Since its inception in 2012, the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program has been a beacon of hope for young people across Africa, providing unparalleled opportunities to pursue their dreams, uplift their families, and make lasting contributions to their communities. The Mastercard Foundation is proud to build upon the scholars program’s legacy of transformative impact with the launch of the Africa Higher Education Health Collaborative (AHEHC), a groundbreaking 10-year initiative to revolutionise primary healthcare across the continent.

The University of Cape Town (UCT) is one of the nine partners in the new AHEHC. The Faculty of Health Sciences has partnered with the Humanities faculty and the Bertha Centre for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship along with the Western Cape government, civil society and communities in Klipfontein, Saldanha and George districts to make a collaborative effort towards a healthier South Africa.

Termed, the Healthy Futures South Africa, the project will focus on making an impact in the following areas:

1. Health Employment:Enable students to acquire advanced skills across a broad range of disciplines critical for sustainable health sector growth and transformation.
2. Health Entrepreneurship and Innovation:Enhance capacity for innovative and practical interventions to improve quality of life and wellbeing in the 3 selected sites as models for practice in South Africa and Africa with a specific focus on youth and social entrepreneurship.
3. Health Ecosystem:Enhance the capacity at UCT to train skilled workers for Universal Health Coverage in South Africa and Africa.
4. Develop a learning network:Develop a dynamic, sustainable, long-term network of partners working and learning together to create dignified and fulfilling jobs across health ecosystems and improve health outcomes in Africa. 

Current projects

Entrepreneurship Bootcamp

This five-day bootcamp is an opportunity for participants to address health-related challenges and seek solutions within their community.

Bootcamps are held in Saldanha, Klipfontein and George. To date 41 young people have completed the bootcamp.

Accelerator Programme

This business acceleration programme was developed to support businesses across South Africa. Helping individuals and teams to build scalable health-focused businesses with a national potential, the programme targets high-impact individuals, aspiring health entrepreneurs, and experienced founders.\ \ Focused on validating venture concepts, the venture launch course, is ideal for those developing for-profit or non-profit initiatives. Participants who complete this phase will receive a UCT GSB accredited certificate.  Businesses who successfully complete the venture launch programme will have the opportunity to pitch for the venture scale programme.

Learn more about the Africa Higher Education Health Collaborative and partners here.

Partners:

• Addis Ababa University
• African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS)
• African Leadership University
• Amref International University / Amref Health Africa
• Ashesi University
• Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST)
• Mastercard Foundation
• Moi University
• University of Cape Town
• University of Toronto