Africa receives less than 2% of global health spending. The Transform Health blended-finance fund, a partnership between AfricInvest and the Health Finance Coalition, makes equity, mezzanine and debt investments to expand locally-led care delivery and digital solutions for vulnerable and underserved patients on the continent.
Transform Health Fund surpassed its initial target of $100 million with investments from Royal Philips, Merck & Co., the International Finance Corp., the US and French development finance institutions, FSDAi, Grand Challenges Canada, family office Ceniarth, and many others. The fund, which was launched in 2022, is segmented into a concessional tranche of impact-first investors and a commercial tranche.
Eyes, kidneys, bellies
Transform Health Fund’s first three investments include Lapaire Glasses in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. The company provides affordable vision tests and eyeglasses to hundreds of thousands of people through 85 retail shops in Cote d’Ivoire, Togo, Burkina Faso, Mali, Benin, Kenya and Uganda.
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania-based Africa Healthcare Network operates a chain of affordable dialysis clinics in East Africa. The company launched its first clinic in Rwanda nine years ago and now runs more than 45 facilities.
Nairobi-based Instaproducts manufactures “therapeutic foods” for malnourished children and mothers, which are distributed through aid partners and NGOs. The company sources ingredients, like groundnuts, from local growers to improve farmer livelihoods.
