hand will provide tailored business and investment-readiness support aimed at removing fundraising barriers, boosting success, and accelerating business growth trajectory for the beneficiaries of the programme through a three-layer approach: assessment, acceleration, and advocacy.
For this year’s Black Venture Growth Programme, 256 applications were received by Foundervine from nine different business industries with twenty Black-led businesses onboarded, and 30 percent of businesses are led by women.
The other startups selected for the Black Venture Growth programme include FutureMatch, HotPatch, Lenuity, Leyton Pharmacy, Loystar, MPH Social, ApTap, BankGPT, Bendi, Brain Dump, Checkboard, Millicent Labs, PebbleScore, Prime Planit, Webautomation, Wealth8, Tech1M, Tisume, and The Turmeric Co.
Funmi Adewara, founder/CEO, Mobihealth, 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.
According to her, 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 specifically designed to tackle critical manpower shortages on the continent.
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“Mobihealth has deployed solar and internet-enabled telehealth clinics to rural hard-to-reach areas and has worked with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to offer healthcare services to some communities in Nigeria,” Adewara stated.
She stated further 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.
She enjoined Nigerians and Africans in the diaspora to sponsor healthcare plans for their families back home, as Mobihealth aims to benefit more from the Barclays Black Venture Growth Programme and scale up its services on the continent.
