With a growing middle class, early-stage frontier markets, enormous demographic advantages, and its ongoing digital transformation, Africa continues to grow in both economic and geopolitical importance. In “Demystifying Africa’s Risk Perception Premium,” Paul Clyde and co-authors make the case for a stronger U.S.- Africa trade and investment relationship, one that changes the narrative around doing business on the continent.
WDI is collaborating with the Kenya Climate Innovation Center (KCIC) on the Sustainable Waste Innovation for a Future in Transition (SWIFT) program, a three-year incubator and accelerator program targeting small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the waste management sector in Kenya. Funded by the IKEA Foundation, the program’s primary objective is to transform the waste management sector through innovative business models that embrace the principles of circular economy. The SWIFT program will support 110 SMEs from across the country through business advisory services, technical assistance, mentorship and access to finance, and by fostering an enabling environment through advocacy and policy support.
WDI’s role is to design an impact measurement strategy, essential for evaluating the program’s effectiveness. WDI will also develop the research design, sampling strategy, surveys, and analysis plan. During this project, WDI will strengthen KCIC staff’s measurement capabilities while actively learning about the waste management and climate change context in Kenya. WDI will conduct the data analysis and identify statistically significant program impacts. These efforts will culminate in the production of detailed reports at baseline and end-line phases, encapsulating key findings. These insights will also support KCIC. Learn more in this webinar.
Develop a protocol for establishing seven Vision Centers around Kisii and develop recommendations on location of Vision Centers. Kisii Eye Hospital is also expanding into Kisumu with a second hub hospital. A second project this year is designed to put together an execution plan complete with financial and market analysis for the Kisumu market.
Kisii Eye Hospital in Kenya is planning for expansion into a new facility and is developing a business plan that will allow it to apply for a loan to the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and other potential investors. The plans are based on the specifications provided by the IFC.
Infinity Advanced Technology Solutions has been a supplier of imaging and other medical equipment and consumables in Ethiopia since 2016. The company is exploring the possibility of offering radiation therapy and/or a Cyclotron facility for manufacturing Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG). The WDI team developed a market size estimate, understanding of regulatory hurdles and costs of production as part of a business plan.
WDI created an 8-week online course: Starting a Business: Your Entrepreneurial Journey. The pilot program ran in April-May 2023. The course consisted of live training sessions, guest talks, short videos, online quizzes, and a capstone project in which participants worked in teams to conceptualize and pitch a new business via a video. The video was then judged by the program mentors and winning teams received a special certificate. The pilot program had 88 participants from nine countries.
This primer provides a comprehensive but non-technical overview of the distinct health information systems (HIS) that all together support health care delivery in low-resource settings. It opens with a historical account and landscape assessment and describes the urgent need to build a lean rigorous HIS that integrates these different components. Subsequent sections describe the individual systems that: i) track individual patient and health care provider information; ii) directly document care delivery; iii) provide public and population health data; iv) support facilities’ and community health workers’ administrative and financial functions; and v) coordinate logistics and health commodities supply chains. A separate section describes imported data, including “master data” and manufactured (e.g., “meta”) data. The primer closes with recommendations for principled HIS stewardship.