Enterprise Africa is a digital and glossy print magazine that is distributed to over 110,000 business professionals across every industrial sector on the continent. In his opening letter to readers, the editor Joe Forshaw enthuses: “We also hear from CapeRay Medical, the innovative and exciting Cape Town-based medical engineering company that is almost ready to start commercially manufacturing its Aceso imaging systems that help detect breast cancer. This is a company that can change people’s lives for the better and is searching for market opportunities and partners around the world.”

The article takes its title from a quote by CapeRay’s CEO, Kit Vaughan: “We’re on the cusp of releasing our machine into the market so it’s an exciting time.” Enterprise Africa does not charge its subscribers for the magazine, but instead relies on advertising revenue as its business model. We are grateful that two of our business partners supported the publication of our article by placing an advertisement. Underwriters Laboratory (UL) is the Notified Body that is currently auditing our Aceso system for the CE Mark, while the Industrial Development Corporation, which prides itself on being “Your partner in development finance,” has been the major investor in CapeRay.

When you read the article, you will notice that it has been delivered on issuu, a free online platform that has 100 million active readers per month and over 30 million publications. Each month the Enterprise Africa cover features a business leader whose company is profiled in the magazine and for this May 2017 edition the editors chose Vaughan (seen above left).

As highlighted in the article, the early detection of breast cancer is vital to successfully treating the condition, but mammography – the gold standard for screening – can miss half the cancers in women with dense breast tissue. This idea was unacceptable to Vaughan and Professor Tania Douglas, Director of the Medical Imaging Research Unit at UCT, who launched CapeRay seven years ago with the aim of developing a product – known as Aceso, the Greek goddess of healing – that combines full-field digital mammography and 3D automated breast ultrasound in a single platform. The company now has an exciting product that has been successfully tested in the clinic and is seeking a strategic partner to take CapeRay to the next level.

Forshaw concludes his editorial: “CapeRay is another example of a business that started small with just a concept and a drive to succeed – South African entrepreneurship at its finest.” Now that’s quite an endorsement!