General Partner at HealthCap Africa, Dr Ola Brown, has emerged as a finalist for the 2026 Africa Women Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum (AWIEF) Impact for Good Award.

Dr Ola Brown is the only Nigerian among the three finalists for the award, which recognises women whose work has produced measurable social and economic impact across Africa.

Her nomination highlights a career spanning medicine, finance, investment and healthcare innovation.

Brown trained as a medical doctor and later earned a Master’s degree in Finance. She is also pursuing doctoral studies in finance and has about 10 years of investment experience.

She chairs the Credit Committee of a Nigerian financial institution and serves on the executive committee of Women in Finance Nigeria.

At HealthCap Africa, Brown leads a specialist investment fund that backs early-stage healthcare and financial technology companies across the continent.

The fund’s portfolio companies currently operate in 10 African countries. Together, they support about 1,000 jobs and provide services to roughly two million patients.

Her recognition comes amid growing concerns over Africa’s healthcare funding gap and the continent’s difficult health outcomes.

Nigeria accounted for an estimated 28.7 per cent of all maternal deaths worldwide in 2023, representing about 75,000 deaths. UNICEF also estimated the country’s under-five mortality rate at about 116 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2024.

Yet healthcare businesses across Africa continue to attract relatively little private capital compared with the scale of the challenges facing the sector.

Data from the African Private Capital Association showed that healthcare companies across Africa secured only 27 venture capital deals worth US$43 million in 2024.

The figure represented the sector’s lowest level of venture funding since 2018.

HealthCap Africa’s investment strategy seeks to address part of this gap by providing early-stage equity to healthcare and fintech companies.

The funding helps businesses develop products, build teams, strengthen governance and financial systems, and grow their revenues before they become ready for larger institutional investments.

Brown has argued that the missing link in many discussions about bankability is how young businesses finance the journey to becoming mature companies.

“Before Africa can have more large, institutionally investable healthcare companies, smaller companies need capital to grow into them,” she said.

She has also highlighted the need for stronger collaboration between specialist investment funds, government and philanthropic organisations.

While public and philanthropic funding remains important, particularly in areas where commercial models prove difficult, private capital can help scalable healthcare businesses expand their services and introduce new technologies.

Such investments can also help reduce healthcare delivery costs and extend services to underserved communities.

The AWIEF Awards were launched in 2017 to recognise women entrepreneurs and business leaders contributing to Africa’s economic growth and social development.

Brown will compete for the 2026 Impact for Good Award alongside Nada Ghammem of Tunisia and Echo Nomsa VanderWal of Eswatini.

The winner will be announced at the AWIEF Awards Gala in Cape Town on November 11, 2026.