Six years ago, entrepreneurs Rasha Rady and Doaa Aref wanted to improve health care in Egypt by creating an online service to deliver health products and prescriptions to clients, along with reminders and information about medications.
As a former cancer survivor, Aref knew there was an urgent need to help patients connect to pharmacy services. Too many chronically ill patients were unable to obtain their medications or keep track of their doses. “Our answer lied in tackling two key pillars of compliance: accessibility and affordability,” says Rady, a pediatrician with an academic background.
As female entrepreneurs in a developing market underserved by venture capital, Rady and Aref were ideal candidates for Flat6Labs Cairo, one of 19 funds supported by IFC’s Startup Catalyst (ISC) program. ISC aims to support early-stage startups by investing in incubators, accelerators, and seed funds to help support innovative companies with high-growth potential scale. In short, ISC-supported funds help promising startups get a head start. Of the more than 2,800 entrepreneurs supported by ISC funds, one-fourth are women.
IFC is now doubling the size of ISC by $60 million, mainly to focus on nascent ecosystems in the world’s poorest countries from the International Development Association (IDA) and countries facing fragility and conflict-affected situations (FCS). The expanded program will focus on priorities such as female entrepreneurship and climate solutions. Incubators, accelerators and seed funds provide startups with much-needed capital, as well as the technical know-how, support, and mentorship to scale operations.
Rady and Aref enrolled in Flat6Labs Cairo’s “bootcamp” for budding entrepreneurs, where they learned how to structure their new venture. As their idea became a workable business model, Flat6Labs provided them with seed money to fund it.
“What we loved about these founders was their passion and their understanding of a market niche from the consumer point of view,” says Dina el-Shenoufy, Flat6Labs’ Chief Investment Officer. “At first, they were a little shy speaking publicly, so it was remarkable to help them grow in confidence and expertise. Their golden value was a good idea and the determination to make it work.”
The entrepreneurs launched Chefaa, an artificial intelligence and GPS-enhanced platform offering medications and health products and 24-hour access to Arabic speaking pharmacists. When lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic drove up company growth by almost 300 percent, Rady and Aref turned again to Flat6Labs and IFC for support navigating their rapidly expanding company.