Consumer protection

Here's a story about how members of the Changemakers community are protecting patients in North America:

It’s reassuring to know when you get on a plane, that the pilot has an emergency checklist and a co-pilot backing him up.  It should also be reassuring to know that ICU doctors may soon be following their lead.

Every year, some 200,000 patients contract infections during their stay in intensive care.  Most of these are treatable with expensive antibiotics and a longer hospital stay.  In some cases, these infections can be fatal.

Read more about this solution, or discuss this topic below.
 

GMO Risk or Rescue Group: Helping Consumers Decide

Created on 07/13/2009 by Elizabeth

Location

main

When it comes to genetic food engineering, claims are often made about farmers ability and interest to adapt. And how about vitamin-rich rice? ... Are these realities or misrepresentations? Tell us what you think here

[Also check out our GMO Risk or Rescue competition. Share your idea or initiative to get noticed and to be eligible for various  prizes. Submit your entry by October 21, 2009.]

Jubilee Initiatve For Financial Inclusion

"Payday loans" have become nothing short of unjust, unsustainable, and toxic in the United States. In fact, over 76% of total "payday loan" volume in the US comes from repeat borrowers who live paycheck to paycheck. Our goal is to provide a sustainable solution to the borrowers of South Bend.

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Promoting Price Transparency in Health Care

OkCopay is tearing down the wall of secrecy in health care, making it incredibly easy for people who pay out of pocket to understand their options. We do for patients what kayak.com does for travelers. No other site offers provider-level pricing details in such volume or breadth of procedures as us.

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Changeshop

This project also has a Changeshop where you can read more about its latest progress.
Go to Changeshop: Beam Of Light.

Beam Of Light

Created on 05/6/2013 by asekafr

The innovation at Beam of Light shares the philosophy and key components of the development initiative Youth Lights that works with youths. It employs an asset-based empowerment methodology to facilitate the restoration of youths sense of self, belonging, power, and collective responsibility

About You

Organization: Beam of Light ltd. Visit websitemore ↓↑ hide↑ hide

About You

First Name

SEKAMANA

Last Name

Archimede

About Your Organization

Organization Name

Beam of Light ltd.

Organization Website

N/A

Organization Country

Rwanda

Country where this project is creating social impact

Rwanda, KV, Kigali

Is your organization a

For‐profit

Has the organization received awards or honors? Please tell us about them

Not applicable

Changeshop

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Name your entry

Beam Of Light

Year founded

2013

Stage

Idea (poised to launch)

This Entry is about (Issues)

Elevator Pitch

The innovation at Beam of Light shares the philosophy and key components of the development initiative Youth Lights that works with youths. It employs an asset-based empowerment methodology to facilitate the restoration of youths sense of self, belonging, power, and collective responsibility

Problem

The rising number of orphans and vulnerable children in Rwanda following Genocide against Tutsi and HIV/AIDS pandemic has overstretched informal fostering systems. As a result, Rwanda’s adolescents and young adults, ages 12-18, have emerged as the heads of their households and the caregivers of their siblings facing problems such as unwanted pregnancies, poverty and malnutrition

Solution

The solution applies the asset-based approach to 1) Cultivate solidarity through psycho social support groups. 2) Foster self-confidence through cycle smart kit , 3) Incite youth to action through group and individual dreams. 4) Inspire leadership by respecting and reinforcing peer educators. 5) Reinforce youth’s investment by saving and internal lending scheme and seed capital. 6) Promote youth’s self-reliance by encouraging youth groups toward independent management and collaboration with other community-based association structures. 7) Stimulate youth’s transformation of adults within their wider community by creating opportunities for local authorities and community members to engage with, witness, and appreciate their capacities.

Example

Martin was 17 years when he took to the streets of Kigali leaving behind his 2 sisters in the village. He lived as a street kid for 3 years, doing odd jobs around the city to feed himself. When he joined the program thinking he was coming to a meal ticket, He got much more than he bargained for. He has been trained and put into group. In the groups he shared experiences and draw dreams, what he hate, what he like, things that have affected him and the dreams he has for the future. He has taken these dreams as his and they have become engraved in him. Martin received a loan of 15,000 Rwandan Francs which he invested in a small herd of 3 goats. With the profits he gained from their sale, he bought a larger herd. Now he lives a decent life.

Impact

Within one year there will be reduced stigma through reintegration into communities and social systems of 200 Youths within by registering them to the program; Increased primary school completion and access to secondary of at least 600 youths by supporting them with school materials and school fees; – 200 OVC families will be able to pay their health insurance; Food Security improved through their own livelihood sources – 200 OVC will be trained on balanced diet and will have a kitchen garden in their homes and at least 200 Individual Income generating activities (IGAs) will be initiated by OVC ; 200 OVCs will receive new skills training and diversifications ; At least 200 OVCs behaviour related to HIV/AIDS will positively be affected through improved knowledge, reduced premarital sex, increased voluntary testing and participation in Anti-AIDS and ASRH clubs.

Marketplace

There's an orphanage in the Sector of Jaban where I intended to start my business but currently the government of Rwanda has urged the close of institutions of its kind and centers to allow each child to live in a family system care. The approach I am bringing is encouraging children and youth to stay within their community. No one else on my knowledge is working on this issue of youth and children through dream drawing, cycle smart kit and Income Generating activity for hunger alleviation, plans and healthy conditions of youth and children

Sustainability Plan

The goal of the project is to build the capacity of groups for them to be self-sustainable. Once the groups are well established and members trained in Income Generating activities and microfinance management, they take on a life of their mean independent of the project. Older train new members themselves (Babies Light) and the microfinance fund continue to grow and the interest collected on the small business loans cycles back into the Fund.

Founding Story

Having lost my both parents at only 17 years old while I was the eldest in the family; I went through a situation of a Youth Caregiver life. Since then I struggled to feed and keep my younger siblings at school but this was hard and I lost my two brothers lack of treatment and my sister got pregnant at 16 years old only. Since then, I got the passion of helping youth and children in the situation I have gone through. I remember also, in my family we were born only 4 but we have been raised as eight as my parents fostered other 4 children. I am Dad and I do not like to see children suffering, If I would have seen a business man who looked after me after losing my parents, I would have been nothing nowadays.

Nutrients For All

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Where do you ensure the availability of nutrients?

Human wellness and vitality.

If you had greater capacity, which additional sectors would you like your solution to target - either through expansion, partnership, or thought exchange?

Healthy environments, Nutrient-rich farming, Full nourishment foods.

How specifically would this added capacity help you improve the quality, efficiency, or sustainability of your existing product or service?

Approximately 100 words left (800 characters). I have no agricultural, food security and health issues background and if these capacities are added to what I have I will be able to address all the issues related to the well being of youths especially youth caregivers and their siblings. This will sustain my programs as I will be working with healthy beneficiaries and that will be an added value too to my product.

Nutrient Economy

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How is your product or service connected to vitality for the people and planet?

Approximately 125 words left (1000 characters).

People need appropriate nutrients to grow, learn, and fight off disease. How do you measure, track, or make use of information about nutrient levels in your own work?

Approximately 100 words left (800 characters).

Considering the flow of nutrients from ecosystems to soil to farms to food to communities, what are the barriers to achieving vitality for people and the planet?

Other barriers you have identified

In your view, what developments need to happen in order to help overcome those barriers and produce a more nutrient rich and vital public and planet?

Approximately 125 words left (1000 characters).

What do you consider the most promising trends or evidence that indicates that the developments you described are emerging? Please elaborate.

Approximately 100 words left (800 characters).

Beam Of Light

The innovation at Beam of Light shares the philosophy and key components of the development initiative “Youth Lights” that works with youths. It employs an asset-based empowerment methodology to facilitate the restoration of youths’ sense of self, belonging, power, and collective responsibility.

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OkCopay: Helping People Find Affordable Medical Care

Created on 04/9/2013 by tourem

OkCopay helps people who pay out-of-pocket for medical expenses find the right doctor at a competitive price. The OkCopay website allows users to view pricing information, compare health providers, and find local deals.

About You

Organization: OkCopay Visit websitemore ↓↑ hide↑ hide

About You

First Name

Toure

Last Name

McCluskey

About Your Organization

Organization Name

OkCopay

Organization Website

Organization Country

United States, WA, Seattle, King County

Organization's Country of Operation

United States, WA, Seattle, King County

Type of Organization

For‐profit

Year of launch of the organization

2011

Years in Operation

Operating 1-5 years

Has the organization received awards or honors? Please tell us about them

2012 Echoing Green Fellow
2012 Poptech Social Innovation Fellow
2011 Chicago Interactive Marketing Assn. Digital Startup Winner

We want to hear about your “Aha!” moment. Share the story of where and when the founder(s) saw this solution’s potential to change the world.

OkCopay was born out of the frustration of paying over $500 out-of-pocket for an X-ray that could've been had across the street for $80. Despite using the Internet to shop for travel & other services, I had no ability to compare local medical providers. So I left my job in pricing strategy at a Pharma company to become an entrepreneur and figure out how to reduce the costs of health care.

The information you provide here will be used to fill in any parts of your profile that have been left blank, such as interests, organization information, and website. No contact information will be made public. Please uncheck here if you do not want this to happen..

Innovation

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Name Your Entry

OkCopay: Helping People Find Affordable Medical Care

Explain what the "innovation" is about, e.g., is it the idea and/or the model you use to accomplish the idea, or your understanding of the target population, etc.?

OkCopay is creating an open web-based portal that helps consumers quickly and easily identify cost-effective medical providers. 50 million Americans are w/o health insurance. 130 Million Americans do not have either vision or dental coverage. Even worse, uninsured patients typically pay the most for medical care, which is why medical bills are the leading cause of personal bankruptcy.

OkCopay is an elegant technology solution that empowers patients to understand their options for care, make more informed decisions, and save significant time and money. Users can now know their potential costs before they go to the doctor.

We uniquely address 3 current problems that are contributing to the perpetual rising costs of health care:

1) Finding out pricing information prior to treatment is insanely difficult.
2) Uninsured patients pay the most for medical care.
3) Medical prices within the same geographic area have a tremendously wide variability. For example a cash-paying patient might pay as little as $430 or as much as $2600 for an abdominal MRI.

Consumers are already comfortable using websites to find good value for cars, electronics, and travel. OkCopay is applying comparison shopping dynamics to routine medical care.

Through technology we can reach tens of millions of people who need to find affordable care. Without this transparency, there is no mechanism for people to easily find pricing info or market pressure to bring down or at least control costs. OkCopay exists to bring basic consumer rights and improve the sustainability of our health care system.

Describe how your innovation model is distinct from any other organization in your field?

No other website offers provider-level pricing details in such volume or breadth of procedures as OkCopay. While there are many sites that offer medical provider listings, ratings and reviews, none provide comprehensive pricing data. Price is a major consideration for many patients, yet they essentially have no visibility on how much their procedures may cost and what their options are.

Providers have an equally strong incentive to attract new patients. Cash-paying patients present a tremendous opportunity b/c they are higher-margin and come with less administrative burdens. Dealing with insurance paperwork is a major pain point for most doctors and dentists. Through transparency providers will have increased incentive to keep their prices low to attract new patients.

What type of operating environment and internal organizational factors make your innovation successful?

OkCopay is a bold new technology, and its newness means there is no roadmap for success. With that understanding, we continually run experiments in User Interface, Data presentation, marketing, and product development. We then measure the performance of these changes against status quo and ask clients and users to respond. Our focus on testing and feedback from users, helps ensure that we are innovating on the right things to support our mission.

We have an extremely lean organizational structure. We have assembled a team who are subject experts around the globe. Our leanness allow us to move very swiftly. More importantly, we have an ethos of testing everything.

How do you make sure you constantly innovate in light of (potential) external challenges, or your growth plan?

We are in constant communication with our users, partners, and clients to ensure we are delivering on our mission. All of our innovation is measured against our ability to deliver our mission. We also have recruited a particularly strong group Advisors who have their finger on the pulse of health care, health care policy, marketing, and internet technology. They help guide our efforts in recognizing opportunities and executing our growth plans.

This Entry is about (Issues)

Business Model

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The systemic challenge you are trying to overcome (select one)

Realign the incentives in the public healthcare system in mature markets, or

Health area (target market) where the need is [select only one]

Primary healthcare services

Categories along the health continuum you are covering [select all that apply]

Detection, Intervention, Follow-up, Social integration.

Please describe in more detail: what problem are you trying to solve in the organization's specific context?

We address 3 current problems that are contributing to the perpetual rising costs of health care:

1) Finding out pricing information prior to treatment is insanely difficult.
2) Uninsured patients pay the most for medical care.
3) Medical prices within the same geographic area have a tremendously wide variability.

Oftentimes more affordable health providers are nearby, but patient/consumers have no way to know their options. We see this an information problem. Consumer's would make different choices if they had actionable information. OkCopay is tearing down this information barrier that prevents people from accessing the care they need. By providing choice and clear actionable info, OkCopay allows people to avoid getting hit with surprising and often life-changing medical bills.

Stage that best applies to your solution [select only one]

Start-up and growth (pilot is successful and starting to expand)

Core strategies of your business model [select all that apply]

Approaches to behavioral change at the individual level, Patient-centered design, Redesign of the public healthcare system for more efficiency (in terms of processes, structure etc.), Unconventional partnerships (between traditional healthcare players and players outside healthcare).

If other, specify here:

Most relevant tools you are using to implement the strategies outlined above [select only two]

Technology, Others.

If other, specify here:

Forming Partnerships

Please describe your solution in more detail

OkCopay is the first open service that allows people to find and compare routine medical care on the basis of price, convenience, and doctor credentials. At OkCopay.com users can search for providers based off the procedure they need and their location. We display all of the practitioners in their area and reveal actual provider prices (or details on the appropriate health clinic). We do for patients what kayak.com does for travelers. We also recognize that for some procedures you shouldn't choose a doctor solely on price. So you can filter your results based off of a doctors credentials (board certifications, years of experience, etc), proximity, and even office hours. We currently cover 72 routine procedures, as well as offering searchable data on free and sliding-scale health clinics.

What are your vision and overall objectives?

OkCopay generates revenues by connecting highly cash-paying patients with health care providers seeking to grow their businesses. Immediate revenue streams include Promotional Advertising and transaction fees. The OkCopay Deal Board is a designated area where providers can list promotions or specials for a fixed fee. A provider's basic listing is free and our native search results reveal prices regardless of whether they are paying us or not. This promotes trust for our users. The promotions are clearly marked and strictly reserved for our "Deal Board" section of the website. These deals reinforce our mission. OkCopay’s unique position as a pricing platform makes it well suited to eventually facilitate transactions on our site and to receive both transaction fees and referral income.

What is your value proposition?

While there are many sites that offer doctor listings, ratings, and reviews none provide comprehensive pricing data. Visitors to the site come to OkCopay because we are the only ones collecting, verifying, and providing this data free to the public. Even Google or other search engines can't help you find provider prices.

For providers, OkCopay uniquely offers the unique ability to reliably reach targeted higher-margin consumers in the final stage of their purchasing process.

Its important to point out that even with the Affordable Care Act, there are expected to be over 20 million uninsured Americans in 2017. Furthermore, gaps is coverage will remain. For example Vision & Dental will remain outside of mandated coverage. Additionally, elective care will continue not to be covered.

Who is your customer(s)?

OkCopay is for people with gaps in insurance coverage who are paying out-of-pocket for health care. The website covers routine non-urgent medical procedures. OkCopay is focused on 3 distinct segments of self-pay patients:
1. Of the 49 million uninsured Americans, we estimate 50% have the ability to search online and pay for routine health services. Most are working as hourly employees, part-time, freelancers, artists, or in other jobs that don’t offer health coverage.
2. People with gaps in their insurance coverage. For eg, there are over 130 million Americans without either vision or dental insurance.
3. Patients seeking elective care such as LASIK eye surgery or cosmetic procedures. Elective care is not covered by insurance. Over 9.5 million cosmetic procedures performed in 2012.

What approaches to you use to reach your customers?

OkCopay reaches our target market in a number of ways. We have already developed promotional relationships with local government agencies, non-profits, and professional employer organizations. This is to reach people without care.

We have also partnered with benefits brokers in one market to reach those people who are employed, have health care, but lack vision or dental coverage. We have built and deployed an "embeddable widget" on their pages to allow their users to conduct searches of our database directly from their website. This helps us gain tremendous traffic while adding a unique feature to our distribution partners.

We are also very strong on Search Engine Optimization and generate about 40% of our traffic via this medium.

What are your primary activities?

OkCopay’s search platform empowers people to “shop” for health care based on price, convenience, and doctor qualifications. OkCopay’s database includes over 70 common medical and dental procedures.

We have a created a unique data collection process. We gather data from a number of different sources. Then we verify and validate all of the information ourselves.

Our database platform was created to help people quickly find the information they are looking for. The filtering system is similar to other highly popular comparison shopping services in other industries.

Who are your peers and competitors? What problems could these players pose to your success or growth?

Defined broadly, our competitors are any resource that people use to help them find doctors. Online that has tended to be search engines, directory sites, and increasingly ratings and review sites. Our challenge is to acquire significant "Share of Voice" to compete with them. Most poeple do not know they can shop on doctor prices. All of the above could be potential partners.

What other challenges - individual, organizational, or environmental – are you currently facing or might hinder future success of your business, and how do you plan to overcome those?

Internal-
- Building a high-quality team on a limited budget
I am focusing on hiring based off of attitude and passion. Many people have contacted me with a strong interest to work with OkCopay, so starting in March, I will dedicate a few hours a week to recruiting.
- Finding like-minded investors
- Raising awareness is a major obstacle
In every other industry, people shop around before they make a purchase, whether it’s buying groceries, a car or an airline ticket. This is expected behavior. But this is a new concept for many in the US health system.
Shopping for medical providers is a revolutionary concept in the US health system. The hurdle of changing norms and behaviors will be challenge for us to overcome. Forunately, aligned monetary incentives will promote change.

Briefly describe your growth strategy going forward

-Form Distribution Partnerships with state and local gov't agencies, private employers, and local non-profits. Continue innovating on product development, including mobile apps, telephone call center, and other resources to make it easy for people to find the care they need.
-City by city rollout

What dimensions for growth are you currently targeting for your innovation [select all that apply]

New customer group(s), New regions(s).

What makes your business "ready" for growth?

OkCopay has already developed promotional relationships with local government agencies, non-profits, and professional employer organizations. We have over 75,000 prices in our database across 8 US cities. OkCopay is well-positioned to become a central platform that supports the consumer-directed health movement.

What are your key growth objectives?

Reach more people via geographic expansion. Cover additional medical procedures and ancillary services where it makes sense.

What is your timeframe for growth, in the short and mid-term? What are the growth milestones and key activities going forward?

15 cities by end of 2013.
35 cities by 2014.
Add technical and sales staff
Execution on Advertising/Marketing/User Acquisition Strategy
Ongoing product development

Social Impact

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What has been the impact of your solution to date?

We are now in 8 markets and cover 72 procedures. OkCopay.com has helped over 20,000 people find affordable medical care.

What methods for quantification of social impact are you applying (if at all)?

The usage of the website (number of unique visitors) is a solid proxy for how many people are finding value from OkCopay. More broadly, OkCopay's mission is help people find affordable health care and introduce market-based pricing transparency. To this end, we will also track the price "spread" of the 70 listed medical procedures by geographic area. Our hope and expectation is is that as the site grows, we will see price bands narrow (following basic economic laws around competition) for many procedures in cities we've launched in.

Additionally, we believe OkCopay will have the greatest impact on providers of care. Having to "chase" consumers, as in any other industry, incents them to be more responsive, efficient, and flexible. While

Could your solution work in other geographies or regions? If so, where?

Yes, where ever consumer patients are paying out-of-pocket our platform can be useful and empowering. Incentives for shopping for care decrease with the presence of comprehensive 3rd party payers (insurance).

What is your projected impact over the next 1-3 years?

Through OkCopay Claire and other uninsured citizens will be able to find affordable care within seconds. With the support supporters, we expect to reach 200,000 users by the end of 2012. By end of year 2013, we expect to have reached over 1.5 million unique visitors. I conservatively estimate OkCopay will help 17 million Americans improve access to affordable health care services within five years.

Ultimately, we expect public health outcomes to improve as consumers are able to better anticipate future health expenses (and not avoid care due to cost). Consumers can also better understand their options for care and seek cost-effective solutions that are the best fit for their current health and financial situation.

Sustainability

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Elaborate on your current financing strategy

OkCopay generates revenues by connecting highly lucrative cash-paying patients with health care providers seeking to grow their businesses. Immediate revenue streams include Promotional Advertising and transaction fees. The OkCopay Deal Board is a designated area where providers can list any promotions or specials for a fee. OkCopay’s unique position as a pricing platform makes it well suited to facilitate transactions on our site and to receive both transaction fees and referral income.

Share of revenue generation in total income of organization (in percent)

85

Direct sales to patients or other beneficiaries (in percent)

Of the possible sources of these sales listed below, check all that apply to your current strategy

Private businesses.

Licensing fees, e.g., for technology/franchise model (in percent)

Of the possible sources of these licensing opportunities listed below, check all that apply to your current strategy

Service contract with organizations, e.g., government, NGOs (in percent)

10

Of the possible sources of the service contracts listed below, check all that apply to your current strategy

Private businesses.

Explain your revenue generation strategy in more detail

OkCopay generates revenues by connecting highly lucrative cash-paying patients with health care providers seeking to grow their businesses. Immediate revenue streams include Promotional Advertising and transaction fees. The OkCopay Deal Board is a designated area where providers can list any promotions or specials for a fee. OkCopay’s unique position as a pricing platform makes it well suited to facilitate transactions on our site and to receive both transaction fees and referral income.

Share of philanthropy in total income of organization (in percent)

5

Philanthrophy strategies you are using

Single strategy.

Explain your philanthropic approach in more detail

Apply for PRI's and fellowships to foundations focused on health system innovation.

Expand on your selections; explain how you will sustain funding over the next 1-3 years.

I anticipate OkCopay will be profitable by 2014. I am confident OkCopay has the right plan, product, and compelling value proposition In 2013 and 2014, OkCopay will continue to need outside capital to sustain the business. As we scale up, we will again approach like-minded investors and use Revenue from Business Operations to plug the gap.

We are raising a seed round of investment to bring on additional personnel to drive distribution, scale up to 30 more cities.

Smart Drugs

Created on 04/9/2013 by ashnab

NAYA JEEVAN’s emerging world 'Pharmacy Benefits Maximizer' (PBM) is a technology-enabled, market-based approach to minimizing medical errors, eliminating counterfeit medicines and increasing affordability and access to quality healthcare for millions of marginalized families at the bottom-of-the Pyramid ( BoP).

About You

Organization: NAYA JEEVAN Visit websitemore ↓↑ hide↑ hide

About You

First Name

Asher

Last Name

Hasan

About Your Organization

Organization Name

NAYA JEEVAN

Organization Website

Organization Country

United States, CT, Darien

Organization's Country of Operation

Pakistan, S, Karachi

Type of Organization

Non‐profit/NGO

Year of launch of the organization

2007

Years in Operation

Please select

Has the organization received awards or honors? Please tell us about them

• 2008 NYU Stern Business plan Competition; Winners – Social Entrepreneurship Track ($75,000 1st prize)
• 2009 TED India Fellowship
• 2009 Clinton Global Initiative Invited Membership
• 2010 Asia 21 Young Leader
• 2010 Robert Wood Johnson TEDMED fellowship
• 2010 Clinton Global Initiative Invited Membership
• 2010 Opportunity Collaboration Cordes Fellowship
• 2010 Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) membership
• 2011 Ashoka Fellowship (USA)
• 2011 Ariane de Rothschild Fellowship
• 2012 World Economic Forum/Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneur of the Year – Asia
• 2012 G20/Changemakers Financial Inclusion Challenge – awarded global finalist
• 2012 Wall Street Journal Asian Innovation Awards finalist
• 2012 Said Business School/Oxford University Global Business Challenge – Regional Winner, Asia
• 2012 abc* Foundation Entrepreneur Challenge - Award

We want to hear about your “Aha!” moment. Share the story of where and when the founder(s) saw this solution’s potential to change the world.

The founder and CEO of NAYA JEEVAN is Dr. Asher Hasan, an ASHOKA fellow who believes in the universal right to healthcare, financial inclusion and social protection. Asher felt there must be a way to finance and deliver quality healthcare to the BOP via a novel convergence of CSR, social entrepreneurship and institutionalized citizen philanthropy

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Innovation

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Name Your Entry

Smart Drugs

Explain what the "innovation" is about, e.g., is it the idea and/or the model you use to accomplish the idea, or your understanding of the target population, etc.?

NAYA JEEVAN’s emerging world 'Pharmacy Benefits Maximizer' (PBM) is a technology-enabled, market-based approach to minimizing medical errors, eliminating counterfeit medicines and increasing affordability and access to quality healthcare for millions of marginalized families at the bottom-of-the Pyramid ( BoP).

NAYA JEEVAN’s social business model is a unique example of 'integrated innovation' - a convergence of business, social and technological innovation. This requires innovation at both the conceptual (idea) and implementation (model) levels and also a nuanced understanding of the target population (marginalized communities at the BoP earning less than $8/day) and their ability to pay for effective chronic disease management.

The PBM, through its smart-phone enabled 'e-scripts' feature (digital medical prescriptions) will minimize medical errors from ineligible writing or reading errors. In addition, a national Pharmacy Rx Smart Card, will introduce differential pricing – offering a very large pool of low‐income beneficiaries access to quality medicines at below -market prices without cannibalizing core premium commercial markets or devaluing drug brands. We believe that participating pharmaceutical companies can find a path to profitability through significant volume based revenue origination from the BOP if they are willing to offer income‐sensitive retail pricing that directly benefits low-income populations, leveraging mobile technology and digital micropayments.

Describe how your innovation model is distinct from any other organization in your field?

NAYA JEEVAN's innovation triad (e-scripts, Rx smart cards and technology-enabled direct-from manufacturer discounts for the BoP) is truly unique. To date, there has been no institutionalized effort in Pakistan, to reduce avoidable medical errors through digital prescriptions. In addition 50% of the pharmaceutical supply in Pakistan is counterfeit which represents a major public health threat to disempowered consumers. Finally, there has been no large-scale effort to provide life-altering medicines to BoP communities in an affordable manner. Even low-income consumers of health in the public sector are required to pay for their medications and are often faced with the daunting prospect of skipping their medicines in order to feed their families - an unfair and unsustainable choice.

What type of operating environment and internal organizational factors make your innovation successful?

NAYA JEEVAN practices 'Kaizen' - continuous improvement in its systems, processes and products. The organization is comprised of ~30 dynamic, passionate individuals - many of whom have returned to Pakistan to apply the technical knowledge and expertise they have acquired in the US, Canada and Europe to accelerate 'frugal innovation' in the East. The organization is very flat and encourages critical inquiry and decision feedback loops that promote best practices from the bottom up.

