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Kenya Will Increase Crypto Adoption in 2022, Luno GM Predicts

Mena Adediran
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Kenya Will Increase Crypto Adoption in 2022, Luno GM Predicts

Luno‘s General Manager for Africa, Marius Reitz, has predicted that Kenya will lead the cryptocurrency market in Africa in 2022. This was divulged in a statement containing Reitz’s prediction on the cryptocurrency market in Africa for 2022, which was released on Thursday.

Reitz said that Africa took a spot in the limelight as crypto adoption on the continent saw a 1200 percent surge. According to Reitz, the crypto industry in Kenya is progressing and has the potential to scale up adoption this year 2022. He further shared that Kenya ranked as the world’s leader in volumes of P2P trading for the second year in a row.

“The country’s crypto industry is booming with a rapidly emerging crop of companies building blockchain-based solutions and considering its young population, high heels of mobile connectivity and familiarity with digital payment solutions like mobile money, it’s firmly positioned to emerge as East Africa’s leading crypto hub in 2022,” Reitz said.

Luno CEO, Marcus Swanepoel, also added that cryptocurrency will serve as a different or alternative means to handle cross-border transactions as well as check problems surrounding remittance on the continent. He explained that the “key strength” cryptocurrencies have in this regard has to do with the open and decentralised blockchain networks that power them; this allows money to be transferred between persons without “lag times and exorbitant fees” regardless of where they are.

“Similar to most aspects of the crypto industry, progress in this area will be heavily dependent on a favourable regulatory climate and should this materialise, cryptocurrencies could emerge as a major asset for companies with extensive operations throughout Africa,” he added.

HealthLeap Secures $1.1M Pre-seed to Address Hospital Malnutrition with Clinical AI Assistant

Hassan Barakat
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HealthLeap Secures $1.1M Pre-seed to Address Hospital Malnutrition with Clinical AI Assistant

HealthLeap, a South Africa-based health tech startup that focuses on global healthcare market has secured a $1.1M pre-seed fund.

Dietitians in hospitals can use the startup as a clinical aid.

It’s coming out to reveal a $1.1 million pre-seed investment backed by Fifty Years, a deep tech investor.

Malnutrition occurs when the body’s nutrients are deficient, excessive, or imbalanced. This has the potential to have a severe negative impact on people’s physiology and clinical results.

Malnutrition can occur when people with diseases are unable to consume sufficient quantity or quality of food, or when their diet does not contain enough nutrients to meet the unique nutritional requirements.

HealthLeap claims to be developing artificial intelligence-assisted tools for healthcare practitioners to better treat hospital malnutrition.

“As a clinical dietitian, I saw many patients suffer because malnutrition was not adequately addressed in hospitals,” clinical dietitian and chief research officer Jemima Meyer told TechCrunch.

“Partly because clinical dietitians are understaffed, and other clinicians are not adequately trained in clinical nutrition.”

“I intended to assist dietitians with the difficult clinical calculations that they must continually adapt to each patient’s unique situation and changing medical state.”

Meyer created the initial version of a research-backed productivity tool to assist her coworkers in performing computations, making judgments based on the most recent clinical data, and treating more patients in less time.

HealthLeap was launched in April 2021. Together with her brother and CEO Josiah Meyer and CTO Ray Botha, they standardized the process.

The company’s AI-based clinical assistant product is named NutriLeap.

Its HIPAA-compliant mobile app provides automated clinical calculations and research-backed suggestions to hospital dietitians (and, soon, other healthcare practitioners with whom they interact).

This allows them to estimate accurate, tailored dietary needs for patients much more quickly.

“We’re projecting the best therapeutic measures to guarantee patients get enough nourishment,” CTO Botha stated.

“The clinical decisions made within our app, along with data from other sources, such as an EHR integration, will improve our forecasts even further.”

According to the firm, there are around 1,000 nutritionists, pharmacists, and physicians on the waiting list.

HealthLeap claims to desire to eliminate hospital malnutrition around the world.

And, with the pandemic hastening healthcare professionals’ use of digital tools, the software created by HealthLeap is positioned to acquire a major share of the market.

HealthLeap not only assists clinical dietitians and other healthcare providers (hospital pharmacists, physicians, and nurses) in identifying patients who are at risk of malnutrition, but it also recommends daily amounts of oral, tube, and IV feeding based on the patient’s ever-changing needs.

The company stated that it intends to assist dietitians in treating patients even after they have been discharged.

