Jamii Life wins at Skoll Venture Awards

We are excited to announce that one of our founders, Zeenith and her team at Jamii Life, won GBP 28 000 at this year’s Skoll Venture Awards presented by the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at the University of Oxford.

The annual Skoll Venture Awards provides early-stage funding to teams aiming to tackle the root causes of social and environmental challenges. Based at Saïd Business School, the center’s goal is to maximize the positive impact of social entrepreneurship across the world. The FSAT Labs team spoke with Zeenith to find out more about their win, what it means for the future of Jamii Life, and what we can expect to see happen in the following months.  

WHAT AWARDS DID YOU WIN AT THE SKOLL VENTURE AWARDS?

We were one of two winners of the main 2020 Skoll Venture Award and also won the audience vote. The main award is determined by a panel of four judges after a due diligence process and private pitch and the audience award was voted for on the day of the public pitches. 

WHAT DOES THIS WIN MEAN TO JAMII LIFE?

This recognition by the Skoll Centre means a lot to us! The Skoll Centre is a thought leader on social enterprise and so we especially value their recognition and their partnership. In addition, the award comes with a prize of almost R600 000 (GBP 28,000). This funding will be catalytic to our venture by enabling us to hire additional health workers, and it extends our runway to fund year one of operations.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR JAMII LIFE?

Jamii Life is focused on ramping up operations, including ensuring all processes are in place for our launch. Another focal point will be raising the additional funding that we need to train and subsidise the health workers whilst we ramp up our operations.

HOW DID BEING PART OF THE FSAT LABS INCUBATION PROGRAM HELP YOU AS A STARTUP?

The FSAT team provided invaluable advice through the due diligence process and in preparation for the pitch. They provided input to the pitch that resulted in significant changes and listened to me practice multiple times. I am sincerely grateful for the advice, the time, and the support throughout the process.

FOLLOW JAMII LIFE’S JOURNEY

Founder and CEO | Zeenith Ebraiham
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