top of page

FORTIFY HEALTH

21.png

STARTED: Started by CE in 2017

SEED GRANT: $30,000

22.png

Nikita Patel
Co-founder & CEO

MONEY FUNDRAISED TO DATE (Jan 2023): ~$10 million

TEAM SIZE (Jan 2023): 40

23.png

Brendan Eappen

Co-founder & Advisor

WEBSITE: https://www.fortifyhealth.global/

1.png
2.png

Fortify Health’s vision is a healthier world where everyone has the micronutrients they need to survive and thrive. Fortify Health prevents and reduces anaemia at -scale in India by fortifying wheat flour with iron, folic acid, and vitamin B12. Fortify Health collaborates with state governments and the private sector industry to ensure their programs reach diverse populations in their focus states: Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and West Bengal.

CURRENT OR PREDICTED IMPACT:

  • Open market program: Fortify Health works with millers who sell wheat flour into the open market. This support consists of technical support, financial support in the form of premix, equipment and marketing funds, and also monitoring support to ensure the quality of the final product. As of the end of 2022, Fortify Health has launched partnerships with 32 millers in four states in India. In December 2022, this led to the fortification of over 8,000 metric tonnes of wheat flour that was sold into the open market, which we estimate led to over 1.2 million beneficiaries consuming fortified wheat flour who otherwise would not have. 

  • Government programs: Fortify Health is in conversations with two state governments to support the rollout of fortified wheat flour as part of existing social safety-net programs. 

    • Maharashtra: Fortify Health is in discussions around a pilot program in government-run ashram schools in Maharashtra, catering toward children from marginalized communities. Over three years, they expect the program will be rolled out across all four divisions under the Tribal Development Department in Maharashtra, reaching 192,000 children per day with fortified wheat flour in their school meals.

    • Madhya Pradesh: Fortify Health is in discussions to roll out a pilot program as part of the Public Distribution System. Under the pilot, Fortify Health estimates that it could reach more than 3 million beneficiaries. 

COST-EFFECTIVENESS:

  • Fortify Health, in partnership with GiveWell, estimates that their intervention is more than 11 times more effective than cash transfers from GiveDirectly when implemented at scale. This estimate is based on a number of assumptions that Fortify Health hopes to integrate through monitoring and evaluation activities in the next two years.

SIGNIFICANT UPDATES: 

  • The team grew from 15 to 40 team members in 2022. 

  • In September 2022, Tony Senanayake joined Fortify Health as Chief Strategy Officer. Tony came from IDinsight and brings a background in finance, strategy, and monitoring and evaluation. They were also joined by four new directors in 2022.

  • In 2022, Fortify Health signed 13 new mill partnerships. As of January 2023 they have 32 mill partners, and 18 of those mills have launched fortification. They are working with the remaining mills towards launch, and continuously reaching out to new mills.

ACHIEVEMENTS: 

  • Fortify Health has received three GiveWell Incubation Grants, with the latest grant offering the opportunity to rapidly scale their programs: 

  • ~300,000 (2018)

  • ~$1 million (2019)

  • ~$8.2 million (2021)

  • In October 2022, Fortify Health was accepted on to the The/Nudge CSI Nonprofit Incubator Program, a prestigious program for early-stage NGOs tackling key social issues in India.

  • Fortify Health has seen significant growth in the second half of 2022, both in terms of internal team size, but also in its level of impact. In June 2022, Fortify Health supported the production of less than 1,000 metric tonnes of wheat flour. By December 2022, this number increased to over 8,000 metric tonnes, and the team plans to hit more than 20,000 metric tonnes by June 2023, which would reflect growth of over 10x in a year.

bottom of page