09/10/2026
A Villgro Africa contingent joined health innovators, investors, policymakers and ecosystem leaders at the Africa HealthTech Summit (AHTS) 2026, contributing to conversations on what it takes to finance, commercialise and build health innovations that can respond to Africa’s health priorities.
Villgro Africa co-founder & CEO, Wilfred Njagi, joined the session "From Investment to Impact: Using a Common Classification Framework to Align and Optimise Digital Health and AI Financing in Africa", bringing a private-sector perspective to the conversation on better coordination of digital health investment.
Wilfred highlighted a persistent gap: innovators may understand the health problems they are solving, but they do not always have visibility into where governments are prioritising resources. A common classification framework could give innovators and investors a clearer picture of national priorities, funding gaps and opportunities, helping investment respond more closely to public-sector demand.
He also highlighted the opportunity to move from fragmented funding towards more coordinated capital. With a common language for tracking investment, private investors, governments and development partners can better identify gaps, reduce duplication and deploy complementary forms of capital around shared national priorities.
The session Wellness Through Innovation: The Commercialisation Journey brought together nine health founders at different stages of growth to examine what it takes to move a health innovation from idea to market and scale. Conversations explored commercial readiness, the evidence that builds confidence in a solution, investment readiness, health-system partnerships and the support founders need at different stages of growth. Our Head of Investments & Transaction Services, Jackson Mwatha, joined Joshua War, Program Manager at African Impact Initiative, Dr. Meggie Mwoka, Innovations Manager at Amref Health Africa, and Sharon Batamuriza, Fund Director at Madiro, among others, to provide practical feedback to the founders.
Our Associate, Monica Gathoni, represented Villgro Africa during the Youth in Digital Health Plenary, a conversation centred on the role of young Africans in shaping the next phase of the continent’s health transformation. The plenary brought together perspectives on youth-led innovation, digital transformation, investment and inclusion, and culminated in the Youth Kigali Declaration, translating youth priorities into a one-year action plan for youth in digital health.
Across the different conversations, a common thread emerged: promising innovation alone is not enough. Moving solutions forward requires stronger alignment with health-system priorities, appropriate and coordinated capital, evidence, clear pathways to commercialisation, and opportunities for the next generation of African health innovators to shape the systems they are building for.
