The Africa Health Ventures Podcast
Business
Mara Hansen Staples is on a mission to tear down the glass ceiling that stands between African innovators and global funding. She spent years talking to funders behind closed doors in Geneva, D.C., New York, and London. Throughout these conversations, she was always struck by the question: if our goal is to serve African markets, why aren’t there any Africans in these discussions? Today she has spearheaded the launch of Investing in Innovation (i3), a game-changing program to revisit and rethink how the public and private sector come together to support locally led innovation in Africa.
In this conversation, we trace Mara’s journey from riding motorbikes to deliver vaccines in rural Morocco to the halls of Harvard and the boardrooms of the Gates Foundation. We hear what it’s like to sit in the donor’s seat: both the power and the limitations of that role. And through it all, as we weave through Mara’s professional and personal negotiations with the healthcare system, we learn about the transformative power of technology and the essential need for effective health supply chains.
Mara is the Founder and CEO of Salient Advisory. Launched in 2020, Salient's work on health tech in Africa has been featured on CNN, CNBC, TechCrunch, Bloomberg, Quartz, Devex, Stanford Social Innovation Review, by the Center for Global Development, the Brookings Institution and many more. Previously, Mara co-founded Impact for Health, and worked at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation where she led >$100M portfolio to improve coverage of primary health care through health financing and engagement of the private sector. Mara holds a MSc in Global Health & Population from Harvard, was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Morocco and serves as a member of the advisory board for Nivi, Inc.
To find out more, access the show notes at https://AidEvolved.com
Let us know what you think of this episode on Twitter (@AidEvolved) or by email (hello@AidEvolved.com)
AI for Health, Part 2: A Step Ahead
AI for Health, Part 1: Promise and Perils
The Medicine Supply Chain in Africa, Part 2: The Next 10 Years
The Medicine Supply Chain in Africa: from Manufacturer to Pharmacy (Part 1)
Introducing the Africa Health Ventures Podcast
Chuck Slaughter of Living Goods: Digital First Healthcare Saving Lives at the Last Mile
Dr. Agnes Binagwaho, Former Minister of Health of Rwanda
Investing in Healthcare with the World’s Largest Pure-Play Impact Investor
Technology, Innovation, and the Global Fund
Nicole Spieker of PharmAccess Foundation
Curt LaBelle, M.D., Managing Partner of the Global Health Investment Fund and the AXA IM Global Health Fund
Margot Cooijmans of Philips Foundation
Joseph Ssentongo of the Global Innovation Fund
Pippa Yeats of Turn.io: Sending a Lifeline to the People of Ukraine
Andy Bryant of Segal Family Foundation
Andy Pattison of WHO: 12 Days to Launch the Largest WhatsApp Service in the World
Hannah Subayi: From Billion Dollar Fund Manager to Pan-African Angel Investor
Creating New Ways to Fund Innovations in Global Health with Rebecca Distler of the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation
Season 3 Teaser: Donors and Investors in Digital Health / HealthTech
BongoHive: Building the Zambian Tech Sector from the Ground Up
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