Resource-constrained environments in the emerging world are particularly conducive to innovation, e.g. Infrastructural constraints are being leapfrogged by technology-enabled mHealth and eHealth and HR constraints are being addressed through task-shifting and right-skilling of the health workforce.

How do you make sure you constantly innovate in light of (potential) external challenges, or your growth plan?

Necessity is the mother of invention (and innovation). Pakistan is fraught with external challenges (social, political, security, terrorism, etc.) which only exacerbates the need for access to quality healthcare for millions of marginalized and accentuates the importance of our work. Organizational resilience in the face of adversity is a very important quality to possess and we can proudly say that our organization has survived multiple challenges - especially access to growth capital, markets and human talent.

Innovation and adaptation to a rapidly changing environment is very much embedded in our organizational DNA - we have developed multiple contingency plans for each external threat as well as identified 'bright spots' that can be accelerated if external conditions are favorable.

This Entry is about (Issues)

Business Model

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The systemic challenge you are trying to overcome (select one)

Bring accessible healthcare to communities in emerging markets

Health area (target market) where the need is [select only one]

Chronic care

Categories along the health continuum you are covering [select all that apply]

Prevention, Detection, Intervention, Follow-up, Long-term care, Social integration.

Please describe in more detail: what problem are you trying to solve in the organization's specific context?

One of the biggest development challenges in Pakistan is lack of access to affordable, quality healthcare, with an under-resourced public health infrastructure that is unable to cater to the population. A majority of the Pakistani population lives below the poverty line, has little to no savings, and has zero access to quality healthcare. This problem is exacerbated by the fact that over 50% of the nations' pharmaceutical drug supply is counterfeit and poses a significant health risk to disempowered consumers - especially in rural areas where literacy and awareness are low. In addition, there have been significant fatalities from medical errors associated with ineligible writing and incorrect drug dispensation.

Stage that best applies to your solution [select only one]

Scaling (growing impact on a regional or global scale)

Core strategies of your business model [select all that apply]

Patient-centered design, Redesign of the public healthcare system for more efficiency (in terms of processes, structure etc.), New/redefined roles for healthcare service provision, New approaches to distribution of health products and services, Unconventional partnerships (between traditional healthcare players and players outside healthcare), New financing strategies for health, Other.

If other, specify here:

Technology-enabled improvements in quality of healthcare services/products delivered to the BoP

Most relevant tools you are using to implement the strategies outlined above [select only two]

Technology, Community financing.

If other, specify here:

Please describe your solution in more detail

NAYA JEEVAN’s ‘PBM’ is a technology-enabled, market-based approach to minimizing medical errors via smart-phone enabled digital prescriptions (eScripts), eliminating counterfeit medicines and increasing affordability and access to quality healthcare. The PBM, through its national Pharmacy Smart Card, will introduce differential pricing – offering a very large pool of pre-qualified, low‐income beneficiaries access to quality medicines. Direct-from-manufacturer discounts will be enabled at point-of-sale (POS) without cannibalizing core premium commercial markets or devaluing drug brands. We believe that participating pharmaceutical companies can find a path to profitability through significant volume based revenue origination from the BOP.

What are your vision and overall objectives?

Our overarching vision is to provide an automated solution that makes pharmaceutical purchases cashless, affordable and safe for low-income communities throughout the emerging world.

Our objectives include:

1. Education of retailers/microretailers on how to utilize smart-phone enabled, cashless POS technology in order to enhance their sales, improve their inventory management and operational efficiency.

2. Empowerment of consumers through real-time, sms-enabled, POS product authentication

3. Elimination of medical errors due to ineligible writing by disseminating smart-phone enabled digital prescription technology

What is your value proposition?

For an annual membership fee of only PKR 500 ($5), qualified, low-income families will be able to procure Rx smart cards which provide them with 20-50% POS, direct-from-manufacturer discounts at a participating nationwide network of retail pharmacies. Given that the average annual expenditure of low-income families on medicines for chronic disease management is estimated to be at least PKR 6000/year ($60), the minimum net savings, health consumers will enjoy are PKR 700 ($7/year). In addition low-income consumers will be empowered to authenticate the drug they are purchasing via real-time sms. This technology will be integrated with the Rx smart card and the only cost associated with product authentication will be the regular cost of an sms transmission.

Who is your customer(s)?

Our target customers are the working poor who are concentrated into 5 sectors within the formal economy: corporate, public, academic, SME and NGO as well as a very large informal economy which includes domestic household staff such as drivers, cooks, maids, guards, etc. and their families. The total population of such workers in Pakistan is ~40 Million and the potential lives impacted (including their families) is ~120 Million lives.

What approaches to you use to reach your customers?

NAYA JEEVAN has cultivated close collaborations with large MNC and national corporations. We cascade our health plan for the marginalized up and down their value chains, targeting low-income stakeholders (suppliers, distributors, microretailers, etc). We intend to leverage the same distribution platforms to disseminate our Smart Drugs card. In addition, we will also partner with large MFIs to target the communities they conduct business in.

What are your primary activities?

[1] Negotiation of retail discounts for pharmaceutical medicines/vaccinations/diagnostic supplies from Pharmaceutical companies
[2] Construction of a pre-discounted Pharmaceutical Formulary database
[3] Development of an appropriate technology platform with our technology partner (UBL Omni)
[4] Selection of participating in-network retail pharmacies in Karachi
[5] Pilot launch of Smart Drugs system in Karachi with distribution of Pharmacy Smart cards to clinic and health plan members (~25000 households)
[6] Monitoring/testing and quality assurance, documenting lessons learned. Dissemination of learnings via continuous feedback loops.

Who are your peers and competitors? What problems could these players pose to your success or growth?

There are no companies which are providing digital prescription or product authentication services to the BoP at the present time in Pakistan. However, we hope that our model will catalyze the entry of competitors into the marketplace as there is a huge market to serve (over 120 million lives). Potential market entrants include insurance companies seeking product diversification and value creation opportunities as well as ICT-enabled health solutions companies. While these companies may try and 'out-muscle' us in the market, our expectation is that a number of large pharmaceutical companies will come forward to collaborate with us on this project and, to a certain degree, immunize us from such competition (although competition is healthy and we welcome it as a social business).

What other challenges - individual, organizational, or environmental – are you currently facing or might hinder future success of your business, and how do you plan to overcome those?

Pakistan is facing a major energy crisis and this is an issue which can discourage use of electronically powered, ICT-dependent solutions. Environmental and personal security remains a challenge but we will continue to innovate and leapfrog these constraints. A major organizational constraint is sufficient access to growth capital. In an ideal world, we would have no problem raising the growth capital needed ($1.2 Million over the next 12 months) and would have scaled to serving over 150,000 consumers at the BoP.

Briefly describe your growth strategy going forward

Our growth plan consists of partnering with the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF has over 100 partner/member MFIs and large NGOs) and the NISP (National Income Support Program) to incorporate our technology into their current value proposition. NISP has over 7.5 Million beneficiaries and provides an ideal platform to scale our social business.

What dimensions for growth are you currently targeting for your innovation [select all that apply]

New customer group(s), New regions(s), New market(s)/country(ies).

What makes your business "ready" for growth?

Our hospital network is already operating in over 40 districts in Pakistan and is poised for additional expansion into rural areas. In addition we have been approached by potential partners in India, UAE, US and Latin America to replicate variants of our model in those countries/regions.

What are your key growth objectives?

Our major objective as we grow is to achieve financial sustainability in Pakistan so that we are no longer reliant on grants/donations. We would then be ready to replicate this approach in other emerging economies.

In addition, as we grow, we want to continuously create more tangible value for our low-income members/consumers. This will require ongoing collaborations with the private sector.

What is your timeframe for growth, in the short and mid-term? What are the growth milestones and key activities going forward?

(i) Regional Expansion and Diaspora Engagement (in US, UK, UAE & EU): June 2013 - June 2014

(ii) Pilot study of model in US (January 2014 - March 2015)

(iii) Replication of model with pilots in India, UAE and Latin America (January 2014 - September 2014)

Social Impact

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What has been the impact of your solution to date?

Our primary metrics are number of enrollees in our health insurance plan (23,000+), in our preventive health plan (43,000+) or in active pipeline (20,000+). In addition, we have reduced organizational cost/life impacted from $18/life impacted to $6/life impacted between 2009 and 2012.

What methods for quantification of social impact are you applying (if at all)?

In addition to the above, we monitor:
• Numbers of calls received on our 24/7 medical hotline (~150/month),
• Customer feedback surveys
• Utilization of our donor-financed Health Rescue Fund (HRF)
• Changes in Health Outcomes (incidence of diarrheal illness, pneumonia, URTI, etc)
• Changes in socioeconomic indicators (house income, housing status, etc)

In order to assess our social return on investment (SROI), NAYA JEEVAN has adopted the IRIS international reporting standards co-developed by ANDE, GIIN and the Acumen Fund. It reports to IRIS on these indicators through ANDE. NAYA JEEVAN has also gone through the GIIRS evaluation/certification process.

Could your solution work in other geographies or regions? If so, where?

The NAYA JEEVAN 'Smart Drugs' system was designed to be sustainable, scalable and replicable across both the developing and developed worlds (digitization of medical prescriptions will also be beneficial in developed markets). It utilizes basic GPRS/GSM-based mobile technology which is ubiquitous globally.

Our expectation is that our model will have been replicated across all 6 habitable continents; leading to the achievement of our vision of a world where all low-income populations have access to affordable quality healthcare and socioeconomic opportunity. Moreover, governments across the globe will will have adopted, customized and scaled this concept within their national social security programs.

What is your projected impact over the next 1-3 years?

Over the next 1-3 years, NAYA JEEVAN plans to replicate its “Smart Drugs" model in neighboring countries including India and the UAE. There is also a possibility that we may grow by franchising our model or entering into joint ventures in other developing markets such as South Africa, Indonesia, Philippines, Latin America, etc. In total, we expect to have over a million lives protected and mainstreamed into the global economy via this program either directly or indirectly by catalyzing similar models.

Sustainability

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Elaborate on your current financing strategy

Since the organization is cash-flow negative at this stage, we are fulfilling our working capital needs through a combination of philanthropic capital and impact investments made by a cross-section of funding entities including:

Multilateral Development Agencies: ILO-MIF (Microinsurance Innovation Facility) - Geneva, Switzerland
Bilateral Development Agencies: USAID & Grand Challenges Canada
Traditional Foundations: Tides Foundation
Corporate Foundations: abc Foundation, P&G

Share of revenue generation in total income of organization (in percent)

40

Direct sales to patients or other beneficiaries (in percent)

20

Of the possible sources of these sales listed below, check all that apply to your current strategy

Patients, Caregivers, Private businesses, Other beneficiaries.

Licensing fees, e.g., for technology/franchise model (in percent)

Of the possible sources of these licensing opportunities listed below, check all that apply to your current strategy

Service contract with organizations, e.g., government, NGOs (in percent)

80

Of the possible sources of the service contracts listed below, check all that apply to your current strategy

Private businesses.

Explain your revenue generation strategy in more detail

For every dollar of incoming revenue (insurance contributions or smart card membership fees), NAYA JEEVAN pays ~75 cents to insurance underwriters and technical partners with the remaining gross margin designated to cover the organization's operating expenses. We are currently generating ~$400,000 in operating revenue, of which ~$100,000 is retained as gross margin to cover our operational costs (~$450,000 in 2012)

Share of philanthropy in total income of organization (in percent)

30

Philanthrophy strategies you are using

Diversified strategy.

Explain your philanthropic approach in more detail

We engage and seek philanthropic capital from all of the following sources:

(i) traditional institutional foundations (e.g. Rockefeller, Robert Wood Johnson, Gates, etc)
(ii) corporate foundations
(iii) social venture capitalists
(iv) individual 'angel' donors
(v) crowd-sourcing platforms (e.g. Global Giving, etc)

Expand on your selections; explain how you will sustain funding over the next 1-3 years.

As we ramp up our social business model, the proportion of overall revenue that is derived from operational earned-income will continue to rise such that we expect it to exceed 100% of operational cost by Q1'2015 and to represent over 70% of our overall income/revenue. In order to do this, we will need to expand/regionalize our model to Lahore/Islamabad (Northern Pakistan) as well as engage the Pakistani diaspora in the UK, US, Canada, EU, Singapore/HK and UAE (who can cross-subsidize the healthcare costs of their significant others in Pakistan).

In addition to market expansion, we are also expanding our product portfolio and extending our operating margins. The Rx Smart card has a gross margin of ~50% which when integrated with our health insurance plan will help raise the overall gross margin from 25% to ~30%.

In the interim, we are raising philanthropic capital from innovation funds and corporate sources and have already raised $150,000 in Q1' 2013. (our annual budget is ~$525,000)

Improve Access to AT and Promote Barrier-free Tourism in China

Created on 03/30/2013 by illidianji

Relay provides AT consulting and selling services, and promote a human-centered barrier-free tourism in China. We focus on people and aspire to offer better services to elder people and people with special needs.

About You

Organization: Relay more ↓↑ hide↑ hide

About You

First Name

Xun

Last Name

Ji

About Your Organization

Organization Name

Relay

Organization Website

Organization Country

China

Organization's Country of Operation

China

Type of Organization

Please select

Year of launch of the organization

Years in Operation

Idea phase

Has the organization received awards or honors? Please tell us about them

We want to hear about your “Aha!” moment. Share the story of where and when the founder(s) saw this solution’s potential to change the world.

The information you provide here will be used to fill in any parts of your profile that have been left blank, such as interests, organization information, and website. No contact information will be made public. Please uncheck here if you do not want this to happen..

Innovation

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Name Your Entry

Improve Access to AT and Promote Barrier-free Tourism in China

Explain what the "innovation" is about, e.g., is it the idea and/or the model you use to accomplish the idea, or your understanding of the target population, etc.?

Disability and special needs is not viewed favorably in Chinese culture and in many cases is not visible as a real social issue to many in China. People with special needs have limited knowledge of and access to Assistive Technology (AT), and they even have few opportunities to travel out. Meanwhile, AT sales persons do not understand patients’ needs well and cannot provide patient-centered services. Without a viable community and network truly appreciating and supporting people with the needs to use AT, 24 million people’s needs are not met.

Due to low education and underdeveloped social welfare system, people often have limited knowledge of assistive technology and how it can change their life. Accordingly, lack of community support and social recognition makes it harder for people to obtain assistance. We provide case-based consulting, community purchasing, and online community support and outreach activities for Individuals, Organizations, Communities to stimulate the emerging market for AT in China.

Describe how your innovation model is distinct from any other organization in your field?

As an organization ‘by people with disabilities, for people with disabilities’, we train and hire people using assistive devices to work for us. Unlike commercial medical care companies or non-profit organization which only regard clients as receivers of philanthropy, RELAY operates from a hybrid for-profit and non-profit model that offers different tiers of services across its consulting, community purchasing and outreach arms. The online community enables them to book and exchange different services online (like exchange between disabled people in a same city to get AT devices at a lower price)

What type of operating environment and internal organizational factors make your innovation successful?

With improved social welfare (ie, new medical insurance reaching urban and rural), people are obtaining improved access to medical care.  Combined with rising purchasing power, more individuals are able to afford better assistive products, such as power wheelchairs.

Relay’s internal organization purpose is to create a virtuous circle.  We don’t invest in high cost imported products, we invest in people- we recruit people from diverse backgrounds: technicians, engineers, designers, artists, business specialists, therapists & doctors, as well as patients themselves to collaborate in our “open studio”. A closer network of patients helps us reach a broader market.  

How do you make sure you constantly innovate in light of (potential) external challenges, or your growth plan?

Relay is a participative organization which is evolving according to its clients and the expression of their needs.  We care about people! We offer patient-centered AT consulting and design, in combination with outreach activities inclusive of people with special needs. We explore community resources and regard it as our biggest asset. We establish an equal relationship with our customers – people with special needs, and include AT manufactures and other institutions interested in disability and elder studies to our programs, so as to reach different segments.

We also innovate the way AT are marketed and advertised, via social media, online and offline campaigns and promoting barrier-free tourism.

This Entry is about (Issues)

Business Model

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The systemic challenge you are trying to overcome (select one)

Bring accessible healthcare to communities in emerging markets

Health area (target market) where the need is [select only one]

Disability

Categories along the health continuum you are covering [select all that apply]

Follow-up, Long-term care, Social integration.

Please describe in more detail: what problem are you trying to solve in the organization's specific context?

According to the official report China Disabled Persons’ Federation taken in 2006, there are approximately 80 million people with disabilities living in China, 38.56% of which have needs for assistive devices and services, but only 7.31% of them have received the services. Thus nearly 31% people’s needs are not satisfied, that is to say 24 million people have no access to assistive devices. This number will go higher due to the fact that many people with temporary disabilities are not registered as officially disabled. Furthermore, elder people represent another unsatisfied market for assistive devices. The number of people in China over 60 years of age is expected to increase 90% by 2020.

Stage that best applies to your solution [select only one]

Idea (poised to launch)

Core strategies of your business model [select all that apply]

Redesign of the public healthcare system for more efficiency (in terms of processes, structure etc.).

If other, specify here:

Most relevant tools you are using to implement the strategies outlined above [select only two]

Consultation, Community financing.

If other, specify here:

Please describe your solution in more detail

RELAY seeks to address visibility and availability of assistive technologies in China at the Individual, Organizational, and Community level. Through case-based consulting, community purchasing, and online community support and outreach activities we seek to stimulate the emerging market for AT in China. We connect with patient network as well as various professional groups and offer educational and training opportunities to patients and volunteers. We introduce the concept of barrier-free tourism to bring special needs to the mainstream and attract more attention from the public and corporate sectors. We create employment opportunities for people with special needs at the same time.

What are your vision and overall objectives?

To improve access and increase public understanding of Assistive Technologies in China, and to make Chinese societies more inclusive. In order to do this, we focus on people and aspire to offer better services to elder people and people with special needs by promoting a human-centered approach in education, workplace, and daily life.

What is your value proposition?

We want to liberate people with special needs and help them gain independence and freedom by improving access to assistive technology and barrier-free tourism. Further more, we want to gradually change the social mind, which conceives of people with special needs as different and poor, and to create employment opportunities to them, where they can transform their weakness to strength.

Who is your customer(s)?

1. Patients need to use AT
2. Hospitals/rehab centers, and other medical centers
3. Tourism related venues where AT would be needed- scenic spots, airports, hospitals, etc
- international tourists who need assistance
4. Volunteer organizations/schools/non-profit organizations that train people to assist people with special needs (such volunteer organizations are common in Chinese universities and senior high schools)
5. Communities
6. AT manufacturers

What approaches to you use to reach your customers?

First, we closely work with patient network, communities and hospitals. By collaborating with these groups, we can obtain sources of customers. We directly hire people with special needs, who can easier reach potential customers and understand their needs better.

We reach out to other segments by social media, sending out representatives to visit sites, organizing campaigns in tourist spots and inviting public to our creative design studio, which we will collaborate with AT manufacturers.

What are your primary activities?

We advertise/market AT in a more appealing and acceptable way, sell and deliver AT products, and provide professional consulting and designing services to individuals, communities and organizations.

We promote barrier-free tourism by providing accessibility information, and persuading tourist spots to place assistive devices on sites to the tourists.
We report tourism from a human-centered perspective, which can generate ad fees and consult domestic and international travellers.

We plan outreach activities and provide workshops to patients, training sessions to institutions and STEM education specifically on AT to schools.

Who are your peers and competitors? What problems could these players pose to your success or growth?

Some main AT manufacturers and certain medical care providers may compete with us, but we don’t operate solely on a medical model and actually we give more attention to people’s social needs, and thus we invest more in inclusive activities for people with special needs and take full advantage of communities.

There are numerous tourism agencies and websites, which target to mass market however, we focus on a niche market that attends tourists' special needs.

What other challenges - individual, organizational, or environmental – are you currently facing or might hinder future success of your business, and how do you plan to overcome those?

To improve access and increase public understanding of Assistive Technologies in China, and to make Chinese societies more inclusive will be difficult. As a participative organization which is evolving according to clients needs, we intend to adapt to such challenges in their many different forms.

Briefly describe your growth strategy going forward

We will expand our mobile offices to more regions in China and exploit patient network to grow.

We recognize the importance of social media and will make it as our growth accelerator.
Our website is a window opened to China and foreign countries, for both our clients and the companies we work with ( our suppliers producing Assistive technology products, hotels, universities)

What dimensions for growth are you currently targeting for your innovation [select all that apply]

New market(s)/country(ies).

What makes your business "ready" for growth?

The unsatisfied market for 24 million people, the improving medical insurance system, and the booming market for tourism, especially for international tourists.

What are your key growth objectives?

We will change China into a more inclusive and supportive society to face the challenge of accessibility.

What is your timeframe for growth, in the short and mid-term? What are the growth milestones and key activities going forward?

In the short term, we improve lives of individuals with disabilities and reduce the loss of productivity for society of if they were otherwise to remain in low-employment or unemployed. In the long-term, we hope to stimulate the emerging market for AT in China thus increasing availability and reducing costs through improving individual, organizations, and community understanding and utilization of technologies needed to improve accessibility at home, in transit, in schools, in workplace, and in recreation and travel.

Social Impact

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What has been the impact of your solution to date?

The programs designed by RELAY will change China into a more inclusive and supportive society to face the challenge of accessibility. In the short term, we improve lives of individuals with disabilities and reduce the loss of productivity for society of if they were otherwise to remain in low-employment or unemployed. In the long-term, we hope to stimulate the emerging market for AT in China thus increasing availability and reducing costs through improving individual, organizations, and community understanding and utilization of technologies needed to improve accessibility at home, in transit, in schools, in workplace, and in recreation and travel.

What methods for quantification of social impact are you applying (if at all)?

We plan to use IRIS (developed by Acumen, Rockefeller), as a framework for defining, reporting on performance. As well, we may use Pulse API and Salesforce App to improve tracking and reporting.

Could your solution work in other geographies or regions? If so, where?

In first 3 years, establish in 3 cities -- Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou . After 5-10 years, expand to second-tier cities . Eventually we can expand specific services outside China where appropriate.

What is your projected impact over the next 1-3 years?

Sustainability

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Elaborate on your current financing strategy

sponsorships, donations, grants, venture capital financing and bank loans

Share of revenue generation in total income of organization (in percent)

70

Direct sales to patients or other beneficiaries (in percent)

75

Of the possible sources of these sales listed below, check all that apply to your current strategy

Individuals, Caregivers, Private businesses.

Licensing fees, e.g., for technology/franchise model (in percent)

0

Of the possible sources of these licensing opportunities listed below, check all that apply to your current strategy

Service contract with organizations, e.g., government, NGOs (in percent)

25

Of the possible sources of the service contracts listed below, check all that apply to your current strategy

NGOs, Private businesses, Regional government, Others.

Explain your revenue generation strategy in more detail

What enables Relay to generate profits is the fluidity and the connection between clients and producers. Usually, wheelchairs produced in China are sold in the US with an American copyright, and are sold again in China with a very expensive price. In this case, chinese clients lose a lot of money. They pay twice the price of the product( a wheelchair costs about 250 US dollars, and 500 dollars if imported) Relay proposes to be the intermediary between chinese producers and Chinese clients, in a win/win partnership: clients book the product online and they see the price decreasing while more and more people want to buy it.

Share of philanthropy in total income of organization (in percent)

5

Philanthrophy strategies you are using

Diversified strategy.

Explain your philanthropic approach in more detail

In addition to sales commission, ad and consulting fees , we raise funds by We partner with corporate and schools to donate AT to students. We organize trips inclusive of people with/without special needs periodically. Corporate employees on the tours volunteer on local tours and also get their companies to donate.

Expand on your selections; explain how you will sustain funding over the next 1-3 years.

Relay is an organization that will be supported primarily through sales commission and fees from media sponsorships and consulting.
Additional fundraising will be divided in two parts:
-Sponsorship: We plan to work with NonProfit Incubator (NPI) to provide a platform to invite people with special needs to design asstistive tools with professionals.
-Donation: We wish to hire individuals with disabilities and with good knowledge of fund raising. In this purpose, our organization would like to establish a partnership with the “Lime Connect” school, a not for profit organization working with students with disabilities and connecting closely with corporate partners (including Bloomberg. Google…).

Fund 17

Created on 03/14/2013 by Haley Josephine Burns

Fund 17 is a nonprofit microfinance institution completely operated by a team of volunteer Tulane students. Our mission is to combat income inequality in all seventeen wards of New Orleans by providing financial tools for self-empowerment.

womens jewelry

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Regalii- Save and buy more – 100% free Remittance

Created on 09/28/2012 by Inigo Rumayor Belausteguigoitia

Regalii revolutionized remittance transfers by making them collaboratively free for Latin people and their families in USA

About You

Organization: Regalii Visit websitemore ↓↑ hide↑ hide

About You

First Name

Inigo

Last Name

Rumayor

About Your Organization

Organization Name

Regalii

Organization Website

Organization Country

United States, DE, Lewes, Sussex County

Country where this project is creating social impact

Dominican Republic, SD, Santo Domingo

Is your organization a

For‐profit

How long has your organization been operating?

Less than a year

Has the organization received awards or honors? Please tell us about them

• Echoing Green: Echoing Green’s world-renowned two-year Fellowship program provides more than $2 million in seed funding to a diverse group of the world’s most promising social entrepreneurs. From thousands of applicants, typically fewer than one percent are ultimately selected as Echoing Green Fellows. Those selected receive up to $90,000 in funding to launch new organizations; access to Echoing Green’s robust network; leadership development opportunities; and one-to-one support and counseling. Our newly launched Alumni Program builds community among our 500+ Fellows dating back to 1987 in order to foster peer learning, shared access to useful resources, and a lifetime commitment to positive social change.
• Start-up Chile: Start-Up Chile is a program created by the Chilean Government, executed by Corfo via InnovaChile, that seeks to attract early stage, high-potential entrepreneurs to bootstrap their startups in Chile, using it as a platform to go global. The end goal of the accelerator program is to convert Chile into the definitive innovation and entrepreneurial hub of Latin America; this is a mission shared by the Government of Chile and is a primary focus of the Ministry of Economy.
• GoodCompany Ventures: GoodCompany Ventures is an intensive three-month program which addresses strategic challenges faced by entrepreneurs. Together, the class builds a robust commercial strategy to implement and scale each entrepreneur's vision for social innovation.This program is a pioneer in the social sector, repurposing a proven venture strategy in this emerging sector. Unlike conventional venture incubators, GoodCompany doesn’t extract an equity commitment from entrepreneurs, but expects a commitment of time and creativity toward building a community of social entrepreneurship. Throughout then ten-week program, entrepreneurs develop the strategic focus to direct their companies into the future. The program will culminate in a graduation event where companies will pitch their ideas to investors.

The information you provide here will be used to fill in any parts of your profile that have been left blank, such as interests, organization information, and website. No contact information will be made public. Please uncheck here if you do not want this to happen..

