Congratulations to Simbona Healthcare R&D as the first recipient of the AHIA Emory Prize for the most promising pre-revenue startup! We are excited to
ABOUT SIMBONA:
Based in Ethiopia, Simbona Healthcare R&D focused on developing local medical devices for localized needs.
HOW WAS SIMBONA FOUNDED?
Simbona founder, Habtamu Abafoge, founded the company in 2017 in Ethiopia.
“When you visit hospitals across Ethiopia, you realize that most devices are imported from different continents which can create problems. Staff arent using the devices they have appropriately, or even worse, they dont have the devices that they need to do their jobs. This observation led me to start designing and developing tools for our Ethiopian context.”
WHAT ARE SOME OF THE CHALLENGES YOU’VE FACED?
When I started out, I didnt have a background in healthcare. I saw a problem and thought it would be easy to address; however, there are national and international regulations to navigate when creating a device that will interact with a baby. We had a lot to learn. We ended up creating alternative products that require less regulation that we could produce more rapidly and support the R&D of more regulated products in the process. We now have multiple products available including a UV sterilizer used to disinfect hospital equipment on the market that directly addresses a massive sanitation problem facing many lower and middle income countries.
HOW WILL YOU USE THE PRIZE MONEY?
We see the equation simply: “Any lost day of raising money means we are losing babies.” These funds will support passing of the Ethiopian FDA standards for mass productions to begin initial device manufacturing in country.
To learn more, please visit https://simbona.net/