HealthLeap is still in the early stages of revenue generation. But that won’t be the case for much longer.

According to the company’s preliminary price analysis, 97 percent of its target users are willing to pay a monthly subscription fee out of pocket for NutriLeap access.

HealthLeap plans to use the pre-seed funding to hire software engineers and data scientists to continue developing smart solutions to aid physicians in the prevention and treatment of hospital malnutrition.

Bfree Raises $1.7M, Expands to Asia, Europe, South America and Across Africa

Hassan Barakat
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Bfree Raises $1.7M, Expands to Asia, Europe, South America and Across Africa

Bfree raised $1.7M in a pre-Series A round. It is expanding globally to take advantage of the prospects in emerging economies, where digital lending apps have recently exploded in popularity.

4Di Money, Octerra Capital, VestedWorld, Voltron Capital, Logos Ventures, and several other angel investors joined in the new round, bringing the total capital raised by the Lagos-based Nigerian credit management business to $2.5 million, after raising $800,000 in a seed round last May.

Bfree is currently conducting a large recruiting drive in Ghana, India, Uganda, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Russia, Poland, Pakistan, and Indonesia, among the 16 new markets in which it is establishing offices.

This is as the company expands beyond Nigeria, where it began operations in August 2020 before moving to Kenya in July of last year.

Bfree was founded by Chukwudi Enyi (COO), Moses Nmor (CPO) and Flosbach (CEO), following their firsthand experience working for digital lenders in Nigeria, they were eager to establish better, ethical, and tech-inspired debt-collection tools and methods.

“We recognized a little bit of a breach in the value proposition of lenders – they are competent at giving out loans, but the credit market’s aftersales services didn’t function since collections operations were inefficient and not user friendly,” Flosbach explained.

Digital lenders, microfinance institutions, and banks are among the 30 credit institutions with which the business is now collaborating.

The startup creates defaulter user profiles using data provided by lenders and analyzes their data via an algorithm to forecast their behavior and offer the best collecting approach.

Bfree either refers customers to a self-service site, where they may set up new payment plans using their phone number, or follow up on their debt balance using automated communication (chat boxes, callbots, or IVR technology) or direct calls, depending on their risk profile.

The company also holds financial literacy campaigns on a regular basis.

In recent years, digital lenders have sprung up in emerging economies, giving loans to a demographic that has hitherto been underserved by traditional lenders.

Unlike loans from official financial organizations (such as banks), where borrowers must at the very least have an account, have regular account activity, and maintain minimum operating balances, the credit supplied is frequently quick and collateral-free.

Traditional lenders, on the other hand, require some form of collateral to protect them from losses if borrowers default on their payments.

Digital lenders provide much-needed credit to people who have been turned down by traditional lenders, but they have a high default rate (in mid-2020, Kenya’s default rate on digital loans was 23 percent), forcing them to hire collection agencies, which, among other things, use debt-shaming tactics like calling borrowers’ friends and relatives.

Bfree has contacted 1.2 million defaulters and is currently serving roughly 800,000 consumers, the majority of whom are from Nigeria.

By the end of next month, Flosbach expects the startup to have processed 1.4 million profiles.

Bfree has gained the services of prominent industry specialists, including CTO Konrad Pawlus, formerly of SALESmanago, and Yohan Theatre, formerly of investment management giant PIMCO, in preparation for its next stage of expansion.

“Lenders in the United States and Europe have the option of selling large portions of their debt portfolios to other parties. This means that they only bear a percentage of the risk associated with the loans they make. This isn’t always the case in emerging markets.”

“Lenders are responsible for the entire credit risk. Higher transaction costs and contractual uncertainty are a primary source of this disparity,” according to Theatre.

“The arrival of DeFi (decentralized finance) is a game-changer: smart contracts can reduce transaction costs while increasing contractual certainty.”

“These are some of the risk-sharing mechanisms that we are actively providing to lenders and borrowers right now,” he said.

Kenyan Startup Alvin Raised $740,000 Pre-seed Funding Round

Hassan Barakat
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Kenyan Startup Alvin Raised $740,000 Pre-seed Funding Round

Kenyan startup Alvin raised $740 000 pre-seed funding.

Kenyan startup Alvin has raised a $740,000 pre-seed funding round as it continues to refine its product, which is currently in private beta phase.

In May of last year, the smart money management software was created to assist consumers to connect their everyday spending with their savings goals.

Alvin is a smart money management app that uses automatic budgeting, personalized offers, and behavioural game design tactics.