Innovation

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Select the stage that best applies to your solution

Growth (your pilot is up and running, and starting to expand)

How long have you been in operation?

Operating for less than a year

Which of the following best describes the barrier(s) your innovation addresses? Choose up to two

Access, Cost.

The Need: What problem are you trying to solve?

Remittance is the biggest foreign capital of Latin America families. According to our studies, the main problems to users are high commissions and difficult delivery process. According to World Bank, the average transfer’s commission was 10% in 2009. That is why G8 has started “5 by 5” project to reduce it to 5%. Nowadays, the entire process expensive, slow and non social.

The Solution: What is your solution? Be specific!

Regalii has created an innovative way of remittance transfers among Latin people in the US and their families living in Latin America, making them collaborative and for free. Instead of sending money, Regalii allows them to send group gift cards (via SMS) for stores and supermarkets in Latin America. The recipients receive an text message with an e-code, that can be used in Latin America stores and supermarkets. For the senders, it will be the first time they transfer remittance in a free and immediate way. For the recipients, Regalii is a totally safe and convenient system that can be used as soon as received. 80% of the population in Latin America has mobile phones and Internet access; this is why Regalii can operate new technology in a very efficient way.

The Model: Walk us through a specific example of how your solution makes a difference; include your primary activities

Regalii will sell online gift cards in its web site regalia.com and also in stores and remittance companies in US.
Regalii buys gift cards with a 5 to 15% discount in stores and then sells them to users.
1- Users (Latin people in US) select a store and the amount in Regalii.
2- Users invite their families (via Facebook or email) to increase the amount to send.
3- The web site receives and processes the payment.
4- The recipient (Latin people living in LA) receives its Regalii (via MSM) and uses it in any affiliated members network
Regalii changes the business model and uses new technologies to make it work. With 80% of the population using mobile phones, Regalii can reach any place in Latin America and offer new services to them at a minimum cost.
Our primary activities are to attract more users in US and create a network in Latin America to redeem the Regaliis.

The Marketplace: Who are your peers and competitors? Identify others also working to address the needs you are and what differentiates you from them. What challenges could these players pose to your success or growth?

Regalii has not a direct competitor. It’s an e-commerce platform first, and then an e-remittance one, seeking to serve the entire Latin market. The closest competitor is Xoom.com. Regalii operates as a complement and is not a competitor for WU or MG, because they work with a different market and offer a different product. Regalii offers more complete services and focuses on the users’ real needs. The recipients use 70% of the remittance to basic needs as: food, clothing, electronic products and medicine. Regalii also offers a “shopping mall” experience, where people can choose the type and location of the stores to redeem their Regaliis.

This Entry is about (Issues)

Social Impact

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Founding Story: We want to hear about your "Aha!" moment. Share the story of where and when the founder(s) saw this solution's potential to change the world.

All Regalii’s members are US immigrants and have experienced the remittance system both as senders and recipients. The system hasn’t changed in the past 20 years; it’s still extremely expensive, slow and hard to use. Its service doesn’t solve the real problem and people still use it because it is the only one available. We realized that people use remittance to buy things of common use and that is when we decide to create Regalii, offering a free, more efficient and faster service. We build Regalii because as immigrants, we know the importance to provide for our families in Latin America.

Please describe the goal of your initiative; outline what you are trying to achieve

Regalii’s goal is to create the first free remittance system that helps immigrants in the US and the rest of the world, sending resources to their LA families at no cost. This will help Latin people and its families to be closer and support each other without an excessive cost.
Because we seek to make Latin people’ issues easier, we create free money remittance and a free calling service with our allied Twispi.
As Latin people we know the importance of being close to your family and we want to offer the more affordable and efficient service to them. Savings that Regalii allows are very important to all Hispanic population.

Which barrier(s) to financial inclusion does your solution seek to address? (select all applicable)

The lack of affordable financial products tailored to the needs of underserved and excluded communities,, Powerful incentives for financial service providers to move up-market.

If you selected 'other' above, please specify which other barriers to financial inclusion you solution seeks to address:

For which underserved or excluded communities will your solution create access to valuable, affordable, secure and comprehensive financial services?

Regalii is the first free and instant remittance system offering an instant benefit to all marginalized communities in Latin America. It also creates access to new financial services trough Regalli’s platform. Regalii is creating a very important distribution network in Latin America, which can offer all kinds of financial services in an affordable and friendly way. It uses its technology and network to create a new service for users to send and receive money via text messages. That allows having a financial interchange via mobile phones and redeeming its credit.

Could your solution work in other geographies or regions? If so, where?

Regalii’s solution can operate in every country with local and international money delivery. Regalii has more control over the transfer resources, because they can be sent for particular needs. Today Regalii is operating in Mexico and Republica Dominicana, but we pretend to expand it throughout Latin America. Its model is very easy to export to many countries.

If your solution is dramatically successful, how will things be different in 10 years?

If by 2017 Regalii achieves to capture 1% of the $ 69 thousand million, it would be managing $ 690 million in transaction activities. This would be users’ savings for $ 69 million installments (in 2010 the average installment was 10%) (IFAD, 2011). In 10 years Regalii will include millions of underserved families in Latin America to new, easier and more affordable financial services. The Regalii’s network will have thousands of distribution points, increasing its market presence. Users will be able to send money to the entire world and have credit access to the distribution points via text messages.

What will have had to have changed to make this happen?

Regalii’s network needs to keep growing to reach every city and corner of Latin America. Users would start using internal remittance within their countries. Increasing the amount of users and the use of regaliis. Regalii will be able to expand its financial services and offers. The needed technology already exists; it hasn’t yet been capitalized to money transfer, or allowing Latin America families’ access. This new service is much more affordable and can reach all Latin America by mobile phones.

What has been the impact of your solution to date?

Regalii has just started operating in Mexico and Republica Dominicana in a BETA way, to improve the product and its functioning. We have had an excellent acceptance among users who had tested the platform and we have more than 3,000 users waiting for us to open the platform. The long-term social impact of Regalii is very important, especially for the benefits to underserved people and their families at the bottom of the pyramid.

What is your projected impact over the next five years?

Regalli hopes to generate 40,000 transactions by 2013, 150,000 transactions by 2014 and finally, 300,000 transactions by 2015. That would allow savings for $ 10,000, not mentioning other costs and wasted hours, transportation, calls and money lost for users in a very difficult process. The impact expected for the next 5 years is huge, since Regalii seeks to attract at least 1% of the market, allowing savings of more than 69 million for the Latin America families.

What barriers might hinder the success of your project? How do you plan to overcome them?

The main barrier is building the Latin America network. We need a large enough network to redeem the remittance received. The bigger the network, the more choices for the users to find Regalii‘s members and use the remittance in cash to buy things or pay services in a free and fast way. We developed a benefit plan for the members to accept the regaliis: first, we give them access to an international sale and to a new market, and then, giving them the choice to offer promotions and news services via text messages through all Regalii’s users network with money to be used immediately.

Winning entries present a strong plan for how they will achieve and track growth. Identify your six-month milestone for growing your impact

• Launch the product in Mexico and Republica Dominicana • Get 4 new affiliated for the network. • Offer services payment in US a

Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your six-month milestone

Task 1

Taking into account the BETA tests and users’ feedback to improve the platform

Task 2

Keep up discussions with 10 chain stores to improve the Project and show its benefits.

Task 3

Reach technologic integration with those 4 chains in the next 3 months. Generate sales.

Now think bigger! Identify your 12-month impact milestone

Be operating and selling in Republica Dominicana and Mexico. We expect to have a network with 10 affiliates and generate some mo

Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your 12-month milestone

Task 1

Expand the affiliated network in Mexico and Republica Dominicana and operate it.

Task 2

Offer new pre-paid services to users, such as telephone, electricity, water and gas.

Task 3

Prepare Chile and Brasil expansion to get new affiliates and identify local and international users.

Sustainability

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Tell us about your partnerships

Regalii has created important alliances for its model business development. In terms of distribution, we closed a partnership with ATI (remittance company with 120 sales points). We have 2 important agreements with Anthony's in Republica Dominicana and 7-eleven in Mexico for the Latin America network. We are already working with 4 other chains. We want to offer a free international calling service with TWISPI, which will give us a competitive advantage over other remittance companies. We’ll be able to offer financial services via text messages with Pademobile, a mobile phone banking company.

Are you currently targeting other specific populations, locations, or markets for your innovation? If so, where and why?

We are targeting Latin America. We decided to begin with the 2 largest remittance markets. We are sure that if we implement our model in these 2 markets, it will be very easy to export it throughout all Latin America and the world. Especially, because our investors such as Banco Itau and Acción, are already operating in many Latin American’s countries.

What type of operating environment and internal organizational factors make your innovation successful?

Thanks to our system of intellectual property and to our web site, we are able to offer the more effective service to our users and to create a profitable business model.
We have several control systems already operating, in order to make transactions and emend any mistake in our system and in our affiliates’.

Please elaborate on any needs or offers you have mentioned above and/or suggest categories of support that aren't specified within the list

Thanks to our social investors, we have the opportunity to offer consulting and community support. Our experience in marketing will be able to also offer support to other society members. Our team has experts in Legal, marketing and financial matters that may help the community.

Fair Remittances for Mexican Migrants

Created on 09/12/2012 by Appleseed

MX Appleseed and the Fair Remittance Alliance will ensure remittance recipients get a fair deal as promised by U.S. law and Fair Remittance Certification.

About You

Organization: Fundación Appleseed Mexico, A.C. Visit websitemore ↓↑ hide↑ hide

About You

First Name

Maru

Last Name

Cortazar

About Your Organization

Organization Name

Fundación Appleseed Mexico, A.C.

Organization Website

Organization Country

Mexico, MEX

Country where this project is creating social impact

Mexico, MEX

Is your organization a

Non‐profit/NGO/citizen sector organization

How long has your organization been operating?

More than 5 years

Has the organization received awards or honors? Please tell us about them

UNICEF Mexico 2012 1st Place for Investigation for the report, “Children at the Border: The Screening, Protection and Repatriation of Unaccompanied Mexican Minors;” The Financial Times’ innovator awards for 2010 awarded first prize to DLA for its work with Mexico Appleseed in building a pro bono culture in Mexico. The same issue also awarded a prize to Latham & Watkins for its work with Mexico Appleseed and Appleseed in reforming the U.S. immigration courts.

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Innovation

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Select the stage that best applies to your solution

Idea (you're poised to launch)

How long have you been in operation?

Operating for less than a year

Which of the following best describes the barrier(s) your innovation addresses? Choose up to two

Transparency.

The Need: What problem are you trying to solve?

Mexico is the top recipient for U.S. remittances. Remittances fuel everyday life for millions of Mexicans and remittances dwarf both charitable giving to developing countries and official development assistance. Yet hidden costs and lack of basic consumer protections impair a fully functioning remittance market.

Appleseed found that sending $300 to Mexico from Georgia could cost as little as $3.88 or as much as $21.90 at the same provider on the same day. Appleseed championed new protections in U.S. law, but to have their intended beneficial effects, remittance senders and receivers must be informed and empowered to use the law’s protections.

The Solution: What is your solution? Be specific!

Appleseed believes that informing migrants about their remittance rights will help migrants shop for the best deal and use new error resolution and cancellation rights. These new rights will improve the lives of impoverished international families and build assets for the families of international workers on both sides of the border. Appleseed will conduct a pilot program in Mexico to:
- Educate receivers about their new rights;
- Create a broad coalition of for-profit, nonprofit, governmental, and intergovernmental organizations and scholars to advance remittance pricing disclosure;
- Develop programs to monitor money transfer processes to determine if Mexican families receiving money got what they were promised; and
- Launch the Fair Remittance Alliance, a voluntary certification trustmark, to reward companies that treat consumers with fairness.

The Model: Walk us through a specific example of how your solution makes a difference; include your primary activities

Under the new law, remittance senders must be told, up front, how much money is to be received. Monitoring is pretty easy –a text message can expose hidden fees, and the new law contains an easy error resolution procedure with strict liability for U.S. transmitters. But Mexico Appleseed’s public education is necessary to ensure consumers know what to do when the deal didn’t meet expectations.

The Fair Remittance Alliance (FRA) will create a fair trade-type voluntary remittance certification system. The certification logo will be readily recognizable to migrants and their families as a symbol of a fair deal.

Appleseed will expand our working relationship with Mexican partners Banco de México, CONDUSEF and Instituto de los Mexicanos en el Exterior (IME) to support both certification and public education on the new remittance rights. We will also invite churches, public media and other third party validators to join.

Appleseed will work with stakeholders to develop standards for sending and disbursing companies that want to license use of the FRA logo and certification.

The Fair Remittance Alliance will monitor compliance with its standards and if fully funded, the impact of certification upon senders’ families and receiving communities in Mexico.

The Marketplace: Who are your peers and competitors? Identify others also working to address the needs you are and what differentiates you from them. What challenges could these players pose to your success or growth?

The law is set to be in force in February, 2013, so the public relations campaign is vital as Mexicans’ awareness of the new U.S. law is nearly non-existent. Several important efforts are underway: Inter-American Dialogue Scorecard for Money Transfer Companies, World Bank Certified Databases for Remittances, TIGRA Accreditation of Remittance Service Providers and UK Department of International Development Remittances Quality Mark. Appleseed communicates with each. But none of these have reached the stage where either their ambition or their practice constitutes a full-fledged voluntary certification system and comparable to the proposed Fair Remittance Alliance Certified Fair Exchange Trustmark. ™

This Entry is about (Issues)

Social Impact

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Founding Story: We want to hear about your "Aha!" moment. Share the story of where and when the founder(s) saw this solution's potential to change the world.

Texas Appleseed partnered with Ph. D. students from Toluca, Mexico, in 2002 to interview immigrants about their financial practices. Immigrants said their greatest concern was getting a “fair deal” when sending money home. Immigrants told Appleseed that they didn’t always trust the system, that all the money didn’t get there and that fees were taken out along the way.

Texas Appleseed conducted additional focus groups and interviews with Mexican migrants and studied financial institutions’ practices, reaching the conclusion that critical consumer protections were needed to protect vulnerable immigrants sending remittances home.

In Appleseed fashion, from authentic, grassroots needs assessment flowed a series of systematic, structural solutions, harnessing both policy and market power.

Please describe the goal of your initiative; outline what you are trying to achieve

Remittance transactions have historically been conducted in an inefficient market, where consumers have had neither access to the information they need to shop effectively nor effective remedies when transactions go awry. Mexico Appleseed will bring efficiency to markets and empower Mexican recipients by: 1) spreading the word among migrant families that they have new remittance protections; 2) insisting that companies sending money for U.S. migrants give them new rights and protections, and 3) helping create a fair-trade type certification system as a cue to help migrants shop for the best deal.

Which barrier(s) to financial inclusion does your solution seek to address? (select all applicable)

Other (Please describe below).

If you selected 'other' above, please specify which other barriers to financial inclusion you solution seeks to address:

Remittance consumer protections

For which underserved or excluded communities will your solution create access to valuable, affordable, secure and comprehensive financial services?

Mexico Appleseed’s public education and FRA certification will serve Mexicans on both sides of the U.S. border. Many immigrants are hesitant to challenge authority or lodge complaints with the government, so education around remittance rights regarding the $50 billion yearly sent to Mexico is vital to ensure the remitting population actively shops, asserts rights or engages third parties to defend rights to fair, transparent treatment.

Companies that lean into the new legal regime wholeheartedly and join the certification system will attract new, possibly unbanked customers, who may achieve greater asset building by being linked with financial institutions. Money that now flows informally may be brought into the system, providing security to vulnerable people who now rely on less secure channels, like sending cash with travelers.

Could your solution work in other geographies or regions? If so, where?

Yes! Public education materials and strategies can be replicated widely. Appleseed will focus initially on U.S. to Mexico remittances, because this is the largest flow of U.S. remittances to another country. Appleseed’s long-term plan is to expand internationally, focusing next on large volume receiving countries.

With Changemakers’ support, Mexico Appleseed will select between one and three U.S./Mexico remittance corridors to serve as pilots.

Additionally, Appleseed will work with entities serving multiple countries, such as the United Nations, the World Bank, and the Federal Reserve, which currently has bi-lateral ACH agreements with 36 countries, to determine if they can adopt Fair Remittance Alliance certification and apply it more broadly.

If your solution is dramatically successful, how will things be different in 10 years?

Consumers will shop and compare prices to get the best deal; surprise pick up charges and gift certificates in lieu of cash will end; margins will fall. When an error is made, consumers will know how to get their money back. Remittance consumers will recognize the Fair Remittance Alliance logo and will trust that they will get a fair deal from these companies – business will flow to the most ethical companies.

Migrants and their families are related in decision- making about a remittance transaction. Both will identify the financial services that are the right choice for them. Confident in the formal remittance system, transborder families will send more money through official channels (half of all money now is estimated to flow informally).

What will have had to have changed to make this happen?

The law must be implemented as scheduled. Mexico Appleseed and its partners must conduct awareness campaigns about new rights. Companies must be willing to go beyond legal compliance to embrace transparency and fairness as values to be marketed to consumers. Companies must join the Fair Remittance Alliance and trusted third party validators such as churches must join so they can attest to the value of certification. The logo must be promoted extensively:

- We must achieve a "win-win" for final users – remittance receivers – so they will have confidence in remittance processes;
- We must use receipt of remittances as a gateway to financial inclusion; and
- Organizations should have an opportunity to win market share through honest marketing campaigns based on transparency guaranteed by certification.

What has been the impact of your solution to date?

With Mexico Appleseed, Appleseed advocated for remittance reform for a decade. Appleseed was instrumental in passing the first U.S. remittance consumer protections, contained in the Dodd-Frank Act, Section 1073, Remittance Transfers and subsequent rulemaking by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Companies are now updating their disclosure systems, remedies departments, and agent training manuals to comply with the new rule. We are elevating the importance of remittances in the public dialogue as part of an immigrant rights agenda and a financial fairness and inclusion agenda.

Appleseed has incorporated the Fair Remittance Alliance, established a core board of directors and hosted two convenings on certification. We have set forth arguments for certification and drawn lessons from existing certification systems.

What is your projected impact over the next five years?

If margins fall by .5%, Mexican migrants stand to save almost $100 million per year. Mexican remittance receivers will learn that they have the right to:

- Be informed by the sender of the amount of money to be received at the time their contact in the U.S. agrees to send the money;
- Report errors to their contact in the U.S. and have their contact fix errors;
- Know that charges not provided to the sender on the receipt are not permitted; and
- Know that the sender can cancel a remittance on site immediately after a transaction is made.

What barriers might hinder the success of your project? How do you plan to overcome them?

The below are challenges, rather than outright barriers, that Mexico Appleseed will address:

- The costs of generating campaigns to publicize the program and its benefits to users in Mexico in remote and inaccessible rural locations; and
- Small businesses receiving remittances in Mexico must adjust business practices to implement the program.

Winning entries present a strong plan for how they will achieve and track growth. Identify your six-month milestone for growing your impact

Mexican remittance receivers will understand their new rights and know how to use them and will share this information.

Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your six-month milestone

Task 1

Build working partnerships with at least 10 Mexican government agencies, NGOs and intermediaries.

Task 2

Develop social media, media, branding materials and statements of support to secure at least 15 earned media hits.

Task 3

Work with intergovernmental organizations, NGOs, businesses to understand new rights and build financial inclusion opportunities

Now think bigger! Identify your 12-month impact milestone

Mexican remittance receivers will have/save more money, sift fair dealers from unfair ones; connect with financial services.

Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your 12-month milestone

Task 1

Use endorsement of certification and support in MX and U.S. to build certification uptake among remittance senders and receivers

Task 2

Disseminate media developed in 1st six months to at least 15 press, media and organizational outlets.

Task 3

Work with partners to maximize financial inclusion opportunities, promote use of tools to make it easier to use the new rights.

Sustainability

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Tell us about your partnerships

Appleseed has the support of Mexican government entities CONDUSEF, IME and Banco de México to undertake this project. The World Bank has served as an advisor and supports this approach as consistent with its advocacy for transparency worldwide.

Appleseed is pleased to count these U.S. organizations among our partners: United Farm Workers, National Consumer Law Center, Nation Council of La Raza, immigrant organizations and consumer organizations.

Are you currently targeting other specific populations, locations, or markets for your innovation? If so, where and why?

National Appleseed has begun groundwork for certification and communications in the U.S. Mexico Appleseed is currently targeting a “macro” approach to work with government officials and the national media to spread the word. Then, Appleseed will select one to three corridors for saturation with these messages.

What type of operating environment and internal organizational factors make your innovation successful?

This project will work best when these contextual factors are in place: Mexican government and NGO supporters spreading the word and “early adopter” companies fully enforce these new rights and work with their migrant customers toward customer satisfaction. An important internal organizational factor is Mexico Appleseed’s collaboration with trusted NGOs and intermediaries who also help spread the word so that migrants and their families can trust in these new rights.

Please elaborate on any needs or offers you have mentioned above and/or suggest categories of support that aren't specified within the list

Appleseed will need the following additional categories of support:

• Investment
• Human Resources/Talent
• Innovation/Ideas
• Mentorship

Abiyamo Fruits of Nature - Wholesome Dried Fruit Snacks

Dried fruits as snacks presents that very healthy alternative – as it has no preservatives, its natural healthy fruits that still contain all their necessary nutrients and has no adverse health effects to the human body.

This type of business presents a good investment opportunity to investors because of the population of Nigeria and the attractiveness of the industry.

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Micro Pension

Created on 09/11/2012 by gautambhardwaj

IIMPS enables low income individuals to accumulate micro-savings for their old age in a secure, convenient, affordable and well regulated environment.

About You

Organization: Invest India Micro Pension Services Visit websitemore ↓↑ hide↑ hide

About You

First Name

Gautam

Last Name

Bhardwaj

About Your Organization

Organization Name

Invest India Micro Pension Services

Organization Website

Organization Country

India, UP, Noida

Country where this project is creating social impact

India, All-India, 14 States

Is your organization a

For‐profit

How long has your organization been operating?

More than 5 years

Has the organization received awards or honors? Please tell us about them

NA

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Innovation

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Select the stage that best applies to your solution

Growth (your pilot is up and running, and starting to expand)

How long have you been in operation?

Operating for more than 5 years

Which of the following best describes the barrier(s) your innovation addresses? Choose up to two

Access, Equity.

The Need: What problem are you trying to solve?

Over 300 million low income informal sector workers in India including women in poor households are excluded from formal pension programs and are highly vulnerable to the risk of old age poverty. Meaningful financial and social security inclusion is constrained by suboptimal access by the poor to regulated savings and insurance products, and equally limited access to banking and other secure micro-payment mechanisms. These challenges are compounded by fragile labour market attachments, low intermittent incomes and savings capacities, and low literacy and financial illiteracy of the excluded population. As India cannot afford the fiscal cost of a nationwide social pension, the excluded workforce increasing will need to self-provide for their own old age and insurance needs.

The Solution: What is your solution? Be specific!

IIMPS has pioneered the concept of contributory pensions for low income workers in South Asia. IIMPS is the only social enterprise in the world focused exclusively on encouraging and enabling excluded individuals to accumulate micro-savings for their old age, insurance and known future expenditure in a convenient, affordable and secure environment using a scalable and sustainable "Micro Pension" model. Individuals save $4 to $6 a month in a customized, integrated financial solution consisting of regulated pension, insurance and micro-savings products. IIMPS reaches excluded individuals through credible outreach partners including MFIs, cooperatives, employers, rural banks, CBOs and SHG federations. Periodic micro-savings are transferred directly (and cashlessly) to product providers using bank accounts or prepaid cards. Pension or insurance payouts are transferred directly by product providers into the bank account or prepaid card of individual clients or their nominees.

The Model: Walk us through a specific example of how your solution makes a difference; include your primary activities

The Centre for Tribal Research and Development provides livelihoods related services to roughly 15000 tribals in a remote, hilly region of Tamil Nadu in India. Although their incomes are enough for their current consumption, the workforce will likely face old age poverty when they are too old to work. A large latent demand for micro-pensions was observed among this group. But the nearest bank branch is nearly 50 kms away and individuals have zero access to regulated financial services. CTRD and IIMPS are now working together to educate and assist the community to save for their old age. CTRD field staff are trained and certified by IIMPS. They use standard, field-tested retirement literacy tools to educate beneficiaries regarding financial and retirement concepts, product features, processes and rights and also assist them with regulatory formalities in subscribing to an integrated financial solution from IIMPS product partners. CTRD receives an annual fee from IIMPS to offset its costs of education, enrollment and ongoing services. Periodic individual micro-savings are transferred directly from each client's "Micro-Pension VISA Prepaid Card" to regulated product providers by IIMPS. The IIMPS HelpLine undertakes concurrent audits on field compliance and also provides ongoing assistance and information to clients. The IIMPS IT platform issues a unique, portable individual account to each client and maintains a record of the static and transactional data of each individual over time.

The Marketplace: Who are your peers and competitors? Identify others also working to address the needs you are and what differentiates you from them. What challenges could these players pose to your success or growth?

IIMPS has pioneered the concept of "micro-pensions" in South Asia and works closely with a range of strategic partners in overcoming infrastructural and behavioral challenges of pension inclusion. IIMPS woks also with government departments on design and implementation of CCTs-based pension programs for excluded households. Some MFIs have recently begun delivering pension products to their clients. This will be challenging to sustain as an MFI's relationship with micro-credit clients is tiny compared to the savings tenure of a pension product. However, considering the size of the pension coverage gap in India (and other countries in South Asia), there is ample scope, and perhaps an urgent need, for a much larger base of entities to focus on this issue.

This Entry is about (Issues)

Social Impact

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Founding Story: We want to hear about your "Aha!" moment. Share the story of where and when the founder(s) saw this solution's potential to change the world.

At IIEF, I had been advising the Indian Government on developing an inclusive pension policy framework since 1998. By 2005, we had developed a scalable institutional architecture, and the underlying legislation for a new "national pension system" that would encourage and enable low income informal sector workers to save for their old age. The government adopted this architecture to implement civil service pension reforms in 2004. But the legislative approvals for extending the program to the low income excluded households remained pending. In 2006, IIEF partnered with UTI-AMC (a large mutual fund) and SEWA to field-test the principles and architecture of the NPS among low income women. In 3 months, 25,000 women began saving Rs.70 ($1.25) per month but we also saw several challenges. Replicating this to other locations required dedicated effort and for many challenges to be addressed. In 2006, we set up IIMPS to work full-time in achieving just that.

Please describe the goal of your initiative; outline what you are trying to achieve

IIMPS is focussed on on putting together both available and missing necessary ingredients to build a secure, scalable and sustainable marketplace using which millions of women in low income households and excluded individuals more generally in India and other countries in South Asia will be able to accumulate tiny amounts for their old age. Using the same plumbing, and a secure micro-pension payment mechanism, we aim to deliver a range of other risk management tools (including a variety of insurance products) to "micro-pension" clients. In all this, we believe that our clients should receive the highest level of protection against insurable risks using optimum and customised financial solutions.

