Famfa Oil Limited, Nigeria’s leading indigenous oil exploration and production company is collaborating with Futurize to co-fund the launch of its first annual Fuel Africa Innovation Program which is being organized in partnership with AstraZeneca and Microsoft and also co-funded by Bristol Myers Squibb.
The program virtually brings together hundreds of students and recent alumni from 12 universities across
seven countries in Sub-Saharan Africa for an entrepreneurship bootcamp and innovation competition.
During the innovation competition, participants will form multi-disciplinary teams, receive industry insights,
mentorship, and hands-on training through workshops to generate solutions for early-stage business
ventures. At the end, teams will pitch their ideas to a panel of judges and will be awarded pre-seed
investment through cash prizes and opportunities to advance their careers.
Digital training is crucial to sustainable development, boosting entrepreneurship and job creation. “By
bridging the gap between education and the current labor markets, entrepreneurship programs like Fuel
Africa can unlock the tremendous talent universities hold,” said Futurize CEO Rhea Singhla. Participants
have opportunities to network with peers and international experts to create a collaborative ecosystem that
can drive innovation to grow the African economy.
Fuel Africa 2022 brings together the brightest minds across universities in Sub-Saharan Africa to address
some of the continent’s most pressing challenges in healthcare, with impactful solutions while leveraging
the power of cross-collaboration and technology and according to Mr Rotimi Alakija, Famfa Oil Limited, the only way one can move forward is through innovation, and this can only be done by investing in fresh
solutions to solve current problems.
This year’s two topic areas are focused on creating solutions that will enable access to healthcare as well
as the management and early detection of Non-Communicable Diseases. The mission here is to equip
young entrepreneurs with the resources to build high-potential venture ideas and to contribute to
sustainable development globally.
Barbara Nel, African Cluster Country President at AstraZeneca pointed out that “Through A Catalyst
Network, AstraZeneca’s interconnected and dynamic global network of more than 20 health innovation
hubs, we are co-creating challenge-based solutions with and for patients”. She said according to the World
Health Organization (WHO), Non Communicable Diseases (NCD) are steadily increasing in prevalence in
Africa, and they are predicted to overtake communicable diseases by the year 2030. “Over time, NCDs
have grown to become the leading cause of death worldwide. These numbers demonstrate the urgency in
acting on it. By partnering with Futurize, we want to offer students in Africa exciting opportunities to
connect and collaborate with a truly global network of expertise and experience, helping to accelerate
innovation and ensure that more patients can get access to the latest health tech solutions”. She concluded.
These solutions are to be aligned with advancing UN Sustainable Development Goals 3 (Good Health &
Well-being), 4 (Quality Education) and 5 (Gender Equality).
Yacine Barro Bourgault, Enablement Lead: Africa Transformation Office at Microsoft, disclosed that
Microsoft, through the Africa Transformation Office, is committed to supporting education transformation
across Africa with access to learning tools, resources and technology. We look forward to seeing what
innovative solutions to pressing concerns these bright minds will develop during the program.
