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Talamus Health Inc., an Africa focused health-tech company based in the United States, has been named as one of the World’s Most Innovative Companies for 2019 in Africa by Fast Company – a monthly American business magazine that focuses on technology, business and design.

The World’s Most Innovative Companies (MIC) list honours the businesses making profound impact on culture and the industry they operate in.

Founded in 2015 by Dr Murisiku Raifu, Talamus Health is a network of over 100 clinics and hospitals, 710 pharmacies, 400 laboratories, as well as insurance companies. Through its mobile platform, Talamus provides integration options for doctors, clinics, pharmacies, laboratories, insurance companies and government agencies while offering the end users – patients – more control over the movement and privacy of their health data.

Currently operational in Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa, the company is expected to launch in Mozambique and Zimbabwe later this year.

“Being recognized by Fast Company for our innovative approach to healthcare is a great endorsement of our approach to solving healthcare challenges on the African continent,” Raifu said. “The combination of innovation and scalability is at the heart of our value proposition to the healthcare industry on the continent. Africa’s population is the fastest growing in the world, and its healthcare infrastructure is among the weakest.”

According to a statement released by Talamus on Monday, healthcare challenge in Africa has been dominated by the fight against communicable diseases. But underlying this problem is the growing prominence of chronic diseases and a lack of infrastructure and capacity to provide the care needed to address them. Primary healthcare facilities across Africa lack centralised record keeping and the choices facing them have traditionally been to retain time-consuming paper-based solutions or to invest in bulky software and hardware solutions that lack interoperability.

Other African companies listed on the MIC for 2019 are African Leadership University, Flutterwave, Flare, Sanku-Project Healthy Children, Farm to Market Alliance, Yego Innovation, The Sun Exchange, Ovamba Solutions and Aerobotics.

The World’s Most Innovative Companies is Fast Company’s signature franchise and one of its most highly anticipated editorial efforts of the year. David Lidsky, Fast Company’s Deputy Editor, said, “We sought out ground-breaking businesses across 35 industries and also judged the nominations we received.”

Lidsky, who oversaw the issue with Senior Editor, Amy Farley, added that established players are showing the same kind of nimbleness that is generally associated with startups.