Which barrier(s) to financial inclusion does your solution seek to address? (select all applicable)

Physical and other accessibility obstacles that prevent communities from reaching financial services, The lack of affordable financial products tailored to the needs of underserved and excluded communities,, Powerful incentives for financial service providers to move up-market, Other (Please describe below).

If you selected 'other' above, please specify which other barriers to financial inclusion you solution seeks to address:

A secure, convenient and affordable micro-payment solution for transferring micro-savings to product providers

For which underserved or excluded communities will your solution create access to valuable, affordable, secure and comprehensive financial services?

IIMPS targets rural and urban low income informal sector workers who are largely self-employed. They include farmers, head-loaders, domestic help, street venders, milk and dairy producers, artisans, construction workers, daily wage earners, home based workers, contract and casual workers in factories.

Could your solution work in other geographies or regions? If so, where?

Income insecurity in old age is likely to be one of the key causes of increased poverty in several developing countries in South Asia and Africa. Most developing countries are remarkably similar to each other in terms of demography, economic strength, labor markets, history, culture, legal and political structures, and challenges of governance. Hence, lessons from both success and failure in pension policy design and implementation are highly portable from one country to another. The IIMPS micro-pension model is portable across developing countries in Asia and Africa.

If your solution is dramatically successful, how will things be different in 10 years?

Millions of women in low income households and financially excluded individuals more generally in India (and perhaps in some other developing countries) would be marching towards their old age with greater confidence and a higher probability of a dignified retirement armed with financial literacy, secure micro-payment tools and and voluntary micro-savings discipline. A mass-market for "micro-pensions" would perhaps also prompt a more conducive policy and regulatory response to exclusion in India. It would perhaps also prompt a larger base of financial institutions to adopt more innovative and cost-efficient sales, distribution and communication strategies in targeting and reaching the next 200 million customers for Indian finance. In parallel, this could encourage other countries to design and implement similar programs targeting their own excluded citizens.

What will have had to have changed to make this happen?

A mass-market status for the "micro-pension" model will become easier to achieve in a shorter timeframe if more State governments in India actively stepped forward with CCTs to encourage mass-scale voluntary enrollments and savings discipline. In parallel, an appropriate investment in "public goods" in the form of mass-scale generic promotions and public education by the government would shake loose the large latent demand. And business investments by payment solutions providers in upscaling the supply of convenient micro-payment (cash-in and cash-out) transaction points would create an appropriate enabling environment for long-term micro-savings. All this would in turn give regulators greater confidence in product design and delivery innovations.

What has been the impact of your solution to date?

To date, IIMPS has educated and enrolled roughly 400,000 low income workers through its micro-pension model. At one level, for the majority of individuals in this group, micro-pension has been their first interaction with formal finance and active retirement preparation. In parallel, the micro-pension model and IIMPS activities have demonstrated the feasibility of a contributions based pension program for the working poor to policymakers, regulators and finance firms. IIMPS has able to also demonstrate the impact of government co-contributions or CCTs linked to pension savings through its pioneering partnership with a State Government (in 2008) where a CCT-linked pension scheme was jointly designed and implemented by the State and IIMPS. Thereafter, the same CCT-based model has been adopted by the federal government for the national pension system where the working poor receive an annual CCT of Rs.1000 under NPS.

What is your projected impact over the next five years?

Over the next 5 years, IIMPS proposes achieve voluntary pension inclusion and savings discipline by 15 million low income workers across multiple States in India. In parallel, IIMPS should have expanded geographical coverage by launching the micro-pension model in some other developing countries in South Asia and Africa.

What barriers might hinder the success of your project? How do you plan to overcome them?

Retirement outcomes in a DC pension system depend largely on the behavior of plan participants. Thus, the single most important challenge in succeeding with micro-pensions is in achieving sustained long-term savings discipline by a population that faces tiny intermittent incomes and very short-term income and consumption horizons. IIMPS is adopting a range of parallel interventions to overcome this challenge including high quality pre-enrolment education, government co-contributions (or CCTs) linked to retirement savings, convenient access to secure micro-payment options, automated payments through standing instructions, a regularity rewards program, and periodic reminders by the HelpLine and IIMPS outreach partners.

Winning entries present a strong plan for how they will achieve and track growth. Identify your six-month milestone for growing your impact

Grow coverage to 1mn low income individuals through the micro-pension model and achieve >75% savings regularity

Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your six-month milestone

Task 1

Work closely with existing business partners to optimise coverage and activate the currently dormant pension accounts

Task 2

Upscale the number of channel partners to reach a larger base of current excluded households

Task 3

Strengthen the business, operations and customer protection teams; Implement a rewards program for savings regularity

Now think bigger! Identify your 12-month impact milestone

Go live with the new, web-based, plug-and-play platform and initiate a pilot in at least one other developing country

Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your 12-month milestone

Task 1

Complete integration of the mobile-based payments solution with the back-end sCube micro-pension IT platform

Task 2

Expand micro-pension operations outside India with VISA and a multilateral DFI

Task 3

Strengthen the R&D team at the Lab and set up an editorial board comprising global domain experts

Sustainability

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Tell us about your partnerships

IIMPS partners include (a) highly respected and well regulated product providers (LIC, UTI, SBI, NPS), (b) Government departments that offer CCTs linked to pensions, (c) national and regional channel partners including banks, MFIs, employers, SHG federations, NGOs, farm and milk cooperatives, and worker associations, (d) payment solution providers such as SBI, Canara Bank, regional rural banks, VISA and BillDesk, (e) DFIs such as NABARD, KfW and UNDP, and (f) strategic partners including ACCION and MicroSave.

Are you currently targeting other specific populations, locations, or markets for your innovation? If so, where and why?

IIMPS has helped the Indian Government develop a new CCTs-linked, integrated pension, micro-savings and insurance scheme for 5 million overseas Indian migrant workers. IIMPS proposes to work with the government in turn-key implementation of this program in the Middle East. IIMPS is also expanding its present program to domestic help (maids and drivers) and to the trucking and transport community in partnership with a major oil marketing company. IIMPS market research suggests a significant latent demand for pensions and micro-savings among these large, visible, low income groups.

What type of operating environment and internal organizational factors make your innovation successful?

IIMPS has broadly 3 vertical teams for (a) new partnerships and implementation management, (b) operations and payments, and (c) training, financial literacy and client protection. A separate team works on research and development related to design and field-testing new financial delivery platforms, new micro-payment solutions, new financial literacy tools, new products and new strategies (including reward programs and incentives) for savings regularity. This R&D team is housed within a non-profit Micro-Pensions Payments and Inclusion Lab. On a front-end operations level, IIMPS has built a simple, secure, compliant and scalable plug-and-play architecture using which outreach partners can offer a range of regulated micro-saving products to excluded households.

Please elaborate on any needs or offers you have mentioned above and/or suggest categories of support that aren't specified within the list

Musoni - first 100% mobile microfinance institution in the world

Musoni is a social enterprise that establishes best-practice microfinance institutions and uses technology to lower costs, reduce risk and improve efficiency.

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Mobile Microfinance - Maximize Branchless Reach By Extending Core Banking Systems To The Field

Created on 09/5/2012 by comavi

Mobile Microfinance System is a complete solution that extends existing core banking systems to the field to empower loan agents and simplify branchless banking

About You

Organization: Maviance GmbH Visit websitemore ↓↑ hide↑ hide

About You

First Name

Jerry

Last Name

Cheambe

About Your Organization

Organization Name

Maviance GmbH

Organization Website

Organization Country

Germany, SN, Leipzig

Country where this project is creating social impact

Cameroon, XX, All

Is your organization a

For‐profit

How long has your organization been operating?

1‐5 years

Has the organization received awards or honors? Please tell us about them

No

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Innovation

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Select the stage that best applies to your solution

Start-Up (a pilot that has just begun operating)

How long have you been in operation?

Operating for 1‐5 years

Which of the following best describes the barrier(s) your innovation addresses? Choose up to two

Access, Cost, Transparency.

The Need: What problem are you trying to solve?

Most Africans have low access to financial services. This underserved market is serviced by microfinance institutions using a network of field agents & partners. This is cheaper, easier to implement and has a wider reach but is suffers from lack of affordable technology => Force some to go bankrupt & increase the costs of operation:

Inefficiency:
- Double entry of data on field and in office
- Limited real-time reporting

Misuse/Fraud
- Collected money is not immediately reported to office
- Agents lend collected money illegally to non-registered customers => Lost business
- Drive for these quick profits results in poor screening => higher defaults and significant losses as agent cannot repay

Market size: Sub-Saharan Africa, S. America. Pilot market Cameroon has over 400 MFI

The Solution: What is your solution? Be specific!

A high mobile penetration in Africa, increasingly powerful and cheaper smartphones as well as the investments in existing core banking systems for MFI make a strong case for a Smart Mobile Microfinance System.

Being able to work both online and offline, it provides field agents with full access to customer profile, products and history. All transactions are done using a smartphone or tablet and are transmitted seamlessly with the central core banking systems.
- Customers get immediate notification (sms/ussd/mobile print) for cash transactions
- MFIs manage field agents in real-time, know how much they have collected or paid out even before they get back to the office
- Field agents enter data that is pre-validated only once
- Field agents can sign new customers, quote
- Real-time overview across multiple branches of financial situation of institution
Our solution is designed to plug onto existing core banking systems => MFI can maximize investment in existing systems.

The Model: Walk us through a specific example of how your solution makes a difference; include your primary activities

A microfinance company e.g: AB-MFI (ABM) provides financial services to the underserved both in urban and rural areas via a network of field agents. Using our solution, ABM equips field agents with a Smartphone/tablet and optionally a mobile micro-printer. The mobile devices are managed by our central server that seamlessly integrates with their existing core banking system.

At the start of the day, field agents synchronize their devices with the server and get updated portfolios for their clients. They get a list of clients to visit for the day. On the field, when they collect loan repayments or saving deposits from clients, the information is sent in real-time to the server. The client gets a confirmation SMS including account balance. In case of no internet connectivity, the system works offline, storing the data on the device till there is connectivity or when the officer returns to the office. Data is therefore entered only once. It also eliminates the possibility of manipulating data or unauthorized lending by field agents. Field agents can also sign up new clients, provide quotes, sell products as well as transaction history to customers.

Upon return to the office, the treasurer knows the amount of money to be paid in. Similarly, the head office has real-time financial KPIs of each branch. ABM can now decide to extend its services to new areas by creating branchless channels with new partners by simply supplying them with a Smartphone. They can quickly deploy new products like micro-insurance that require large field networks.

The Marketplace: Who are your peers and competitors? Identify others also working to address the needs you are and what differentiates you from them. What challenges could these players pose to your success or growth?

Key competition:
** Craft Silicon: Provide core banking solutions to financial institutions and recently extended their offering with a mobile POS systems to address the problem. PLUS:An integrated solution. MINUS: MFIs must purchase a new system => high costs of implementation & learning; POS provide limited functionality than Smartphones

** Mambu offer a cloud based complete management solution for MFIs. Includes access via a mobile browser. PLUS: An integrated solution, no IT infrastructure needed, pay per use model. MINUS: MFIs must migrate to a new system => high costs of implementation and learning; requires constant internet connectivity.

Our key differentiators are reusing existing IT infrastructure, solutions adapted to poor connectivity of rural areas & extensibility.

This Entry is about (Issues)

Social Impact

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Founding Story: We want to hear about your "Aha!" moment. Share the story of where and when the founder(s) saw this solution's potential to change the world.

We were carrying out feasibility studies on a solution for utility companies to facilitate bill payments and prevent fraud in 2010. We setup a series of workshops with the over 15 MFIs managers in Cameroon to understand the role they could play and to evaluate a prototype.

During the workshop sessions, the severe inefficiency problems they were facing as well as their exposure to the risk of unauthorized lending quickly crystallized with first hand reports of significant loss of money and former employees being jailed. Worse case was of a branch in which the 30% of collected money (repayments and deposits) in a month was lost. This was the”Eureka” moment.

Further discussions with MFI consultants in Ghana, Nigeria and Uganda confirmed the problem across these geographies. We then set to out to resolve this issue.

Please describe the goal of your initiative; outline what you are trying to achieve

Our goal is to provide accessible solutions designed for emerging markets that reduce the overall providing financial services to low income areas by:
- Providing powerful affordable technology to extend the reach and functionality of existing banking systems
- Reduce unauthorized lending and therefore losses
- Increase transparency of entire operations
- Increase the speed of deploying new products or branches

The direct impact is that the cost to serve the unbanked reduces while the risks associated with the business model fall. Therefore the access to and the reach of financial services is extended.

Which barrier(s) to financial inclusion does your solution seek to address? (select all applicable)

Physical and other accessibility obstacles that prevent communities from reaching financial services, The lack of affordable financial products tailored to the needs of underserved and excluded communities,, Other (Please describe below).

If you selected 'other' above, please specify which other barriers to financial inclusion you solution seeks to address:

Extensive fraud increases the cost to serve and reduces growth, thus preventing a wider availability of services to the poor

For which underserved or excluded communities will your solution create access to valuable, affordable, secure and comprehensive financial services?

The underserved communities targeted are in emerging countries, specifically Sub-Saharan Africa. The initial pilot country being Cameroon, these communities are disadvantaged on three fronts:
(i) MFIs/banks currently making the effort to serve these communities in cure very high costs of operations due to operational inefficiencies as well as loss of money resulting from unauthorized lending. Therefore, the cost of the service is no longer affordable to the customers.
(ii) In some cases where these losses result in the financial institutions going bankrupt, these customers loose all their savings, further shattering livelihoods as well as their trust in such initiatives
(iii) In addition, the high risks as well as costs of serving them mean that fewer communities are reached. Less MFIs/banks want to take the risk or incur the costs => fewer people served

Overall, more people in rural areas could be served in less time at lower costs.

Could your solution work in other geographies or regions? If so, where?

Our solution is designed and developed for MFIs working in emerging countries that have either do not have a core banking solution and require basic management systems or have a core banking solution. It is flexible to adjust to different environments and infrastructural prerequisites.

If your solution is dramatically successful, how will things be different in 10 years?

In ten years the fraud resulting from inefficient technology in MFIs has dropped close to zero. As a result, MFIs/banks have additional revenue to reinvest. They actually do reinvest this revenue because the business risks are lower and it is more profitable. This is only possible either by growing their customer base or increasing their offerings to existing customers, who are therefore provided the opportunity to generate income. In addition MFIs within a country or a region would rely on compatible solutions that shall form a platform for improved rating and tracking of who has which loans where. The social impact on these communities would be far much higher as they work towards increased prosperity.

Additionally, if our solution gains traction more players would move into the space, also increasing overall availability of affordable financial services

What will have had to have changed to make this happen?

i. The trend towards cheaper and more powerful devices needs to continue
ii. The trend towards better regulatory requirements in Sub-Saharan countries in the area of real-time financial reporting and risk control to protect consumer savings
iii. The benefits of branchless banking would become more tangible and create a solid business model.
iv. A rethinking of the employees and the management in respect to responsible investments and customer service.

What has been the impact of your solution to date?

Our solution is still in the trail phase with the launch planned in Q4 2012. A quantitative analysis of the impact has not yet been done. However, during prototyping and field tests conducted in Cameroon, the some MFIs lost up to 6000 EUR per month from non-repayable unauthorized loans.

What is your projected impact over the next five years?

Having setup a branch in Cameroon, our goal is to implement our product in 6 Sub-Saharan countries with an estimated 60 MFI/bank within the first three years. Reducing their cost to serve, their avoidable losses and the easy of expansion would dramatically increase their customer base. After a period of five years, we are targeting a total of 150 financial institutions in 10 countries.

What barriers might hinder the success of your project? How do you plan to overcome them?

There are always people who profit from inefficiencies and the lack of transparency. These shall probably resist the implementation of our solution in the respective organisation. Our approach will be to directly address the Management or Board Level of the potential customer to introduce our product top down with strong management backing.

Winning entries present a strong plan for how they will achieve and track growth. Identify your six-month milestone for growing your impact

Within the next 6 months launch the product to the market, signup and deploy our solution to the first three customers

Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your six-month milestone

Task 1

Finalize trials and launch the solution in Cameroon by the end of November 2012

Task 2

Recruiting a qualitfied sales director to support our sales

Task 3

Sign the first three customers

Now think bigger! Identify your 12-month impact milestone

Within the next twelve months we will have 15 customers in three different countries

Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your 12-month milestone

Task 1

Launch the product in Ghana in Q1 2013 and conduct a road-show with key

Task 2

Identify, negotiate and sign a partnership agreement with a local player in the Nigerian market

Task 3

Hire and train three first level support staff in Cameroon as a hub for Central Africa

Sustainability

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Tell us about your partnerships

Our focus is on developing partnerships in marketing and sales with local players in target markets to gain traction.

They include:
- In Cameroon: We founded Maviance Cameroon in July 2012 with a local partner. Aim: Distribution of solutions in local market & to act as customer service support hub for central Africa.
- In Ghana: We established a distribution partnership with VBS Ghana – a consulting and implementation partner for microfinances in Ghana.
- In Nigeria: We are working together with a German business development company to identify and select a local partner for the market.

Are you currently targeting other specific populations, locations, or markets for your innovation? If so, where and why?

Initially, we are targeting the African market. Specifically Sub-Saharan Africa. However, our solution is applicable to other emerging markets that share similary characteristics like S. America and SE Asia.

WHY: These regions have large underserved populations and with MFIs trying to attend to their need. However, technology and infrastructure barriers expose the MFI companies to preventable inefficiencies and misuse that significantly increase the cost to serve or the perceive risk of engagements. Simply put, the need is big, the solution is right and the impact is biggest.

What type of operating environment and internal organizational factors make your innovation successful?

Factors that favour our innovation:
- The pain from lost funds due to unauthorized lending is real as field workers try to make a quick dollar by not immediately reporting collected money. Usually, the money cannot be recovered as the field agents cannot repay.
- Significant investments have already been made to existing core banking systems that can be leveraged
- Mobile penetration is on the increase and network reach is increasing
- Handset prices fall with increased functionality
- There is a large underserved population that needs financial products
- Regulatory changes to increase transparency within MFI and reporting needs in countries push them to address these situations.
- MFIs with no Core Banking System can use our solutions to strengthen their processes.

Please elaborate on any needs or offers you have mentioned above and/or suggest categories of support that aren't specified within the list

We have specialized in developing mobile solutions that take into account the particularities (mindset, technology and infrastructure) of emerging economies and can offer support in this area.

Changeshop

This project also has a Changeshop where you can read more about its latest progress.
Go to Changeshop: SEDAPUR.COM, bridging the SMEs Culinary to the e-commerce market.

SEDAPUR.COM, bridging the SMEs Culinary into the e-commerce market

Created on 09/3/2012 by Soegianto Widjaya

one stop solution for culinary industry to the e-commerce world,

MISSION :
1. To Lift Awareness of Indonesian Culinary by connecting people who make, deliver, & eat great food through e-commerce solution
2. To provide services with the “low-switching cost” principle
3. To build creative marketing campaign to engage community to the F&B Brand

About You

Organization: PT Selaras Digital Sempurna Visit websitemore ↓↑ hide↑ hide

About You

First Name

Soegianto

Last Name

Widjaya

About Your Organization

Organization Name

PT Selaras Digital Sempurna

Organization Website

Organization Country

Indonesia, JK, Jakarta Barat

Country where this project is creating social impact

Indonesia, JK, Jakarta Barat

Age of Innovator

18-34

Gender of Innovator

Male

Is your organization a

For‐profit

How long has your organization been operating?

1‐5 years

The information you provide here will be used to fill in any parts of your profile that have been left blank, such as interests, organization information, and website. No contact information will be made public. Please uncheck here if you do not want this to happen..

Innovation

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Name Your Entry

SEDAPUR.COM, bridging the SMEs Culinary into the e-commerce market

Select the stage that best applies to your solution

Growth (your pilot is up and running, and starting to expand)

How long have you been in operation?

Operating for 1‐5 years

The Need: What problem are you trying to solve?

Indonesia is a land that blessed with variative, unique and distictive culinary. nevertheless most household food and beverage industry has some special characteristics, i.e. being dominated by housewives, and even though products produced by the housewives have potential sales value, they are often impeded by some classical problems experienced by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), including: marketing issues ranging from packaging, hard-selling product information, difficulty of reaching a wider market up to the delivery issues.

Meanwhile E-Commerce offer a huge opportunity to market their products, they have a "technology" and "marketing" gap to acquire the market. Most of the E-commerce in Indonesia only focus on "gadget" or "accessoris" market.

The Solution: What is your solution? Be specific!

There should be a portal specifically for the food and beverage industry that can provide integrated solutions for the problem of household food and beverage industry. Sedapur is a socially-oriented e-commerce that can bridge the household food and beverage industry to broader markets.

We have confidence that the household industry has tremendous economic potential to bring positive impact to the economy of the family that ultimately benefits the nation and we realized that to make Sedapur as a means to provide positive impact to our vision; we need support from the existing community

The Model: Walk us through a specific example of how your solution makes a difference; include your primary activities

We have a methodology to help home industry culinary create a great product :
1. We build E-Commerce that provide integrated solutions, from order management, payment gateway and delivery solution
2. We build a marketing program using the advantage of Internet (social commerce)
3. We provide Training and Consultation to improve their product
4. We provide e-learning using social media (twitter)
5. We develop community of sharing cooking experience to encourage housewives became an entrepreneur
6. We build brand for Home Culinary Industry
7. We provide Food Photography to improve product showcase
8. We build Reseller program to enhanced sales

The Marketplace: Who are your peers and competitors? Identify others also working to address the needs you are and what differentiates you from them. What challenges could these players pose to your success or growth?

Most of the E-Commerce in Indonesia only focus on Gadget and Fashion Industry (rakuten.co.id, blibli.com, tokopedia.com). Meanwhile the culinary market is less-touchable, only mature product and brand have a change to be served by E-commerce. Others, focus on Food Delivery such as klik-eat.com and pesandelivery.com. Sedapur create differentiates by build an environment of E-Commerce that designed only for Culinary Industry, such as Made by Order feature, Food Photography, managed service (if the home industry have limited to Internet, at least they can use SMS service), Consultation and Training

Social Impact

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This Entry is about (Issues)

What solution(s) does your initiative address to help emerging entrepreneurs and small businesses grow and thrive in underserved communities? (select all applicable)

Access to financing, Access to talent, Access to supply chains, Access to technology, Access to economic opportunity.

What has been the impact of your solution to date?

We have help 29 home culinary Industry, recently there are 60 new merchant in the list, we provide training and curative service thus only qualified home culinary Industry can enter the market

What is your projected impact over the next 1-3 years?

We are currently added a new feature and methodology to improve sales of each home culinary Industry. We expect that Sedapur can go nationwide (until now we still only serve Jakarta, Depok, Bogor, Bekasi). We expect to serve more than 1.000 home culiner Industry

What barriers might hinder the success of your project? How do you plan to overcome them?

E-Commerce Industry is on growth in Indonesia, most of the players in this industry held a massive campaign to educate people to shop online. Sedapur have not enough resources to do the same activity thus we use social media campaign to gain user and develop a methodology using word of mouth and social commerce to capture the market

Winning entries present a strong plan for how they will achieve and track growth. Identify your six-month milestone for growing your impact

We will run new platform to boost product knowledge of SME's Culinary Industry. We expect in 6 month we could launch 32 new merc

Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your six-month milestone

Task 1

Build brand design and Food Photography

Task 2

Run social commerce campaign to boost product knowledge

Task 3

Conduct a survey to improve their products

Now think bigger! Identify your 12-month impact milestone

We will prepare workshop called #CulinerNation to equip SME culinary with soft skill (for example marketing area). Thus we could

Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your 12-month milestone

Task 1

Build partnership/networking with local partner such as packaging, branding and food equipment producent

Task 2

Prepare speaker to improve soft skill of SME Culinary Industry to challenge the global network

Task 3

Conduct community networking with SME Culinary Industry in the big city

Founding Story: We want to hear about your "Aha!" moment. Share the story of where and when the founder(s) saw this solution's potential to change the world.

All began simply from a dream
Starting in mid 2010, I had a discussion with my brother, Soetrisno, which is the founder of Chem-is-try.org and also co-founder of Netsains.com, on the development of e-Commerce in Indonesia. Initially, I was not very interested in the discussion about e-Commerce, until then I was invited to see that the existence of e-commerce in Japan was capable of bridging the small and medium industries (SMEs) to the broader market.

Together, we formulate a new service that is social in nature by utilizing a growing e-commerce. With reference to the development of e-commerce in Japan, the current condition in Indonesia is similar to the condition in Japan 10 years ago, but with a very rapid growth rate.

Indonesia is rich of culinary variations. We see a micro aspect of the Indonesian market which has been proliferating with E-Commerce, we found a niche which is more specific for household food and beverage industry.

Sustainability

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Tell us about your partnerships

We have partnership with RUKEMA (brand and packaging provider), we have also partnership with @EntrepreneursID who held training for people to be an Entrepreneur.

Please elaborate on any needs or offers you have mentioned above and/or suggest categories of support that aren't specified within the list

We have a team full of innovative ideas, but less resources so I believe what we can offer training on business model canvas and networking

Community Plain Language Services Corps. Launch Phase

Created: 09/01/12 by Cheryl Stephens

Location

Vancouver
Canada
49° 15' 40.4136" N, 123° 6' 50.1372" W
See map: Google Maps

CPLSCorp aims to make it easier to engage citizens and communities by connecting those who need to communicate clear information with those who can teach them how.

We will train those who work in community groups and public service agencies to write clear information for the public. These people who serve as intermediaries between the public and business and governments need this help. They face the difficult task of translating government legalese and bureaucratese and business jargon into clear information for the public.

Simplifying access to goods

Created on 08/15/2012 by moWoza

Improves access to goods, livelihoods and economic opportunities in grassroot communities through a mobile commerce platform.

About You

Organization: moWoza Visit websitemore ↓↑ hide↑ hide

About You

First Name

Suzana

Last Name

Moreira

About Your Organization

Organization Name

moWoza

Organization Website

Organization Country

South Africa

Country where this project is creating social impact

South Africa

Age of Innovator

Over 34

Gender of Innovator

Female

Is your organization a

For‐profit

How long has your organization been operating?

More than 5 years

Has the organization received awards or honors? Please tell us about them

moWoza has been selected as a SE Forum enterprise (2012) and the founder is an Unreasonable Institute fellow (2012)

The information you provide here will be used to fill in any parts of your profile that have been left blank, such as interests, organization information, and website. No contact information will be made public. Please uncheck here if you do not want this to happen..

Innovation

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Name Your Entry

Simplifying access to goods

Select the stage that best applies to your solution

Idea (you're poised to launch)

How long have you been in operation?

Operating for less than a year

Which of the following best describes the barrier(s) your innovation addresses? Choose up to two

Access.

The Need: What problem are you trying to solve?

