The Africa Health Ventures Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

When Bente Krogmann moved to Africa over a decade ago, a cab ride through Rwanda sparked a question she couldn’t shake: what happens to people here when they get sick? That question became mTek, an insurance platform that embeds protection into the everyday transactions Africans are already making — and last year, it achieved a landmark exit through its acquisition by the global insurtech unicorn bolttech. In this episode, Bente pulls back the curtain on how she pulled it off — and why she’s just getting started.

About mTek

mTek is a leading Kenya-based insurtech reshaping East Africa’s insurance ecosystem through digital innovation. Established in 2019, mTek provides a fully digital, end-to-end distribution platform that seamlessly integrates general and life insurance products with both B2C and B2B2C functionality. The platform empowers more than 350,000 customers in Kenya alone to compare quotes from over 45 insurers and purchase coverage either upfront or through flexible installment plans.

About bolttech

bolttech is a global insurtech with a mission to build the world’s leading, technology-enabled ecosystem for protection and insurance. bolttech serves customers in 39 markets across Asia, Europe, North America, and Africa. With a full suite of digital and data-driven capabilities, bolttech powers connections between insurers, distributors, and customers to make it easier and more efficient to buy and sell insurance and protection products.

In This Episode

* (00m37s) Why healthcare financing in Africa needs a new approach

We begin with an exploration of the challenges of health financing and the unique opportunity of expanding mass-market health insurance uptake.

* (04m23s) Meet Bente Krogmann and the rise of mTek

Bente shares her journey from Germany to East Africa, how she built and exited a car wash company before mTek, and how her experiences in Rwanda inspired her to build a company focused on expanding access to protection and insurance.

* (07m20s) Why mTek pivoted from direct sales to embedded insurance

mTek shifted from direct-to-consumer insurance toward embedded distribution through pharmacies, travel platforms, retailers, and other trusted partners.

* (15m31s) Inside bolttech’s acquisition of mTekBente unpacks how the relationship with bolttech began, what global investors see in Africa’s future, and the realities of navigating an international startup acquisition.

* (24m42s) Selling Africa to global investors and corporates

A candid discussion about market timing, cultural fit, scaling African startups inside global corporations, and why founders often need to become advocates for Africa on the international stage.

* (33m52s) Lessons for founders on resilience, fundraising, and international markets

Bente reflects on the emotional highs and lows of entrepreneurship, investor alignment, preparing for exits, and why founders should treat entrepreneurship as “a game you want to win.”

* (39m05s) Founder to Watch: Caitlin Dolkart of Flare Emergency Response and Rescue.co

If you enjoyed this conversation about healthcare access at the last mile, check out our related interviews: Ikpeme Neto of WellaHealth and Femi Kuti of Reliance Health.

Key Quotes

“If you want to be the most global insurtech in the world, you have to have a play on Africa.”

“You need to see [entrepreneurship] as a game you want to win.”

“It’s not about becoming an insurance company. It’s about using technology to increase protection.”

Topics Discussed

* How embedded insurance could unlock access and protection in Africa

* How Bente navigated bolttech’s acquisition of mTek

* Why global investors and corporates are bullish on Africa

* Scaling insurtech businesses in African markets

* Founder leadership, resilience, and emotional stability

* Africa as a global growth opportunity

Connect with Africa Health Ventures

Africa Health Ventures invests in healthcare innovations that will dramatically improve access and quality of healthcare in Africa and around the world.

👍 Share your reaction to this podcast on LinkedIn

📰 Sign up for our newsletter to stay informed about deals, events, and opportunities relevant to healthcare ventures in Africa

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🪙 Nominate an African startup for seed funding

What does it really take to deliver health and household products to the last mile at scale?

Joanna Bichsel is the Founder and CEO of Kasha, the leading digital commerce and last-mile delivery platform in Africa focused on health products and household goods. In this episode, Joanna shares how Kasha was born and scaled across nine countries to deliver over 110 million products. We unpack the tactics that have allowed her to scale her impact, including the varied and sometimes unlikely partnerships she’s needed to balance. Tune in to hear how this technology startup partnered with the government of Rwanda to create access to emergency contraceptives for young women, and how Kasha is working with global life sciences companies like Roche to help more women access breast cancer treatment.

This episode features insights from Jörg-Michael Rupp, who oversees Roche’s work in over 100 countries. Roche is an industry leader and global pioneer in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics focused on advancing science to improve people’s lives around the world. This episode was recorded live at Africa Tech Festival 2025 in Cape Town, one of the continent’s largest gatherings of industry leaders, startups, and investors.

