On 17th November 2022, the representative of the top 3 teams of the Lafiya Innovators from Cambodia joined a 9-day “Lafiya Innovators Immersion Week” in Basel, Switzerland. The Immersion Week was joined by 17 innovative health startups from 5 Impact Hub’s Network countries, such as Senegal, Colombia, Ghana, Switzerland, and Cambodia.
The top 3 innovative startups that represented Cambodia are :
- Meet Doctor: Helps people with medical conditions to get fast and easy access to highly qualified doctors through their platform
- Green Lady Cambodia: Provides safer menstrual product choices, educates young people on Sexual and Reproductive Health topics, and facilitates menstruation classrooms with pad sewing workshops for girls and women in Cambodia.
- Agri House: Produces and sells cricket-enhanced, nutritionally balanced snacks for Cambodia’s primary school-aged youth market.
The 9-day “Lafiya Innovators Immersion Week” in Basel, Switzerland, began with the pitching preparation session of the 17 innovative health startups and a quick Downtown tour of Basel city.
Then, there was the glamorous “Basel Entrepreneurship Gala 2022,” where all the startups mingled with investors, market players, industry experts, and representatives from private & public institutions to discuss the goals and potentials of their startups.
The following agenda focused on team bonding; for the teams to get to know each other deeper and better throughout the “Starting with WHY” session.
“I get the opportunity to test my inner growth related to fear and step out of my comfort zone to do something I had never done before. I love the fact that entrepreneurship is also about inner development since it is as important as other developments. Last but not least, I found my WHY, the personal reason why I started and (I am) still working hard for Green Lady Cambodia.” – Hok Sovanvotey – Founder of Green Lady Cambodia.
The rest of the week featured a series of workshops, including business model canvas, fundraising, pitching, and the inner development goals, that helped the Lafiya Innovators to gain a deeper insight into the business growth.
Lastly, the startups got to pitch and showcase to the public and potential investors the ambitious impact they aim to create through their health startups.
“I have achieved my goal of introducing the cricket snack made in Cambodia to the international community of Health Innovators from the cohort. They tested and ate all the cricket snacks I brought, and they love it!” Sam Sokneang – Food Technologist at Agri House.
About “Lafiya Innovators”
“Lafiya Innovators” is a health incubation program that supports and accelerates early operational startups focused on health-related thematics. In addition, the program seeks to strengthen the local health ecosystem and health entrepreneurship capacity by bringing together and engaging a strong community of health stakeholders, both locally and globally.
Read more about the program here.
