CB Health Access Business Mission to Uganda - Mission Accomplished

Six companies from Finland and Sweden attended a business mission to Uganda in August 2017 to meet with local hospitals, distributors and NGOs. The business visit was organized in cooperation with Uganda Healthcare Federation, and under the framework of CB Health Access, a joint program between Sweden, Finland, Estonia and Latvia, which supports health technology companies entering distant markets.  

 

During the business mission to Uganda, the companies visited large and smaller private hospitals and clinics, distributors and NGOs. One-to-one meetings were set up to explore collaboration opportunities, and the companies presented their solutions at a conference of over 120 participants, most of whom were private-sector health care providers and distributors.
 “I was positively surprised by the level of business opportunities in Uganda, after travelling extensively in Southern Africa for many years. I’m coming back!” said Roland Nilsson, president of Pansanté, a Swedish company offering a sustainable clinic and hospital concept. The other companies also admitted to having rather low expectations prior to the mission, but interest towards their solutions and the number of concrete leads by far surpassed what they had expected. Uganda’s economy has grown strongly over the recent years, with a growing middle class demanding higher quality healthcare. The country has a large private sector in healthcare, accounting for approximately 50% of healthcare expenditure. The government funds allocated to healthcare have steadily increased, but out-of-pocket spending still remains high. Health insurance coverage is also on the rise. 

Participants of the Business Forum in Kampala

All participants were also very satisfied with the target market coaching that was provided in preparation to the business mission. “Thank you, Uganda Healthcare Federation and CB Health Access partners. You’ve worked very hard to make these days valuable to our businesses, which has led to some very tangible opportunities for us!” said Nina Nilsson, from Bactiguard, whose solution helps reduce healthcare associated infections. Kasperi Kankare from an ophthalmology device company Icare Finland Oy stated that the mission has led to a steep learning curve and adds: “I love how one of the potential clients understood the business case, and I’m now eager to continue discussions with them”. The partners of CB Health Access together with Uganda Healthcare Federation will continue to support the companies, to help them reach results on the Ugandan market.

Study visit at International Hospital Kampala

CB Health Access program was initiated in 2016 between Estonian, Finnish, Latvian and Swedish technology organizations to support entrepreneurship in health technologies. The program facilitates the entry of Estonian, Latvian, Swedish and Finnish health tech companies to distant markets – South Korea, USA, India and Uganda. CB Health Access provides the companies with an introduction of the target market, individual coaching both from the home country and from target market experts, market information, business missions, and identifying and contacting potential partners, and business missions. The program has a strong focus for the companies to achieve sales in the chosen market. The program is financed by Central Baltic Interreg Program.

For more information on the CB Health Access program see https://www.cbhealthaccess.eu/, or contact: Maarika.Merirand@tehnopol.ee, Malin.Hollmark@swedishmedtech.se,  or Anna.Riby@swecare.se

Murakoze Kigali

The last day of the delegation started with an introduction to private health insurance in Rwanda, by the Rwanda Health Insurers Association. 93% of the population is covered by the public health insurance, but there are a few private health insurance companies as well. For them, the three main challenges are to mitigate fraud, to increase the level of training in management of health insurance and to improve systems and software for monitoring of the patient network. The existing open health information management system is only for epidemiology and statistical purposes and not for patient journals, management or administration. 

The day's big event was the workshop organized in collaboration with Rwanda Biomedical Center (RBC), a government agency assuring the implementation of the government's plans and policies; and Rwanda Development Board (RDB) - the national one-stop shop for investment and establishment of business in the country. 

The workshop was opened by Chargé d'Affaires Maria Håkansson, the Permanent Secretary of the MoH, Dr Solange Hakiba and the Swedish State Secretary Agneta Karlsson. The three ladies all talked about this being not the first but the second step (as it's the second health care delegation to Rwanda) on a journey of new relations between Sweden and Rwanda, and about the importance of private and public sector collaboration. The PS mentioned that there are gaps in tertiary care and super specialities such as diagnostic services, cardiology, oncology and nephrology, where the private sector could join forces with the public. 

The General Director of RBC James Kamanzi expressed the hope that we would see great partnerships and concrete business as a result of the workshop, while Hubert Ruzibiza of RDB explained what business opportunities there are within health care, such as pharma, advanced equipment for medical tourism and specialty services. 