Last year, the company published its flagship product, the Alvin App v1 Labrador private beta, as a soft launch to allow it to make changes before an official debut, and closed the year with an oversubscribed $740,000 pre-seed investment round.

The funding round was led by Ingressive Capital. Zephyr Acorn, Voltron Capital, Future Africa, and Tahseen Consulting also featured.

Paystack CEO Shola Akinlade and Tony Nicalo, the former CEO of marketing firm Dondé, were among the other significant investors in the round.

It also includes $100,000 from Forum Ventures, a US-based B2B SaaS-focused accelerator program, as well as a few additional American and Kenyan angels.

Winston Reid, Alvin’s founder and CEO, told Disrupt Africa that he founded the company to address a problem he and his peers faced on a regular basis.

“The only personal finance applications we could discover in Kenya weren’t optimized for the local context, didn’t offer any direction to help us acquire the assets we wanted to save for, and just offered the opportunity to save but no daily support to help us save for long-term goals,” he said.

“Anyone who wants to develop long-term saving habits must first develop long-term spending habits. And doing so necessitates providing consumers with more assistance than just deposit reminders.”

“Labrador,” the initial edition of the Alvin app, is currently in private testing.

It includes M-Pesa cost tracking and the ability to construct a budget in two minutes, showing users how much they can spend each month on things like groceries, entertainment, and rent depending on their income and most important savings goal.

“Next, we’ll include card transaction tracking for Kenyan banks, as well as the opportunity to contribute to a high-yield savings account without leaving the Alvin app,” says the company.

“Alvin is ultimately intended to be your daily pocket companion, making it dead simple to feel in charge of your financial situation and on a clear route toward purchasing that piece of property,” Reid said.

The Alvin app will be available to the public in Kenya in the coming months, but the business has already set its sights on the rest of the world.

“We have immediate intentions to expand to Nigeria in the latter half of 2022, with powerhouses Ingressive Capital, Shola Akinlade, Voltron Capital, and Future Africa onboard,” Reid stated.

Jabu, Namibian B2B Startup Raised $3.2M Financing Round

Hassan Barakat
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Jabu, Namibian B2B Startup Raised $3.2M Financing Round

JABU, Namibian B2B e-commerce startup has raised a $3.2 million financing round.

JABU was established in mid-2020 by CEO David Akinin to improve Namibia’s inefficient and nearly non-existent supply chain and distribution.

The seed round ended last year. Afore Capital, Y Combinator, FJ Labs, Quiet Capital, Kli Capital, Pareto Capital, and other angel investors participated in the round.

As a last-mile distribution e-commerce business, JABU joins a growing number of African startups that assist small merchants in ordering and stocking their items while also providing data-driven services to suppliers and manufacturers.

Its platform connects over 6,000 retailers with local and multinational suppliers like Namibia Breweries Limited, ABInBev, Bokomo, Coca-Cola, and Namibmills, as well as digitizes orders, payments, and logistics.

For the majority of last year, JABU functioned in stealth mode.

It was the first time a Namibian firm was accepted into Y Combinator’s summer batch in 2021.

The Southern African region is highlighted by JABU.

The company is currently active in 3 Namibian cities and has recently expanded into 2 Zambian cities.

Its monthly GMV has expanded 25x and the average growth of supplied SKUs stands at nearly 53 percent monthly since March.

Revenue has increased 35 times in the same time period, according to the corporation.

When money from retailers arrives at JABU distribution hubs, it usually takes 48 hours for it to be deposited into banks.

JABU’s wallets will allow businesses to deposit and withdraw money instantly in sync with these centers, eliminating the need to go through this tedious process.

“The banks and others have sat down and said, ‘How can we repair this?’ because our volumes have grown so much and we’ve picked up so much money in physical currency.”

“We moved from having a few R100,000 (rands) a week to millions of Namibian dollars in a week. And we realized there’s something bigger and better than we imagined,” Akinin said of the company’s decision to create wallets for its merchants.

According to Akinin, the next stage of JABU’s wallet system would see businesses offering users other services in addition to their digitized cash.

“The only way to do that is to work with merchants, and they go through a KYC (know your customer) process where we ensure the merchants have the proper space and account to back their float.”

“Then they conduct business with their clients. As a result, we’re moving into the B2B2C area through the merchants we work with,” he explained.

The majority of JABU’s revenue comes from self-distribution or third-party fleets. Merchandising, as well as targeted marketing and advertising, help the company make money.

