NEW innovation competition to support health entrepreneurs
In a bid to promote and support entrepreneurs and small enterprises in Nigeria as well as to improve the declining health state of Nigeria, a coalition comprising of ADCEM Pharmaceuticals, Drasa Health Trust, the Enterprise Development Centre (EDC) of Pan African University, eLab, and the Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN) announced an innovative program tagged ‘Hack the Germs Innovation Competition’ to address the issue of poor health and hygiene in Nigeria’s rural urban communities.
Heath entrepreneurs will pitch their ideas and the selected semi-finalists will have the opportunity to participate in GEN’s Global Entrepreneurship Week in Lagos in November 2017 to connect with experts and pitch their ideas. The winner will get a free trip to the Global Entrepreneurship Congress in Istanbul, Turkey, in April 2018 to pitch their solution to a global audience. They will also participate in the eLab Social Innovation Accelerator for support and access to mentors, executive coaches, marketing and financial experts, and other resources to further refine and develop their innovation.
Speaking at a press conference at the EDC Centre, Pan African University recently, Olawale Anifowose, general manager of EDC, said: “We believe strongly in promoting and supporting Nigerian entrepreneurs and enterprises, which is why we are hosting this competition. The goal of the competition is to help Nigeria unleash impactful ideas and turn them into promising new ventures, creating jobs, accelerating innovation, and strengthening economic stability.”
The goal of the competition is to develop a dispenser that will ensure on-going availability and access to hand sanitizers to help reduce the spread of infectious diseases and improve the health of Nigerians. This is a revision of the already existing concept and it’s cantered on creativity. The designs of the dispenser should be innovative, cost effective and scalable, environmentally friendly. This will be produced locally in Nigeria, he said.
According to Adeyemi Adewole of ADCEM, the focus is on health and hygiene. “In a country of more than 190,000 million people with a fragmented health care system and poor hygiene in communities, we are at a major risk of significant infectious disease outbreak. We keep having small outbreaks here and there but it’s only a matter of time before something deadly like Ebola comes again. These outbreaks occurred in Liberia, Ghana, and Sierra Leone and we can’t afford a major outbreak in Nigeria.”
Niniola Soleye, DRASA’s managing director, added, “We all remember that when Ebola was in Nigeria, everyone was paying attention to their health and hygiene. Soap was everywhere, hand sanitizers were everywhere and people made use of them, but nowadays the reverse is the case. We want to change that, prioritise hand hygiene, and make sure we keep our communities safe and healthy.”
According to Wale Ajiboye, co-founder of eLab, “We are open to innovative ideas from all Nigerians. Our country is blessed with talented people who have fantastic ideas of how to address major challenges and impact lives. They just need support and that’s what we are doing with this competition. We are providing what they need to realise their innovation, scale their ideas, and grow a business.”
The submission of innovative ideas is open until the Friday 20th of October 2017. The ideas are submitted viawww.drasatrust.org/hack-the- germs.