Leading consultancy firm Salient Advisory is proud to mark five years of advancing the scale and impact of African healthtech across the continent. Through strategic partnerships, market intelligence and transformative initiatives, the advisory firm has helped facilitate over $20 million in catalytic funding to startups improving access to lifesaving medicines and healthcare.
Since launching in 2020, Salient has worked to strengthen African healthcare systems by supporting key players building its future: local innovators (Figorr, Zuri Health, Chefaa, MYDAWA and more), local governments (Nigeria’s Presidential Value Chain Initiative, Lagos State), industry (MSD, Cencora), and global health institutions (Gates Foundation, The Global Fund). Founded with the conviction that African-led solutions are key to resolving systemic challenges in healthcare access, Salient has grown into a trusted partner for global and local health actors seeking to improve health systems.
Salient has played a pivotal role in supporting risk-tolerant, grant-based funding models through its Investing in Innovation program. Launched in 2022 and backed by partners such as the Gates Foundation, Microsoft, Chemonics, MSD, and Cencora, the program provided 38% of all grant funding to African healthtech startups in 2023, enabling them to validate their models, grow sustainably, and become more attractive to long-term investors.
Key Milestones Over Five Years:
- Tracked over 1,000 health-focused African innovators
- Catalysed more than $20 million in revenue and risk-tolerant funding to promising African enterprises, connecting them with healthcare customers across the public and private sectors.
- Supported 15 governments and regulators, >65 startups, and facilitated 630+ bespoke meetings with startups and customers.
- Produced 26 reports on the African healthtech ecosystem, read by tens of thousands of industry experts
Commenting on this impactful milestone, Salient Founder, Mara Hansen Staples: “We founded Salient because we saw a gap: a disconnect between promising African innovations and the capital, visibility, and systems they needed to make impact at scale. Five years on, the interest in sustainable, locally-driven, digitally-enabled approaches to care has never been higher. We’re looking forward to reporting as the impact driven by technology in African healthcare grows.”
Looking ahead, Salient will expand its impact by:
- Deepening its advisory support to leading governments, manufacturers and distributors, in policy, regulation, and digitalisation
- Growing its Access to Markets events to connect a larger set of innovators, provider systems, payors, insurers, manufacturers, distributors, regulators, governments, and investors for impactful collaboration with leading startups
- Continuing to spotlight the impact of African innovation globally
- Continuing to solve complex challenges and pursue more equity in healthcare
Salient’s next chapter will double down on the principles that have guided its journey: proximity to the problems it seeks to solve, partnership with those driving change, and a commitment to ensuring that health innovations reach the people who need them most. It calls on governments, global health institutions, and development partners to deepen their investment in African-led innovation. The path to equitable, resilient health systems requires scaling proven local solutions, strongly believes this can only happen with sustained funding, strategic collaboration, and a shared commitment to inclusive market growth.
