2024 FemSTEM Africa Pitch Competition
The FemSTEM Africa Pitch Competition is the culminating event of the inaugural FemSTEM Africa event series. The pitch competition, judged by a panel of industry experts and key opinion leaders, gives up-and-coming healthcare innovators the opportunity to present their idea to the public and the chance to win funding and in-kind services to scale their project. With FemSTEM Africa’s mandate to inspire, engage, and celebrate women entrepreneurs, this final event spotlights and accelerates the work of the next generation of women entrepreneurs in the African healthcare sector.
This year’s finalists are: A-Lite Uganda Ltd, Eudio Mobile, PlyChain, PUMZI Devices Uganda Ltd, Remedius Mobile Health and URUKUNDO Initiative.
This year, we welcome Adwoa Birago Nyantakyi, Grace Almendras-Castillo, Leah Nduati and Monica Kahindo as our panel of expert judges.
The finalists will be competing for cash prizes and in-kind legal services provided by Sustineri Attorneys.
Winner: $15,000 cash prize and $5,000 in-kind legal services from Sustineri Attorneys
1st runner up: $5,000 cash prize and $5,000 in-kind legal services from Sustineri Attorneys
2nd runner up: $5,000 cash prize and $5,000 in-kind legal services from Sustineri Attorneys
This program is brought to you by the H2i at the University of Toronto, SE Ghana and Sustineri Attorneys, in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation.
Meet the Judges
Adwoa Birago Nyantakyi is an Associate at Sustineri Attorneys PRUC specializing in Finance, Capital Market, Projects and Property, Construction, and Infrastructure related activities.
She joined Sustineri Attorneys PRUC with considerable corporate and legal practice experience having worked with other law firms and a financial institution in Ghana.
In her current role, Adwoa leads thought-leadership initiatives in addition to her primary responsibilities of innovating legal solutions for client briefs. She has an unwavering commitment to supporting the regulatory compliance of businesses and actively participates in initiatives that help build a stronger compliance culture and broaden the understanding of the intersection of law and business.
Adwoa is a thought leader and writes extensive guidance notes for the adoption of effective business management practices in Ghana’s leading Business and Financial Times newspaper – the B&FT Newspaper and other online news portals.
She is a regular contributor to two leading quarterly industry reports – the Ghana Fintech Report and the Ghana Business Sustainability Report, both published by Sustineri Attorneys PRUC.
Grace Almendras-Castillo is a seasoned entrepreneur, corporate executive, technology investor, and a dedicated solver of complex problems with a focus on social impact. With over two decades of global experience in consumer healthcare, life sciences, she achieved a successful exit with the acquisition of Self Care Catalysts, a trailblazing digital health company.
Grace now ventures into new territories with Gifftid, challenging conventional norms once again. Her pioneering role in digital health transformation has earned her numerous accolades, including recognition as one of the Top 50 Women in STEM in Canada, an E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year Nominee, and a Springboard Enterprises Alum, JLabs alum, MaRS alum among others. She is a Health Innovator and holds patents for Health Storylines, a digital health platform.
Currently, Grace directs her focus towards addressing the hurdles in achieving a fair and equitable distribution of financial capital for social /purposeful enterprises. Recognizing the transformative potential of untapped human talent, she aims to empower global social entrepreneurs, industry and investors through Gifftid. By bringing together bright minds, catalytic capital, and impact investors via an innovative digital intelligence platform, Grace is poised to make a significant impact.
