Nigerian Health technology firm, Mobihealth International, has been selected to join the Barclays Black Venture Growth programme, a UK government-funded programme.
A statement said the programme targeted 20 of the UK’s most promising scale-ups in technology and innovation sectors each year.
According to the programme anchor, Foundervine, selected businesses would receive tailored business and investment readiness support to help them scale their promising ventures.
“Mobihealth is focused on addressing the multiple challenges in the African health sector through its integrated telehealth solution that provides users in Nigeria, 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,” it stated.
Speaking on the focus of the firm, the Chief Executive Officer of MobiHealth, Dr Funmi Adewara, said, “Access to healthcare in rural areas can be quite challenging. The people in rural areas suffer inequitable access to healthcare; they are usually older demographics, with multiple comorbidities and reduced mobility. Health facilities are distant with a need to travel many miles where transportation is also a big challenge and costly.”
Adewara revealed that the company deployed solar and Internet-enabled telehealth clinics to rural areas, and had worked with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to deploy across some communities in Nigeria.
The Barclays Black Venture Growth Accelerator programme would help Mobihealth’s strategy within the UK Diaspora market and also gain more investor spotlighting, the statement said.
