National Health Incubator

NHI provides customized incubation and financing services for healthcare service providers and producers of healthcare technology and innovation across Pakistan. NHI was launched in 2020 in partnership with the Aga Khan University to enable creation and growth of health technology and innovation in Pakistan.

The ultimate goals of NHI are:

To provide design thinking workshops and prototype testing, customized business coaching, subject matter expertise, access to industry-specific research and data, access to co-working space(s), and investment readiness services to select businesses to help them develop, deploy and/or adopt emerging health technologies and innovation.
To enable select businesses to develop and execute a growth strategy through long term financing and commercial linkages.

Who Is This Program For?

Businesses with innovative and unique business models offering innovative, highly value-adding, scalable and technological health solutions, demonstrating potential for causing positive economic and social transformation will be preferred.

You are eligible to apply if you fall under one of the following segments:

Launch: Startups with a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), an innovative solution in the health sector that has gone through the first customer test.
Growth: Existing health service providers who are looking to expand to new and bigger markets.
Adopters: Innovative health service providers looking to adopt new technology or update existing.

Components of National Health Incubator

The National Health Incubator will bring together all the essential elements of the incubation program, starting with:

AKU houses multiple forums with the intention of promoting entrepreneurial mindset with critical thinking and innovation. Critical Creative Innovative Thinking (CCIT) and Clinical and Translational Research Incubator (CITRIC) at AKU medical college are platforms set up by AKU to encourage students and young professionals to pursue innovative and critical thinking in providing health care solutions. Moreover, AKU’s Innovation Hub works on AKU’s in-house innovation agenda in liaison with CCIT and CITRIC. In National Health Incubator, the role of CCIT, CITRIC and Innovation Hub will be:

Design Thinking Workshops: CCIT will help entrepreneurs convert their ideas into solutions and/or improve their existing solutions through the design thinking approach. It will also extend subject matter expertise to the entrepreneurs through researchers and practitioners from within AKU who will provide technical advice to the entrepreneurs on their solutions. AKU’s Innovation Hub will assist CCIT in identifying and providing subject matter experts and practitioners from within AKU for the cohort entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs in the cohort will also have access to CITRIC’s research and researchers who will help them find relevant material around their existing and/or intended solutions. Subject matter experts, who will consist of researchers and practitioners will adopt a diagnostic approach in their advisory sessions with entrepreneurs, understanding the need for the problem they are trying to address, viability of the solution being offered, and technical feasibility of the technology being adopted and/or produced.

An Online Business Forum will be organized jointly by AP and AKU where select entrepreneurs will get an opportunity to showcase their businesses to AP, AKU and external institutional investors for raising investments. Moreover, a joint panel of judges selected by AP and AKU will score all pitches in order to shortlist businesses for potential investments. Following will be the outcome of the pitch session:
a- Financing Commitments by AP subject to due diligence for selected businesses. These businesses will be evaluated throughout the cycle for market and financial feasibility of the business, proactiveness and participation of the entrepreneur, potential for high growth and high impact business, and feedback by business coaches and investors.

Businesses incubated will go through online business training, coaching and advisory processes. Following are the three components of business training and advisory:
a- Online Business Training: Entrepreneurs will be enrolled into our Learning Management System (LMS) called AKF Learning Hub where they will be introduced to basic concepts across four themes: i) Business Modelling, ii) Marketing and Sales Strategy, iii) Financial Modelling and iv) Pitch Making. At the end of each module, entrepreneurs will be required to submit assignments that will require them to complete and submit their business model canvas, marketing plan, financial model, and pitch decks.
b- Business Coaches: AP will assign business coaches to each business who will be responsible to coach the business throughout the course of incubation program on investment readiness. These are AP’s own investment team members who will provide follow-up support to entrepreneurs during and post trainings for executing key concepts learned in all modules. Business coaches also help entrepreneurs apply the investor lens on their business models throughout the course of incubation which helps them make their business proposition best fit for their own investment needs/ asks as well as the expectations of external investors including AP.
c-Technical Advisory: under this component entrepreneurs are connected with subject matter experts from the Aga Khan University, specializing in product/service development, design, and viability in the health sector. They provide personalized guidance, validate offerings, and share recent research and data. Benefit from their expertise to refine your products/services and stay ahead in the market.

These experts serve as a critical bridge between entrepreneurs and the latest research and data. Through their insights, entrepreneurs can fine-tune their offerings for maximum impact, addressing key questions and challenges. Whether it’s design refinement, viability assessment, or incorporating industry trends, our experts are here to guide you every step of the way.

a- Due Diligence
Businesses shortlisted for potential AP investments will undergo comprehensive pre-investment due diligence (DD) by the AP’s investment team in order to validate their business models and investment requirements. AP will also seek assistance from the AKU’s Innovation Hub to provide notes on technical feasibility of the business’s products and services. The Innovation Hub would have completed this process in the ideation phase of incubation.
b- Financing
Select businesses completing AP’s DD will receive patient financing of up to US$200k with an opportunity to raise 3 times the amount by other institutional investors. AP offers three financing tiers: Seed Tier: <$20,000, Tier 1: $20,000<50,000, Tier 2: $50,000<$200,000. The amount of financing deployed depends on the overall need of the business, feasibility and absorption capacity of the business. AP extends financing for up to 10 years with long grace period with flexible terms.

Following are key aspects of post-financing Technical Assistance:
a- Continued business mentoring, coaching and advisory from successful entrepreneurs, investors and AP’s business coaches.
b- Marketing, bookkeeping, and legal services from top-of-the-line services providers, completely free of cost.
c- Market and commercial linkages in various industries nationally and internationally.
**This is exclusively offered to portfolio businesses i.e. businesses that have received financing from AP.

Entrepreneurs, during or after the cycle, will have access to Accelerate Prosperity co-working space available in Gilgit, Chitral at a nominal cost/rental. Space will be equipped with state-of-the-art facilities that enable working, innovative thinking, collaboration, networking opportunities and seeking guidance from subject matter experts, investors, mentors, and other successful entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs will also be able to use the space for online/ in person training and advisory services offered by National Health Incubator for up to 1 year.