Welcome back to Investments for Impact!This season, Scaling for Impact: 10 Years of Villgro Africa, we’re celebrating a decade of building Africa’s health innovation ecosystem. In this episode, we explore the key moment when Villgro Africa truly started to take shape. It all began with one connection—Ken Simiyu, then at Grand Challenges Canada and now with USAID, who introduced our three founders: Wilfred Njagi, Robert Karanja, and Rob Beyer. Joining us are two key figures in Villgro Africa’s journey:

🔹 Robert Karanja – Co-founder & Chief Innovation Officer, Villgro Africa

🔹 Ken Simiyu – A driving force behind Villgro Africa’s origins

We’ll dive into:

✅ What health innovation in Africa looked like a decade ago

✅ The critical gaps between academic research and commercialization

✅ Why an incubator like Villgro Africa was needed

✅ How the ecosystem has evolved over the past 10 years

Have we successfully bridged the gap between research and the market? What’s next for Africa’s health innovation landscape?

(Please note that this podcast was recorded before significant changes occurred within the U.S. government, including at USAID.)

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