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Dr. Robert Karanja hands over CEO ‘baton’ to Mr. Wilfred Njagi

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It is with great honor that I accept this appointment as the CEO of Villgro Kenya. This comes at an exciting time as we prepare to scale the Villgro brand throughout Africa but also at an unprecedented time as the world continues to grapple with the novel Corona virus. 

My heart goes out to all those who have lost their loved ones and those whose livelihoods have been affected in a way that we never imagined. The only encouragement is that when you hit the rock bottom you can only go up from there. I am optimistic that humanity will ultimately overcome this pandemic. I believe in the ingenuity and resilience of the human race that has kept us going in the face of our adversaries, be it in the form of disease, war, famine and other calamities. With the power of entrepreneurship, technological advancement, and innovation we even have a much bigger toolkit to rise from any pandemic than our ancestors had. There is no reason why we should not be able to build back better and restore sanctity of life.  

Last weekend, in a low-key event in the serene Karura forest surrounded by a few colleagues and family, my predecessor “handed me the baton”. We enacted a relay sprint for a role that both of us know very well that is going to be a marathon. The eagerness to sprint as opposed to jogging is representative of the times we are in when the world is eager to open up the economies and sprint in order to redeem, or rather salvage, the time and economic loss we have suffered since the onset of COVID-19. As we walked briskly in the woods with our masks on, it was a stark reminder of the things we had grown accustomed to and taken for granted, like basic clean breathing air. 

While most of the world wore a mask for the first time of their lives in 2020, the mask has been a living reality for decades in most cities due to unchecked pollution. This is just one among many other issues that we need to address if we are genuine about “building back better” post-COVID. 

There are other myriad issues that require our attention. Cutting across multiple sectors from biotechnology, green-tech, public health, agric-tech to edu-tech, social innovators have a huge responsibility to help address issues ranging from pollution to access to healthcare and water & sanitation. The list is endless. As we all try to figure out how to get out of this menace and how to avoid future pandemics, Villgro Kenya has its role cut out in the advancement of entrepreneurship & innovation. As we do so, we will continue seeking partnerships with other like-minded folks to mobilize and deploy capital where it matters most to ensure protection of livelihoods, access to quality healthcare and other basic needs. The pandemic has managed to expose glaring social issues whose cure can be found in social entrepreneurship. This is a clarion call for social innovators to come up with scalable, sustainable & market-based interventions to social economic problems that continue to imperil the future of humanity. 

Last week while attending a UNICEF PSUP online workshop, I was shocked to learn that we lose 1.6 million lives every year to waterborne diseases, most of them children under 5. Just think about that for a moment. That’s over 3 times more deaths than what COVID-19 has claimed globally since the onset of the pandemic. This is a prediction that (Peter H. Gleick, 2002) had foretold in his research paper in 2002 that if no action was taken, we would end up losing up to 135 million lives in the last 2 decades (2002-2020) due to water borne diseases. Sadly, that prediction has come to pass. Those numbers are just mind-boggling. There is no justification as to why in this day and age, 3 billion people lack access to proper waste management and handwashing. 

 

I welcome you to pick any other SDG and with a little bit of desktop research run the numbers. You realize how much more we need to work in attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals notwithstanding the fact that COVID has caused us to regress even further back. This effort cannot be left to Villgro alone or to governments alone or to NGO’s alone. We need more and more incubators, social entrepreneurs, social activists, philanthropists, and venture capitalists to start putting resources where it matters most. COVID was just a wakeup call. Therefore, I would like to dedicate the next few years in furtherance of this mission – a more equitable society. This will take a Village mentality. In the coming months Villgro Africa will embark on building a Pan-Africa network of Social Enterprise incubators to create, guide and foster innovative market-driven enterprises that create significant impact to the base-of-pyramid population. We want to be one of those organizations at the forefront in driving Africa’s SDGs.