After a nice coffee break outside the conference room, we split into groups, where the Rwandan participants were matched with the Swedish companies. The groups had interesting discussions on the topics of NCDs, health care infrastructure and maternal and child health, and the Swedish solutions were presented in more detail. The workshop ended with a nice buffet lunch. 

After that, the delegation visited the Independent University of Kigali, which is just about to start construction of a Medical School, a 388-bed teaching hospital and a 245-bed superspecialty hospital. Excavation has started, construction is expected to start at the beginning of next year and the buildings will be finished in 3 years. Of course this means that equipment, IT systems etc have to be procured - an opportunity worth looking further into. 

During the wrap-up meeting at the Embassy, Swecare got valuable feed-back on what has worked well during the delegation but also some ideas for improvement, such as letting first-time participants listen to tips and tricks from more seasoned delegates during the intro meeting. 

The very last part of the program was an innovation pub hosted by Swedish company Globhe, coordinator of global health security projects, at the Impact Hub Kigali - a fun way to finish the delegation! So thank you, Kigali, until next time - murakoze!

Swecare returns to Uganda

For the benefit of our non-Swedish speaking readers, this blogpost is in English. 

Yesterday the third Health Care Business Delegation to Uganda started with an introductory meeting for the delegates. The delegation is organized by Swecare, the Swedish Embassy in Uganda and the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs, and is headed by the State Secretary of Health and Social Affairs, Ms. Agneta Karlsson. In Uganda we have a program for Monday and Tuesday morning. Then the delegation continues to Rwanda, in cooperation with the Embassy in Kigali.

This morning started with a meeting at the MoH, where we met with high-level officials in relevant areas. After introductions by Ambassador Urban Andersson, State Secretary Agneta Karlsson and Swecare CEO Maria Helling, as well as welcoming words by the Ministry of Health, we divided for break-out sessions, and had interesting discussions on the topics of infrastructure of health care, NCDs (non-communicable diseases) and mother & child health. When the whole group convened again, the discussions were summarized. The next steps include a meeting with the Minister, the Swedish State Secretary and the directors of the technical groups present in the meeting. Continued contact with the company representatives were encouraged, for which the Swedish Embassy offered to assist. 

Next was a very informative meeting with the Aga Khan Development Network, represented by Ms. Erfa Alani, liaison officer and seven of her colleagues. The Aga Khan Development Network works within many areas, where health care is one. In Uganda, there is Kampala Pharmaceutical Industries, Jubilee Medical Insurance and four outreach centres offering medical consultations, including some specialities and lab services among other things. Aga Khan University has a school for nursing and midwifery which will be expandad with a medical school and a university teaching hospital. 

For lunch the delegation met with representatives of the World Bank and the African Development Bank. We got general information about the two organizations and their strategies for the coming years, and well as specific information about their procurement processes. A lot of information can be found on their websites (WB and ADB), so remember to check those if you are interested in e.g. upcoming tenders. 

The rest of the afternoon was spent in a match-making workshop with members of the Uganda Healthcare Federation. The media interest in the workshop was quite big, and both the State Secretary, Swecare's CEO and several of the companies were interviewed by television and the press. After welcoming words by Maria Helling and Grace Kiwanuka and Dr. Ian Clarke from UHF, everyone introduced themselves and we split up in groups for coffee and discussions. The Swedish companies presented their products or services, and got many detailed questions regarding their solutions.

The long day was rounded off with a nice reception in the garden of the Ambassador's residence. This gave the Swedish companies and other delegates another possibility to connect with stakeholders of the Ugandan health care sector. In addition, the guests could also take a close look at the CASAB clinic, that was put up in the garden for this occasion, and where some of the companies also presented their products. Judging from the way people were chatting and mingling, we hope and believe that many business contacts were made this evening - just as we hoped for!

 
The Swedish companies participating in Uganda delegation are Astra Zeneca, CAS AB - Clean Analytical System AB, Elekta, Getinge Group, Globhe, Helseplan Consulting Group AB, Hemocue, Lantmännen AS-Faktor and Medcard Apps AB. The delegation has received funding from the Office for Project Export of the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.