- 70% (560 000 million)o f Sub Saharan Africans (SSA) live outside of urban areas, making it difficult to find work and goods.
- 10% (300 million) migrate outside of their homelands to find work so that they can support their families.
- They hope that the remittances and goods they send make it home to feed their families. But theft, accidents and border-post corruption means that sometimes the families in the village do not get these cash/goods remittances.
- Crossborder trade and shopping is a trillion dollar industry that is being catered by women acting as informal crossborder traders/microtraders.

The Solution: What is your solution? Be specific!

moWoza allows people to remit, order and pay for goods easily via mobile phone.
- migrants can remit and pay for goods easily, while villagers can securely order and pay for goods.
- 1 text message notifies them that their goods are ready for pick from a local merchant.
- informal crossborder traders (micro-traders) don’t need to travel long distances to place orders.
- moWoza fills the gap for approximately 16 million migrants who are based in Southern, East and West Africa
- This improves livelihoods through the trusted supply chain of access to goods. For micro-traders their economic opportunities are increased.

http://vimeo.com/37275089

The Model: Walk us through a specific example of how your solution makes a difference; include your primary activities

David, is a Mozambican migrant worker in South Africa and his family live in a village outside the capital of Mozambique.
1. A moWoza agent helps David registers on moWoza,
2. David places an order and pays via mobile. The order he places consists of food products which the family normally struggle to access.
3. This order is routed to a moWoza partner in Mozambique who fulfils the order and distributes it to a village merchant.
4. Simultaneously, David’s family is notified of the order via SMS. The SMS let’s David’s family know when they can pick up the order from the merchant.
5. The merchant verifies the order against the data that David’s family shows him and hands over the goods.

With this new mobile shopping solution, a new lifeline is created in the form of food security for families across Africa.

The Marketplace: Who are your peers and competitors? Identify others also working to address the needs you are and what differentiates you from them. What challenges could these players pose to your success or growth?

Formal competitors: To date our target market has only used Western Union in times of emergencies, but if they dropped their fees we would look to incorporate there services into our business.
Similar new innovative business models like mypaga and willstream. However these two competitors are based in West Africa and are the providers of the technology. We are ensuring that the goods are where the family members need them most.
Informal competitors: family and friends who are travelling back to the home country. Although they do not offer the regularity that our service provides.

Social Impact

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This Entry is about (Issues)

What solution(s) does your initiative address to better the lives of girls and women by leveraging technology? (select all applicable)

Access to technology, Access to economic opportunity.

What has been the impact of your solution to date?

We ran a proof of concept with 75 migrants who were supporting between 350 and 500 family members. (We worked with two agents in South Africa and two merchants in Mozambique). For each order a migrant placed they were saving 33% compared to sending a Western Union remittance and 12% compared to asking family/friends/informal couriers to send the goods to their families.

moWoza customers / beneficiaries are new customers for the agent and merchant and therefore we were increasing there trading activity and revenues.

Further research indicates that we can have a similar impact on micro cross-border traders and on the livelihood of rural and urban migrants within the local country.

What is your projected impact over the next 1-3 years?

By year three:
- Our impact is to impact the lives of 14,000 migrant workers and their family members (average of 70,000) in Southern Africa. To achieve this we will work with a crossborder labour broker and informal cross-border traders.

- increase revenue streams for 100 village merchants and 75 agents.

- increase the economic opportunity of 1,000 informal Mozambican crossborder traders by reducing the amount the costs incurred from the travel that they are currently doing to purchase products (inventory).

http://vimeo.com/46988292

What barriers might hinder the success of your project? How do you plan to overcome them?

The success of our project will be hampered by operational costs of running a business in two areas. For this reason, each of the crossborder operations needs to become self-sustainable and for that we are looking at selling directly to the local community too (opposed to just being a crossborder service targeting migrant workers).

Winning entries present a strong plan for how they will achieve and track growth. Identify your six-month milestone for growing your impact

Sign agreement with grassroot transport provider to access migrant workers. Demo a mobile phone solution w/ crossborder traders

Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your six-month milestone

Task 1

Expand the pilot and expand to several new areas to impact 1100 migrants

Task 2

Fundraise to support the development of the technology and to employ sales force

Task 3

Develop a mobile phone supply chain module incorporate this into the pilot

Now think bigger! Identify your 12-month impact milestone

2500 registered customers and 250 crossborder traders actively using the mobile supply chain module.

Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your 12-month milestone

Task 1

Be present in 3 major migrant areas in South Africa

Task 2

Be present in 20 villages in 2 districts in Mozambique

Task 3

Identified one major corporate sponsor (e.g. Nestle)

Founding Story: We want to hear about your "Aha!" moment. Share the story of where and when the founder(s) saw this solution's potential to change the world.

I was travelling across the border to Mozambique and witnessed how migrants are carrying goods from South Africa into Mozambique. For decades migrant workers and their families in Mozambique have relied on products from South Africa yet they all have a mobile phone. So it became clear that if they could easily buy the goods in South Africa and then partner in Mozambique with established retailers we could solve some of the burden that migrants and their families have in accessing goods.
From this moment I started to research and understand the social fabric of migrant workers in South Africa and across the African continent and it became apparent that I could contribute through a service like moWoza.

Sustainability

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Tell us about your partnerships

We have started initial conversations with a FMCG provider, a crossborder labour broker and a informal crossborder association. This ensures that we have access to products, customers and crossborder traders.

We are also partnering with a technology developer in order to have the relevant software skills at hand.

Please elaborate on any needs or offers you have mentioned above and/or suggest categories of support that aren't specified within the list

Access to HUBS

Remás - expanding immigrants' financial options

Remás enables immigrants to save on money transfer fees and access the financial mainstream, with our free website, apps and text message tools.

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WageBank: The socially responsible alternative to predatory lending

Created on 07/29/2012 by dhsullivan

FlexWage Solutions’ proprietary WageBank product provides a reasonable and socially responsible alternative to predatory lending services.

About You

Organization: FlexWage Solutions Visit websitemore ↓↑ hide↑ hide

About You

First Name

Denny

Last Name

Sullivan

About Your Organization

Organization Name

FlexWage Solutions

Organization Website

Organization Country

United States, NJ, Mountainside, Union County

Country where this project is creating social impact

United States

Is your organization a

For‐profit

How long has your organization been operating?

1‐5 years

Has the organization received awards or honors? Please tell us about them

WageBank was a finalist in the 2011 Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI) “Core Underbanked Innovators Challenge.” As one of the four finalists, FlexWage presented its WageBank solution at the 2011 CFSI Underbanked Financial Services Forum. Although WageBank was not chosen as the winner through the “American Idol” style voting process, the presentation opened up numerous opportunities, including deep interest in WageBank from one of the nation’s largest retailers.

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Innovation

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Select the stage that best applies to your solution

Growth (your pilot is up and running, and starting to expand)

How long have you been in operation?

Operating for 1‐5 years

Which of the following best describes the barrier(s) your innovation addresses? Choose up to two

Cost, Equity.

The Need: What problem are you trying to solve?

More than one quarter (25.6 percent) of all U.S. households are unbanked or underbanked. This equates to 60-plus-million working adults. The underbanked face high costs to access funds because they are forced to use expensive check-cashing and short-term-loan facilities. They make extensive use of payday advances and pawn shops, as well as other alternative financial services (AFS), because they don’t utilize traditional banking services. The interest rates and fees for these services are incredibly high, representing a significant percentage of these individuals’ incomes. FlexWage aims to eliminate the need for these often predatory alternative financial services with its WageBank product.

The Solution: What is your solution? Be specific!

FlexWage has developed a patent-pending payment system through which employees may be paid on a real-time basis via a stored-value payroll card. The core of the solution is WageBank, which tracks and values the time employees have worked between payroll periods. This information is used to automate early disbursement of accrued wages and their subsequent deduction from the next payroll. Employees can access earned but unpaid wages for a $3-$5 fee. The service is targeted at lower-paid, hourly, generally underbanked workers who often turn to payday loans to bridge their cash-flow challenges. FlexWage significantly decreases employee cost of access to short-term cash and, as compared with utilizing payroll loans, provides an effective 5 to 10 percent increase in net take-home pay.

The Model: Walk us through a specific example of how your solution makes a difference; include your primary activities

An underbanked employee without access to credit has an unplanned $300 expense and won’t be paid for five days, so he borrows $300 from a payday lender. In two weeks, he pays back $300 plus $60 in fees, or he rolls the loan over for an additional fee. If he is a typical payday loan user, he accesses nine loans per year paying $540 in fees. If the employee were enrolled in WageBank through his employer, he would have immediate advance access to his earned but unpaid wages for a $3-$5 fee, saving the employee considerable money, avoiding undue financial stress, and halting the debt trap by eliminating his need to use predatory alternative financial services.

The Marketplace: Who are your peers and competitors? Identify others also working to address the needs you are and what differentiates you from them. What challenges could these players pose to your success or growth?

FlexWage’s peers and competitors comprise other payroll card companies as well as companies that offer employee loan products. What differentiates FlexWage is its proprietary WageBank product that allows employees advance access to their earned but unpaid wages for a nominal fee. No other company in the current marketplace offers this benefit. More established payroll card vendors pose a challenge simply because they are better known. Payday lending companies, which in some cases tie their loan products to payroll cards, are vying for the same space in the marketplace, which could pose challenges as well.

This Entry is about (Issues)

Social Impact

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Founding Story: We want to hear about your "Aha!" moment. Share the story of where and when the founder(s) saw this solution's potential to change the world.

FlexWage founders Frank Dombroski, who serves as President/CEO, and John Lockhart, who currently serves in an advisory role to the company, devised the WageBank solution while brainstorming two issues facing the unbanked and underbanked. During his tenure managing the commercial payments portfolio for JPMorgan Chase, Frank noticed that employee adoption was one of the key issues the bank faced issuing payroll cards to the unbanked. John approached Frank with another dilemma facing the unbanked and underbanked: the high cost of alternative financial services such as payday lending, check cashing, and pawn shops. Brainstorming solutions to both issues led to the advent of WageBank and the FlexWage high touch approach to educating the unbanked on the benefits of the FlexWage payroll card and WageBank service.

Please describe the goal of your initiative; outline what you are trying to achieve

FlexWage’s goal with its WageBank product is to provide the underserved unbanked and underbanked populations with a socially responsible alternative to predatory lending while decreasing payroll costs for employers. Giving employees this alternative increases their quality of life by alleviating some of their financial stress and makes them more productive workers.

Which barrier(s) to financial inclusion does your solution seek to address? (select all applicable)

The lack of affordable financial products tailored to the needs of underserved and excluded communities,.

If you selected 'other' above, please specify which other barriers to financial inclusion you solution seeks to address:

For which underserved or excluded communities will your solution create access to valuable, affordable, secure and comprehensive financial services?

For the working unbanked and underbanked populations, WageBank creates access to a valuable, affordable, secure alternative to predatory lending services such as payday lenders and pawn shops.

Could your solution work in other geographies or regions? If so, where?

FlexWage’s payroll card system and its WageBank technology could be adopted by any company currently using or willing to convert to electronic payroll. Although currently available exclusively in the United States, FlexWage plans to offer the WageBank solution globally in future years.

If your solution is dramatically successful, how will things be different in 10 years?

In addition to providing a low cost alternative to the current alternative financial service market, FlexWage will develop a unique visibility to the financial history and behavior for the unbanked population. This data will enable the company to develop market intelligence beyond anything currently available. Through the FlexWage card and underlying account structure, the company will ultimately extend a host of affordable financial services previously unattainable to this socio-economic group. These could include checking and savings accounts, loans and lines of credit, money transfers, and nonfinancial products and services such as prepaid phones, calling cards, retail merchant discounts, insurance products, healthcare products, and other targeted offerings.

What will have had to have changed to make this happen?

Employers understanding the impact of financial stress on workplace performance, physical health, and absenteeism is the key to success for both the WageBank product and the ability to expand FlexWage’s product and service offerings to the unbanked and underbanked. In today’s environment, more employers are starting to view financial health as a component of their overall employee wellness strategy, thus the momentum is already starting to pick up.

What has been the impact of your solution to date?

The best way to describe the quantity and quality of our impact to date is by reviewing the impact on one of our first clients. FlexWage implemented WageBank at a call center in July 2011. Even though 100 percent of the call center employees had bank accounts, 82 employees (approximately 25 percent of the employee base) registered for the FlexWage card and WageBank in the first year. From July 2011 to July 2012, employees conducted 402 WageBank transactions generating $250.73 in fee savings per active user per year. Fee savings took the average size of a WageBank transfer and compared the $5 flat fee against the $33.67 average cost of a corresponding AFS loan (payday loan, etc.) of the same size.

What is your projected impact over the next five years?

Within three years, through direct sales and distribution partners, WageBank is projected to reach hundreds of thousands of unbanked and underserved employees, providing much needed respite from the AFS market. Using current statistics on payday loan usage, the average AFS user will conduct nine transactions with an average transaction size of $300 and an average fee of $60 per transaction. Over a year, the average user will save $495 in fees by accessing their earned wages through WageBank in times of need. Employers will benefit from increased productivity and employee retention. FlexWage will look to measure workplace productivity impacts.

What barriers might hinder the success of your project? How do you plan to overcome them?

Federal and state regulators could hinder the success of WageBank. To ensure the WageBank solution was on the radar of federal and state enforcement entities, FlexWage sought out and conversed with representatives from the Federal Treasury Department and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, in addition to various state regulators. Conversations centered around how WageBank differs from traditional payday loan products and the benefits to both employees and employers.

Winning entries present a strong plan for how they will achieve and track growth. Identify your six-month milestone for growing your impact

Add 2 distribution partners, merge WageBank with a payroll card service provider, & increase direct-to-employer sales efforts.

Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your six-month milestone

Task 1

Execute agreement with new distribution channels in Q3 2012

Task 2

Overlay WageBank on existing payroll card program Q1 2013

Task 3

Implement two new employers in Q4 2012

Now think bigger! Identify your 12-month impact milestone

FlexWage will introduce a new product offering and integrate WageBank with time/attendance and payroll service providers.

Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your 12-month milestone

Task 1

Launch supplemental product offering

Task 2

Integration with time and attendance service providers

Task 3

Integration with payroll service providers

Sustainability

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Tell us about your partnerships

FlexWage partnered with private equity groups and individual investors to build and launch the WageBank product. In addition, FlexWage recently announced its first distribution partner, which will resell WageBank to its current clients.

Are you currently targeting other specific populations, locations, or markets for your innovation? If so, where and why?

The long-term strategy for FlexWage and WageBank is to provide cost-effective financial services to the unbanked and underserved across the world. FlexWage is looking to implement WageBank in countries where payday lending with onerous fee structures is prevalent, providing access to earned wages without costly fees. For example, WageBank could be a cost-effective alternative to microlending in Mexico, as well as the growing payday loan industry in Europe.

What type of operating environment and internal organizational factors make your innovation successful?

The FlexWage leadership team has experience within large corporate settings in highly regulated industries. FlexWage built its organizational structure and internal controls based on financial service industry best practices and to PCI certification standards. FlexWage is currently SSAE-16 certified and will pursue formal PCI certification in the near future.

Please elaborate on any needs or offers you have mentioned above and/or suggest categories of support that aren't specified within the list

FlexWage is a highly collaborative and creative organization. FlexWage would happily help other organizations within the community with research, information gathering, or the ideation process.

Kalavaibhav BM SSS

KalaVaibhav was register in India in 2007, under the Society Registration Act. Our mission is to provide a platform for holistic development of Women and also Children.

At Kala Vaibhav, we believe self sufficiency & not dependence, which is the key to a life of diongity and self suspects. We also develop the future infrastucture of slum childrens, municipal school childrens. It is this belief which gave birth to Kalaviabhav Balvikas Mahila Vikas Samajik Shaishanik Sanstha. Within 5 years we continue to with common thread that binds our activity today.

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Banking on Microentrepreneurs

Created on 07/25/2012 by CREA

Banking on Microentrepreneurs. Building Assets through individual development accounts in Mexico.

About You

Organization: CREA COMUNIDADES DE EMPRENDEDORES SOCIALES, A.C. (CREA) Visit websitemore ↓↑ hide↑ hide

About You

First Name

Leticia

Last Name

Jáuregui

About Your Organization

Organization Name

CREA COMUNIDADES DE EMPRENDEDORES SOCIALES, A.C. (CREA)

Organization Website

Organization Country

Mexico, DIF, Mexico

Country where this project is creating social impact

Mexico, ZAC

Is your organization a

Non‐profit/NGO/citizen sector organization

How long has your organization been operating?

1‐5 years

Has the organization received awards or honors? Please tell us about them

2008 Echoing Green Fellow
2009 Architect of the Future, waldzell
2009 Latin America Finalist, Cartier Women's Initiative Awards
2010 StartingBloc Fellow
2010 Ted K. Bradshaw Alumni Award, University of California Davis
2010 Opportunity Collaboration Fellow
2010 Finalista Iniciativa México
2011 Sandbox Network Member
2011 COMEXI Associate
2012 Global Shapers Community Member

The information you provide here will be used to fill in any parts of your profile that have been left blank, such as interests, organization information, and website. No contact information will be made public. Please uncheck here if you do not want this to happen..

Innovation

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Select the stage that best applies to your solution

Idea (you're poised to launch)

How long have you been in operation?

Operating for 1‐5 years

Which of the following best describes the barrier(s) your innovation addresses? Choose up to two

Access, Quality.

The Need: What problem are you trying to solve?

In Mexico, over 98% of companies are micro, small & medium enterprises that produce almost half of the GDP & generate 70% of jobs, with microenterprises demonstrating a real return on capital of over 20%. Microenterprises are largely ignored by the banks as savers & as investment opportunities, despite breathtaking returns on capital. While Mexico has made considerable progress towards financial inclusion in the last decade increasing the percentage of people with access to a bank account from 25% in 2004 to 48% in 2009, 57% of municipalities in Mexico lack access to a bank or microfinance institution. The gains & the focus of changes in regulation have been to increase the supply & demand for transactional banking services & not activities related to savings or investment.

The Solution: What is your solution? Be specific!

CREA will partner with a Mexican financial services provider to pilot individual development accounts (IDAs) for microenterprises in Mexico. IDAs are social innovations that offer financial incentives & an institutional structure that promotes savings & asset building among low-income participants. IDAs match individual savings with private &/or public funds when participants disburse their savings for the purchase of pre-established investments (like a piece of machinery). Participants commit to attending specialized financial education workshops & to participating in consulting about how to spend their savings to increase their business assets. IDA programs are collaborative efforts between financial institutions & service providers, wherein participants receive financial education, counseling & make deposits with a trusted organization as they begin to build their savings with a financial institution.

The Model: Walk us through a specific example of how your solution makes a difference; include your primary activities

Victoria has a small salsa company, selling to local stores & restaurants. She´d like to buy an industrial stove. Victoria´s case manager at CREA helped her to enroll in an IDA matched savings plan where Victoria committed to saving a set amount each month & to using her savings & the match to buy the stove. At $18,000 pesos, the stove fit within the program´s savings cap. Making deposits with her case manager, who registered & made the deposits at the financial services provider, saved Victoria from taking an expensive trip into the capital city where the traditional banks are located. Victoria saved $375 pesos every month & at the end of the year, her savings totaled $4,500 pesos. Her savings were eligible for a 3 to 1 match. For every peso Victoria saved, the financial service provider, a philanthropic donor & the federal government each contributed a peso, provided that she met her monthly savings goals & only used her savings to buy the stove as she had originally planned. This brought her total to $18,000 pesos. When she withdrew her savings, her case manager brought her the match amount & together they went to buy the stove. But, the story doesn´t stop there. Victoria´s account with the financial services provider stayed active & while her savings will no longer be matched, she´s decided to save for an industrial mixer. After a few more years of savings, Victoria´s credit history should be sufficient for her to apply for a business loan with a formal bank, where she can expect to pay much lower interest than with the microcredit providers available in her area.

The Marketplace: Who are your peers and competitors? Identify others also working to address the needs you are and what differentiates you from them. What challenges could these players pose to your success or growth?

In the past there have two been attempts in Mexico to implement programs similar to IDAs by facilitating savings accounts. MatchSavings.org ran a successful IDA pilot in Veracruz. In 2 years, it reached 600 participants, 77% of whom were women. While 66% of savers saved for home improvement, 27% saved to fund microenterprises (compared to 4% for education & 2% for health). A year after participating in the program, 99% of participants kept saving over 50% of what they had saved during the program without the match. 60% requested a loan, of whom 29% received one. The program was cut short, due to lack of sustainable funding sources. Bansefi has supportive savings programs for low-income adults & children, but only the children´s program includes a match & is limited to higher education.

This Entry is about (Issues)

Social Impact

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Founding Story: We want to hear about your "Aha!" moment. Share the story of where and when the founder(s) saw this solution's potential to change the world.

Since I was in college I started working with female-led microenterprises in Zacatecas & I realized they had more than problems in common: they all had an incredible passion & conviction that through hard work, they could lift their families out of poverty. All they needed was to have access to the tools & resources that could turn their passion into reality. They have great business intuition & access to short term, low & expensive credit & tend to grow their businesses slowly. I realized in order to be successful they needed to have access to business development services as well as alternative financial tools that could promote financial inclusion & business growth. In looking at their habits, I very fast understood they seldom have access to credit because they didn’t have credit histories and a savings culture. Through IDAs, this problem could be solved and women could build an asset base, become resilient to crisis & grow successful & sustainable businesses.

Please describe the goal of your initiative; outline what you are trying to achieve

IDAs ease hard to bank participants into the formal banking sector while building assets that help them grow their businesses, protect them from shocks & help them access other financial services. Participants become formal account holders. The match is an incentive for participants to save & an opportunity to convert their savings into business assets. Savings increase their resiliency to financial crises & other external shocks by functioning as a form of self-insurance that protects them from cash flow deficits or crisis. IDAs help microentrepreneurs access new financial products & credit. Savings & increased assets represent important collateral mitigating risk for lenders. A history of savings & regular deposits can improve their credit history.

Which barrier(s) to financial inclusion does your solution seek to address? (select all applicable)

Physical and other accessibility obstacles that prevent communities from reaching financial services, The lack of affordable financial products tailored to the needs of underserved and excluded communities,.

If you selected 'other' above, please specify which other barriers to financial inclusion you solution seeks to address:

For which underserved or excluded communities will your solution create access to valuable, affordable, secure and comprehensive financial services?

The IDA pilot will focus on women microentrepreneurs. MFIs in Mexico report that over 50% of their borrowers are women, however these same women have few opportunities in the formal banking system to save or capitalize their businesses, while representing an important part of the economy & of the labor market. 31% of micro, small & medium enterprises are owned by women. In Zacatecas, where CREA began activities, 70% of small businesses are started with personal savings, & amongst these, 40% or more of the initial capital comes from remittances. However, 43% of these entrepreneurs have merely completed primary school or less. 88% of the companies are managed without professional help & the percentage increases if we focus solely on micro or smaller production projects, another revealing statistic is that 72% sell directly to the final consumer. Most are concentrated in trade, then services & to a lesser extent in industry. Regarding legal status, 71% were individually registered.

Could your solution work in other geographies or regions? If so, where?

IDAs have the potential to grow throughout Mexico via the development of standard IDA accounts that could be offered at banks and other financial service providers across the country as part of their suite of services. Banks in Mexico have successfully partnered with foundations to raise money at ATMs, these national-level relationships could be leveraged to provide base funding for the match. While CREA is committed to piloting the IDA in Mexico, its easily transferable methodology combined with a high potential for scale and impact make IDAs the perfect candidate for scale via technology transfer. After a successful pilot, CREA would seek to find other potential implementing organizations to partner with financial service providers to offer IDAs to their constituents.

If your solution is dramatically successful, how will things be different in 10 years?

IDAs will be standard banking products offered at retail banks across Mexico in partnership with local nonprofits. Millions of businessmen & women will have become clients of traditional banks, increasing their resiliency & ability to access affordable financing to grow their businesses. Micro-savings will replace informal savings (such as investments in livestock to be sold or slaughtered in the case of crisis) to help shelter Mexican microentrepreneurs from market shocks. At the same time, businesses that that had been ineligible for traditional loans will have built positive credit histories in order to qualify for formal affordable business loans, enabling businesses across Mexico to scale from micro to small & medium-sized businesses, employing more people.

What will have had to have changed to make this happen?

While the past decade in Mexico has seen important changes in Mexico´s banking regulations & resulting changes in the banking landscape, these changes have been focused on expanding the banking infrastructure & increasing the demand for transactional services. Some innovations such as the creation of a legal structure for banking agents as “corresponsales” in 2008 could facilitate the collaboration with nonprofits to provide financial services. Similarly, the creation of low transaction & low risk accounts to lower costs for banks to provide services to small depositors could provide models for IDA accounts, in the case of IDAs, the savings cap would need to be increased to accommodate meaningful savings as opposed to transactional services. However, just as banks required incentives to increase their banking infrastructure, similar incentives & investments would be required to encourage banks to provide match funds to facilitate investment in marginalized communities.

What has been the impact of your solution to date?

In 4 years, CREA has worked with over 700 women in Zacatecas & our programs have benefited them & their families, reaching over 2,500 people. In Zacatecas 90% of microenterprises fail in the first year. CREA reverts the average rate of failure among microentrepreneurs, allowing 90% of women to become successful entrepreneurs. Up to now, CREA´s focus has been on developing the skills, networks & business practices of women microentrepreneurs to great effect. Through the impact evaluation with Stanford, we have found large, positive & statistically significant effects of these workshops on revenues, number of clients & profits as well as formal accounting practices. For example, 77% of the women CREA works with were not using any accounting method when CREA began working with them. 80% of the women who participated in CREA’s applied business skills workshops utilized formal accounting procedures after the workshops & on average participants experienced an earnings increase of 50%.

What is your projected impact over the next five years?

In its first five years, this project will provide over 1,000 microentrepreneurs a pathway out of poverty by increasing their income & assets & improving their standard of living & resiliency. We will measure these changes by tracking increases in: assets, financial knowledge, income, as well as expenditures on health, education, & housing. We see IDAs as the first step in the development of an array of financial education & alternative financial products for individual entrepreneurs & their associates to turn increased earnings into assets.

What barriers might hinder the success of your project? How do you plan to overcome them?

Financial service providers in Mexico have few incentives to invest in businesses in marginalized areas, as evidenced by the “missing middle” in small business financing, whereby for investments beyond the range of traditional micro credits, but below traditional small business loans are difficult to finance. At the same time, federal programs designed to funnel federal & private investment to microenterprises have floundered due to lack of a supportive structure to funnel investments into viable businesses. After a successful pilot with a financial services provider, CREA will approach key decision-makers to consider piloting a match & incentive program for the IDA program as a way to leverage federal & private investment to support high-impact entrepreneurs in marginalized areas.

Winning entries present a strong plan for how they will achieve and track growth. Identify your six-month milestone for growing your impact

Build partnerships, understanding & tools to pilot IDA´s.

Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your six-month milestone

Task 1

Secure partnership with financial services provider.

Task 2

Conduct feasibility study with multiple financial service providers, microentrepreneurs & other nonprofits.

Task 3

evelop & pilot financial education tools that address the challenges & context faced by women microentrepreneurs in marginalized

Now think bigger! Identify your 12-month impact milestone

Prepare to launch IDA program.

Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your 12-month milestone

Task 1

Draft legal & fiscal structure for IDA accounts

Task 2

Secure match funding.

Task 3

Develop IDA program methodology for participant experience.

Sustainability

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Tell us about your partnerships

CREA partners with businesses both as funders of particular events or activities, & as mentors for the women with whom we work. CREA partners with the state & municipal governments that provide in-kind & monetary support to particular programs, CREA facilitates access to government programs & government offices help us outreach to new constituents. This year, CREA will be receiving support from at least two federal ministries & UNDP. CREA’s planned expansion is predicated on partnerships with non-profits with complementary skills. Currently, we are entering a partnership with a Mexican bank.

Are you currently targeting other specific populations, locations, or markets for your innovation? If so, where and why?

NO.

What type of operating environment and internal organizational factors make your innovation successful?

CREA monitors organizational performance through weekly reports of goals & achievements for each program. We are currently in the process of implementing a performance & impact monitoring system in order to track both our program implementation success & the effects of program participation on our participants. Our organizational environment encourages autonomy, critical thinking & growth among our staff. Annually we collectively develop a priorities matrix to guide our work & have weekly check-ins where we review progress & brainstorm potential responses to risks & opportunities identified by staff members. We have been able to retain & advance a core staff of 5 managers by offering secure, full time employment with benefits & clear pathways for growth & advancement.

Please elaborate on any needs or offers you have mentioned above and/or suggest categories of support that aren't specified within the list

CREA needs investment to continue to scale. CREA needs to better market its services to potential partners & funders & to potential clients for the women´s businesses. We need help to incorporate legally in the US.
We have a large dataset of information about the conditions in marginalized communities in Mexico & would be happy to share baseline data with others. We are interested in expanding ou

Prospera transforma a pequeños emprendedores y los vincula con ci

PROSPERA es una empresa social, incubada en la Universidad de California en Berkeley, que capacita a familias emprendedoras en el desarrollo de productos funcionales y competitivos para posteriormente vincularlas con consumidores responsables que las ayudan a transformarse en pequeñas empresas innovadoras, rentables y generadoras de empleos sustentables.

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A Micro Finance Credit Bureau

Created on 07/23/2012 by MGIB

We are a micro finance credit bureau that utilizes biometric identification to provide accurate and transparent credit reports and scores.

About You

Organization: Luminos more ↓↑ hide↑ hide

About You

First Name

Isaac

Last Name

Bickford

About Your Organization

Organization Name

Luminos

Organization Website

Organization Country

United States, MD, Chevy Chase, Montgomery County

Country where this project is creating social impact

Philippines

Is your organization a

Non‐profit/NGO/citizen sector organization

How long has your organization been operating?

Less than a year

Has the organization received awards or honors? Please tell us about them

The information you provide here will be used to fill in any parts of your profile that have been left blank, such as interests, organization information, and website. No contact information will be made public. Please uncheck here if you do not want this to happen..

Innovation

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Select the stage that best applies to your solution

Idea (you're poised to launch)

How long have you been in operation?

Still in idea phase, but looking to launch soon

Which of the following best describes the barrier(s) your innovation addresses? Choose up to two

Cost, Transparency.

The Need: What problem are you trying to solve?

The microfinance industry has become a major destination for global investment. In order to attract funding, achieve scale economies, and boost profitability, many micro finance institutions (MFIs) are lending without adequately assessing a borrower’s riskiness. This practice results in over-indebtedness, a diminished quality of life for the borrower, and liquidity problems for MFIs. A CGAP report showed that between 12% (in Ghana) and 85% (in Bolivia) of borrowers had serious problems repaying their loans at least once. Our micro finance credit bureau will prevent this and allow lenders to better determine lending terms. We will strive to cover every county with an MF industry, which means in some nations we will service thousands of the world’s poorest borrowers and in others, millions.

The Solution: What is your solution? Be specific!

We will be providing credit scores and reports to all micro finance institutions (MFIs). Often in developing nations a formal and effective national identification system is not available. Since a person's fingerprints are unique, using them as the identifier in financial transactions ensures security and consistency. Having a system of identification based on "Who you are" (e.g. fingerprints) is far more secure and reliable than one based on "What you have" (e.g. ID card) or "What you know" (e.g. a Personal ID Number). Using biometric information has never been utilized by MF credit bureaus. Each MFI loan agent will be given a hand held device which will scan and register an individual's fingerprints, and collect all necessary information to include in a credit report. In future meetings, the scanner will be used to identify and ensure that the individual is, in fact, who they say they are. The MFIs will be leased these customized scanners and will be maintained by our organization.

The Model: Walk us through a specific example of how your solution makes a difference; include your primary activities

According to the Microfinance Information Exchange there are roughly 1.7 million micro loan borrowers in the Philippines, which amount to less than 2% of their population. With 42% of their population living on less than USD 2 per day, it is clear that the micro finance industry has room to grow. Our credit bureau (CB) will help their micro finance institutions (MFIs) efficiently and risk-appropriately grow their loan portfolio while simultaneously preventing borrowers from becoming over-indebted.
When looking at an example between two borrowers, A and B, the effects of our CB can be clearly seen. Borrower A has good credit history and has always repaid their loans on time, while borrower B has 7 outstanding loans and is delinquent on several. Borrower B has been able to approach and procure loans from other MFIs because he is not part of a credit bureau system. Because there is no CB in place, borrower A and B are charged the same interest rate on loans. Borrower A is being penalized, while borrower B is taking advantage of the system. Our credit bureau would let the MFIs know that borrower A is of low risk and should be charged a significantly lower interest rate, and that borrower B should be charged a much higher interest rate and perhaps be put on a no-lending list.
We will work with all MFIs and other relevant institutions to gather and update needed information. As borrowers repay or fail to repay loans, we will include our new risk assessment in reports and credit scores to lenders. Our scores and reports will directly influence the cost of borrowing.

The Marketplace: Who are your peers and competitors? Identify others also working to address the needs you are and what differentiates you from them. What challenges could these players pose to your success or growth?

Our long term plan is to have an operational credit bureau (CB) in every nation that has a micro finance industry. Since we are specifically catering to micro finance institutions (MFIs), our competitors will be other private CBs (PCBs) that support MFIs, or government run CBs. In particular, in the Philippine market, some of the largest MFIs are forming the first PCB. We have, however, noticed that many markets support multiple PCBs, e.g. Costa Rica with five, which leads us to believe that there is value in having more than one. The largest challenges competitors create are client theft or creating market or political barriers to entry. Despite these, using biometric identification is a more effective solution of borrower management, and will be especially attractive in these markets.

This Entry is about (Issues)

Social Impact

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Founding Story: We want to hear about your "Aha!" moment. Share the story of where and when the founder(s) saw this solution's potential to change the world.

Michael Gill had just completed a course in his second year of law school called secured transactions. Secured transactions, which boost economic efficiency by effectively allowing businesses to pledge collateral in return for liquidity, rely on a functioning recording system that allows lenders to establish perfection and priority. When Michael was tasked with learning about the SMART Campaign (a microfinance initiative to prevent over-indebtedness and boost lender's transparency) at his summer internship with OPIC, he saw a market that needed a recording system. He had the idea of collateralizing a borrowers identity in return for liquidity, and he wanted to accomplish that by recording the borrower's biometrics. The idea for a biometric credit bureau was born.

Please describe the goal of your initiative; outline what you are trying to achieve

We want to achieve the elimination of asymmetric information in the micro finance (MF) borrowing process. This will result in borrowers getting charged interest rates according to their riskiness and likelihood of repayment, and not a uniform rate that assumes everyone is equally likely to default. For the individual, this will result in better borrowing terms, and for the MF bank, this will result in fewer non-performing loans, more profits, and therefore more capacity to loan. It will also help attract additional financing, which will more quickly expand the reach of these MF institutions, and will support the world's poorest in bringing themselves out of poverty.

Which barrier(s) to financial inclusion does your solution seek to address? (select all applicable)

Physical and other accessibility obstacles that prevent communities from reaching financial services, The lack of affordable financial products tailored to the needs of underserved and excluded communities,, Powerful incentives for financial service providers to move up-market, Other (Please describe below).

If you selected 'other' above, please specify which other barriers to financial inclusion you solution seeks to address:

Information asymmetries between the borrower and the lender which hinder risk mitigation.

For which underserved or excluded communities will your solution create access to valuable, affordable, secure and comprehensive financial services?

The commercial banking sector excludes the poorest in every nation because of their lack of collateral. The micro finance (MF) industry has been proven to be the solution to this exclusion and has allowed millions of people to gain access to form financial products and services. Our solution will directly serve all of these people who are interested in participating in the MF process. Since our private credit bureau with biometric identification is easily adaptable in any country, we will try and have an operational presence in any nation with a micro finance industry.

Could your solution work in other geographies or regions? If so, where?

Our solution will work in any nation that has a micro finance industry and doesn't have regulations preventing the storage of personal physical identifying information. Provided there is room in the credit bureau market, our solution will be in high demand.

If your solution is dramatically successful, how will things be different in 10 years?

In every country that we have an operational presence, we will see borrowing costs for good borrowers decrease dramatically. We will see people with poor credit history and borrowing practices, i.e. those that are over-indebted, receive the education and help they need to become effective borrowers. After transforming their spending and borrowing habits, we will see the interest rates for these people decrease. All people in the micro finance (MF) system will be a part of creating a middle class, which as economic data has shown, is the most important and significant determinant of a nation's economic capacity. The micro finance institutions will have a much easier time getting funding because of the transparency in the lending market, which will in turn allow them to reach many more people than before. Having millions of fewer people struggling in poverty will be the outcome of ten years of operations in many nations around the world.

What will have had to have changed to make this happen?

The most significant thing that needs to change is the amount of asymmetric information in the market. Borrowers know how many loans they have and what they are actually spending them on, while the lenders do not. The lenders are thus forced to charge extremely high interest rates to compensate for this risk. Bringing transparency will support more accurate market determined interest rates and better loans. We will have to create a database of all the people who participate in the micro finance system, and keep their updated information available to the micro lenders. For our organization, making this happen in every nation is a matter of working with the local micro finance institutions, adhering to local regulations for private credit bureaus, and creating a network of lenders and other related parties that would benefit and contribute a borrower's report.

What has been the impact of your solution to date?

We are not yet operational, however, private credit bureaus have been around for a long time and have been creating transparency since their inception. Their benefits and effects have been thoroughly documented in developed, and to a lesser extent developing, nations around the world. Currently, existing credit bureaus under serve global microfinance markets, which we seek to solve. Ultimately, private credit bureaus will support the world’s poorest gaining access to quality financial products.

What is your projected impact over the next five years?

In five years we expect to have an operational presence in at least five countries and reporting on ten million borrowers. We expect to see interest rates for quality borrowers’ decrease dramatically, and lesser quality borrowers get the educational help they need to become quality borrowers. Five years from now we will begin the next phase of expansion, where we aim to be in fifteen to twenty nations over the following five years.

What barriers might hinder the success of your project? How do you plan to overcome them?

Our two primary barriers are language and regulations. The language barrier can be circumvented by hiring a translator in that country to be a mediator between us and our prospective network participants. Regulatory barriers will be dealt with by reading and understanding regulations and accommodating them in our business model. Changes may have to be made, but the idea and intent will remain the same. Another problem we may encounter is a lack or power or internet infrastructure. We have solved the power issue by making our hand held scanners be chargeable via solar power. For the servers, we will have backup generators that will switch on when the power is off. Our scanners and computers will be able to access the internet via satellite connection, in order to transmit the data.

Winning entries present a strong plan for how they will achieve and track growth. Identify your six-month milestone for growing your impact

Internally operational and innovating/creating a product.

Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your six-month milestone

Task 1

Incorporate, appoint officers, establish bylaws, complete administrative tasks, etc.

Task 2

Commence talks with product developers, both hardware and software.

Task 3

Begin talks to form contracts with MFIs in target country.

Now think bigger! Identify your 12-month impact milestone

Operational in at least one country.

Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your 12-month milestone

Task 1

Complete product design, license and invest in product assets.

Task 2

Acquire contracts with one to three MFI's (preferably large ones) in target country

Task 3

Raise all the capital required to be operational in one country.

Sustainability

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Tell us about your partnerships

We do not currently have any partnerships. If we get this grant, we will be using that to travel to the Philippines to start building our network of partnerships and customers.

Are you currently targeting other specific populations, locations, or markets for your innovation? If so, where and why?

The Philippines is going to be our first, which we determined by doing an economic analysis looking at poverty rates, micro finance usage, private credit bureau coverage, regulatory strengths and concerns, and depth of financial services, among other less important factors. When the Philippines proves successful, we plan on expanding the following year, in 2014, into Vietnam. Vietnam was also a good fit when we considered the afore mentioned criteria.

What type of operating environment and internal organizational factors make your innovation successful?

Both founders have a very strong, deep, and diverse academic background (one will have an M.B.A. and an M.A. in Economics and the other will have a J.D.) which will allow us to direct operations and respond to challenges and opportunities quickly and effectively. In discussions, we both value each other’s opinion and the notion that the idea with the best support trumps the other. We are both passionate about entrepreneurial ventures and making a difference in the world. We understand the difficulties of creating a successful business and are eager to address any challenges that arise in a confident and informed manner. Using the principles of a lean startup we will build, measure, and learn, through innovation accounting, to track progress and determine development direction.

Please elaborate on any needs or offers you have mentioned above and/or suggest categories of support that aren't specified within the list

As of December 2012 I will have an MBA and a MA in Financial Economic Policy and my business partner will be graduating law school in May 2013. If either of us can help with any background knowledge relating to those three fields of study, we would be happy to help.

Changeshop

This project also has a Changeshop where you can read more about its latest progress.
Go to Changeshop: Remás - expanding immigrants' financial options.

Remás - expanding immigrants' financial options

Created on 07/20/2012 by Brendan McBride

Remás enables immigrants to save on money transfer fees and access the financial mainstream, with our free website, apps and text message tools.

About You

Organization: Remás Visit websitemore ↓↑ hide↑ hide

About You

First Name

Brendan

Last Name

McBride

About Your Organization

Organization Name

Remás

Organization Website

Organization Country

United States, NY, Brooklyn, Kings County

Country where this project is creating social impact

United States

Is your organization a

Non‐profit/NGO/citizen sector organization

How long has your organization been operating?

1‐5 years

Has the organization received awards or honors? Please tell us about them

> AT&T/One Economy's "Apps for Good" contest - Grand Prize + Popular Choice awards, 2011 (http://applicationsforgood.org/)

> Center for Urban Pedagogy's Making Policy Public project, 2011 (http://makingpolicypublic.net)

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Innovation

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Select the stage that best applies to your solution

Start-Up (a pilot that has just begun operating)

How long have you been in operation?

Operating for 1‐5 years

Which of the following best describes the barrier(s) your innovation addresses? Choose up to two

Access, Transparency.

The Need: What problem are you trying to solve?

Immigrants send billions of dollars home every year -- mostly through money transfer companies like Western Union -- but their transfer options are impossible to compare due to constantly changing costs. We've seen disruptive internet innovations in countless industries, but the internet still isn't much help for immigrants trying to understand their financial options.

Limited pricing transparency (named a key area for improving money transfer by the World Bank) restricts consumer choices and lessens the impact of the $100M US immigrants send *every day*. On top of this, Latino immigrants -- 6% of the US population -- are only half as likely as people born in the US to have a bank account (ie, be "banked"), severely limiting their access to the financial tools that increase prosperity.

The Solution: What is your solution? Be specific!

Remás enables immigrants to save on money transfer fees, access the financial mainstream, and gain prosperity for themselves and their communities in the U.S. and abroad.

Our free website, mobile app, and text message tool let users compare costs, save on fees and send more home. We also show users their options for opening a bank account, giving them tools to improve their financial well-being and send money at a lower cost.

The Model: Walk us through a specific example of how your solution makes a difference; include your primary activities

Currently, if somebody wants to send money to her family in Mexico, for example, she has to visit stores or make dozens of calls to companies to compare exchange rates and fees. After all that, she'd find out that sending $100 could cost anywhere from $5.83 to $17.50.

Alternatively, she could visit the Remás website (research shows that 41% of Latino immigrants go online regularly) or our mobile site, app, or text message tool on her phone (92% of Latino immigrants report using cell phones), enter transfer details (origin, destination, amount, speed) and compare the costs of sending money either online or via local agents. Maps display local sending locations plus receiving locations in Mexico.

In addition to the price comparison, our tools show her what nearby banks and credit unions require (eg, type of ID) to open a bank account and what services they offer (eg, money transfer products, savings accounts, etc.). There's also clear information on local nonprofits offering financial literacy classes and services nearby.

Remás' tools enable consumers to save money on their regular financial transactions (ie, money transfers) as well as gain access to "mainstream" financial products that encourage long-term financial stability.

The Marketplace: Who are your peers and competitors? Identify others also working to address the needs you are and what differentiates you from them. What challenges could these players pose to your success or growth?

1. Money transfer companies (status quo): biased (goal is to convince people to use their services); Remás will have more data than any MTC about pricing trends and will provide this to consumers; Remás may be viewed as threat without our continued partnership building and communications with the industry
2. The World Bank's "Remittance Prices Worldwide" tool: marketed to and serves researchers and policymakers (not consumers); not user friendly; only updated quarterly, manual data collection; we will seek funding to provide more accurate, real-time data to WB
3. fxcompared.com: features paid affiliates, not all MT options; doesn't include exchange rates in calculations; expat/students abroad target market; no text, mobile, app services

This Entry is about (Issues)

Social Impact

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Founding Story: We want to hear about your "Aha!" moment. Share the story of where and when the founder(s) saw this solution's potential to change the world.

Living in immigrants’ hometowns in Latin America, I saw how remittances brought families out of poverty. Later I led an outreach team that helped migrant farmworkers in the US navigate healthcare institutions. As a housing developer, I worked in Spanish with hundreds of immigrants to improve their mortgage eligibility, showing me the financial obstacles they faced, including deep distrust of banks.

These experiences affirmed my belief that our society needs immigrants to thrive -– which they can’t do if they are on the margins of society. I created Remás to correct a basic injustice: lost potential. Remas will improve immigrants’ ability to prosper here, realizing the potential of immigration to uplift people across the world.

Please describe the goal of your initiative; outline what you are trying to achieve

We envision a world where technology provides access to the information and tools that lead to economic opportunities for immigrants, their families, and their communities. Remás' Travelocity-like money transfer comparison tool enables immigrants to save on money transfer fees and access the financial mainstream. Equipped with accurate knowledge about their financial options, prosperity for immigrants and their communities -- in the U.S. and abroad -- can become a reality.

Which barrier(s) to financial inclusion does your solution seek to address? (select all applicable)

Physical and other accessibility obstacles that prevent communities from reaching financial services, The lack of affordable financial products tailored to the needs of underserved and excluded communities,, Powerful incentives for financial service providers to move up-market.

If you selected 'other' above, please specify which other barriers to financial inclusion you solution seeks to address:

For which underserved or excluded communities will your solution create access to valuable, affordable, secure and comprehensive financial services?

Remás provides financial service access for immigrant communities in the United States and their families back home, initially (during our current pilot) in Mexico, and ultimately around the globe. For many immigrants, the act of sending money home is one, and sometimes the only, moment when they come into contact with formal financial systems. Remás capitalizes on that moment by first connecting people with the best information out there about their money transfer choices, and then connecting them with options for getting banked.

Could your solution work in other geographies or regions? If so, where?

While we are currently focusing on the US-Mexico corridor, the technological infrastructure we have built can easily be applied to other global remittance pathways. We have executed data sharing contracts with US-based money transfer companies that do business in multiple countries, including Mexico, enabling Remás to expand the model to those countries without the need to create entirely new partnerships to access that data in the future.

If your solution is dramatically successful, how will things be different in 10 years?

- 2 million+ users nationwide will be enabled to save $140 million in transfer fees, meaning more resources for money senders here and/or more money sent home, where the dollar has an amplified impact
- New life options for users through increased financial inclusion; access to responsible mainstream financial products will reduce expensive reliance on alternative financial services (eg, check cashing, money orders) and change a family’s financial options, making it possible to do things like build credit, buy a home, and save securely

What will have had to have changed to make this happen?

There will need to be a shift in the control of information about financial options -- including money transfers, banking options, and more --to immigrant consumers (20 million+), altering the market dynamic like Travelocity or Kayak has for airfares.

What has been the impact of your solution to date?

We are near completion of the tools (website, app, text tool) that will be rolled out during our pilot phase. We plan to assess their impact (number of users, dollars saved, dollars repurposed for other, bank accounts opened, number of users connected to financial education services) beginning in the pilot phase.

What is your projected impact over the next five years?

- We'll have built a national system for money transfer price comparison from the US to most countries worldwide that will help immigrants in the US who send money home save money on this common transaction.
- Our banking tool will be the first option for evaluating immigrants' banking options, creating a pathway to mainstream financial inclusion for a national user base
-Our tools to identify financial education resources will enable this same user base to find further resources for understanding their financial options.
- We will have access to a national network of organizations working on issues of financial inclusion that will a) benefit from Remas tools by expanding access to potential clients and b) allow collaboration to create other tools to promote financial inclusion.

What barriers might hinder the success of your project? How do you plan to overcome them?

- Technology can scale quickly, but national marketing will be a challenge; we will collaborate with organizations to multiply reach, like National Council on La Raza, and drive traffic through partner websites, social media, and web advertising. We’re an approved Google nonprofit, with $120,000 annual AdWords credit, and have advisory support of a former Google Spanish-language AdWords manager.
-Mission drift by losing touch with the needs of users; we will continually seek feedback whether we are meeting the evolving needs of users, online and in-person
-Money transfer companies seeing us as a threat/convincing companies to get on our system; we will continue to meet with our network of industry allies (national money transfer industry trade group president, former Moneygram VP)

Winning entries present a strong plan for how they will achieve and track growth. Identify your six-month milestone for growing your impact

Completion of Remás platform

Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your six-month milestone

Task 1

Complete second version of website, mobile website, and text message comparison tool

Task 2

Complete banking comparison tool in collaboration with Facilitas/"Find a Better Bank"

Task 3

Secure direct feed of data from at least five money transfer companies

Now think bigger! Identify your 12-month impact milestone

Pilot Remás tools to 1,000+ users

Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your 12-month milestone

Task 1

Marketing partnership with > 3 ( local organizations in pilot area (Sunset Park) + > 10 NYC financial literacy organizations

Task 2

Raise funds to support pilot program from individual and institutional donors

Task 3

Launch pilot in at least one Brooklyn neighborhood (Sunset Park), trialing US-Mexico comparison + banking tools with residents

Sustainability

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Tell us about your partnerships

- Money transfer companies - signed data agreements with two companies and negotiating with many more
- Center for Urban Pedagogy - producing and widely distributing a fold out poster about myths and realities of banking system
- Media - featured on Mashable/Daily Markets/CNET, and a primary source for a recent Consumer Reports article about money transfers
- Nonprofits - eg, Ariva (NYC) and Qualitas of Life (NYC) to test our tools and promote their services
- Universities - pro bono support from Columbia B school, University of the Arts, and Brooklyn Law

Are you currently targeting other specific populations, locations, or markets for your innovation? If so, where and why?

Our first step is to pilot our tools in the Sunset Park, Brooklyn community. Upon successful completion of our pilot, we plan to market Remás amongst all NYC-based Mexican communities.

What type of operating environment and internal organizational factors make your innovation successful?

The success of Remas thus far has been built on the passion and skills of volunteers, ranging from programmers to graphic designers to university students helping to gather our data. As we transition to a non-volunteer organization, we will seek to always integrate volunteer passion and expertise into our model and also use these relationships to promote awareness about issues of financial inclusion.

User input has also been a big force in informing the design of our tools and in showing us our successes and mistakes; constantly seeking user input has to be a core part of our practice as we achieve greater scale, both to inform the design of our current tools and create an environment for innovation to create new tools for financial inclusion.

Please elaborate on any needs or offers you have mentioned above and/or suggest categories of support that aren't specified within the list

Financial Inclusion for Sustainable Livelihood Promotion

Created on 07/20/2012 by EdithFie

BISWA provides a holistic approach with 5 pillars, which ensures sustainability of the programmes focusing on mobilizing savings and responsible finance.

About You

Organization: Bharat Integrated Social Welfare Agency (BISWA) Visit websitemore ↓↑ hide↑ hide

About You

First Name

Edith

Last Name

Fie

About Your Organization

Organization Name

Bharat Integrated Social Welfare Agency (BISWA)

Organization Website

Organization Country

India, OR, Sambalpur

Country where this project is creating social impact

India, OR, Sambalpur

Is your organization a

Non‐profit/NGO/citizen sector organization

How long has your organization been operating?

More than 5 years

Has the organization received awards or honors? Please tell us about them

As appreciations for good work and sustainable community development services BISWA won 26 awards till date, which include the following amongst others:
- A token of appreciations & excellence by PJ Group of Institutions, Bhubaneswar 2010
- Global Micro Finance Impact Award, 2009
- National Business Leadership Award, 2008
- India NGO Award, 2007
- Micro Insurance Award, 2006-2007

The information you provide here will be used to fill in any parts of your profile that have been left blank, such as interests, organization information, and website. No contact information will be made public. Please uncheck here if you do not want this to happen..

Innovation

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Select the stage that best applies to your solution

Scaling (the next step will be growing impact on a regional or even global scale)

How long have you been in operation?

Operating for more than 5 years

Which of the following best describes the barrier(s) your innovation addresses? Choose up to two

Access, Cost.

The Need: What problem are you trying to solve?

The Indian economy is characterized a heavy dependence on agriculture as industries are concentrated mainly in the urban areas and a highly skewed distribution of income and wealth. The economic situation in Odisha is fatal: 48% of the population lives under the poverty line. A high percentage of the working population depends on agriculture and related activities. Rural people have a poor base of resources, a low level of capacity and limited access to financial and other support services. Especially women and young people are affected. Financial inclusion has proved to be the best intervention in removing chronic poverty amongst women and enabling them to participate in economic activity by raising their income levels.

The Solution: What is your solution? Be specific!

BISWA implemented the self-help group (SHG) model, which emphasises that mobilising savings is the first building block of financial services. SHGs comprise of 14 members contributing savings into a common bank account on a regular basis. For the general eligibility of an SHG for credit linkage with BISWA the following criteria has to be met:
• The SHG must have completed 6 months
• The SHG must have attained 75% in a gradation
• All members must have been covered under insurance
• There should not be any outstanding against the SHG
• Preliminary savings are needed
When these criteria are met, BISWA provides loans to SHGs which are normally excluded from financial access as they have no collateral. SHG consists primarily of women members and therefore ensures Financial Inclusion for women from the poor and backward economies and strengthen their economic empowerment. BISWA promotes around 83,000 self-help groups having approximately 1.3 million members.