 

As I take on this task, I reckon that I will be stepping into the very big shoes of my predecessor, Dr. Robert Karanja. What Villgro Kenya has accomplished in the last 5 years is not a small fete. Thanks to Roberts leadership, Villgro Kenya has gone on to invest over 800K USD in SEED capital to over 24 social enterprises. These enterprises have gone on to unlock over 8.1 million dollars in follow on funding and touched over a million lives. It’s taken years of sweat and burning “mid night oil” with a lot of passion. I am lucky to still have Robert as a co-founder & director. That means I can continue benefiting from his wise counsel and mentorship as he transitions to the Chief Innovation Officer role. I couldn’t have asked for a better co-founding team. Rob Beyer’s decades of hands-on experience in building and managing teams combined with Robert’s experience in research and academia makes us a formidable co-founding team. Over the last 5 years, we have grown to an 8-member multidisciplinary team with combined 80 years of experience & expertise in biomed, entrepreneurship, finance, ICT & engineering and transaction advice. This team gives me a lot of confidence as I take office. 

What should the world expect from Villgro Kenya in the next 3 to 5 years?

I would like to summarize my action plan into 5 priority agenda items

Collaboration – Over the last half a decade, we have built partnerships with key funders who have invested significant financial resources and believed in our mission. These partnerships, and many others, have allowed us to demonstrate the impact of social entrepreneurship on lives, the sustainability of our incubation model and many other nuanced lessons for a Pan-African uptake. We have also signed MoU’s with academia and research organizations as well as impact investment funds. Thanks to these partnerships, we have leveraged over 8.1 million dollars in follow on funding in just 5 years. Moving forward we are reaching out to other donors, actors, incubators, and investors across Africa to increase our reach to 100 million lives by 2025. This brings me to the second point. 

Capital Efficiency and maximum social returns – In the last 3 years, it has cost us just 1.2 USD to change one life. This was possible due to capital leverage from downstream investors and also due to the dedication of the team, often sacrificing hefty salaries and perks that are seen in the traditional NGO sector. Our leadership has been taking a 30% pay cut for the last 3 years in order to maximize on social returns. When the pandemic broke, they went a step further to commit 5% of their salaries towards funding Covid response innovations. 

We have continued to put our money where our hearts are. As we move forward, using a robust incubation management software built by Villgro Innovation Foundation (India), we aim to streamline our operations and increase efficiency to further bring down the cost of impacting one life. That’s the beauty of market-based approach as opposed to pure aid. You can achieve much more with so little and because the enterprise model is inherently sustainable. 

As we gear towards opening shop in multiple countries in Africa, we welcome in-country foundations, corporate CSR and local philanthropists who are willing to experiment with sustainable models in areas where aid has failed to bring long lasting change. A combination of both international and local funders is going to be game changing in the way we perceive social enterprise. What Covid has taught us is that home grown solutions and local ownership is the way to solve Africa’s problems. We risk missing out on the demographic dividends if impact investment continues to be a preserve of foreign actors. The international donor community is awakening to this fact. Villgro Kenya’s current funders are always keen to see how we unlock local funding. We are willing to join hands with partners like Africa Venture Philanthropy Association and other like minded organizations to see how we take this agenda forward. 

Expansion/Rebranding/Reposition – As my predecessor alluded to in his previous blog post, time is ripe for Pan-Africanism in social enterprise. We have already experimented this on a small scale in Uganda and Ethiopia where we have been active for the past 5 years.  8 enterprises in our current portfolio are located outside Kenya. We have seen collaboration with local incubators and universities yield tremendous results. The local context will always be a key ingredient for any international incubation or acceleration program. In 2018, Villgro Kenya was part of a  consortium led by Duke University that offered a 2 year business acceleration support (Technical Assistance, Mentorship, Networks, Market Discovery, Navigating Regulatory Landscape & Go-to-Market Strategies) to Maternal and Child Health Innovators spread across the world in a program funded by USAID,  Gates Foundation, Grand Challenges Canada, NORAD & KOICA. This program drew participants from over 20 countries. This was only possible through local partnerships. Rebranding to Villgro Africa essentially means that we are open to sharing our playbook with in-country partners, incubators & universities across Africa. If this sounds like something that your organization is interested in we welcome you to join hands with us.

