iMedTech – How This Startup Is Improving The Medtech Industry. iMedTech is as a Biotechnology company specializing in the design and manufacturing of custom-made medical solutions to improve lives of Africans. It was founded in 2015 by female entrepreneur Nneile Nkholise. It uses technology that enables for the production of high quality products that repair, restore and enhance life. The products are produced with the goal of creating innovative medical solutions to help people requiring custom made medical prosthesis, bio-implants and other medical solutions to assist in enhancing lives and improving overall health.
The company managed to received R350 000 from the SAB Foundation, R100 000 from Liquid Telecom and $5000 from the Tony Elumelu Foundation. “TEF offered me a wealth of knowledge that one could not have easily gotten anywhere else. The foundation also gave me lots of exposure in Africa because it is an honour being associated with Tony Elumelu’s brand.” said Nkholise in an interview with Venture Burn. The company is still searching for funding through various institutions to help in the scaling stage that the company is in.
“I started the company because I saw many challenges in the medical sector that could be solved by creating a strong collaboration between engineering and medicine to create solutions that are unique and custom made to fit each person.” said Nkholise in an interview with Venture Burn. She got the idea to start a Medtech company from her Master’s research in the mechanical engineering at the Central University of Technology. Her research was focused on the application of additive manufacturing in the fabrication of facial prosthesis.
It is located in Johannesburg South Africa but has markets in other countries such as Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Rwanda, and Nigeria. The company won the SAB Foundation Social Innovation Awards in 2015, it is also a finalist of the 2016 Gauteng Accelerator Programme while Nkholise also participated in the 2016 Discovery Entrepreneurs Medtech Silicon Valley Programme
