Arone, a Nigerian startup that uses smart drones for the fast delivery of medical supplies to and from clinics, hospitals, labs and health facilities and Zembo, a Ugandan startup that offers electric motorcycles to boda-boda drivers and recharges batteries in its solar stations have been selected for the 3rd cohort of Man Impact Accelerator Program.
The two African startups will join 6 other startups from Brazil (3) and Europe (3) with the most promising social impact to participate in the 8-month accelerator programme and will have the opportunity to work alongside MAN, Yunus Social Business and many other partners for a possibility to scale in different geographies in the world.
According to a statement, the startups were selected from applications received from around 300 companies from over 40 counties, each represents a diversity of innovative solutions to different social issues within the mobility and logistics sector.
The selected startups for the fall 2019/2020 cohort are as follows:
Africa
(1.) Arone (Nigeria) – Building Africa’s biggest aerial logistics infrastructure for health care. By using smart drones, they can provide quick, affordable and reliable delivery of blood and medical supplies to the most remote villages in under 15 min.
(2.) Zembo (Uganda) – Providing affordable electric motorcycles for motorcycle taxi drivers in Africa. They assemble and lease solar-powered motorcycles on a pay-as-you-go model with the possibility of owning the asset after two years.
The Man Impact Accelerator Program is a partnership between MAN Truck & Bus and Yunus Social Business.
“At Yunus Social Business, we believe in the power of business to end poverty. A social business is a for-profit company with a social mission at its core 100% dedicated to solving human problems.” Arunima Singh, Accelerator program lead from Yunus Social Business said in the statement.
“The founders who have been chosen to be a part of the MAN Impact Accelerator embody that enormous opportunity to harness the power of business to impact people’s lives in many different geographies.”
The results from previous programs were astonishing – the social businesses on average doubled their revenues and 4x’ed their impact over the course of the program. We look forward to working with these companies from different backgrounds, countries and impact sectors.
The Man Impact Accelerator is an 8-month multi-location accelerator for early-stage social business startups, looking to scale their business and impact potential.
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