Gender Lense Investing – The recently released Global Acceleration Learning Initiative (GALI) report on acceleration of women led startups exposed how accelerators and incubators have had an adverse effect of widening the gap between female led startups and male led startups. According to the report Women-led ventures are under-represented in acceleration. Within the GALI dataset, 52% of founding teams are made up entirely of men, followed by 35% with both men and women, and only 13% comprised entirely of women entrepreneurs. As President Barack Obama once said, excluding women in the economic contribution is like being in a match where you don’t let half the team play. Having been raised by a single mum, I have experienced firsthand the power of gender inclusivity. If my dad had not let my mum pursue her career, we would have been left as beggars on the streets after the demise of my dad. We need to encourage more women led enterprises. Research has shown again and again that women led enterprises are likely to create more impact. Women are wired to be more nurturing and caring than men, a recipe that is required in social entrepreneurship. Another research showed that less than half of women entrepreneurs are likely to participate in a pitch competition than men. We have experienced this at Villgro Kenya.When we host a pitch challenge or a hackathon women who show up are less than 15%. We commend initiatives like Women-in-Tech by Standard Chartered bank that are trying to change this narrative. To encourage women participation, we need to change how we have organized pitch festivals and business plan competitions. A simple tweak like ensuring a fair gender representation in the investment committees that pass these investment decisions could have a huge effect. I welcome ideas and suggestions on how Villgro Kenya can improve this. 

To close my remarks, I would like to reemphasize that we are at a much more advantageous position than those who came before us to build a truly equitable society and protect fundamental human rights like shelter, food and clothing.  With technological advancement in the area of predictive modelling, data science, AI, CRISPR, Biotech we shouldn’t wait for the next pandemic, we should get ahead of it. We should hack it before it happens. As I wrap up, I would also like to thank an incredibly special person in my life – my mum. She made it possible for me to be the man I am today. Widowed at age 38 and with 6 children to fend for, I saw the huge sacrifices she made to put food on the table. This also goes to all the women out there many of whom risk losing their own lives at birth due to lack of access to maternal healthcare. No woman should have to lose her life while giving life to another human. Villgro Kenya will continue doing its best to restore the sanctity of life and empower women.

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Dr. Beatrice Murage

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Dr. Beatrice Murage is an experienced, results-oriented leader in systems strengthening, healthcare management, entrepreneurship, intrapreneurship, digital innovation and exploration/ventures. She has successfully built teams and led strategy, policy formulation, and project implementation in emerging and established markets.

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Ordia Akelo holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Linguistics Media and Communication from Moi University. She was awarded a Climate Tracker Fellowship as a Climate journalist in 2016 & 2017. She has worked as a writer, editor and managed websites & social media sites for Standard Media Group and the African Network for Internationalization of Education.

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Immanuel is a Senior Portfolio Associate on Villgro Kenya’s team. Prior to Villgro Kenya, Immanuel gained multi-sectoral experience working firsthand with businesses throughout Sub-Saharan Africa to develop new business strategies, raise capital, and pioneer innovative products and services. He is an alumni of Zamara Actuaries, Administrators and Consultants and holds a Bachelors in Actuarial Science from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology. Immanuel likes everything related to nature, cars, and believes gaming is cool.

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Rescue by Flare, an emergency response platform in Kenya is using their robust dispatch system to manage all intake and triage at Kenya’s main COVID-19 isolation, testing, and treatment facilities.

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Ventilate Africa have developed a ventilator locally for the treatment of COVID 19. This is in line with the impending global shortage of ventilators due to the high number of cases in countries with low healthcare infrastructure.

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A functional prototype of a locally manufactured ventilator developed using a wind screen motor. Currently working closely with the Kenya Industrial Research and Development Institute to develop the second prototype that meets global standards.

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Simbona Africa, an Ethiopian healthcare research and development company developed a fully automated UVC room sterilizer for use in hospitals and public spaces.

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Medixus is a case management platform for medical practitioners which also has a tele-medicine interface for patients. In response to COVID-19 they have incorporated daily fact based updates on COVID-19 for clinicians.

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Lishe Living is offering chronic disease management via an online platform to reduce risk of COVID-19 mortality and morbidity from pre-existing conditions. With social distancing requirements in place reduced hospital visits have been recorded leading to a burden on patients with non-communicable diseases to manage their conditions. With Lishe Living they are able to reduce the risk of infection as they can manage their conditions from the comfort of their homes. Villgro Kenya’s support will help net the right partnerships with key stakeholders while giving them appropriate mentorship from our pool of mentors well versed in the sector.

