HANSHEP Health Enterprise Fund: Supporting Pro-Poor Health Innovations in the Private Sector

From 2013 to 2015, the Strengthening Health Outcomes through the Private Sector (SHOPS) project implemented the HANSHEP Health Enterprise Fund in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Nigeria. The fund was designed to identify innovative and replicable private sector solutions that address critical health priorities of the poor in sub-Saharan Africa. Through timely investment and targeted technical assistance, the fund supported 16 small businesses to establish proof of concept or to scale their models sufficiently to generate revenue. This profile describes the selection and implementation processes of the fund and highlights several of the grantees’ business models. It also includes the results achieved by the fund and lessons learned to inform future challenge funds.