Recent Developments

Following a successful National Health Insurance Fund pilot in 2019, Penda enrolled 1477 patients both in-person and over social media, and as a result patient visits and revenue increased by a significant 33%.  NHIF currently reimburses 100 KSH per person per month for limited primary care services, and for each 100 people signed up with Penda they see about 30 patient visits per month. Because Penda’s model is built on trustworthy and ultra-low-cost care, they earn a profit margin that is similar to that earned with uninsured cash-paying patients.  The scheme has been so successful, Penda anticipate over 3000 patients to enrol in 2020. 

Apollo has been able to deliver essential agricultural inputs on credit to over 25000 farmers so far in 2020 despite the covid disruption. This is made possible by Apollo's technology-led approach to providing finance to rural small-scale farmers. Their automated operations allowed Apollo to continue providing these services to farmers at a time when they otherwise would face significant challenges accessing timely inputs. This highly scalable and commercially viable approach has helped farmers sustain improved yields and incomes even during these difficult times. 

As COVID-19 cases increase across Kenya, Jacaranda has joined with government and foundation partners to mitigate the impact on maternal health across 7 counties, encompassing nearly 30% of the population.  By rapidly expanding PROMPTS their digital health platform connecting mothers to care, and by deploying their new tele-triaging and emergency referral tracking tools, Jacaranda has ensured that despite increased delays visiting health facilities, mothers continue to receive life-saving care.  In addition, Jacaranda’s Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care nurse mentors are now using digital tools to carry out training modules and socially distanced simulation drills to fast track obstetric skills.

With the spread of Covid-19 we face challenging times both in our home base in the UK and in our African countries of operation. The Board of Trustees and staff have already successfully transitioned to an on-line operational model to maintain our levels of engagement and support to our grantees, and will maintain full operations supporting disbursements and payments.  Whilst we anticipate that we may be affected by periods of operational resource constraints, we are and will continue to be open for new grant opportunities.   The situation will be reviewed regularly and any changes to our availability will be posted here.

Enterprise for Development’s work promoting socially and environmentally sustainable social enterprise, and providing hands-on support to establish and develop commercial-scale health and agribusinesses in sub-Saharan Africa will be more important than ever.  We will strive to maximise our impact and value add by working with grantees to navigate the challenging times ahead.  Wishing everyone safe and healthy passage.

Further information is available in the following links.

WHO

Public Health England

Jacaranda Health

Penda Health

Growth of TIST’s pro-poor tree growing activities in sub-Saharan Africa and India has been held back in the past by the low price paid in the informal carbon market for its “high quality” carbon credits.  The greater recent awareness of the need to act to address climate change has led to a large increase in 2020 in the price paid to purchase TIST’s carbon credits. The resulting increase in resources has enabled TIST to adopt a more ambitious expansion plan aimed at substantial further increases in the currently 90,000 farmer beneficiaries and the currently 18 million trees grown.