The Society for Family Health, SFH, through its enterprise arm, SFH Access has launched the CoElevate Catalytic Fund, a mechanism designed to accelerate homegrown solutions in Health-Tech innovations.
According to SFH, the launch was to activate a path to transform Nigeria’s health innovation landscape.
The event, held at SFH’s Lagos office, attracted innovators, policymakers, funders, and development partners united by a shared goal: strengthening Nigeria’s health system through innovation.
The CoElevate Catalytic Fund according to SFH will provide $5,000–$10,000 milestone-based grants, 15–20% equity investments, tailored mentorship, regulatory guidance, access to pilot sites, and a 24-month portfolio management programme aimed at strengthening innovation pipelines. This Fund will run for two competitive cycles annually.
Speaking at the launch, the Managing Director of SFH Access, Mr Dennis Aizobu, described the initiative as a new dawn in West Africa’s innovation history, stressing that brilliant ideas in Nigeria often fail not due to lack of competence but because innovators lack exposure, capital, systems, and support and these gaps he said CoElevate was intentionally designed to close.
Aizobu stressed that no health system can thrive without continuous innovation, adding that the CoElevate Catalytic Fund will remain committed to its mission of creating opportunities for innovators, bridging gaps in healthcare access, and empowering the next generation of problem-solvers.
He said “SFH Access was investing in the next generation of solution providers tackling urgent challenges in digital health, WASH innovations, emerging infectious diseases, and non-communicable diseases. The catalytic fund combines grants, mentorship, and access to SFH’s vast 40-year infrastructure and Africans must invest in Africa.”
Aizobu also announced that CoElevate will run two funding streams annually, offering multiple opportunities for startups to plug into an ecosystem deliberately built for long-term success.
Landmark steps
The Chairperson of SFH Access Board of Directors, Mr Ahmed Yakasai, described the launch as a landmark step toward strengthening equitable access to healthcare and empowering the next generation of innovators.
Yakasai mentioned that the initiative reflects SFH’s consistent commitment to the vulnerable and to creating opportunities for young Nigerians determined to build solutions for national development.
According to him “Innovation remains essential in addressing the continent’s complex health challenges and we applaud the CoElevate platform for identifying, nurturing, and propelling homegrown solutions, because targeted investment and strategic partnerships are crucial to transforming communities and health systems.”
Tech Infrastructure
Also speaking, the Managing Director of SFH, Dr Omokhudu Idogho, outlined the extensive infrastructure the organisation has built across its technology, logistics, supply chain, regulatory, and brand development systems, which he said are now available to innovators under the CoElevate programme.
He noted that SFH operates on Microsoft Azure, collaborates with Amazon Web Services and has a long-standing record in digital solutions and health-tech tools.
“Despite the presence of life-saving technologies for decades, Nigeria still records preventable deaths during childbirth and maintains one of the world’s lowest immunisation rates” Idogho said.
“CoElevate is meant to catalyse homegrown solutions that respond to real community needs, not theoretical ones. And if innovations supported by the fund help reduce maternal deaths, strengthen immunisation, and improve access to essential health services, then SFH would have succeeded in redefining Nigeria’s health innovation landscape.” he said
Sustained Collaboration
Representing the Lagos State Ministry of Health, the Director of Disease Control, Dr Victoria Egunjobi, praised SFH for the decades of impactful work and for introducing a catalytic fund at a time when innovators struggle with limited opportunities.
He added that the CoElevateCatalytic Fund will help ensure that homegrown ideas, whether in diagnostics, pharmaceuticals, behavioural change, or system-strengthening, can be nurtured and scaled,
Egunjobi said “Innovation drives progress in every functional health system but remains expensive and often difficult without enabling structures. Nigeria’s next breakthrough in public health innovations might emerge from any state if the right support mechanisms exist.”
She also called for sustained collaboration and partnerships to keep the fund thriving, adding that the Lagos State Government looks forward to the solutions that beneficiaries will develop as the state pushes toward universal access to healthcare.
Stakeholders at the event described the launch as one of the most ambitious and forward-looking commitments to health innovation in West Africa, expressing optimism that the initiative will catalyse solutions capable of strengthening health outcomes and advancing universal health coverage.