Interview: Sanofi seeks SA healthtech start-ups for Afric@Tech Challenge

Loading player...
In this promoted episode of the podcast, TechCentral speaks to Thibault Crosnier Leconte, country chairman and GM at French pharmaceuticals giant Sanofi, about the company’s initiative to identify and support healthtech start-ups and entrepreneurs.
Sanofi is calling for South African entries to the Afric@Tech Challenge, part of the Viva Technology 2020 event in June in Paris, France, and is specifically looking for start-ups that are innovating in the area of health and medical technology. There, they will have a chance to present their inventions to global investors and tech leaders at Europe’s largest technology event.
As part of the Afric@Tech Challenge, which closes on 6 March 2020, start-ups stand a chance to not only present their technologies at Viva Tech but also gain access to an investment partnership with Sanofi.
In the podcast, Crosnier Leconte explains why Sanofi is interested in supporting South African – and African – healthtech start-ups and entrepreneurs and what those entering can expect from the challenge.
Enter the challenge here: https://challenges.vivatechnology.com/en/challe
Sanofi at Afric@Tech comprises four challenges aimed at providing innovative and adapted solutions to improve access to medicine and healthcare in Africa. Initiated by Sanofi in all African countries, this contest will help identify, reward and accompany the best start-ups in their goal of revolutionising practices in the health sector in Africa.
Now in its third year, the event consists of four challenges, which Crosnier Leconte sets out in the podcast.
The selected projects could also benefit from financial assistance and individual support from Sanofi, through a system of coaching and mentoring.
“The four challenges are part of Sanofi’s strategy to encourage innovation in Africa. They represent a concrete way to contribute locally through the support provided to the most audacious and innovative entrepreneurs in the achievement of their projects,” says Crosnier Leconte.
20 Feb 2020 English South Africa Technology · Business

Other recent episodes

TCS | How Optasia lends billions to people banks can’t see

Optasia will distribute more than US$6-billion in credit across its markets in 2026 – and it carries every cent of the default risk itself. In this episode of the TechCentral Show, CEO Salvador Anglada unpacks how the JSE’s biggest recent fintech listing actually works. Formerly known as Channel VAS, Optasia…
23 Jul 25 min

Everything you wanted to know about EVs but were afraid to ask

In the latest episode of Watts & Wheels with Wills, host William Kelly is joined in the studio by Greg Cress, automotive and e-mobility industry lead at Accenture South Africa, and Gary Scott of Scottify -- two of the longest-serving voices in South Africa's electric vehicle scene, and co-authors of…
22 Jul 19 min

Watts & Wheels with Wills: The rands-and-cents case for electric trucks

Aeversa’s John Ford unpacks the rands-and-cents case for electric trucks in this first of a new interview series. TechCentral is proud to present the first episode of Watts & Wheels with Wills, our new interview show about electric vehicles and the fast-changing world of e-mobility in South Africa. In the…
20 Jul 22 min

Watts & Wheels S1E7: 'Ferrari's EV breaks the internet'

Episode 7 of Watts & Wheels – TechCentral's electric motoring show – opens with mock outrage: the South African Car of the Year results are in, and the Alfa Romeo Junior didn't take the overall title. Hosts William Kelly and Duncan McLeod demand a recount – though they concede the…
8 Jul 1 hr 05 min

TCS | Pick n Pay’s Enrico Ferigolli on Penny, the AI that shops for you

Pick n Pay has switched on an AI shopping companion called Penny inside its asap! app, and in this episode of the TechCentral Show, retail executive for omnichannel Enrico Ferigolli takes editor Duncan McLeod through what it does and why it matters. Built on Google's Gemini models, Penny lets customers…
2 Jul 23 min