In the future, it will take commissions from transactions made through merchant wallets.

Akinin founded a company to provide digital mortgages, but it later morphed into a construction firm with offices in Namibia, Zambia, and Cameroon.

As a result of the pandemic, Akinin’s construction company launched a COVID relief effort in Namibia, donating food supplies. Then he discovered a B2B e-commerce retail possibility in the country.

“When we arrived in the informal sector, we saw that the city had closed down every single informal retailer.”

“And when they did that, we had this program we’d designed to digitize housing demand,” he explained how JABU got started.

“We hired 40 people from the community, and in about two weeks, we had registered 1,000 businesses that were impacted by the shutdown.”

“We saw there was a great opportunity here to not only assist them to reopen but also to grasp something very important: they don’t have a supply chain and no method to source their items at a reasonable price.”

Akinin told TechCrunch that JABU, which has over 200 workers, is planning a Series A fundraising round this quarter.

The seed financing and future expansion round will be used to expand into Botswana and South Africa, increase the startup’s tech and operations team, and train its field agents.

MPharma, Receives $35 million Series D Financing, Raises Network of Community Pharmacies Across Africa

Hassan Barakat
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MPharma, Receives $35 million Series D Financing, Raises Network of Community Pharmacies Across Africa

mPharma has received $35 million in Series D financing. The Ghanaian health tech startup is creating a network of community pharmacies across Africa.

It seeks to be the region’s principal healthcare provider for its millions of residents.

MPharma plans to grow its community (Mutti) pharmacies across eight markets in Africa to be the first point of care for patients.

Mutti pharmacies are essentially mini-hospitals that provide a variety of services such as medical consultations, diagnostics, and telemedicine.

All of this while boosting the availability and cost of high-quality medications.

After receiving $35 million in a Series D financing, the firm has set out to activate more Mutti pharmacies in order to expand its reach and build out its tech infrastructure as it prepares for the next phase of expansion.

The new capital will be used to enhance the startup’s data infrastructure, triple its talent pool over the next three years, and support expansion goals in current and new markets, according to mPharma co-founder and CEO Gregory Rockson.

It’s also launching a pharmaceutical e-commerce portal.

Participants in the round include JAM Fund, a venture capital firm founded by Tinder co-founder Justin Mateen; Unbound, a growth investment firm by Shravin Mittal, managing director of Bharti Global limited (Bharti family investment arm); and Lux Capital, a New York-based VC firm investing in science and tech ventures. Other investors include Northstar, Social Capital, Novastar, and TO Ventures.

MPharma was originally founded in 2013 by Rockson, Daniel Shoukimas, and James Finucane with the goal of managing prescription medicine inventories for pharmacies and their suppliers, retail pharmacy operations, and providing market intelligence to hospitals, pharmacies, and patients.

The business added telehealth services to its portfolio in October of last year, capitalizing on the telemedicine boom that followed the COVID outbreak.

The virtual services are now available to patients in Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Zambia, Malawi, Rwanda, and Ethiopia, where mPharma has a presence.

MPharma also has a presence in Gabon, where it has a government contract to establish a pharmaceuticals supply chain infrastructure.

Startups like mPharma are bridging healthcare gaps by bringing important services closer to communities through pharmacies and community health checks, among other channels.

According to World Health Organization data, countries across Sub-Saharan Africa have an average of 0.23 doctors per 10,000 people, compared to an average of 84.2 doctors in some of the world’s most developed countries.

Aside from a low doctor-to-patient ratio, healthcare infrastructure is also severely lacking.

“COVID demonstrated that the best kind of care is local, in the community, and pharmacies are the closest thing in communities.”

“We believe that the pharmacy of the future, which is what we’re building, will be based on long-term treatment rather than episodic care,” Rockson said.

“In Africa, we’re transforming community pharmacies into the bedrock of a modern health system.”

“We will have a Mutti pharmacy in every community on the continent, ensuring the availability and safety of medicines for each community, and leveraging the physical infrastructure of Mutti pharmacies to expand Mutti Doctor (the telemedicine service), resulting in the continent’s largest network of doctor offices and diagnostic centers.”

To provide a full range of services, mPharma launched an e-commerce portal a few weeks ago called the Mutti Online Pharmacy, which allows its members to buy pharmaceutical products.

They are now just dispensing over-the-counter medications in Ghana, but have ambitions to expand to include prescription drugs in the near future.

