Swedfund supports women’s health and self-care in East Africa

Swedfund, the Swedish Development finance institution, is pleased to announce its investment in Kasha Global, a Femtech [1]e-commerce platform with subsidiaries in Rwanda and Kenya. Kasha’s platform enables access, education and confidential distribution of women’s contraceptives, menstrual and health products, primarily to underserved women. Kasha’s innovative multichannel platform supports both offline and online e-commerce, providing customers with the ability to purchase products digitally using any type of mobile phone, with or without internet access.

‘Social stigma around sexual and reproductive health in Africa is very common leading to women not getting access to the right information and safe products to make empowered decisions about their health. Our investment aims to strengthen SRHR - the right to decide over one's own body, sexuality and reproduction is fundamental for the work with human rights, and against discrimination. Kasha is a women-founded and women-led tech company, that strives to make it easier for women, especially low-income women, to access genuine products and information for their health and personal care,’ said Maria Håkansson, CEO of Swedfund.

Social impact is integrated in Kasha’s business model and is centred around three core themes: access to health products, access to health information, and employment and improved livelihoods for low-income women. 65% of Kasha’s customers are low-income women in urban and rural areas who have challenges in accessing quality and affordable women’s health products and related information. Kasha reaches these customers via its 200+ contracted & trained agents (also low-income women) across Rwanda & Kenya who provide information, aggregate orders and conduct last mile delivery to the end consumer.

“Kasha is thrilled to be able to partner with Swedfund, a purpose-driven investor with extensive experience investing in developing markets. We feel strong alignment with Swedfund in scaling Kasha to one day serve millions of women in Africa and beyond, ensuring that all women have the health and personal care products they need to live their best lives”, said Joanna Bichsel, Kasha Founder and CEO.

Swedfund provides 1 MUSD in financing that will enable Kasha to accelerate growth and impact across Kenya and Rwanda, improve its platform and support its expansion into other African countries. Swedfund remains committed to making investments in the healthcare sector, to enhance equality and increase access to quality healthcare for all population groups. We can also see that the pandemic has led to a further increased need for private sector investments in developing countries.

________________________

[1] Femtech (female technology) refers to software, diagnostics, products, and services that use technology to improve women’s health. Femtech involves the use of digital health to motivate patients to access and use applications for managing women’s health issues. https://ww2.frost.com/frost-perspectives/femtechtime-digital-revolution-womens-health-market/