Episode 14 · Africa
From crisis to revolution: why Africa's moment is now, a healthtech VC's case
Rowena Luk · Managing Partner, Africa Health Ventures
May 2025
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About this episode
A healthtech investor's view on healthcare in Africa over the next 10 years. Rowena Luk has built and scaled digital health in over 40 African countries. Now she's backing founders through her VC firm - and makes a measured, compelling case for why this moment of crisis is also the biggest opportunity Africa has seen.
“If you're in Africa like I am, and you're investing, it's not impact investing - it's just investing.”
Rowena Luk
What we cover
- 01Why this is Africa's moment - Rowena's hard-metrics business case for investing now
- 02How VC funding differs from philanthropy: 10-year horizons versus short program cycles
- 03Meet the market where it is: Africa is not homogenous - do the work to understand what's needed now
- 04Myths and realities of investing in Africa: checking your biases and mental models at the door
- 05Why distribution and infrastructure are as important as the technology itself
- 06How the USAID cuts have accelerated the case for building resilient, locally accountable businesses
- 07Conflating positive health outcomes with a viable organisation - and why that's a mistake
- 08Spotlight on portfolio startups: Remedy (Egypt) and AI Diagnostics (South Africa)
About the guest
Rowena Luk
Managing Partner, Africa Health Ventures
Rowena Luk is the Managing Partner of Africa Health Ventures, a pan-African seed fund investing in healthcare innovations that will dramatically improve access and quality of care on the continent and around the world. A healthtech founder, entrepreneur, and software engineer, she has deep experience scaling healthtech in 40 countries across Africa. Previously, Rowena was a Director at Madiro, an impact fund investing in healthcare in Africa; CSO at Dimagi, a social enterprise deploying digital health to 130 countries; and founder of a digital health nonprofit in West Africa. She lives in South Africa.
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Transcript
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Shubs consults on clinical leadership, evidence strategy, and digital health market access. If this conversation sparked something, it is worth a conversation.
Shubs takes on consulting work with startups, investors, and global organisations across digital health.
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