A mental health startup, led by a Kenyan youth, is the latest recipient of over Ksh17.8 million Fund in Innovation for Development (FID).
While announcing the new funding, Shamiri Institute's Co-Founder and CEO Tom Osborn indicated that the money would go towards the company's efforts to test and position itself for scale.
Shamiri Institute is a Kenyan mental health startup co-founded by Osborn and Katherine Venturo-Conerly, who also doubles up as the company's Scientific Director.
Osborn was born and raised in poverty in rural Kenya and has started and worked for organisations that aim to disrupt the status quo and lift communities out of poverty.
His ambition started at an early age. At 18 years, he co-founded a social enterprise called GreenChar that provided homes and institutions in rural Kenya and urban slums with clean energy.
Osborn broke another barrier when he was named on Forbes’ 30 under 30 list in Social Entrepreneurship at 19, effectively becoming the second youngest person to receive the honour.
Apart from his entrepreneurial prowess, he is a Ted Talk speaker, an Echoing Green Fellow, and graduated from Harvard College with a degree in Psychology.
He co-founded Shamiri Institute in 2018 to provide young people access to affordable and appropriate mental health and wellness services.
Mental health issues are a major problem in Kenya, with 50 per cent of the population aged 19 years or younger and about one in two Kenyan youths reporting elevated symptoms of depression and anxiety.
Considering the medical, educational, economic, legal, and interpersonal problems associated with mental health issues, Shamiri developed an effective mental health solution called Anansi to help deal with the problem.
With this round of funding, the company hopes to scale up the role of this solution to reach and help more people affected by mental health problems.
In September 2021, Shamiri Institute also received another funding worth Ksh12 million from the Templeton World Charity Foundation.