In This Episode

(00m54s) Meet Joanna and Kasha. Joanna Bichsel is the founder and CEO of Kasha, a fast-growing health access platform transforming how medicines and essential goods reach people across Africa.

(06m56s) Origin Story. Joanna shares the unexpected path that led her from Microsoft Corporation and the Gates Foundation to launching a startup in Rwanda.

(12m11s) Early Fundraising is a Struggle. Joanna recounts the brutal early months of trying to raise capital as a first-time female founder in Africa—and the mindset she needed to keep moving forward even when quitting would have been so much easier.

(17m03s) Partnering with the Government of Rwanda to Create Access to Emergency Contraception. Scaling healthcare requires more than technology—it demands collaboration with governments and policymakers. Joanna explains how Kasha, as a tech startup, is well-suited to managing real-time data and on-the-ground insights. This is the value they were uniquely positioned to provide the Government of Rwanda in order to inform national policy to expand access to emergency contraception for young women.

(21m53s) Partnering with the Global Pharmaceutical Company Roche. Joanna unpacks Kasha’s partnership with Roche and how collaboration with industry-leading pharmaceutical companies can dramatically improve access to life-saving medicines. Together, Kasha and Roche have developed innovative financing and distribution models to make breast cancer treatments more affordable for patients.

(28m54s) The Problem with Impact Investors. Joanna shares her candid and controversial perspective on impact investing in Africa. She challenges investors not only to build scalable businesses but also to take a long hard look at the double burden forced upon social enterprises by unrealistic impact metrics.

(34m45s) Perspectives from Roche. Jörg-Michael Rupp, who oversees Roche’s work in over 100 countries and is one of Kasha’s partners, elaborates on why solving healthcare access requires collaboration across industries. No single organization can solve healthcare challenges alone, but together we can dramatically expand patient access to treatment.

(36m57s) Stronger together. Breast cancer advocate Dr. Carol Benn highlights the real-world complexity of tackling women’s health challenges. She explains why meaningful progress depends on honest collaboration between governments, clinicians, innovators, and the private sector—even and especially when the roadmap ahead is unclear.

If you enjoyed this conversation about healthcare access at the last mile, check out these related podcasts: The Medicine Supply Chain in Africa and The Future of Pharmacy with Remedial Health.

Key Quotes

“Success in business in Africa is staying alive and continuing to go on.” — Joanna Bichsel

“If we put the patient in the center of the solution and collaborate, we can solve these challenges together.” — Jörg-Michael Rupp

“Impact doesn’t come from ignoring the market. It comes from understanding it.” — Rowena Luk

Connect with Africa Health Ventures

Africa Health Ventures invests in healthcare innovations that will dramatically improve access and quality of healthcare in Africa and around the world.

👍 Share your reaction to this podcast on LinkedIn

📰 Sign up for our newsletter to stay informed about deals, events, and opportunities relevant to healthcare ventures in Africa

🎙️ Subscribe to this podcast wherever you get your podcasts

🪙 Nominate an African startup for seed funding

In 10 years, the medicine supply chain in Africa will look very different than it does today. In Part 2 of this podcast, we examine four key trends which are going to re-shape the medicine supply chain in Africa over the next decade - and shout out to a few of the entrepreneurs that are leading the charge. From regulatory changes spearheaded by the African Union to biomedical innovation requiring new pathways to patient, the medicine market is both growing and changing in Africa.

Our lineup includes:

* Mila Nepomnyashchiy, Lead Advisor, Center for Innovation and Impact, USAID

* Sidharth Rupani, Senior Advisor for Supply Chain, The Global Fund

* Yusuf Rasool, Director of Global Market Access at MSD/Merck

* Clinton De Souza, former Director of Public Health for Imperial Logistics (now DP World), Managing Partner at Celsian Consulting

* Dr. Prashant Yadav, one of the world’s leading scholars on healthcare supply chains. Dr Yadav is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Development, Affiliate Professor at INSEAD and Lecturer at Harvard Medical School

Listen now wherever you get your podcasts (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, etc.).

In case you missed it, don't forget to check out Part 1 of this episode, where we trace the movement of a pack of medicines from a factory in India to the shelves of a mom-and-pop pharmacy in Zambia. 

Connect with Africa Health Ventures

📰 Sign up for our newsletter to stay informed about what’s going on with healthcare ventures in Africa

🪙 Nominate a startup for seed funding

👍 Follow us on LinkedIn

🎙️ Subscribe to this podcast

Show Notes

Part 2 of The Medicine Supply Chain in Africa covers 3 segments:

1. The Outsized Role of Global Donors

(3m22s) - There’s a world of difference between the private sector medicine markets and the ones supported by billions of dollars of international donor funding. We hear from Mila Nepomnyashchiy of USAID about two different worlds: one for the medicines endorsed by global funding… and one for everything else.

