“It’s Simply Too Difficult”

A major impact fund recently expressed their decision to cease investing in emerging healthcare businesses in developing markets, citing the immense difficulties involved. The healthcare industry has always been characterized by complex regulations, lengthy development timelines, high risks, and challenging monetization prospects. While this complexity holds true in developed countries, it is even more pronounced in developing nations, where access to capital and funding for healthcare are often limited.

While the logic is understandable, the conclusion to stop investing is saddening. There is tremendous potential to address healthcare challenges from within by investing into local entrepreneurs. Of course, local entrepreneurs cannot solve all issues on their own and investments of existing large pharma companies into broad, equitable access to essential medicines is at least as important. Yet, local entrepreneurs have an important role to play.

To unlock the potential of local healthcare entrepreneurship, it is crucial to establish an ecosystem that provides access to patient capital, mentorship, and connections with relevant collaborators. Simultaneously, identifying and addressing systemic challenges and barriers faced by healthcare entrepreneurs becomes imperative and should inform policy priorities. By fostering an enabling environment, we can empower healthcare entrepreneurs to drive meaningful change and innovation within their own countries, ultimately helping to improve access to high quality healthcare in developing markets.