Iraka Biotech: a vaccine and surveillance diagnostic production company in Africa

"Who's crazy enough to start a vaccine production company, a surveillance diagnostic production company in Africa?" Dr Cornelius Cano Ssemakalu, one of the co-inventors and CSO at Iraka Biotech. Iraka Biotech is a South African-based start-up company that localises the creation, enhancement, and equitable sharing of life science solutions. Iraka Biotech was founded by Ms Blanche Lee Shong (CEO) and Dr Cornelius Cano Ssemakalu to address the lack of adequate and timely access to quality one health solutions, especially in Africa. Their vision is to improve health by making premium one health solutions reliably and conveniently accessible. To achieve this vision, Iraka Biotech is developing cutting-edge therapeutics, diagnostics, and product logistics technologies. Iraka Biotech has received several awards, including the Global Clean Tech Program (GCIP) SA award, Gauteng Accelerator Programme (GAP) Medical award, the Irish Tech Challenge SA award and the Bio Africa start-up pitch award. Iraka Biotech has been considered among the top 40 Tech startups globally by the Animal Health, Nutrition and Technology Innovation (AHNTI) network. With Dr Ssemakalu, we covered the broad topics below: Why and how Iraka biotech was created Some of the solutions Iraka biotech has developed The challenges encountered by operating in Africa and how they get around these What skill(s) are most useful to possess as a biotech entrepreneur in Africa How to ensure that more women are retained and lead in the African biotech industry Trends are currently having the most impact on biotech in Africa and how is that likely to play out over the next few years?