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Neopenda, a remote vital signs monitor for low resource settings is modifying the Neoguard device so that it can measure vital signs in adults and children, with potential to help with the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. With adequate technical support, the device will help medics respond faster to medical emergencies related to COVID-19  It can also help in identifying suspected cases who are being monitored.

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Kijenzi uses 3D technology to manufacture spare parts of broken down medical equipment locally and at a fraction of the cost of buying new equipment. Kijenzi’s manufacturing hub in Kisumu is responding to the COVID-19 pandemic by producing PPE’s like touchless door handles and face shields for hospital staff and other essential workers. With the technical support from Villgro Kenya, the team has delivered over 2100 face shields to 24 medical facilities.

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Ms. Snider Mugese is a BSc. Financial Engineering graduate from Jomo Kenyatta university of Agriculture and technology (JKUAT). She is also a certified Public accountant (CPA K) currently pursuing a certification in Finance and Investment analysis. She previously worked as an accountant at NewQuest Consulting Limited, an accounting firm where she handled various companies in Bookkeeping and Tax and held a team supervisory role.

John Masanda

John Masanda is an astute entrepreneur and business executive with experience and expertise to lead diverse teams with multiple skills and multicultural background.

John has successful participated in various enterprises start-up and growth, diversifications, new products launch, new markets entry, business consolidation, mergers and acquisitions, funding and investment decisions.

John is Founder & CEO of Malfini Capital Ltd (MCL) which is investment and stockholder in Malfini Gas Ltd a distributor of BOC GASES; a leading global brand of gases and process engineering services, Malfini Energy Ltd a distributor of petroleum products Fuels & CALTEX LUBRICANTS; a leading global brand and Malfini Logistics Ltd a 3PL logistics service provider, commodity trading and FMCG distributor. MCL is an investor in Malfini Gas DRC Sarl a joint venture company participating in development of the Lake Kivu Methane Gas Project to produce methane gas for both domestic use, industrial use and power generation. John does provides advisory services to; FasterCapital LLC a virtual incubator co-founding and cofounding start-ups with innovative app-based or online based solutions, Villgro Kenya an incubator of innovative ideas on healthcare and biosciences and Capital One Group a corporate communications agency with East Africa operations and Ugavilla Development Co. Ltd a developer of affordable housing.

John has been CEO of Kenlloyd Logistics Ltd; which grew to be regional network partner and franchisee of DB Schenker of Germany; a leading global logistics service provider, negotiated and performed Fuel Supply Agreement with Jacobsen Elektro AS of Norway supporting seamlessly their 50Mw power plant in Uganda for 7 years, negotiated and signed a PPP concession with Government Of Uganda through City Authority and a subsidiary; Pioneer Easy Bus Ltd to operate public transport passenger services for 5 years. John has been instrumental in negotiating and introducing into East Africa innovative construction technologies and alternative building technologies; Probase Road System (‘’PRS’’) for roads and Lightweight Concrete Methodology (‘’LCM’’) for housing.

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Daniel Ohonde is a dynamic, strategic and visionary leader with more than 25 years of exceptional leadership experience in CEO / COO and investment stewardship roles managing high performance teams. He has a combination of international development experience and broad commercial experience gained from diverse markets. His experience in the provision of patient capital to small and growing businesses (SGBs) is extensive across Africa and, as a member of the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) Global Executive Committee, he also brings on board a deep understanding of the SGB landscape in other developing and emerging markets globally. He is former CEO at the Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF). His passion is in supporting and catalyzing early stage (and scaling) innovative enterprises and business models that can sustainably deliver social change.
He has a rich mix of human resources, operations, strategy, finance, investment, governance, resource mobilization and portfolio management experience having previously worked (across various locations internationally) with African Development Bank, Real People Financial Services, African Management Services Company (AMSCO), USAID, Plus Consultants, ExxonMobil, Coca-Cola Africa, and WestConsult.
Daniel has a BSc in Mechanical Engineering from University of Nairobi, MBA in Strategic Management from USIU-A and an MSc in Finance from the University of London. He is an avid tennis and cricket supporter, is married and blessed with two sons

Dr. Abdi Mohamed-01

Dr. Abdi Mohamed is an award winning serial entrepreneur who was voted as one of the Top 40 under 40 men in Kenya. He is the co-founder and CEO of Ladnan Hospital which has been acquired by a PE Fund. Dr. Abdi has been elected into leadership positions by his medical professional colleagues. Dr. Abdi has strong entrepreneurial acumen with a leaning towards social enterprises.

