OVO facilitates financing deal with AML laboratory in Uganda
Björn Macauter (OVO), Abraham Bwalhuma (AML) and Thierry Deflandre (OVO). (picture: Elvis Ssemwogerere)
Better diagnoses for optimum antibiotics use
Entrepreneurs for Entrepreneurs has facilitated a financing agreement with the Ugandan company AML that specializes in laboratory equipment.
With this financial injection AML wants to establish its own laboratory for microbiological analysis. It wants to refine diagnoses so that antibiotics use can be optimized and possibly even reduced. Entrepreneurs for Entrepreneurs (OVO) facilitated the financing that was provided by two Belgian investors. It involves an amount of EUR 5,000 over a period of two years.Pilot phase
AML, or Aerobe Medical & Engineering Supplies, was established in the summer of 2015. They buy and sell laboratory equipment. They now want to go a step further and open their own laboratory in a pilot phase. If diagnosis is improved, treatment can be optimized. That could contribute to high-quality, affordable healthcare.“We are pleased to be able to assist AML in the development of this promising business in Uganda,” said Thierry Deflandre, head of the investment team at OVO.
AML was started by senior laboratory technologist and microbiologist Abraham Muhindo Bwalhuma. He has more than seven years’ experience in the diagnostics industry. AML operates in the Kasese district in Uganda.
'Economics is about people. It is a social science, not an exact science'. Chairman Luc Bonte of Entrepreneurs for Entrepreneurs liked to quote from the recent book 'Gigantism' by Geert Noels at the general meeting of OVO. Some 100 listeners showed up at Puilaetco Dewaay's premises in Brussels.
The Flemish 3D printing pioneer Materialise has invested in sustainable projects in the South for years. One of these is African Drive, with which CEO Fried Vancraen and his companions offer safe and punctual public transport to people in Benin. The project is running like clockwork thanks to the help they received from Entrepreneurs for Entrepreneurs.
He must have been eleven, at most twelve years old, when he started his first company. Or rather, a small business at school in renting video games and selling tasty treats not available in the school canteen. Douglas Baguma from Uganda clearly has entrepreneurship in his blood. Today, he runs Innovex, an innovative company experiencing rapid growth with the support of OVO.
While poverty has declined drastically in a lot of other Asian countries, the Philippines has been left behind in that respect. In fact, no less than 22.6% of the population of the Philippines still live in extreme poverty. Milk could be part of the solution. And that is why Inex is helping Filipino dairy farmers via Trias.