The Model: Walk us through a specific example of how your solution makes a difference; include your primary activities

A poor widow found it hard to survive with her two children after her husband died, as she could not find a suitable job. With her small patch of land she struggled to arrange two times meal a day for her children. She enrolled to a SHG and received her first credit of Rs.5000 for agriculture purposes. Because of her rapid repayment she could receive two further loans, which have enabled her to expand in farming, resulting in increased income. Apart from the positive changes in her personal life through involvement with BISWA, a regular income brought her the sense of savings on a regular basis. Today her total savings are Rs. 14.330. She aspired to help and initiated the urgent construction of a road in her village and motivated the villagers to give their labour during construction. This story of self reliance and empowerment is an example of how BISWA´s work is empowering women and causing a positive change in the whole community. This solution makes a difference because of the strategic objectives include 5 pillars:
1. Social Development: Empower community members
2. Micro Finance: Ensuring availability of financial services at low rates
3. Micro Insurance: Social Security
4. Micro Enterprise: Creating entrepreneurial attitude and opportunities
5. Micro Marketing: Finding a market of optimal return for the products
A holistic development of the society is only possible through sustainability of the programmes and this is only possible through proper linkage of activities that is effectively implemented by the Organisation.

The Marketplace: Who are your peers and competitors? Identify others also working to address the needs you are and what differentiates you from them. What challenges could these players pose to your success or growth?

We do not see other organization as competitors as they have similar goals which should be in the spotlight. BISWA Network conducts several activities for strengthening partnership with NGOs nationwide. Its endeavours are mainly focused on coordination with partner NGOs and simultaneously to enhance their ability to execute different operations in association with BISWA.
The hallmark of BISWA livelihood programmes has been the long-term intention of asset building and active social participation of the beneficiaries. The compulsory and periodic skills-enhancement interventions differentiate us from other organizations and make sure the beneficiaries are up-to-date with market trends allowing them to leverage maximum benefit out of the programme.

This Entry is about (Issues)

Social Impact

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Founding Story: We want to hear about your "Aha!" moment. Share the story of where and when the founder(s) saw this solution's potential to change the world.

It all started as a small dream of an individual and then grew as a snowball. As a banker 18 years ago, Mr. Khirod Chandra Malick, founder Chairman, Bharat Integrated Social Welfare Agency (BISWA), while working in the western part of Odisha, realized the debilitating impact of real poverty in the region. In fact, this was the turning point in his life, which generated an inner urge to start a philanthropic Organisation with a group of life-minded people. Thus BISWA came into existence with a very well-defined vision and mission. It is now fully committed towards sustainable development of the poor people with special emphasis on women. During this period, the Organisation has expanded to 17 other states thereby acquiring the status of a prominent national level NGO.

Please describe the goal of your initiative; outline what you are trying to achieve

BISWA aims to offer financial services to women from lower income group at the lowest possible cost. The goal is to increase availability and use of financial services through expansion and consolidation, creation of a fair playing field for every micro-entrepreneur and reviving the root of banking, so that credit is once again based on trust and relationship, not just on creditworthiness. Gender equality and women´s empowerment are fundamental to the mission of BISWA to achieve equal rights. It´s objective is to ensure poor women a stable livelihood, self-esteem and social participation. It is also working towards generating substantial job opportunities and economic benefits by training micro-entrepreneurs so that they can produce commercial value utilising their traditional skills.

Which barrier(s) to financial inclusion does your solution seek to address? (select all applicable)

Physical and other accessibility obstacles that prevent communities from reaching financial services, The lack of affordable financial products tailored to the needs of underserved and excluded communities,.

If you selected 'other' above, please specify which other barriers to financial inclusion you solution seeks to address:

For which underserved or excluded communities will your solution create access to valuable, affordable, secure and comprehensive financial services?

The Organisation aims to make available financial services to women from the lower income group, especially in the rural and semi-urban areas of different states in India.

Could your solution work in other geographies or regions? If so, where?

Our solution could be expanded to nearly all geographic regions, where the availability and use of a wider range of financial services for poor people, especially women in rural areas, has to be increased. We already started successfully to expand our business within India and are currently working in 22 States and 118 different Districts. The model can be scaled up further in India aa well as in other countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

If your solution is dramatically successful, how will things be different in 10 years?

Our goal is to reach economic and social inclusion of the poor and excluded, especially women, as their still bear the major burden of poverty and till recently were excluded from the development planning and required resource allocation process. Our current work contributes to higher savings, facilitates access to financial services and strengthens women´s entrepreneurship and their control over financial resources. This contributes to women´s empowerment and will strengthen substantially women´s status in the society.
This development contributes to a continuous increase in income, an improvement of living standard and hence to eradication of extreme poverty and hunger with positive effect on education and medical health. BISWA´s approach, apart from Social Finance and Enterprise, also includes Social Development - that is education, health, water and sanitation campaigns – which ensure an impact on a broad scale which likely will continue to be dramatically successful.

What will have had to have changed to make this happen?

We have to expand Financial Inclusion further in order to achieve the above mentioned goals. In India and other parts of the world there are still areas excluded from any financial access, wherefore the outreach has to be increased. Measures have to be taken for higher efficiency in the sector and lower and costs in order to meet the existing demand.
Good institutional quality is essential for the purpose to expand businesses – BISWA focus is the responsible delivery of financial services based on client protection and social performance management.

What has been the impact of your solution to date?

BISWA´s integrated approach has emerged as one of the successful means to holistic social development programmes by bringing convergence of Micro Finance, Micro Enterprise, Micro Insurance, Micro Marketing. Its development programmes address poverty eradication, livelihood promotion, basic health services, water and sanitation, education and gender equity. An overall analysis by our internal and external evaluators yields the following impacts:
• Over 1.2 Million benefitted in 22 states in India
• 850.000 women availed Micro Finance service credits, insurance and marketing assistance
• 525.00 families insured with Micro Insurance product
• 280.000 persons trained and empowered in Micro Enterprises
• 170.000 women members of SHG linked to marketing network and doing business
• Increase of school enrolment of children to 100 % and decrease in child dropout rate for all operation areas.
• 1.5 Million reaching Health Care Service

What is your projected impact over the next five years?

BISWA is already on the right track to reach its mission of “1 million jobs, 2 million toilets, 3 million water tap connections and 10 million trees by 2015” and is determined to accomplish it in the next 3 years. As a superior goal we have committed ourselves to the Millennium Goals of the United Nations.

What barriers might hinder the success of your project? How do you plan to overcome them?

A problem is the ongoing uncertainty in the Microfinance Sector that can be a threat also for us, but as we offer an integrated program including mentoring, guidance and other social development projects we think, we can have a positive sight to the future. We are sure that responsible finance is the only working model in the Microfinance Sector – not only as vision, but also in terms of a pragmatic client protection and social performance management. Our strategic collaborations with government and various partnerships remain healthy and effective in delivering public goods to poor. We will further expand these relationships by long-term collaboration. The strategy is to create national level advocacy and attract multiple funding sources to multiply actions and scale up the interventions.

Winning entries present a strong plan for how they will achieve and track growth. Identify your six-month milestone for growing your impact

Providing access to new opportunities to earn their liveliness to a larger number of households

Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your six-month milestone

Task 1

Further 12.500 Self-help groups (a 15% increase) in order to reach 95.500 at the end of this year.

Task 2

Further 222.000 clients in order to reach over 1.5 million members of SHGs at the end of this year.

Task 3

An increase in loan disbursement of around 20% (from currently 70.000 to 85.000).

Now think bigger! Identify your 12-month impact milestone

Expanding the concept of microenterprises to a larger number of people

Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your 12-month milestone

Task 1

Further 25.000 Self-help groups (35% increase) in order to reach 108.000 within 12 months.

Task 2

Further 444.000 clients in order to reach over 1.7 million members of SHGs within 12 months.

Task 3

An increase in loan disbursement of over 40% (from currently 70.000 to 100.000).

Sustainability

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Tell us about your partnerships

In our projects we are supported by a number of different promoters. From government departments (e.g. Odisha State Social Welfare Board), to bilateral and multilateral donors, to international and national NGOs (e.g. UNICEF, MISEREOR from Germany), to corporate bodies and civil society networks to local governments and peoples processes we find any kind of organization in our network. Furthermore we collaborate with banks and insurances such as e.g. TATA AIG and the Bank of India to improve our projects.

Are you currently targeting other specific populations, locations, or markets for your innovation? If so, where and why?

The Organisation started is operation from a small village named Baramunda in Odisha an expanded to all the districts of Odisha and Chhattisgarh and then on to 22 States of India covering 118 District, 355 Blocks, 4.726 Gram Panchayats and 13.378 villages over the years. The organisation spread its outreach as both, the capacities within BISWA and the demand for financial services in the different states, increased.

What type of operating environment and internal organizational factors make your innovation successful?

BISWA organises staff training modules, which are designed to bring efficiency in the field and branch operations. As training is a critical input for skill up gradation and enrichment of knowledge of the employees, it is one part which makes our innovation successful. The training focuses on improving the branch capacity related to the five major service areas of BISWA
Furthermore, BISWA has established a BISWA Research and Innovation Centre (BRIC), which is dedicated to work on related issues of innovation, globalization, social sustainability and emerging issues of climate change, gender, local governance and human rights. BRIC has been envisaged with a mandate to provide knowledge, research and extension support to BISWA for development intervention and successfully innovation.

Please elaborate on any needs or offers you have mentioned above and/or suggest categories of support that aren't specified within the list

Talent/Networking: We help the women in the SHGs to utilise their traditional skills and talents to improve their livelihood by providing access to financial services. We support them by special trainings giving them the opportunity to learn how they efficiently generate income with their skills. Furthermore, SHGs use the contacts to other groups to improve the effectiveness of their Marketing.

Building Markets Liberia

Created on 07/19/2012 by BuildingMarkets

We help entrepreneurs in developing countries expand their business by putting them in touch with consumers and providing training, matchmaking, tender distribution services, advocacy services and market research.

About You

Organization: Building Markets Visit websitemore ↓↑ hide↑ hide

About You

First Name

CIllian

Last Name

Totterdell

About Your Organization

Organization Name

Building Markets

Organization Website

Organization Country

Canada, ON, Ottawa

Country where this project is creating social impact

Liberia

Age of Innovator

Over 34

Gender of Innovator

Male

Is your organization a

Non‐profit/NGO/citizen sector organization

How long has your organization been operating?

More than 5 years

The information you provide here will be used to fill in any parts of your profile that have been left blank, such as interests, organization information, and website. No contact information will be made public. Please uncheck here if you do not want this to happen..

Innovation

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Name Your Entry

Building Markets Liberia

Select the stage that best applies to your solution

Scaling (the next step will be growing impact on a regional or even global scale)

How long have you been in operation?

Operating for more than 5 years

The Need: What problem are you trying to solve?

Entrepreneurs are responsible for creating 86% of jobs in the developing world, yet many small businesses miss out on opportunities to expand their businesses. Building Markets connects entrepreneurs to help them create jobs by harnessing the spending power of international buyers operating in fragile states.

The Solution: What is your solution? Be specific!

At Building Markets we provide a variety of services that are aimed at helping connect buyers and local businesses. We provide procurement training to build local business capacity, as well as maintaining a local business directory, which is updated regularly to maintain quality of information available. We conduct market research that would be too costly for individual businesses to conduct themselves, manage a tender distribution service - collecting and distributing tenders to registered local businesses. We host matchmaking events, allowing entrepreneurs to network and meet like minded individuals. Among these are specific events for women entrepreneurs, who are essential in empowering women in society. Finally, we finance advocacy campaigns stressing the importance of buying local. To date, Building Markets has helped local businesses win over a billion dollars in contracts, with many success stories in Haiti, Afghanistan, Timor-Leste, and, most recently, Liberia.

The Model: Walk us through a specific example of how your solution makes a difference; include your primary activities

When a $450,000 shipment of lobsters rotted due to a malfunctioning refrigerator, Haitian-American businessman Ernst Charles faced a financial meltdown. Little did he realize that it would provide an opportunity for him to take his business in a brand new direction. In 2009, a local fisherman had shown him a box of slimy, smelly sea creatures called sea cucumbers. He didn't give them another thought until a year later, when another fisherman presented him with the same strange echinoderm, explaining that good money could be made exporting them to Asia, where they are a delicacy. Supposedly an aphrodisiac, they are prized for their health benefits.

Building Markets played an essential part in the next step. By becoming a registered business on Building Markets' Business Directory, Ernst gained the credibility needed to apply for tenders to Asia. With a little help from Building Markets, he linked up with distrubutors who now export around 10 metric tons of sea cucumber to China a month. His business now helps provide income for nearly 5,000 Haitian men and women, through the fishing, processing and packing of the foodstuff. Local business like this has a knock on effect for the whole economy, for example, for every 10 tons of cucumber, a ton of salt is required.

With organisations like USAID awarding only 0.02% of contracts to local firms in Haiti, businesses like Charles' are essential to rebuilding the economy, and this is something that can work the whole world over.

The Marketplace: Who are your peers and competitors? Identify others also working to address the needs you are and what differentiates you from them. What challenges could these players pose to your success or growth?

Building Markets connects supply and demand, therefore we consider our peers to be all of the businesses and organizations that operate in fragile states. Our success is based on enabling successful business transactions and establishing strong business relationships. We have a network of over 15,000.

Social Impact

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This Entry is about (Issues)

What solution(s) does your initiative address to help emerging entrepreneurs and small businesses grow and thrive in underserved communities? (select all applicable)

Access to talent, Access to supply chains, Access to economic opportunity.

What has been the impact of your solution to date?

We have directed over 1 billion dollars of contracts to local businesses, helped small businesses create 65,500 full-time equivalent jobs, and distributed over 9,000 business opportunities to a network of over 15,000 entrepreneurs

What is your projected impact over the next 1-3 years?

By 2015, globally, we hope to have launched our 8th marketplace initiative, extend our network to 30,000 entrepreneurs and help small enterprises win over $2 billion in new business in post-conflict and fragile states.

What barriers might hinder the success of your project? How do you plan to overcome them?

There are many barriers that prevent small businesses from access opportunities. Our suite of services is designed to address these. They include lack of knowledge about how to access tenders, limited understanding of procurement processes and lack of connectivity.

Winning entries present a strong plan for how they will achieve and track growth. Identify your six-month milestone for growing your impact

Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your six-month milestone

Task 1

Establish a new business trade fair

Task 2

Connect over 1,000 entrepreneurs

Task 3

Communicate success stories and market information about the event

Now think bigger! Identify your 12-month impact milestone

Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your 12-month milestone

Task 1

Expand network of entrepreneurs in countries of operation

Task 2

Train 500+ businesses to increase their capacity to win contracts

Task 3

Distribute 100 tenders to Liberian businsesses

Founding Story: We want to hear about your "Aha!" moment. Share the story of where and when the founder(s) saw this solution's potential to change the world.

Scott Gilmore had an epiphany while advising the United Nations mission in Timor-Leste, when he saw his landlord become an employer. He looked out his window one day and saw his landlord using his rent money to hire young people in the neighbourhood to repair burnt buses. Scott learned that his landlord would later sell the buses, generating income for families, rebuilding local economies and reshaping the transportation infrastructure in Timor Leste.

Amazed by this business and frustrated with the inefficiency of the aid industry, Scott knew he had to quit his job as a diplomat. He believed, and saw with his own eyes, that the biggest social impact he could create would result from creating opportunities for local entrepreneurs in emerging economies to access bigger markets.

Sustainability

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Tell us about your partnerships

Our project partners participate in business matchmaking, special events and our tender distribution service. In Liberia, they include:

Ministry of Commerce and Industry
National Investment Commission
Liberia Chamber of Commerce
Liberia Business Association
USAID
Humanity United
and BHP Billiton

Please elaborate on any needs or offers you have mentioned above and/or suggest categories of support that aren't specified within the list

Changeshop

This project also has a Changeshop where you can read more about its latest progress.
Go to Changeshop: Closing The circle project.

Closing The Circle Project

Created on 06/24/2012 by blackwell@shaw.ca

To provide & distribute affordable nutritious frozen meals to the Squamish community and Sea to Sky Corridor, accomodating delivery to homes as necessary.

About You

Organization: Closing The Circle Project more ↓↑ hide↑ hide

About You

First Name

Riun

Last Name

Blackwell

About Your Organization

Organization Name

Closing The Circle Project

Organization Website

Organization Country

Canada, BC, Garibaldi Highlands

Country where this solution is creating social impact

Canada, BC, Squamish

Region in BC where your solution creates social impact

Coast and Mountains.

Is your organization a

Not registered

How long has your organization been operating?

Less than a year

The information you provide here will be used to fill in any parts of your profile that have been left blank, such as interests, organization information, and website. No contact information will be made public. Please uncheck here if you do not want this to happen..

Innovation

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Select the stage that best applies to your solution

Start-Up (a pilot that has just begun operating)

How long have you been in operation?

Operating for less than a year

Which of the following best describes the barrier(s) your solution addresses? Choose up to two

Access, Cost, Quality.

The Need: Describe the need for your solution and the size and characteristics of the community(ies) your solution is engaging

The need for affordable nutritious food was recognized and this solution provides that at a reasonable cost. The target market is our local community of need, seniors, youth, and first nations in the Squamish area.

The Solution: What is your solution? Be specific!

We will provide by delivery or specified drop off pre packaged frozen meals at a price that afforts our target population attractive food options at affordable prices

The Model: Walk us through a specific example of how your solution makes a difference; include the primary activities involved in your solution.

I have iniated service in a seniors facility providing meals and cuisine at very reasonable prices. Freeing clients from the nessisity to produce meals themselves on a daily basis

The Marketplace: Who are your peers and competitors? Identify others working to address the same needs as you and indicate what sets you apart from them.

There are local providers of specialty foods, but these are at over double our price point. There are competitors available, but they require transportation which is an added cost and less focus on healthy balanced low salt meals. My competitors are local businesses who are supplying meal portion servings of take out food. One other frozen food option, though cheaper, is way too high in sodium for seniors. The food option I represent is a decent-sized portion, one of my customers in her 80’s says it’s two good meals for her. The food has a good variety and is nutritionally balanced.

This Entry is about (Issues)

Social Impact

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Founding Story: We want to hear about your "Aha!" moment. Share the story of where and when the founder(s) saw this solution's potential to change the world.

Through local Forums there was an understanding that gaps in food availability were not being addressed. In this program I plan to address the lack of affordable nutritious food for our seniors and underemployed. I had developed a redistributed food program for our local shelter and wanted to move to serving our community in need with nutritionally balanced food at reasonable cost. Initially by distributing food prepared in North Vancouver, with a goal of setting up a kitchen in Squamish and distributing throughout the Sea to Sky corridor.

Please describe the goal of your initiative; outline what you are trying to achieve

A lack of affordable nutritious food in our community is recognized as a gap or absence in local; service delivery to our community of need. The price point is attracting allot of attention. Service agencies in particular have been in touch with me. I trustI will be able to attract an effective core of partners coordinating deliveries from North Vancouver and establishing local distribution. I have assurance from Chef Scott Rowe at the New Hope kitchen that they would assist in establishing a kitchen based on their model. I am working closely with our community developer from Coast Health. I believe this project can help to achieve the second stage in community food initiatives that of provision of balanced nutritious food at affordable cost.

What has been the impact of your solution to date?

)I have been supplying this meal option to a local seniors facility and have aided a few individuals. I am in discussion with the Women’s Center to supply their transition house with 20 meals to keep on hand. I have had inquiries from a number of agencies and individuals hoping to secure access to these meals. The impact on the community has been helping seniors to stay on healthy diets and thereby stay healthy, and in their homes longer.

What is your projected impact over the next five years?

I will have affordable food distribution through the Sea To Sky corridor. I will have an instructional kitchen in Squamish based on the New Hope Kitchen model.I will have an effective food redistribution program operating. We have a location problem with our food bank and I hope to be able to form a food hub with the Kitchen as a central focus, as well as storage and processing capacity to serve and distribute community food and allow access to community services for community in need. Over the next 5 years I expect to develop a teaching kitchen processing local redistributed food and having, public all ages community meals (currently our shelter has meals 2x daily but it’s a low barrier shelter and no underage people are allowed in).

What barriers might hinder the success of your project? How do you plan to overcome them?

I believe there may be resistance from specialty meal servers currently supplying a higher-end market. I propose they match price point with competitively-price, healthy products and we all benefit. I do hope there is local competition from commercial outlets: we need affordable food and the greater the variety the better our community will be served.
Financing is currently a 12% surcharge I am selling art work banners hoping to develop a donation stream that way. The utility of establishing frozen food delivery is expensive but a legal neccesity.
Development of a volunter organization is always tricky.

Winning entries present a strong plan for how they will achieve and track growth. Identify your six-month milestone for growing your impact

Establish & Operate a frozen meals on wheels program. Serve Elders in Mt Currie & have make a 20 meal 30 soup sample delivery

Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your six-month milestone

Task 1

Establish quantity, distribution, &delivery protocol w/ New Hope Kitchen & delivery service depot for frozen foood in Squamish.

Task 2

I plan to utilize our Quest University to get grants and competition entries

Task 3

A refrigerated truck to service the whole corridor; I’m currently in a competition to split a truck btwn Sea2Sky & Sunshine Coas

Now think bigger! Identify your 12-month impact milestone

Next June I will be investigating establishing a kitchen for production of these affordable meals in Squamish

Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your 12-month milestone

Task 1

Establish local distribution - Move distribution from my home to a commercial outlet

Task 2

Find a funding source, investigate Reefer Van purchase

Task 3

Study local opportunities for production kitchen based in New Hope Model - study opportunity to form a Society

Sustainability

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Tell us about your partnerships

I have support in principle from a number of local agencies from Mental Health to Ambulatory Care to community development. I am currently initiating service in a seniors home. I’m currently in partnership with the New Hope kitchen and developing local interest in this adventure in the community.

Are you currently targeting other specific populations, locations, or markets for your solution? If so, where and why?

I am hoping to access local youth through the Alternate school and the local youth center. Young adults under 19 have no access to community meals served at local shelter so have no access to regular free comunity meals. I hope to make inroads with Squamish Nation and supply individuals and families identified in need of nutritional support.

I’m developing a relationship with the band and elders at Mount Currie. I plan to access other seniors and students as my systems mature.

What type of operating environment and internal organizational factors make your innovation successful?

I believe I can establish a positive cooperative network dedicated to service and support volunteers with appreciation and back up systems that support their needs as well.

A working board when my goal of a Society is formed.

Please elaborate on any needs or offers you have mentioned above and/or suggest categories of support that aren't specified within the list

At this start up phase I will gladly accept expertise as it becomes available I ma reluctant to publisize to broadly or accept investment until kitchen development starts.

Changeshop

This project also has a Changeshop where you can read more about its latest progress.
Go to Changeshop: Positive Default Banking.

Positive Default Banking

Created on 05/29/2012 by Pete Mackenzie

Approximately 20 words left (160 characters).

About You

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About You

First Name

Pete

Last Name

Mackenzie

About Your Organization

Organization Name

Organization Website

Organization Country

Canada, BC

Country where this solution is creating social impact

Canada, BC

Region in BC where your solution creates social impact

Thompson Okanagan.

Is your organization a

Please select

How long has your organization been operating?

Please select

The information you provide here will be used to fill in any parts of your profile that have been left blank, such as interests, organization information, and website. No contact information will be made public. Please uncheck here if you do not want this to happen..

Innovation

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Select the stage that best applies to your solution

Idea (you're poised to launch)

How long have you been in operation?

Still in idea phase, but looking to launch soon

Which of the following best describes the barrier(s) your solution addresses? Choose up to two

Transparency, Quality.

The Need: Describe the need for your solution and the size and characteristics of the community(ies) your solution is engaging

Many individuals have difficulty saving for important goals and rack up significant levels of consumer debt because they do not have good budgeting skills. Default banking is an idea that is a simple concept - individuals can set up simple positive financial defaults in a visual way that encourage saving for things like education, retirement, major future expenses and paying off debt. Allowing individuals to make positive choices ahead of time greatly lessens their capacity for catastrophic short-term financial decision-making. The primary target group for this project is first-time wage earners and young families; however the concept is more broadly applicable.

The Solution: What is your solution? Be specific!

The solution is a simple concept: a single bank account (per client or per family) that allows the user to access via internet a visiual representation of their money.

The account is subdivided into folders - virtual cookie jars - earmarked by the user for specific uses, a "Main" folder, "education", "clothing", "vacation", "credit card repayment", "retirement", etc.

Each deposit automatically subdivides into the folders. A folder can have a cap (e.g. "Clothing": $200) so once a target is achieved, money flows to the folder of highest priority. The user predetermines how much flows into each folder and the formula can be altered once per month.

When purchases are made via debit card, money flows out of the "Main" folder. If the Main folder is depleted, access to the account is either restricted or money comes out of folders in order of reverse priority.

The program could be enhanced by a 2-week financial literacy workshop for willing pre-screened participants.

The Model: Walk us through a specific example of how your solution makes a difference; include the primary activities involved in your solution.

A significant percentage of people will spend whatever money is available to them unless they effectively cap their spending. Allowing an individual to pre-restrict their own ability to spend encourages more intelligent financial choices. And by giving individuals control over the positive defaults they set, they become the primary architect of their own financial future.

Users set financial targets for each folder - e.g. Clothing: $500; Education: $10,000; Vacation: $1000. Once a goal is met, the individual can purchase without feeling guilty or nervous about sacrificing other goals.

The system helps eliminate financial excuses for lack of action or advancement in an individual's life. It also gives them a powerful tool to evalutate their decision-making process, whether their life goals are realistic given their current financial means and insight into what life changes may need to be made in order for those goals to become more realistic.

The Marketplace: Who are your peers and competitors? Identify others working to address the same needs as you and indicate what sets you apart from them.

Banks and credit unions are my primary "competitors", but they are also potential allies. The idea is so simple, and the basic technology exists, that I am unsure why it has not already been implemented. Banks potentially lose out on account transfer fees by allowing the user unrestricted manipulation of funds, but they could still charge a similar level of interest. Furthermore, banks could charge a higher monthly fee for access to this type of account.

This model could be set up within the existing banking system or a not-for-profit organization could adopt it, and set up a quasi-banking entity, that uses interest and/or monthly fees to offset the cost of product development and administration expenses.

This Entry is about (Issues)

Social Impact

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Founding Story: We want to hear about your "Aha!" moment. Share the story of where and when the founder(s) saw this solution's potential to change the world.

There were several "Aha!" moments in the development of the Default Banking idea. First was learning of powerful simple financial tools such as Muhammad Yunus' "Grameen Bank" and the profound impact that it makes on the lives of people in developing countries.

