Insights
Advancing women’s health and equity could add $316B or 10% to Africa’s GDP
2 min read
Magaret Ntambi, Ona Aliakai
This is the kick-off of our 3-part series on FemTech in Africa...
We’re excited about this one!
Why?
Because we’re highlighting an industry that hasn’t received much coverage.
Before we jump in…
We’d like to remind you of what we shared the last time we met.
We published Africa from a Bird’s-Eye View: A Macroeconomic Deep Dive, an analysis of the economic drivers shaping the distribution of venture capital (VC) funding across Africa.
If you’re new here, you didn’t receive it in your inbox and you won’t find it on our website.
That’s because it was featured on EiX (Entrepreneurship and Innovation Exchange)—a free peer-reviewed resource visited by ~5 million people a year.
If you’d like to read it, you’ll find it here.
Returning to today’s topic…
The inspiration for this piece stems from a conversation with a FemTech founder who has built a solution for African women prone to and fighting cancer.
Our research uncovered the following:
In Part 1 of this series, we want you to walk away understanding:
- Section 1: Why women are pivotal to improving Africa’s economy
- Section 2: The unique health-related challenges African women face that hamper their ability to contribute to economic development
In Part 2, we will share:
- Section 3: Non-tech and FemTech solutions tackling these challenges
- Section 4: Whitespace for founders to build
Let’s dive in.
Section 1: Women are pivotal to improving Africa’s economy
Women’s health is the foundation for social and economic development for two reasons
- Women represent ~50% of the continent’s human resources but contribute to only 33% of GDP. If more countries focused on advancing women’s health and equality, by 2025 the continent could add $316 billion or 10% to GDP.
- Women bear life. The better the health of African children, the more productive the continent's workforce and the more fruitful the future economy. However, a child’s health depends on their mother’s health, starting before conception.
