Five years ago, Salient Advisory began with a simple but powerful conviction: African health challenges need African-led solutions.
Today, that conviction has grown into a movement, one that has channeled over $20 million in catalytic funding into the hands of bold innovators transforming access to healthcare across the continent.
Back in 2020, Salient wasn’t just launching a consultancy it was stepping into a critical gap. Across Africa, promising healthtech entrepreneurs were building tools to solve local challenges, but struggling to access the capital, visibility, and support systems they needed to scale.
Salient’s founder, Mara Hansen Staples, and her team saw an opportunity to bridge that divide between vision and validation, between innovation and impact.
Building Bridges, Fueling Solutions
From Lagos to Nairobi, from Figorr’s smart cold chain tech to Zuri Health’s telemedicine services, Salient has stood shoulder to shoulder with innovators building the future of African healthcare.
Its work didn’t stop at startups. Over the years, Salient partnered with governments like Nigeria’s Presidential Value Chain Initiative and Lagos State, with global players like MSD, Cencora, The Gates Foundation, and with international NGOs, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in health system transformation.
At the heart of this journey was a game-changing program: Investing in Innovation (i3). Launched in 2022, i3 wasn’t just about writing checks.
It reimagined what support for African healthtech should look like risk-tolerant, grant-based, and deeply collaborative.
In 2023 alone, i3 provided 38% of all grant funding to healthtech startups across Africa, helping them prove their models, attract more investment, and ultimately, save more lives.
Five Years of Impact – By the Numbers:
- Tracked 1,000+ health-focused African innovators
- Catalyzed $20M+ in funding and revenue to local enterprises
- Supported 65+ startups and 15 governments and regulators
- Facilitated 630+ connections between startups and customers
- Published 26 market-shaping reports, read by tens of thousands globally
A Founder’s Reflection
“We founded Salient because we saw a gap,” says Mara Hansen Staples, reflecting on the journey. “There was so much promise in African health innovation, but too little support to scale it. Five years later, that gap is narrowing, thanks to the courage of local entrepreneurs and the growing global appetite for sustainable, tech-enabled, community-rooted care. We’re proud to have played a role, and we’re just getting started.”
Looking Ahead: Scaling Systems, Deepening Impact
As Salient steps into its next chapter, it is doubling down on its core values: proximity, partnership, and purpose. The focus is now on:
- Strengthening its advisory work with governments, manufacturers, and health systems to improve policy, regulation, and digital health adoption.
- Expanding its Access to Markets platform, bringing together innovators, insurers, provider systems, investors, and regulators to accelerate meaningful collaborations.
- Shining a global spotlight on the power of African innovation through insights, storytelling, and shared learning.
But Salient also knows the work is far from over. The organization is sending out a clear call to action:
“If we want resilient, equitable health systems in Africa, we must invest in the people building them. Governments, donors, development partners, we all have a role. The time to scale African-led innovation is now.”
The Road Ahead
Salient’s journey from a bold idea to a trusted partner has redefined what it means to support innovation in African healthcare.
As it marks five years of impact, it’s not resting, it’s recommitting. Because transforming healthcare takes more than good ideas. It takes investment, partnership, and a deep belief that local solutions can change the world.
