Could This Be Africa’s First Unicorn Startup in Women’s Health? Fertitude Takes the Stage at Africa HealthTech Summit 2025

 Could This Be Africa’s First Unicorn Startup in Women’s Health? Fertitude Takes the Stage at Africa HealthTech Summit 2025

At the Africa HealthTech Summit (AHTS), one of the continent’s flagship gatherings for digital health leaders, Dr. Kieva Chris-Amusan, Founder and CEO of Fertitude, joined global health heavyweights on the main stage at the opening plenary session held at the Kigali Convention Centre.

This appearance marks a significant milestone for Fertitude, a fast-growing startup from Nigeria that many refer to as the “Flo Health for Africa,” but with a more inclusive and integrated vision. Flo proved that women’s health can be a billion-dollar business. Fertitude is building the interoperable version for emerging markets, where women do not just need tracking; they need access to care that’s affordable and convenient.

Projections from the United Nations show that Africa’s population is projected to reach ~2.5 billion by 2050. This means that more than 1 in 4 people on earth will be African; a clear signal that Africa is not only a large market today, but the region where global population growth is concentrated. With the rising wave of digital fluency and smartphone adoption, Fertitude is tackling one of the most undervalued opportunities on the continent. 

“We are building the go-to reproductive health app not just for Africa, but for over one billion women in emerging markets and the global diaspora, including the United States and Europe,” said Dr. Kieva. “We already serve nearly 10,000 users across 10 African countries and the global diaspora, and this is evidence that we are building a highly scalable product, while catering to the underserved groups typically left behind by Western solutions.”

From a Personal Pain Point to Large-Scale Impact

Dr. Kieva, a medical doctor by training, began building Fertitude after navigating her own diagnosis of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS). While she had the medical knowledge to advocate for herself, she quickly realized that most women lacked even the basic vocabulary to ask questions about their health.

“Too many women are left in the dark about their bodies. We are here to change that, not just by building apps that make it fun to track your health, but by addressing the stigma and silence around these issues, and by making it normal to speak up about your health,” she shared.

Fertitude aims to plug the health literacy gap by offering plain-language, culturally sensitive content, gamified experiences, AI-powered symptom insights, and access to vetted experts.

Recognition and Rising Influence

Dr. Kieva’s invitation to speak at AHTS followed her selection into the Africa CDC’s Youth in Digital Health Network (YIDHN), a pan-African initiative recognizing young innovators shaping the future of health systems. Earlier this year, she received the Best Business Model Award at the YIDHN Bootcamp in Accra, Ghana.

At the Opening Plenary, titled “Connected Care: Scaling Innovation Toward Universal Health Coverage,” she spoke about Fertitude’s co-design model.

“Connected systems are only half the story; connected people are the other half,” she said, emphasizing the importance of involving communities, youth, and healthcare workers in product design. “When they build together, the result is something people actually trust and use.”

Later, she moderated the session “Leadership in Enabling Digital Public Infrastructure to Transform Health,” featuring leaders from Village Reach, Medtronic Labs, Rwanda’s Information Society Authority, and the Social Health Authority. The discussion explored how leadership and interoperability can accelerate Universal Health Coverage across Africa.

“The topic could not have been more aligned,” she said. “Fertitude is already building with DPI principles through layered consent, role-based access, and identity-linked triage. I was not just moderating the session; I was spotlighting what implementation looks like in daily practice.”

Built by an Experienced Team That Understands the Terrain

Dr. Kieva’s trajectory has been anything but conventional. After leaving clinical medicine, she bootstrapped an e-commerce venture to over 600,000 dollars in revenue, led growth at She Leads Africa, one of the largest platforms for Black women in Africa and the diaspora, and returned to health determined to build a better way.

She co-leads Fertitude with Ken Ovienadu, a Senior Software Engineer with prior experience at Google-backed Akoma Health and YC-backed 54Gene. Together, they bring deep expertise across medicine, AI, systems design, and behavior change, assembling what could be one of Africa’s most capable femtech teams.

“We are not just building another fancy app. We are designing a full-stack health companion with gamified experiences, culturally aware nudges, and AI that helps women act earlier, rather than later. The current AI wave makes this level of innovation possible, and we are ready to lead on this front.” added Ovienadu.

Beyond B2C: Expanding Reach Through Public Health Partnerships

Fertitude’s primary revenue model is through freemium subscriptions and referral commissions on specialist consultations. At an average ARPU of 50 dollars, this represents a 50 billion dollar opportunity across Africa and the diaspora.

While Fertitude’s roots are in B2C, focused on urban and peri-urban women, the company is now evolving a hybrid model to accelerate market penetration by partnering with governments and donors to embed reproductive health services into public health systems.

These pathways are helping Fertitude reach underserved women in rural areas through:

● WhatsApp and USSD access for feature phones

● A voice-based assistant to address literacy barriers

● Multilingual support powered by AI speech-to-text tools

● An AI triage system linking users to community health workers or nearby primary health centers

● NIN-based consent protocols for interoperable data sharing

Fertitude’s approach aligns with global priorities around Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), making Dr. Kieva’s role as moderator of the breakout session on DPI leadership especially fitting.

Funding the Future: Diversified Models and Patient Capital

By embedding itself into public health systems and working alongside community health workers, Fertitude is pushing preventive reproductive care into the last mile, a segment often left behind in traditional health interventions.

Fertitude’s impact is enabling and preventive rather than emergency or obstetric care. Its measurable value lies in reducing delay, improving early awareness, and strengthening data visibility at population level.

“Our business model is adaptive by design. Solving for the realities of African women and emerging markets requires diversified income sources and investors who understand patient capital,” said Dr. Kieva. “We are not abandoning the VC path; we are complementing it with income from B2G, B2D, and community-driven adoption models. In markets like ours, it is not just smart, it is necessary.”

Fertitude’s approach reflects the complex realities of Africa’s health sector. Unlike one-size-fits-all growth stories, this journey demands diversified revenue streams, strategic partnerships, and patient, mission-aligned investment, including both venture and development-oriented capital.

Africa’s Health Future Has a New Face

As Africa’s digital health future unfolds, and with Nigeria producing some of the continent’s most impactful tech success stories, all signs point to Fertitude as a startup to watch. Not just for what it is building, but for who it is building for.

Could Fertitude become Africa’s first unicorn in women’s health? Many believe it is well on its way.

About Fertitude

Fertitude is a digital health platform providing women with stigma-free, affordable, and convenient access to reproductive healthcare. Through AI, symptom tracking, and licensed health professionals, Fertitude helps women better understand their bodies and access care with confidence.

Learn more: https://www.fertitude.com

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