The Africa Group (TAG) Completes Investment Into Ethiopia’s Telemed Medical Services (Telemed)

* Telemed is the developer of Hello Doctor, Ethiopia’s leading m-health platform * TAG gains exposure to the continent’s fourth largest consumer market, with focus on a rapidly-expanding mobile sector.

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, March 31, 2014 /PRNewswire-iReach/ — The Africa Group (TAG), the US-based boutique advisor and venture capital investor, today announces a 25% stake in Telemed Medical Services (Telemed), an Ethiopian engineering consultancy specializing in health system design and implementation within the Ethiopian healthcare sector. Telemed’s work is geared to optimize and reinforce limited health resources in Ethiopia, a country where the doctor-to-patient ratio is ~1:30,000 and 80% of the population lives over 5 kilometers from the nearest health center.

Founded in 2012, Telemed signed an exclusive agreement and released its joint venture flagship product, Hello Doctor, with BelCash Technology Solutions PLC, a leading technology platform provider in Ethiopia, and EthioTelecom. Hello Doctor is the first and only facility in Ethiopia where patients can call a short code number to access professional health services that include phone consultations, ambulance dispatch and homecare service. The Company follows a similar model to various developed-market ventures, including Doctor on Demand, a leading California-based telemedicine company launched around the same time.  A tranche of growth equity provided by TAG and a grant from a USAID and DFID-backed development fund will be used to increase service capacity across Ethiopia, build a remote patient monitoring system, and facilitate a major marketing campaign. In addition, TAG will provide technical assistance to buttress key areas including governance and compliance.

Commenting on the announcement, Dr. Yohans Wodaje, Founder of Telemed stated, “Telemed provides a critical service to the Ethiopian public and it is important to make all necessary investments to ensure the scale-up of this transformative endeavor. Venture capital is a crucial source of financing for start-up business like ours, having the potential of catapulting them to reach greater markets; our partnership with TAG is the perfect match, enabling us access to the appropriate amount of capital with the right kind of technical support.”

Commenting further, Elias Schulze, Managing Partner of The Africa Group noted, “The Africa Group is excited and honored to partner with Dr. Yohans on this brilliant model of private-sector led healthcare delivery. We view this engagement as just the beginning of our journey together and look forward to transforming and deepening our ability to touch greater swaths of the public both in Ethiopia and beyond. The team, led by Special Operations Associate, Tim Burkly, worked tirelessly with Dr. Yohans’ team to complete this unique transaction and we are positioned well to scale together.”

About The Africa Group LLC The Africa Group (TAG) is a boutique advisory and venture capital firm focused on economic growth and investment across Africa. The firm places rapid mobilization, fact-based rigor, and proprietary intelligence as central operating tenets. TAG is defined by its people and partners, bringing together a customized team to meet the needs of each engagement. The Africa Group was founded in 2009 and has representative presence in Washington, Dakar, and Addis Ababa.

About Telemed The mission of Telemed is to allow clients who seek health care services in Ethiopia to receive reliable, affordable and immediate high quality healthcare by optimizing existing healthcare infrastructure with ICT. Hello Doctor, the first and only privately owned m-enabled health care provision platform, is an initiative of Telemed Medical Services PLC. Telemed is a systems and resource engineering consultancy that builds critical architecture around m-health service platforms.

Media Contact:  Matthew Thompson, The Africa Group LLC, +12022360278, media@theafricagroup.com

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SOURCE The Africa Group LLC