Google is committed to its entrepreneur-focused programmes in Africa, this time with Black-focused initiative designed to help startups – Google for Start-up Black Founders Fund (BFF).

On Tuesday, the web search giant said that 60 eligible Black-founded start-ups would receive a total of $4 million in the second  cohort  of BFF, NAN reports.

Mr Folarin Aiyegbusi, Google’s Head of Start-up Ecosystem, Africa, made this known in a statement announcing opening of applications for Google for Start-up Black Founders Fund for Africa.

Aiyegbusi said that following the success of the first cohort in 2021, Google increased its commitment in 2022 with additional one million dollars in funding, and support for 10 more founders.

He said that it would result in a commitment of four million dollars to 60 eligible Black-founded start-ups across Africa.

According to him, BFF Africa is open to start-ups in Nigeria, Botswana, Cameroun, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

He said that while the 13 countries were the prime focus due to their active tech and start-up ecosystems, strong applications from other African countries would be considered.

‘’The Black Founders Fund Africa demonstrates our commitment to supporting innovations in underserved areas.

‘’Black-led tech start-ups face an unfair venture capital funding environment; that is why we are committed to helping them thrive to be better and ensure the success of communities and economies in our region.

‘’The fund will provide cash awards and hands-on support to 60 Black-led start-ups in Africa, which we hope will aid in developing affordable solutions to fundamental challenges affecting those at the base of the socio-economic pyramid in Africa.

‘’We are hopeful that the support received by the Black founders will enable them to grow their businesses and, in turn, drive economic growth in Africa as they create solutions and give back to their communities,” he said.

He said selected start-ups will receive between $50,000 and $100,000 non-dilutive cash awards and up to $200,000 per start up in Google Cloud credits.

Aiyegbusi further said that support in the form of training and access to a network of mentors to assist in tackling challenges unique to each start-up, would be provided and that early-stage start-ups with black founders or diverse founding teams were eligible for selection for BFF.

According to him, start-ups which are benefitting Black community and those operating and headquartered in Africa as well as those with diverse founding team, with at least one Black founding member, were also eligible.

He said that those having legal presence on the continent and building technology solutions for Africa and the global market and those with potential to raise more funding and create jobs were equally eligible.

Google for Start-ups Black Founders Fund was launched in the wake of the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement as part of Google’s racial equality commitment.

The initiative is aimed at driving economic opportunities for Black business owners.

Interested applicants can find more information at  http://goo.gle/BFFAfrica.  Application closes on May 31, while winners will be announced on July 29.

Google had in 2021 doled out $1 billion for multi-faceted investment fund in Africa. Entrepreneurs and startups have begun to benefit from the fund which covers a range of initiatives – from improved connectivity to investments in startups for a period of five years.

Minister of State for Health, Dr. Adeleke Mamora has called on the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) to work with the Federal Government (FG) towards making Nigeria a regional hub for vaccine manufacturing in Africa.

He stressed the need to make Nigeria self-sufficient in the production of finished pharmaceuticals and Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs).

Speaking at the inauguration of the new President, Prof Cyril Usifoh and investiture of 112 new fellows of the Society in Abuja, recently, Dr Mamora observed that the COVID-19 pandemic had shown that the country could not continue to rely on the importation of about 70 percent of her gross domestic need of finished pharmaceuticals and APIs.

The medical doctor insisted that Nigerians must collectively change this narrative by making the country self-sufficient in the production of finished pharmaceuticals and APIs, stressing the Ministry was determined to achieve this and looks forward to partnering with the PSN.

The minister disclosed that the Federal Ministry of Health was seriously working to acquire capacity for local vaccines manufacturing and appealed to the PSN to partner with the Ministry to ensure it realizes this objective.

Dr Mamora informed that the ministry was currently partnering with May & Baker Nigeria PLC in a Public Private Partnership (PPP), which birthed the Biovaccines Nigeria Limited (BVNL) – a special purpose vehicle towards local vaccines manufacturing.

He said the pharmaceutical sector was a critical component of the national security architecture, promising the FG must do its best to bequeath a viable and competitive pharmaceutical sector to the generations unborn.

He stated that in keeping with this desire, the Federal Ministry of Health ensured the creation of the new pharmacists’ consultant cadre for public and civil servants, adding the cadre confirms the place of specialization in pharmacy, especially in the clinical settings.