2. Four Trends That Will Dramatically Change The Medicine Supply Chain in the Next 10 Years

(5m45s) - Trend 1: Clinton De Souza, former Director of Public Health for Imperial Logistics (now DP World), on regulatory changes from the African Union that will massively expand the size of the market.

(9m44s) - Trend 2: Yusuf Rasool, Director of Global Market Access at MSD/Merck, on vertically integrated supply chains that will reduce costs and increase access to consumers.

(13m28s) - Trend 3: Dr. Prashant Yadav of the Center for Global Development on omnichannel distribution that will meet patients where they live and work.

(16m46s) - Trend 4: Sidharth Rupani, Senior Advisor for Supply Chain at The Global Fund, on the golden age of biomedical innovation that will challenge our existing ideas of both ‘medicines’ and ‘supply chain’.

3. Social Entrepreneurs Leading the Charge

(20m31s) - Dr. Prashant Yadav highlights a handful of social enterprises that are leading the charge for change.

Learn More

* USAID’s Global Health Supply Chain Program is a US$9.5 billion program with support from PEPFAR. The follow-in contract may be as much as US$17 billion.

* The Global Fund provides extensive support to countries in procuring low-cost, priority medicines. Every year it spends about US$2 billion to procure medicines for HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria.

* The Africa Medical Supplies Platform is a pooled procurement mechanism spearheaded by the African Union

* The African Medicines Agency seeks to create a common regulatory environment for medicines across Africa

* The African Continental Free Trade Agreement could create the largest free trade area in the world

* mPharma provides medicines to pharmacies, but does not require payment until those medicines are sold. This helps pharmacies to stock more medicines by de-risking the need for upfront cash.

* Maisha Meds is providing forecasting, sourcing, and other technology support to small retail pharmacies in rural areas.

* Kasha is bringing health products to women and girls at home, giving them the privacy they need while increasing their agency and choice.

* Xetova supports the government in Kenya to use its health supply chain data to create insights on consumption, distribution, procurement spending, supplier and payment performance.

* Pendulum Systems (formerly Macro-Eyes) is providing AI and machine learning tools to African governments to help them optimize their medicine supply chain.

* How Local Innovation Can Drive the Global Development Agenda - This 2023 piece from Dr. Prashant Yadav highlights the importance of new social entrepreneurs in addressing gaps in the private and public medicine supply chain.

* Innovations in Digitizing Health Supply Chains in Africa - This 2023 market intelligence report from Salient Advisory highlights some of the key areas of the medicine supply chain where startups in Africa are most active.

Thank you for tuning in to Africa Health Ventures. This podcast is public so feel free to share it.

What does it take to move a pack of medicines from a factory in India to the shelves of a mom-and-pop pharmacy in Zambia? In this episode, we explore the world of the medicine supply chain in Africa, as told by the people who run it. Along the way, we unpack the market dynamics which limit access to low-cost, essential medicines.

Our lineup includes:

* Yusuf Rasool, Director of Global Market Access at MSD/Merck

* Clinton De Souza, former Director of Public Health for Imperial Logistics (now DP World), Managing Partner at Celsian Consulting

* Michael Moreland, CEO and Founder, Field Intelligence

* Sidharth Rupani, Senior Advisor for Supply Chain, The Global Fund

* Mila Nepomnyashchiy, Lead Advisor, Center for Innovation and Impact, USAID

* Dr. Prashant Yadav, Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Development, Affiliate Professor at INSEAD and Lecturer at Harvard Medical School

Listen now wherever you get your podcasts (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, etc.).

Stay tuned for Part 2, when we look at the future trends which are going to dramatically change this supply chain and highlight a few of the new ventures which are leading the way.

Connect with Africa Health Ventures

📰 Sign up for our newsletter to stay informed about what’s going on with healthcare ventures in Africa

🪙 Nominate a startup for seed funding

👍 Follow us on LinkedIn

🎙️ Subscribe to this podcast

In this episode, we cover

* (2m54) - Setting the stage: we introduce several of the key actors in the medicine supply chain, including manufacturers, distributors, and pharmacies. Dr. Prashant Yadav highlights the key role of Ministries of Health as well as the disruptive influence of social entrepreneurs.

* (8m27s) - Yusuf Rasool of MSD/Merck describes the role of large pharmaceutical companies and why it is difficult for a large multinational to operate directly in 54 different African countries.