MPharma’s Mutti Online Pharmacy is currently one of a small number of completely digital pharmacies with operations in Africa, including Kenya’s MyDawa.

MPharma has also engaged in diversification, collaboration, and expansion plans to help the company thrive in recent months.

It bought a 55 percent stake in Uganda’s Vine Pharmacy, which was formerly owned by the Abraaj Group, a few months ago. It also entered Ethiopia in March of last year through its subsidiary, Haltons, by negotiating a franchise deal with Belayab Pharmaceuticals.

Helena Foulkes, former president of CVS, the largest drugstore retail chain in the United States, and Daniel Vasella, ex-CEO and chairman of Novartis, are both members of MPharma’s board of directors.

Other investors include CDC Group, Breyer Capital, and Golden Palm Investments, all of which are based in the United Kingdom.

South Africa’s Telkom Seeks Court Order to Stop Spectrum Auction

Mena Adediran
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South Africa’s Telkom Seeks Court Order to Stop Spectrum Auction

Telkom, a South African telecommunications provider, is seeking a court order to put a stop to the spectrum auction organised by telecoms regulator the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA), scheduled to hold in March. This move by Telkom would further hold up South Africa’s 5G rollout which is already delayed by other legal action.

Telecoms operators in South Africa are said to have waited for over 15 years for ICASA to release spectrum licences which are needed to reduce the costs of data and increase network capacity as the use of smartphones and data is constantly growing. The spectrum auction for last year was prevented by a court ruling that followed independent objections from Telkom, e.tv, and MTN Group.

Telkom on Wednesday, January 5th, said that it has made an application for the Gauteng High Court to review the invitation to apply (for the licence) published by ICASA which contains auction rules, spectrum bands and licence obligations. The High Court application includes an “urgent” prohibition to hold up ICASA from processing any licence applications until the review is made.

According to Reuters, Telkom — in the court papers, called the scheduled auction process unlawful, illegal and unreasonable as the auction invite is “tainted by a number of reviewable errors.” Errors which include auctioning sub 1 Gigahertz (GHz) frequency band that is not yet available. Telkom claims that the outcome of the court hearings set to hold from March 14, will impact the availability of spectrum in the aforementioned band.

Telkom is also addressing the lack of transparency surrounding the licensing of a Wholesale Open Access Network— a single large network made available to all telecoms operators wherein they won’t have to build personal infrastructure.

“If allowed to stand, the (invitation) will have enduring negative consequences on the mobile market, including but not limited to reinforcing the anti-competitive structure of the mobile market,” Telkom wrote in court papers.

African Startups in 2021, Nigeria Leads, Got Much of $4.7 Billion Raised

Hassan Barakat
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African Startups in 2021, Nigeria Leads, Got Much of $4.7 Billion Raised

Nigeria led the countries that received much of the $4.7 billion funding that African startups got last 2021. According to a new report by Briter Intelligence, this indicates further growth for the sector.

The total amount raised by African startups in 2021 was twice as much as the total amount raised by African companies in 2020, and the total number of transactions announced last year was 25% more than the number announced in 2020.

In terms of fund destinations, Nigeria was followed by South Africa, Kenya, and Egypt.

According to the research, some of the finance arrangements, which totaled over 240, were expected to total $4.9 billion in the year under examination.

While commenting on the findings, Mr Dario Giuliani, Director of Briter Bridges, stated that the massive money raised last year was evidence of Africa’s growing attractiveness as an investment destination.

“The fact that Africa is approaching $5 billion in known funding in 2021, especially after nearly twenty-four months since the COVID-19 pandemic began, is a clear sign that the continent is undergoing tangible changes, and the increasing presence of local exits and returns is shaping the continent’s attractiveness,” he said.

Fintech businesses received up to 62% of the money, with the balance going to areas including health and biotech (8%), logistics (7%), education (5%), cleantech (5%), agriculture (4%), eCommerce (3%), mobility (3%), data & analytics (2%), and others.

The top 20 deals in 2021 accounted for 65 percent of total funding.

Opay, Chipper Cash, ZEPZ, Tradedepot, Zipline, JUMO, Andela, TALA, TymeBank, Flutterwave, and MFS Africa are among the firms that raised the most money in 2021, raising $100 million or more in single fundraising rounds.

The United States of America (62.5%) received the vast majority of the investments, followed by the United Kingdom (7.5%) and others.

Endeavour Catalyst, One Way Ventures, CDC Investment Works, Partech, Ribbit Capital, deci.ens, and AFRICINVEST were among the top investors in the top 20 deals.

