The Okoa Project

What The Okoa Project does

The Okoa Project, operating under the trade name Moving Health, is a US-registered nonprofit founded in 2016 that designs and locally manufactures low-cost emergency transport ambulances for rural communities in Ghana. Its core offering is a community-designed motorcycle ambulance built in-country at approximately one-tenth the cost of traditional emergency vehicles, engineered for rural terrain and explicitly tailored for maternal health emergencies and last-mile care access. The organization runs a human-centered design process that draws input from traditional birth attendants, local health directorates, pregnant women, and community members, and pairs vehicle deployment with a local manufacturing workshop that produces jobs, apprenticeships, and regional economic capacity. To date, the program has launched more than 30 ambulances across Ghana and serves over 230,000 people with reliable emergency transport.

The business model is donation-driven rather than commercial: the organization does not sell vehicles or services to end users, instead relying on a global community of charitable donors, supplemented by a small branded merchandise storefront on Bonfire and periodic fundraising events such as the 2025 Anti-Gala. Go-to-market is community-led and direct, with ambulances deployed into rural areas in partnership with Ghanaian government health directorates; there are no resellers or intermediaries in the distribution chain, and customer segments consist of rural last-mile communities in Ghana, with Ghanaian health authorities acting as institutional counterparts. Leadership consists of co-founders Emily Young (president) and Eva Boal (development), and the organization operates with a 1-10 person team, with operational headquarters at the Ghana Innovation Hub in Accra and a US donations address in Wellesley, Massachusetts.

Name

The Okoa Project

Legal name

The Okoa Project

Website

https://theokoaproject.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Okoa Project (Moving Health) is a nonprofit that designs and locally manufactures low-cost motorcycle ambulances in Ghana to provide emergency maternal health transport for rural, last-mile communities.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Emergency Medical Transportation

NAICS

Ambulance Services (621910), Emergency and Other Relief Services (62423), Voluntary Health Organizations (813212)

SIC

Services-Health Services (8000), Services-Misc Health & Allied Services, Nec (8090), Services-Social Services (8300), Motorcycles, Bicycles & Parts (3751)

akta.pro primary industry

Humanitarian Health & Emergency Medical Relief NGOs (HLAJAKAE)

akta.pro secondary industries

International & Local Implementing NGOs (HLAJAKAD), Emergency Medical Services (EMS) & Ambulance Services (BPAIAGAC)

Keywords

• Emergency medical transport
• Maternal health services
• Rural healthcare logistics
• Community health programs
• Nonprofit health services

Headquarters

HQ city

Boston

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Supply Chain, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Donations and charitable funding: The organization operates as a non-profit entity relying on donations from a global community of supporters to fund ambulance deployment and operations

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

The Okoa Project, operating as Moving Health, designs and locally manufactures motorcycle ambulances in Ghana that are tailored for rural terrain and maternal health emergencies. It deploys these ambulances directly to rural, last-mile Ghanaian communities in partnership with local health directorates, providing emergency medical transport for over 230,000 people across more than 30 vehicles. The organization is funded primarily through charitable donations and operates an Emergency Transport Framework that supports local manufacturing, apprenticeships, and job creation alongside the ambulance program.

Product overview

The Okoa Project operates Moving Health as a community-led emergency transportation system. The core offering consists of locally-manufactured ambulances built in Ghana, designed specifically for rural terrain and maternal health emergencies. These ambulances are supported by an Emergency Transport Framework that provides the operational and logistical structure for deployment. The organization also maintains an Online Store for merchandise. The portfolio centers on physical vehicles and transport services rather than software products.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Moving Health Ambulances Community-designed emergency transport vehicles (motorcycle ambulances) built locally in Ghana and tailored for rural terrain. These ambulances provide critical access to maternal health and emergency care, deployed across Ghana to rural last-mile communities.
• Emergency Transport Framework An innovation framework that reimagines emergency transport by building ambulances locally in Ghana at one-tenth the cost of traditional vehicles, while creating jobs, apprenticeships, and economic opportunity. Provides the operational and deployment structure for Moving Health ambulances.
• Moving Health Online Store Online merchandise store offering Moving Health branded items to support the organization's mission and fundraising efforts.

Quantifiable outcome

• 230,000+ people provided with life-saving transport
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Riders for Health: Riders for Health manages a fleet of motorcycles and vehicles for health workers across multiple African countries. It is the closest direct peer, operating a community-led transportation model for rural healthcare delivery, though it is larger and more established with a longer operating history.
• Last Mile Health: Last Mile Health recruits, trains, and equips community health workers to deliver care in remote African communities. While focused on human healthcare delivery rather than transport, it addresses the same 'last-mile' rural access problem in overlapping geographies (Liberia, Sierra Leone, Malawi).

Broad incumbents

• AMREF Health Africa: AMREF is the largest African-based health NGO, working across community health, training, and service delivery in dozens of countries. It is a broad incumbent that overlaps with The Okoa Project's mission of strengthening rural health systems and could be a future partner, competitor, or acquirer of similar programs.
• Partners in Health: Partners in Health operates comprehensive health services in low-income countries, often including transport infrastructure to reach patients in remote areas. It is a broad incumbent and one of the most established health-equity NGOs, with significantly greater scale and a similar mission orientation.
• PATH: PATH is a global health innovation organization that designs and deploys health solutions across low- and middle-income countries, including maternal and newborn health programs. It is a broad incumbent that frequently funds or partners with grassroots innovators addressing similar problems.
• BRAC: BRAC is one of the world's largest development NGOs, operating health, education, and economic programs in multiple African and Asian countries. It is a broad incumbent that combines community health worker programs with local manufacturing and income-generation activities analogous to The Okoa Project's model.

Emerging players

• Zambulance (Tuck Awards / Industrial Design Project): Zambulance is an early-stage initiative building low-cost motorcycle ambulances for rural Zambia, with a comparable product category and design philosophy. It is a direct emerging peer with overlapping use cases but smaller deployed scale.
• One World Health: One World Health operates a network of primary care facilities in East Africa with logistics and transport components serving rural patients. It is an emerging player in the same frontier-market health access space, though with a facility-based rather than vehicle-based model.

Regional players

• EMRI (Emergency Management and Research Institute): EMRI operates the 108 emergency ambulance service across India, providing free emergency transport to hundreds of millions of people. It is a regional player with an analogous operating model (free, government-supported ambulance fleet) but in a different geography and at vastly greater scale.

Others

• UNICEF Supply Division: UNICEF procures and distributes health and logistics equipment for low-income countries, including cold-chain and transport solutions. It is an adjacent ecosystem participant that could be a future procurement partner or funder for scaled motorcycle ambulance programs.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/theokoaproject

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The Okoa Project