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Wesley Ronoh is a seasoned Pharmaceutical Sector Development Expert having worked and consulted for leading International Development Agencies within East Africa and beyond. He has a deep understanding of the health technologies landscape in the developing world having been involved in developing regional and national policies and other strategic interventions aimed at improving access. He has core competencies in Life Science Product Development including technology transfer management, commercialization, manufacture and delivery to market. Wesley is a Registered Pharmacist with postgraduate degrees in Medicinal Chemistry and MBA.

Paul Basil

Mr. Basil is Founder and CEO of Villgro Innovations Foundation. Over the last decade, Mr. Basil has incubated over 130 innovative enterprises, creating over 4000 jobs, touching around 5 million lives in villages across India.

Mr. Basil also co-founded Menterra Venture Advisors, a seed stage, impact fund that makes venture investments in for-profit, impactful enterprises.

Apart from the core of his mission, which is incubating early stage, innovative businesses, Paul also has contributed to building the social enterprise eco-system in India. Unconvention, India’s leading conference on innovation and social entrepreneurship is organized in 15 cities across India, a Centre for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship at IIT-Madras that focuses on research and education, the ANDE India Chapter (Aspen Network for Development Entrepreneurs) a network of intermediaries that support small and growing businesses etc., are some of his achievements in building the eco-system in India.

Mr. Basil was awarded the Ashoka Fellowship in 2002 for his outstanding social entrepreneurship in setting up Villgro. He has also been conferred the Samaj Seva Bhushan Award and the Star Entrepreneur Award

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Paul Belknap is COO, Villgro Kenya. Paul has diverse experience in both product development and social business incubation. He spent three and a half years building the Villgro India health portfolio by sourcing pipeline, leading diligence and portfolio management for multiple companies.

Rob

Rob brings a unique combination of seasoned experience in business and social entrepreneurship, education and technology. Rob is a visionary leader who has lived in Kenya for the past 11 years and is fully aware of the unique challenges that Kenyans face seeking sustainable livelihoods within the East African context.

Robert

Robert serves as the CEO, Villgro Kenya where he is spearheading the replication of the Villgro incubation model of social entrepreneurship and impact investment in the healthcare and life sciences industry. He has over 10 years of experience in global health R&D as a biomedical scientist at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) where he discovered his passion for impacting peoples’ lives through science and innovation.

Wilfred

Wilfred brings in diverse experience having lived and worked in Middle East, Asia and Africa and travelled to 8 countries. His first immersion into startup and incubation world came while pitching his idea to a Jordanian based incubator, OASIS500. He went on to do a one year Villgro fellowship in India after which he took up the challenge of scaling Villgro to Africa.

Dr Kevin

Dr. Kevin Muite is an Investment Manager with Villgro Kenya. Kevin holds a PhD in Immunology from the University of Chicago and a former consultant for large pharmaceutical clients. He began his scientific career in Durban South Africa researching HIV at the Doris Duke Medical Center at the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal during his undergraduate years. He spent a year conducting research at Virginia Tech as an NIH post baccalaureate fellow researching mucosal immunology. ​

Gibson

Gibson holds a Bachelor’s degree in Arts (Economics) from the University of Nairobi. He is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA K) . He previously worked as a freelancing Accounts and Tax Consultant for SMEs and a junior financial analyst at Fledge-Africa, a financial consulting company providing investment readiness and fund raising support for Villgro Kenya’s portfolio, where he discovered his passion for due diligence and financial modeling

Moses

Moses holds an MSc. in Global Health from the University of Manchester and a Bachelor of Business Administration specializing in entrepreneurship from the Kenya Methodist University. He has diverse experience in managing health research and intervention programs covering areas such as substance abuse, mental health, HIV/AIDS, health promotion and behavior change programs. He has held senior roles in several non-profits including the Private Sector Development Trust, The Institute of Quantity Surveyors of Kenya and SCAD.