* (10m57s) - Clinton De Souza digs into two of the structural problems in the medicines market which makes it difficult for distributors to deliver low-cost essential medicines.

* (19m07s) - From the perspective of Five Star Pharmacy in Zambia, we look at the working capital gap which prevents small pharmacies from making the full range of medicines available to people.

* (21m49s) - Michael Moreland of Field Intelligence describes the role of social entrepreneurs and embedded financing in allowing small pharmacies to increase product availability.

* (29m17s) - Recap of the episode so far and teaser for Part 2

Learn More

* Health Product Supply Chains in Developing Countries - This 2015 paper from Dr. Prashant Yadav summarizes the key actors and common challenges of medicine supply chains in Sub-Saharan Africa.

* How Local Innovation Can Drive the Global Development Agenda - This 2023 piece from Dr. Prashant Yadav highlights the importance of new social entrepreneurs in addressing gaps in the private and public medicine supply chain.

* Innovations in Digitizing Health Supply Chains in Africa - This 2023 market intelligence report from Salient Advisory highlights some of the key areas of the medicine supply chain where startups in Africa are most active.

* How MSD/Merck is improving access to healthcare - This page highlights a few of the affordability solutions that MSD/Merck’s Access to Medicines team is working on around the world.

* Imperial Logistics is one of the largest medicine distributors on the African continent.

* Five Star Pharmcies is a chain of retail pharmacies in Zambia founded by Lloyd Matowe with the support of Clinton De Souza.

* Field Intelligence is a social enterprise providing planning, fulfilment, and financing of pharmaceuticals to over 35,000 points of care in Nigeria and Kenya, including government clinics, retail pharmacies and drug shops, hospitals and telehealth providers.

* Was the $9.5B health supply chain 'a waste of USAID's money'? - Earlier this month, Devex published a(nother) searing indictment of USAID’s global health supply chain program. The controversy surrounding this highly centralized, donor-funded program is one of the reasons why now is a good time to take a look at what’s working (and what’s not) in private sector medicine supply chains. In Part 2 of this episode, we’ll touch on a few of the differences and linkages between what we describe in Part 1 and certain donor-driven supply chains.

Thank you for tuning in to Africa Health Ventures. This podcast is public so feel free to share it.

Unlocking access to quality healthcare in Africa by 2030 will require radical innovations. Join veteran digital health / healthtech entrepreneur Rowena Luk in conversation with healthcare industry leaders and innovators every quarter to strategize on what the future of healthcare in Africa will look like. This podcast is for social entrepreneurs, impact investors, and global health professionals who need to stay ahead of the rapidly changing landscape of healthcare in Africa.

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Chuck Slaughter is the founder of Living Goods, which supports over 10,000 digitally-empowered community health workers who are reducing child deaths by over 25% at an annual cost of under $4 per person. As a Senior Advisor to TPG Rise (a $10 billion impact investing platform), Director of the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, and a successful entrepreneur, Chuck has a rich perspective on how digital is reshaping aid and development work. Tune in today to hear Chuck’s guidance on whether to ‘build or buy’ tech, why nonprofits struggle to deliver the best technology products, and how governments and the private sector need to work together to scale high-impact innovations.

Chuck serves on the boards of Yale’s School of Management, Tidepool, Reach Health, and the Horace W Goldsmith Foundation. He received a Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, an Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, a Draper Richards Kaplan Fellowship, and is a World Economic Forum Social Entrepreneur of the Year. 

• (6m27s) - How Chuck and Living Goods became digital first


• (13m45s) - The DESC metaphor of Living Goods: Digital, Equipped, Supervised and Compensated


• (22m01s) - Working with new technologies: the 'build or buy' debate


• (28m24s) - Why nonprofits struggle to build great tech


• (32m09s) - The digital transformation of aid: grantmaking through the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation


• (37m08s) - Financing scale: how governments and the private sector need to work together


• (40m19s) - Rapid fire questions, shoutouts, and recommendations

You can learn more about Living Goods on their website at livinggoods.org. 

Let us know what you thought of this episode on LinkedIn or Twitter (@AidEvolved). You can also access show notes at AidEvolved.com.

Dr. Agnes Binagwaho is a pediatrician, former Minister of Health of Rwanda, Senior Lecturer at Harvard University, Advisor to the Director-General of the WHO, and co-founder of the University of Global Health Equity. 

She joins us today to talk about the role of technology in the remarkable transformation of Rwanda’s health system post-genocide. 

What are the failed promises of health technology? How has data been a North Star to her work? And what does it take to show the world that Rwanda today stands for truth?

