Ghanaian startup MedRX, which connects patients, doctors and healthcare professionals, has been named the winner of the inaugural MTN Entrepreneurship Challenge powered by Jumia, walking away with US$25,000, among other prizes.
Disrupt Africa reported in February mobile operator MTN and e-commerce firm Jumia had partnered to launch what they described as a “first of its kind” pan-African entrepreneurship competition.
Three finalists were selected to pitch at the final – MedRX, Nigeria’s Pass.ng and Tanzania’s Vicoba – in front of a judging panel comprising of Africa Internet Group co-CEO Jérémy Hodara, University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business director Professor Walter Baets and MTN Group chief digital officer Herman Singh.
MedRX emerged the winner for its interactive health platform, which connects users to health personnel from various fields of practice.
“It’s such an amazing feeling. We actually just entered the MTN Entrepreneurship Challenge to get exposure and it is such a great feeling to be announced the winner. Health is a very important to move any nation forward and this trend can be seen across the African continent,” said Victoria Acheampong from Team MedRX.
“As a team we wanted to make this integral connection easier between medical resources and the people on the ground, and the MedRX application does just this.”
The judges concluded that MedRX had the best online to offline capability.
“We were really impressed with the width of their functionality and the depth of the integration of the application, handling a very complex challenge that actually delivered astonishingly great human value,” said Singh.
Aside from the prize money, the startup also walked away with a year-long partnership with Jumia, a Facebook Start Programme to the value of US$15,000 and the opportunity to be incubated at the MTN Solution Space at the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business and at Jumia.
“Congratulations to team MedRX. I have no doubt that they will go on to do even greater things and change the business and innovation landscapes in Africa. I would also like to commend our runners-up. The caliber of these young entrepreneurs and the potential they have shown is incredible. I am excited about their future and wish them every success,” said Singh.
Both Pass.ng and Vicoba received US$5,000 towards their projects for being runners-up.