SoftBank, Accel, Avenir, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Apis Partners, and AllanGray were among the others.

Payday Ambassador Program 2022 For Africans

Abidemi Ogunyemi-Aderibigbe
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Payday Ambassador Program 2022 For Africans

Application is on for the Payday Ambassador Program 2022 for Africans. The program gives Africans the opportunity to serve as liaisons between Payday and their communities.

 It is an awesome way for Africans across the globe who use Payday to earn rewards through referrals (referring family and friends). With Payday Ambassador Program, there are great perks and rewards when you refer friends and family.

Application Process

The application is currently ongoing and closes on the 10th of January 2022. The selection of successful candidates for the Ambassador Program will be on merit and announced on 24th January 2022

Eligibility 

To become a Payday Ambassador boldness and creativity must be a part of your core values. Also, other required values required are:

  • You must be passionate about technology, business, and finance
  • Currently not an Ambassador to another brand or organization
  • Must have time management, leadership, organizational and problem-solving skills
  • Your written and verbal communication skills must be strong 
  • You must have strong community ties at school, work, etc, or a strong Social Media presence.

Benefits of Payday Ambassador Program

As a Payday Ambassador, you have the privilege of these listed opportunities.

  • A paid internship: you will get first-hand consideration for internships and career development opportunities at Payday
  • Monthly Bonuses: Every Ambassador will get a customized referral code. This code will be for earning bonuses on all referrals 
  • Branded Items: Every Ambassador gets exciting branded product packs. These branded product packs are classy enough for showing off and sharing with friends and family
  • Networking: Ambassadors get to network and collaborate with other Payday Ambassadors globally. This increases the level of exposure and awareness for successful applicants.

To become the next Payday Ambassador, start now by using this link to apply before the deadline.

 

Xcelerate Inc. Acquires Membership Interest in AfiyaSasa Africa (ASA)

Hassan Barakat
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0
Xcelerate Inc. Acquires Membership Interest in AfiyaSasa Africa (ASA)

Xcelerate, Inc. has signed a Membership Interest Purchase Agreement to acquire a 51 % in AfiyaSasa Africa, LLC (ASA), a start-up medical technology and virtual health company that the Company believes is uniquely positioned to help patients in developing countries meet their medical needs by extending physicians’ reach through technology. This technology is based on software developed by AdviNOW that employs and incorporates artificial intelligence (AI) with augmented reality (AR). The app is intended to link people living in rural locations with minimal medical infrastructure and/or medical experts.

“Since Dilan Ellegala joined our Advisory Board in 2021, this initiative, among others, has been at the forefront of our planning.” Xcelerate’s CEO, Michael O’Shea, stated, “ASA is well positioned to help the people of Africa meet their medical needs by extending the reach of physicians to their patients’ mobile devices using a patented breakthrough technology.”

Patients can use their cell phones, tablets, or computers to access the ASA system, which allows licensed physicians and other medical workers to conduct virtual check-ins, triage, and identify the most appropriate care course. To determine if the patient is a repeat visitor, the device has facial recognition and storing capabilities. Additionally, measurements are taken with medical devices connected to a cell phone, tablet, or computer (e.g. stethoscope, thermometer, pulse oximeter, etc.) using a set of questions and answers dynamically integrated with the system’s proprietary AI component, taking the telemedicine virtual appointment to the next level. The AI collaborates with the AR and Q&A to determine diagnostic possibilities, testing and treatment alternatives, and next actions for the patient.

Dr. Ellegala, ASA’s Co-Founder, has dedicated most of his professional life to building the groundwork for Africa’s transformational medical breakthroughs. “A Surgeon in the Village: An American Doctor Teaches Brain Surgery in Africa,” written by Pulitzer-nominated journalist Tony Barthelme, chronicles his training of healthcare workers in remote Tanzania to do brain and spine surgery, as well as his pioneering work in global medical education. “A beautiful, uplifting, overall satisfying narrative of first- and third-world surgeons working together to perform neurosurgical miracles in the heart of Africa,” said NBC’s Tom Brokaw. “ASA is now set to take Dr. Ellegala’s groundbreaking work to the next level by transforming the health-care delivery system for hundreds of millions of Africans, and we’re thrilled to be a part of it.” “Xcelerate is committed to partnering with early-stage medical technology businesses and acquiring and applying patented technologies to clinical care around the world,” O’Shea stated.

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