Dedicated to continuous learning, Grace has completed various programs including an Impact Investing, Social Finance and Impact Management at University of Oxford, Executive Development Program from The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, Entrepreneurship studies at The Rotman School of Business at the University of Toronto, and Sustainable Finance and ESG Frameworks at the Yale School of Management, among others. Hailing from a family of women entrepreneurs and micro-finance investors, she upholds the legacy of providing opportunities for impact investing and meaningful impact. Grace Almendras-Castillo is a seasoned entrepreneur, corporate executive, technology investor, and a dedicated solver of complex problems with a focus on social impact. With over two decades of global experience in consumer healthcare, life sciences, she achieved a successful exit with the acquisition of Self Care Catalysts, a trailblazing digital health company. Grace now ventures into new territories with Gifftid, challenging conventional norms once again. Her pioneering role in digital health transformation has earned her numerous accolades, including recognition as one of the Top 50 Women in STEM in Canada, an E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year Nominee, and a Springboard Enterprises Alum, JLabs alum, MaRS alum among others. She is a Health Innovator and holds patents for Health Storylines, a digital health platform. Currently, Grace directs her focus towards addressing the hurdles in achieving a fair and equitable distribution of financial capital for social /purposeful enterprises. Recognizing the transformative potential of untapped human talent, she aims to empower global social entrepreneurs, industry and investors through Gifftid. By bringing together bright minds, catalytic capital, and impact investors via an innovative digital intelligence platform, Grace is poised to make a significant impact. Dedicated to continuous learning, Grace has completed various programs including an Impact Investing, Social Finance and Impact Management at University of Oxford, Executive Development Program from The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, Entrepreneurship studies at The Rotman School of Business at the University of Toronto, and Sustainable Finance and ESG Frameworks at the Yale School of Management, among others. Hailing from a family of women entrepreneurs and micro-finance investors, she upholds the legacy of providing opportunities for impact investing and meaningful impact.
Leah Nduati leads the Accelerator at ALX Ventures where they develop, connect, and fund tech startups across Africa; with the goal of creating one million decent jobs for young Africans by 2030.
Before joining The Room, Leah spent three years leading GrowthAfrica’s West African operations and advising startups on scaling and accessing investments. Her efforts helped to position GrowthAfrica as a leading accelerator and growth partner for African entrepreneurs and companies scaling their businesses across the continent.
Leah is also the founder of the first ever Kenya Trade Expo in Ghana, an event that brought together business communities and dignitaries from both countries to facilitate fruitful trade partnerships.
An entrepreneur herself, Leah runs a wellness tech platform (Yoga Experiences Africa), that connects yogis to yoga teachers anywhere in Africa.
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Monica Kahindo has has built a 15-year career in fundraising, raising millions to sustain and scale social programs and start-ups in the social, humanitarian and global health sectors. Through her experience connecting funders to causes, she has built expertise on what it takes to be present successful pitches to potential investors.
As head of fundraising and partnerships at Madiro, a philanthropic impact investment fund, Monica is scaling up support for innovation and technological solutions to global health and humanitarian service. She is passionate about increasing the quality of life and access to opportunity in Africa and sees entrepreneurship as central to achieving this.
Meet the Finalists
A-Lite Uganda is a medical device company dedicated to improving the quality of healthcare in sub-Saharan Africa through innovation and applied research. Our flagship product, the A-Lite Vein Locator, is a non-invasive medical device that uses red-light technology to provide easy access to patients’ veins for procedures such as blood draws, IV insertions, and injections.
Eudio is an innovative mobile app designed to empower individuals with low vision by providing user-friendly tools for navigation, safety, and daily task assistance, enhancing their independence and confidence.
PlyChain leverages blockchain technology to verify the authenticity of pharmaceuticals through secure QR codes, ensuring patient safety by providing an immutable, transparent record of each drug’s journey from manufacturer to consumer.
The Smart Postpartum Haemorrhage Volumetric Drape (SMART-PVD), by PUMZI Devices, is a device that performs accurate and real-time estimation of blood loss. The goal of this device is to aid in the timely diagnosis of Postpartum Hemorrhage (PPH) so as to drastically reduce maternal morbidity and mortality by empowering skilled birth attendants with a tool that enables them to make evidence-based decisions in the management of PPH while improving their productivity and patient satisfaction in the long run.
Remedius Mobile Health is a digital health company that bridges the gap between patients to health care providers through use of telemedicine platform, Remedius Live. Remedius live is a web and mobile based application that enables patients to connect with doctors virtually and schedule appointments, have video consultations, live chats and so much more, just like Zoom but with a doctor!!!
Remedius Mobile Health, connecting you to better health anytime, anywhere.
URUKUNDO Initiative is a youth led social enterprise committed to revolutionizing Life Skills especially Sexual Reproductive Health and Mental Health education in Africa through play based innovations.
Through URUKUNDO Life Skills BOARD GAME; a globally multi-awards winning board and cards based game available physically and digitally which provide evidence based Life Skills information in friendly, interactive and inclusive fashion to young people everywhere.