Highlights

• (02m59s) - When health data is held hostage 


• (04m21s) - HIV is a curse that ushered in the era of electronic medical records


• (10m06s) - How epidemiological data supports effective health systems governance


• (16m10s) - Using Twitter to take a stand


• (20m54s) - Whose data do you trust?

Submit a question or comment to our mailbag, and we’ll discuss it on a future show. Emails or voice recordings can be sent to podcast@aidevolved.com 

Connect with us on LinkedIn or Twitter (@AidEvolved) and access show notes at https://AidEvolved.com

Dr. Biju Mohandas has led investments at not just one but three different household names in impact investing: LeapFrog Investments, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and Acumen. Tune in today to hear about his take on the upcoming global healthcare crisis, the competitive edge of entrepreneurs in Africa and India, and the catalytic role of impact investors. Hear the investment priorities of a man who's been leading impact investments in healthcare in Africa as long as the term "impact investing" has existed.

Dr. Biju Mohandas is a Partner at LeapFrog and the firm’s Global Co-Leader for Health Investments. Prior to LeapFrog, Dr Mohandas led the IFC’s Healthcare and Education investment team in Sub-Saharan Africa and was the Global Sector Lead for Medical Devices after also serving as head of Acumen in East Africa and as part of their founding team in India.

We’ll cover:

• (2m35s) – The coming global healthcare crisis


• (8m45s) – How Africa and India are poised to leapfrog ahead


• (12m11s) – Investing in asset-light healthcare 


• (15m09s) – Goodlife Pharmacy’s re-emergence after the Westgate Attack in Nairobi


• (18m08s) – How Redcliffe Diagnostics is bringing the lab closer to people in India


• (21m38s) – Pervasive technology, IoT, and wellness


• (23m04s) – HealthifyMe, the largest digital wellness app in India


• (26m13s) – How investors exit from ventures in emerging markets


• (30m10s) – Rapid fire questions

Submit a question to our mailbag and we’ll discuss it on a future show. Emails or voice recordings can be sent to podcast@aidevolved.com 

Connect with us on LinkedIn or Twitter (@AidEvolved) and access Biju’s latest synthesis on the state of healthcare in Africa at https://AidEvolved.com.

John Fairhurst is the head of Private Sector Engagement at the Global Fund. As such, he is the link between this global institution and innovators ranging from Microsoft to Zenysis. Tune in today to understand how the largest financier of HIV, TB, and malaria programs works with Big Tech, emerging startups, and other innovators to achieve its global goals.

In its 20 years of existence, the Global Fund has channeled $55 billion to support the fight against HIV, TB, and malaria.

Prior to joining the Global Fund John was an Executive Director at UBS Optimus Foundation and COO at the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN). He helped establish the portfolio of one of the largest private foundations in international development, the Children's Investment Fund (CIFF). He oversaw development and humanitarian programs for Oxfam in various geographies including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, and Afghanistan.

A few highlights:

• (2m13s) - Introducing John Fairhurst


• (6m06s) - How the Global Fund works with Big Tech


• (16m19s) - How the Global Fund works with emerging technologies and startups


• (21m38s) - The partnerships that don't work out


• (26m56s) - Guidance for other donors in "the valley of death"


• (31m41s) - Rapid fire questions

Submit a question or comment to our mailbag, and we’ll discuss it on a future show. Emails or voice recordings can be sent to podcast@aidevolved.com 

Connect with us on LinkedIn or Twitter (@AidEvolved) and access show notes at https://AidEvolved.com

When you dig into the problem of providing quality healthcare in Africa, sooner or later you hit the foundational question, “who is going to pay for these services?” In tackling this challenge, PharmAccess Foundation has provided health financing to almost 5M people in Kenya alone. A key part of this success is developing a digitally-enabled, financially sustainable approach that generates revenue from middle-income clients to sustainably serve low-income communities. We chat today with Nicole Spieker, CEO of PharmAccess Foundation, about the public-private partnerships necessary to make healthcare affordable to everyone. 

Conversation highlights: 

• (2m19s) - Introducing PharmAccess Foundation


• (3m01s) - How PharmAccess is innovating in healthcare financing


• (6m43s) - What makes M-TIBA different from other health insurance programs?


• (9m55s) - The digital leapfrog opportunity in health insurance in Africa


• (12m20s) - How public funds catalyze private investment


• (14m45s) - Harnessing the value of data for the people who own it

Submit a question or comment to our mailbag, and we’ll discuss it on a future show. Emails or voice recordings can be sent to podcast@aidevolved.com 

Connect with us on LinkedIn or Twitter (@AidEvolved) and access show notes at https://AidEvolved.com