Final Mile, the pioneer in driving behavior change, integrating Behavioral Science and Human Centered Design to solve critical business and developmental sector challenges, today announced the launch of its South Africa headquarters in Johannesburg. A subsidiary of Fractal, (fractal.ai), Final Mile tackles complex behavioral challenges in public health, financial empowerment, and other issues involving human decisions by creating behavioral science solutions.
With its new office, Final Mile will invest in hiring local leadership & highly qualified talent pool and extend community engagement in the Southern African region to further drive the sustainability and long-term impact of its public health efforts. The company has already delivered great results on significantly important issues in various African nations including understanding HIV prevention in high-risk adolescent girls and young women in South Africa, Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision related research in Zambia, Zimbabwe & Kenya and more.
Led by Dr. Sangiwe Moyo, Final Mile’s South Africa HQ will be pivotal in helping the company build upon its current efforts in the fight against HIV, AIDS and COVID-19 in particular. Dr Sangiwe was a Deputy Director at Population Services International (PSI) where he was managing the implementation of STAR (HIV self-testing initiative) to scale up HIV self-testing interventions which are key to addressing the HIV epidemic. He holds a PhD in Public Health and has worked extensively with major funders such as USAID, CDC and Unitaid.
“South Africa is on the frontlines of some of the world’s most complex health challenges,” said Dr. Moyo. “Through this launch, we look forward to supporting the tremendous on-the-ground efforts being taken to fight the most challenging health threats by further collaborating with providers, patients and support workers with the knowledge and insights they need to better understand some of the underlying issues that are underpinning these public health challenges.”
“We have to build teams close to the communities we serve,” said Ram Prasad, Co-founder and CEO, Final Mile. “South Africa is the natural choice given the availability of talent and access to several countries in the region. We are excited about building a full-fledged team that can engage with funders, implementers, Governments, and other key stakeholders.”