According to the minister, the pharmacists cadre would lead to better patient management outcomes and contribute to the improvement of the nation’s health indices while the ministry ensured the training of community pharmacists in order to prepare them for the emerging roles of pharmacists and pharmacies in national immunization programme and primary healthcare services in line with global trends.

He said, “Medicine remains the bedrock of healthcare delivery services. Without medicines, most diseases are untreatable. This is why the pharmacy profession is such an important human resource for health, and the government will continue to create a conducive working environment for the practice of pharmacy regardless of the field of pharmacy one chooses to practice whether hospital, administrative, academics, industry or community.

“To our celebrants, the new fellows of the PSN, I wish to assure you that the Federal Ministry of Health stands shoulder to shoulder with you to advance the pharmacy profession for the health and social welfare of Nigerians. Through its appropriate agencies, the Ministry will continue to support your efforts toward encouraging pharmacy education, research and scholarship, and promote high ethical standards of the pharmacy profession. Let me assure you of the Government’s readiness to partner with the PSN as always, to further the course of pharmacy practice and the pharmaceutical sector in Nigeria.”

The minister urged the pharmacists to actively engage in search of new methods and systems to improve the use of medicines, acquire needed skills and knowledge in order to remain relevant with advancing technology as it relates to the pharmacy sector and taking the pharmacy profession to even greater heights.

“This event is particularly significant because it’s the celebration of the emergence of an erudite scholar and an outstanding achiever as well as the rewarding of the efforts of pharmacists who have rendered meritorious services to the profession of pharmacy in Nigeria and across the globe.

“Without a shadow of doubt, the emergence of Prof. Cyril Odianose Usifoh as the new President of the PSN is a clear indication of the readiness of pharmacists all over the country to consolidate the gains of the past presidents of the Society and open new frontiers toward developing the pharmaceutical sector.” he added.

In her keynote address, the Vice Chancellor (VC) of the University of Benin, Prof. Lilian Salami, opined that pharmacists were not just the custodians and fabricators of drugs, but also great administrators, saying a nation is as strong as its medicine security.

She said, “In many ways, pharmacists secure their nations and contribute to developing the economy. Pharmacists are the experts in drugs, they discover them, manufacture them and are the repository of knowledge on how they should be handled and used. Pharmacists counsel on the adverse effects of drugs and play clinical interventional roles that bring huge positive outcomes to patient treatment.”

The VC observed that Nigeria could achieve reasonable self-sufficiency in drug production, stressing the drug distribution channels needed to be sanitized to remove the presence of fake and expired medicines.

Prof Salami stated, “As a profession, PSN will have to play her part. Nigerian society desperately needs the spark from PSN. Every Nigerian needs to feel the impact of pharmacists the more. The future of a society rests on the quality and orientation of the coming generation.

“As it is often said, the youths are the leaders of tomorrow. It follows that we must pay more attention to them. We have to train them well. Being young and impressionable, they are bound to make mistakes but it is our responsibility to correct them. We have to be stern when we should but we should show them love nevertheless.”

The VC lamented that the burnt-out light in the pharmaceutical sector is a reflection of what is happening in other sectors, noting things had fallen very short of their expectations.

In his remarks, the new PSN President, Prof.  Usifoh, pledged to provide a purpose-driven leadership for all technical and interest groups of PSN with the cooperation of his colleagues in National Executive Committee (NEC) and Council in order to change pharmacy and indeed the ‘Pharmaspace’ positively for the patient, pharmacist, healthcare team and indeed Nigeria.

He therefore urged all pharmacists to embrace genuine dialogue, listen to each other and forgive one another despite their differences, adding his leadership would always listen and act appropriately.

The bitter fact remains that, to truly make Nigeria a regional hub for vaccine production in the entire Africa as being stated, the relevant authorities must be willing to tell themselves the gospel truth.

Hence, the approach of knowing the actual remedies but insisting on the wrong ones, must be jettisoned. It suffices to say that the country must embrace a new era. Since Nigeria possesses all it takes to achieve the aforementioned objective, then as a people, we need to concentrate on how to wear the political will like clothing.

This is unequivocally the only way the needed policies can be duly and aptly implemented.