The second "Aha!" moment was when we personally discovered that we are much more efficient in my spending when we are constrained and know how much we have - when we are given $100 to spend in a grocery store, we make more intelligent spending decisions.

Third, regardless of the actual dollar amount avaiable, unless we have money set aside and earmarked for another purpose, we will eventually spend whatever is available to us.

Fourth, some of us do not work well with spreadsheets. We enjoy a tactile experience with money, much like cash into different cookie jars, but doing so virtually eliminates many practical challenges of doing so.

Please describe the goal of your initiative; outline what you are trying to achieve

We expect 80% of people who use Default Banking (and take a short-term financial management workshop) to pay off consumer debt in 1-5 years. It allows them to set aside money for major predictible expenses - seize upon educational or career opportunities, more easily manage health-related, job-related or financial disruptions with a much smaller chance of having to declare bankruptcy.

Finally, if you own a house, your hot water heater will predictibly need replacing every 10-15 years; similarly, your car will eventually need replacing. A small amount of money could be set aside from each paycheque like "insurance", so that when the predictible happens, you don't need to dip into your kid's education fund to pay for it.

What has been the impact of your solution to date?

None. We have not tried the idea because we are afraid to walk around downtown Kelowna with $2000 of cash in our pockets. We also don't like it lying around the house in mason jars, it's a security thing. If we did, however, we would have a much greater degree of financial peace in our lives.

My grocer told me the other day that he has a few "old timers" who don't trust banks and regularly cash their cheques and carry a roll of cash with them everywhere they go. He asks them about it and they say it has it's hazards, but in their entire lives they've never been in debt. Once the money is gone, it's gone until the next payday. And when funds are running low, they immediately know it, because their wad of cash is visibly smaller, and they change their spending habits until they have more money again.

My grocer recently found a roll of $2000 cash sitting at a till, and not for the first time. Fortunately he knew who the money belonged to. The rest of us may not be so lucky.

What is your projected impact over the next five years?

Of the users that fully engage with the tool and a sound financial management goals, we expect to see 80% of them get themselves out of debt and on solid financial footing. With successful marketing, we forsee this idea creating a "race for the top", where other banks, not-for-profits and financial institutions have to create similar, perhaps better, tools in order to compete. Accordingly, access to the idea becomes more accepted and spreads to a wider range of the BC/national population.

What barriers might hinder the success of your project? How do you plan to overcome them?

Banks and credit unions could potentially lose revenue through transfer fees, and also have their fair share of organizational intertia which may create resistence to the new idea. In order to overcome this, a not-for-profit could take a chance on a small pilot project with minimal financial investment or exposure.

Winning entries present a strong plan for how they will achieve and track growth. Identify your six-month milestone for growing your impact

Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your six-month milestone

Task 1

Explore not-for-profit or financial institutions potentially willing to house the project.

Task 2

Explore a team of IT Engineers to develop the software for the project.

Task 3

Explore curriculum developers to design a short-term financial course and screening system for new applicants.

Now think bigger! Identify your 12-month impact milestone

Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your 12-month milestone

Task 1

Arrange an agreement with a not-for-profit or financial institution to house the project and develop cost estimate.

Task 2

Commission an IT team to develop the software and integrate it with the existing institutions on-line framework.

Task 3

Commission Curriculum Developers, build marketing plan to arrange first intake and develop follow-up statistics.

Sustainability

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Tell us about your partnerships

The goal is to shop the idea around to different not-for-profits, banks and credit unions.

Are you currently targeting other specific populations, locations, or markets for your solution? If so, where and why?

Positive default banking is a concept open to everyone, but it is targeted primarily at first time employees and middle-class families. It is also targeted at population groups that don't have extensive financial knowledge or comfort with spreadsheet programs.

What type of operating environment and internal organizational factors make your innovation successful?

Please elaborate on any needs or offers you have mentioned above and/or suggest categories of support that aren't specified within the list

MR

THE OVERVIEW OF CONSUMER PROTECTION IS ALL ABUT SENSITIZATION,ENLIGHTENMENT,SECURITY AND ADEQUATE ENFORCEMENT OF CONSUMABLE RIGHTS.

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A plan to stop ATM robberies

We are seeing a lot of cases of ATM robberies. My idea is regarding that.
First thing is, we should have a scanner in cash counting machine and all the serial numbers of the notes will be saved in a software (it should also be created). So now we will have all the details of the notes kept in ATM machines in a database. And the software should also be distributed to all the shops and the shops should also have the cash counting machines with the scanner. Now if anybody done shopping with that stolen amount they will be caught as all the details of the notes available in the database.

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Bia Beauty, Feed your skin!

Created on 04/12/2012 by Bia Beauty

Bia Beauty is a range of natural skin care products. They are created from simple food ingredients by a qualified Herbal Scientist.

About You

Organization: Bia Beauty Visit websitemore ↓↑ hide↑ hide

Background Information

First Name

Tracey

Last Name

Ryan

The competition is only open to people between 18-34 years-old and resident in UK, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark or the Netherlands. Does this apply to you

Yes.

Country of residence of entrepreneur

Ireland

Tell us about your personal background. Why are you passionate about this issue? Making an idea a reality takes innovation, dedication and strong leadership. Do you have the necessary entrepreneurial skills to realize your vision?

From a very young age I've been passionate about plants; growing them, studying their therapeutic use, discovering their scents, making products from them and cooking and eating them! If I'm out walking I usually have my head stuck in a plant identifying it and figuring out what it can be used for.
This passion has carried on right throughout my life. I studied Organic Horticulture and Sustainable Development in my twenties. I recently graduated with a first class honours degree in Herbal Science. This was a real achievement for me as I gave birth to my son just as my final year started.
When I'm not working on my business I love to be outdoors, on my allotment or walking in the amazing Irish countryside. My love of nature has always inspired me and in return I do my utmost to protect the environment around me. I've volunteered with many environmental groups, from local campaigns to cleaning lakes to teaching children about native Irish trees.
It's this blend of experience, educational qualification and interest in natural products that my business grew from.
During the final year of my four year degree in Herbal Science we were asked to make, market and sell a natural product as part of an Innovation module. I created a 100% natural moisturiser and sold it locally at farmers markets and craft fairs. The response to my product was so positive that I continued making and selling it long after the project had ended. I discovered that I really enjoyed the marketing and sales aspect. What a surprise that was, I hated all the business subjects at school!
I then won an internship in The Rubicon (Business Incubator Centre) based on my idea for a range of natural skin care products. During this internship I wrote my business plan, explored my idea and learned a lot about running a business. From this I was accepted onto The Rubicon’s highly successful PINC Programme, an intensive business course for women who want to take their business idea to the next level. Here I learned all about the legality of running a business, how to keep accounts, how to carry out market research, how to build a brand. I even won an award for the best sales pitch on our final presentation day!
So that's my journey to where I am today, just preparing to launch my business in the coming weeks.
I'm passionate about my idea for natural skin care products because I'm passionate about plants, people and the environment. Our skin absorbs up to 60% of what we apply to it. And so if "we are what we eat" then our skin is also what it eats. I want to make beautiful, natural and effective skin care products from simple, natural food ingredients. The name Bia Beauty comes from Bia, the Irish word for food. I want to encourage people to feed their skin with natural and healthy skin food such as nut and seed oils, cocoa, avocado, mango butter, herbs, essential oils etc. Because of my dedication to environmental protection my business will be run in a sustainable, ethical environmentally aware manner.
I believe that I have the personal skills necessary to realise my vision for Bia Beauty. Throughout my life I have shown courage, determination and leadership which I am now applying wholeheartedly to my business.

About Your Organization

Organization Name

Bia Beauty

Organization Website

Organization Country

Ireland, CK, Cork

Country where this project is creating social impact

Ireland, XX

Is your organization a

For‐profit

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Innovation

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The Need: What problem are you trying to solve?

A lot of skin care products contain irritants that are harsh on the users skin and on the environment. And there's the use of petrochemicals, synthetic colours and perfumes, the use of animal products, animal testing and issues with packaging to consider.
"The ecological footprint left behind by the manufacturing and distribution of cosmetics and fragrances has been dismal," says Allen Hershkowitz, a senior scientist at the NRDC.
Consumers need to learn more about feeding their skin. Our skin absorbs up to 60% of what we apply to it and so "if we are what we eat" then our skin is also what it eats. Nut, fruit and seed oils and butters are really beneficial for the skin when used properly.
And the people who grow and harvest these ingredients need to be paid a fair wage.

The Solution: What is your solution? Be specific!

Bia Beauty is a range of natural skin care products with a difference.
-they are created using simple, natural food ingredients; fruit extracts, nut and seed oils, cocoa, mango, avocado butters,native Irish herbs, essential oils
-they are researched and developed by a qualified Herbal Scientist. I use my knowledge and experience to create products that are highly effective
-all products are 100% natural
-Bia Beauty is a truly green company, packaging is recycled and recyclable, all plant waste is composted, waste is kept to a minimum and recycled where possible.
-Bia Beauty is a socially conscious company, local business and charities are supported, exotic ingredients are bought through a supplier that "constantly monitors the market to search, demand and consequently supply more organic, natural and ethically sourced materials". For example the Shea butter I buy from them comes from a women's collective in Ghana. Once Bia Beauty grows I will buy direct from initiatives like this.

The Model: Walk us through a specific example of how your solution makes a difference; include your primary activities

I buy my exotic raw materials from Aromantics, a company in the UK. They have a detailed Natural, Organic, Ethical and Fairly traded Purchasing Policy. As they say themselves "We give priority to raw materials that have been fairly traded or ethically sourced from traditional communities, modern community projects or co-operatives. This demand encourages and rewards growers to use organic and co-operative/community principles in their production, to be more ecologically aware and to ask for a fair deal when selling their produce. This in turn affects the cosmetics market and so consumers’ awareness and demand for such products. It is a positive cycle of change that respects nature and people and improves the ability of future generations to sustain themselves." As soon as Bia Beauty expands and can buy direct from growers or growers collectives I will have a similar purchasing policy.

The Marketplace: Who are your peers and competitors? Identify others also working to address the needs you are and what differentiates you from them. What challenges could these players pose to your success or growth?

My main competitors are Trilogy, Burt's Bees, Dr. Hauschka, Lush, The Body Shop, to name just a few! What differentiates Bia Beauty is the Feed Your Skin message. I want people to understand the importance of putting good quality natural products on your skin. I want to create a link between food and skin care. I also feel that my qualifications, which I promote on my packaging and promotional material will set me apart, I want to become the "skin care guru". And also I want Bia Beauty to be known as a company you can trust, if we say products are 100% natural, then they are. If we say we are a green, socially conscious company, then we are.

Select the stage that best applies to your business

Operating for less than a year

This Entry is about (Issues)

Social Impact

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What is the social impact you have had to date and how you measure it?

Its important for my business that I be seen as a "skin care guru". In order to do this I have been giving radio interviews and teaching classes in skin care. As a result I have been able to spread my "feed your skin" message and talk about my desire to create a sustainable and socially conscious business.
I have also supported my local community in various ways. For example I gave skin care classes recently at "The Girls's Club". The Girls Club Cork is a voluntary cancer support group for women who have or have had cancer and their carers, families and friends.
Through these classes and other promotional work I want to change people's attitudes to skin care and cosmetics. I also want to be a positive example to other businesses.

What barriers might hinder the success of your business? How do you plan to overcome them?

As my main competitors are hugely successful brands with enormous budgets for marketing, my much smaller budget will be a hindrance. However I am doing all I can to overcome this. I have received funding from my local Enterprise Board for marketing. I also attend business seminars on getting free PR and marketing. I plan to make the most of social media and any opportunity I get to tell a story to the media will not be wasted. Also I feel that my business has a unique angle to it, feeding your skin. This will help me capture peoples imaginations and excite their interest.

Sustainability

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How does your model address financial, social, and environmental sustainability?

My financial projections are to make €59,500 in sales in Year 1 with a net profit before tax of €16,700, €116,800 in sales in Year 2 with a net profit of €7,600 and €176,900 sales in Year 3 with €28,800 in net profit. I have financial support from my local Enterprise Board as well as business mentor-ship. I plan to create one full time and two part-time jobs within the first three years.
My business is a "for profit" business but it is my sincere desire that my local community, my suppliers both in Ireland and abroad and my customers benefit from the success of my business.
Environmental sustainability will come about through my waste policies, packaging policies etc. I aim to build the first environmentally friendly cosmetics factory in Ireland.

Awareness & learning

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How do you see social entrepreneurship contributing to the improvement of developing countries?

I think social entrepreneurship takes qualities from both charity and business. People in developing countries are looking for something more than charity. They are looking to be treated with respect and given the same chances that we in more developed countries have been given. And I think that unfortunately a lot of business is self-serving only and fails to support its local community. Social entrepreneurship takes the positive from both, the caring aspect of charity with the innovation and efficiency of business. Social entrepreneurship is the way forward for the developing world, a chance to trade on a level playing field, the promotion of economic freedom. Its about people not liking the system that they see in place and so taking positive steps to change it, allowing people in the developing world to be part of the change and control the change, not just recipients. I read that social entrepreneurship is dreaming combined with doing!

What aspects of your stay in Uganda as part of the competition do you think you will find most challenging and rewarding?

What I would find rewarding and fascinating would be to see how Ben and Jerry's have made an impact on the farming cooperative and community by trading fairly with them. Then I could use this as a model for my business, vanilla is also a raw material that I use in my business!
The challenge I would say will be trying to take as much as possible from the experience, to take home the message of fair trade and the difference that business can make and to spread this in my local community.

Kids like new

Created on 03/13/2012 by Kids like new

An online marketplace for children's goods, that shares parenting advice and supports children's charities with every purchase.

About You

Organization: Kids like new more ↓↑ hide↑ hide

Background Information

First Name

Mick

Last Name

Watts

The competition is only open to people between 18-34 years-old and resident in UK, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark or the Netherlands. Does this apply to you

Yes.

Country of residence of entrepreneur

UK

Tell us about your personal background. Why are you passionate about this issue? Making an idea a reality takes innovation, dedication and strong leadership. Do you have the necessary entrepreneurial skills to realize your vision?

My personal background is that I’m a father and have some first-hand experience of what a growing family needs, uses, then doesn’t need any more. I’ve watched my child grow out of shoes, clothes and toys before my very eyes. And I’ve scratched my head, looked at my bank balance and thought “there must be a better way”.

My profession is in marketing. And my job is to think of ideas for businesses to promote themselves and their products across all media channels such as TV, Radio, Social Media and across Digital platforms.

So, being passionate about my family and being passionate about innovative ideas it wasn’t too long before the two things came together. One day it struck me that there was a real need for an alternative to all this consumerism where babies and children were concerned. So I put my marketing cap on and decided to come up with a plan.

I decided to create a marketplace and community dedicated to helping ‘strapped for cash’ mums and dads just like me and dealt with the issues I am passionate about. One where I could not only buy and sell kids’ stuff but one that was cheaper than Ebay. One that wasn’t an “auction site” but “fixed price”. One that was a place to go for help and parenting advice when I needed it. And one that donated to children’s charities with every purchase. One a with real heart & soul. So I talked to a couple of friends and now we’re busy building it.

About Your Organization

Organization Name

Kids like new

Organization Website

Organization Country

United Kingdom, DUR, Durham

Country where this project is creating social impact

United Kingdom, DUR

Is your organization a

For‐profit

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Innovation

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The Need: What problem are you trying to solve?

The problems facing parents are multi-faceted.
There are the practical needs and the emotional needs. On a practical level kids’ stuff is expensive. It costs up to £3,000 to bring up a child in the first year of its life. And they require lots of stuff, which means consumption is heavy and all this takes its toll on the environment.
Children also grow out of things very quickly. So all these things become surplus to requirements which creates another problem: where am I going to store all of these things I don’t need anymore?

On an emotional level, new parents are often overwhelmed with taking care of such a precious little thing and if there is no one to offer help and advice anxiety levels are often high.

The Solution: What is your solution? Be specific!

Create an online marketplace dedicated to buying and selling used children’s goods which offers parents a cheaper alternative to new. It also offers parents an outlet to sell their surplus goods, leaving them with more space in their home and more money in their pocket. It’s also environmentally sound because buying and selling used goods is the essence of recycling and re-using.
Create a community spirit of like-minded people online. In addition to the main function of the site we would create a forum. This would be a great way of sharing advice with new parents as well as a perfect place for posting information about children’s groups & services. Make charitable contributions compulsory with every purchase. Build the site so that every time someone buys from the site, the site donates 10% to a children’s charity (from three we have selected). And better still as a buyer, you would get to nominate which charity benefits. So every time you buy, the site donates.

The Model: Walk us through a specific example of how your solution makes a difference; include your primary activities

Katy and Andrew are having their first child. Katy has been reading up in parenting magazines on what things are essential for a new baby. She makes a list and prices them up on the internet from well known high street outlets. The total cost of everything comes to nearly £1000!

A friend of hers tells her about a new website called ‘Kids like new’. “It’s like Ebay but only for kids’ goods. It’s full of second hand things that are in near perfect condition so there will be no compromise on quality” she says. So she prices the exact same list of items on Kids like new. She’s amazed when she finds that she can buy the entire list for around the third of the price as new. She buys everything from Kids like new and saves herself a small fortune.

As part of the buying process she finds out that she can nominate one of three children’s charities (Cash For Kids, The Sunshine Foundation or The Children’s Heart Unit Fund) to receive a 10% donation of the site’s sellers fee. She chooses The Children’s Heart Unit Fund as it’s a charity she feels passionate about.

Whilst on the site she also discovers that there is a forum where she can ask parenting questions and receive useful answers. She finds this invaluable as her mum and dad live over 100 miles away and she really has no one else to ask for advice.
Katy also finds out about local toddler groups on the forum and decides to go along one day and makes a bunch of new friends. Plus before she was pregnant she worked in a children’s nursery and wants to transfer her skills to becoming a child minder. When she is fully qualified she posts her services on the site and pretty soon she is inundated with requests from parents who want her to look after their children.

Meanwhile her little girl has grown out of her moses basket, a wardrobe full of clothes, several pairs of shoes and the car seat. She doesn’t have the space for all of these things so she decides to sell them on Kids like new and makes enough money to buy her little-one a cot-bed (she buys one at a bargain price from Kids like new).

All in all Katy is happy. Kids like new has helped her save lots and lots of money. It’s also generated some extra money. It’s helped her create more space in her home. She has done her bit for charity by nominating one to benefit from every purchase she makes. She has been given valuable advice and met friends on the forum and she feels good about recycling and helping the environment.

The Marketplace: Who are your peers and competitors? Identify others also working to address the needs you are and what differentiates you from them. What challenges could these players pose to your success or growth?

Mumsnet offers advice, Ebay sells second hand and recycles and Just Giving allows you to donate to charities. But Kids like new is the only one we know that is going to bring all of these features into one place. And that’s the main difference with Kids like new.

The challenges may be from a big competitor like Ebay. So to counter this, we’re going to have lower sellers fees (8% as opposed to 10%) and were a Fixed Price site not an Auction. Online market places for parents do exist but not in the shape or form that we are proposing. It’s going to be quite unique.
With over 700,000 children born in England every year, the market is large and growing every year. And while this is set to be launched in the UK only, once we’re up and running the plan is to take it to international markets

Select the stage that best applies to your business

This Entry is about (Issues)

Social Impact

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What is the social impact you have had to date and how you measure it?

Kids like new will have a social impact through recycling and re-using. It will have an impact through the connections made on the forum and the advice gained. It will have an impact economically, through the savings made by buying second hand and the extra money generated by selling second hand. And it will have an impact through the lives changed by the charitable donations made.
How do we measure it? Through the money generated by these charitable contributions will be the main yard stick upon which the sites social impact can be measured.

What barriers might hinder the success of your business? How do you plan to overcome them?

Barriers to be overcome will be coping with the success and growth of the site. The company has three directors with full-time jobs.
To overcome this we would either employ a manager – if we could afford to – or one of the directors would quit the day job and run the business.
Another barrier would be going global and how to implement this. This could be overcome by outsourcing our web development to a digital company with experience in this area or learning how to do it ourselves.

Sustainability

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How does your model address financial, social, and environmental sustainability?

Financially, it’s all about belt tightening, saving money and generating extra cash for parents.

Socially, it’s about connecting with an online community on the forum and making a difference to people’s lives through supporting charities.

Environmentally, it’s about recycling and re-using.

Awareness & learning

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How do you see social entrepreneurship contributing to the improvement of developing countries?

If Kids like new’s social entrepreneurship can make an improvement to the lives of people through our charitable contributions in this country, there is no reason why it can’t help people in developing countries. By simply adding more ‘Global’ worthy causes to our charity list in the future, like Plan International, we can help make a difference. I’ve been a supporter of Plan International for many years and this charity is a perfect example of how raising funds through sponsorship, can educate and empower poor local communities in developing countries. Plan is just one of many charities that we could offer support to that will help make a difference where it is needed.

What aspects of your stay in Uganda as part of the competition do you think you will find most challenging and rewarding?

The Uganda Challenge is described as life-changing and I truly believe it will be.
I hope to learn everything I can about social enterprise from seeing and working on a real live example and hope to put everything I’ve learned into action in my own business.
I’m looking forward to gaining inspiration from meeting the local farmers, meeting local families and most of all seeing impact that can be made through the type of empowerment that such a social enterprise program can provide.
And I’m also excited about making Ugandan friends and more importantly, gaining an insight into their way of life.

Virtual Nursing Grand Rounds

Created on 02/9/2012 by GLCrow

VNGR in the ICU at Thanh Nhan Hospital will improve nurse knowledge and practice, patient outcomes, and decrease complications and costs.

About You

Organization: Vietnam Nurse Project Visit websitemore ↓↑ hide↑ hide

About You

First Name

Gregory

Last Name

Crow

About Your Organization

Organization Name

Vietnam Nurse Project

Organization Website

Organization Country

United States, CA, San Francisco, San Francisco County

Country where this project is creating social impact

Vietnam, HI, Ha Noi

Is your organization a

Non‐profit/NGO/citizen sector organization

How long has your organization been operating?

More than 5 years

Has the organization received awards or honors? Please tell us about them

VNP Leaders were honored with joint faculty appointments between the University of San Francisco, and the Vietnam University of Traditional Medicine. Dr. Gregory Crow, Director of VNP was an invited speaker at the US Ambassador’s Hanoi conference, “Building Partnerships in Higher Education: Opportunities and Challenges for the U.S. and Vietnam. January 2010.

References - Please provide two references with a two-sentence biography, email address, and phone number for each

Vietnam: Dr Dao Quang Minh, GI surgeon, PhD director of Thanh Nhan Hospital, 42 Thanh Nhan street, Hai Ba Trung District, Hanoi, Vietnam. Mobile: 084-904042424. email: minhdq2007@yahoo.com
c/o (first contact):
Nguyen Thanh, MD, MPH, Director, Intensive Care Unit, Thanh Nhan Hospital, Hanoi, Viet Nam. Phone: 084-912379190, email: bsthanhkhthtn42@gmail.com 42 Thanh Nhan Street, Hai Ba Trung District, Hanoi, Vietnam.

University of San Francisco: Dr. Judith F. Karshmer, PhD, APRN, BC
Dean and Professor, School of Nursing and Health Professions
2130 Fulton Street, San Francisco, CA 94117-1080
jfkarshmer@usfca.edu
415-422-2959

The information you provide here will be used to fill in any parts of your profile that have been left blank, such as interests, organization information, and website. No contact information will be made public. Please uncheck here if you do not want this to happen..

Innovation

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Select the stage that best applies to your solution

Established (past the previous stages and has demonstrated success)

How long have you been in operation?

Operating for more than 5 years

Which of the following best describes the barrier(s) your innovation addresses? Choose up to two

Access, Cost.

The Need: What problem are you trying to solve?

Closing the theory-to-practice gap is a serious pedagogical and practice issue facing nursing schools and hospitals worldwide, and is a particularly acute problem in Vietnam due to the limited educational resources. As part of a demonstration project (DP) to improve nursing practice in the intensive care unit at Thanh Nhan Hospital (TNH) in Hanoi, the Vietnam Nurse Project (VNP) needs to implement a low cost reliable and accessible means to provide face-to-face consults between US advanced practice nurses and their colleagues at TNH. The purpose of the real time interactive consults is to assist the ICU nurses to close the gap between the theoretical knowledge we provide them during our twice yearly visits, and its on-going direct application to their clinical role.

The Solution: What is your solution? Be specific!

Sometimes using an old approach combined with currently available technology can create just the right solution for an existing problem. Using iPad technology, we will implement Virtual Nursing Grand Rounds (VNGR) in the intensive care unit at Thanh Nhan Hospital. VNGRs will facilitate the on-going collaboration between US nurses and nurses in Hanoi. This will result in a mobile low-cost economically sustainable infrastructure that will advance nursing practice and improve patient outcomes in the intensive care unit at Thanh Nhan Hospital, Hanoi, Viet Nam. The design of this innovative infrastructure will serve as a cost-effective model that can be deployed between two countries anywhere in the world.

The Model: Walk us through a specific example of how your solution makes a difference; include your primary activities

Virtual Nursing Grand Rounds (VNGR) is an interactive teaching/learning strategy that uses actual patient cases to highlight best practices. Cases for presentation will be selected by TNH nurses. VNGR will be facilitated by USF/SONHP faculties and doctoral students, and U.S. nurse experts. The interactive, real-time presentation and consultation sessions (1-2 hours) will be scheduled 8-10 times during the year. Using a template designed by the VNP that reinforces the use of the nursing process, the ICU nurses will gather pertinent patient data to develop and guide the VNGR. Collected data will be translated into English, and planning and preparation meetings will be conducted via Skype. The interactive VNGR presentations will be conducted in English with real-time translation to Vietnamese. The sessions will also be videotaped and archived for future use. An example of VNGR: The lack of adequate nurse training and inconsistent practice contribute to the World-wide problem of pressure ulcers in hospitalized patients. Critically-ill patients are at higher risk for developing ulcers. The prevention of pressure ulcers is a nurse responsibility. The VNGR case study will highlight actions by the nurse to mitigate this risk. Research validates that when nurses use evidence-based practice protocols, the incidence of pressure ulcers is reduced, thereby decreasing the length of stay, infection rates, and the cost of care.

The Marketplace: Who are your peers and competitors? Identify others also working to address the needs you are and what differentiates you from them. What challenges could these players pose to your success or growth?

Volunteers from other nursing schools and healthcare agencies conduct episodic visits to Vietnam to present lectures and consultation. The Vietnam Nurse Project has been traveling to Hanoi for 7 years, visiting twice per year to provide ongoing educational workshops for students, faculty, and staff nurses; and consultation for faculties in interactive teaching strategies and curricular development. We believe the proposed Virtual Nursing Grand Rounds Model is unique in promoting ongoing, low-cost access for Vietnamese nurses to U.S. advanced practice nurse experts.

This Entry is about (Issues)

Social Impact

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Founding Story: We want to hear about your "Aha!" moment. Share the story of where and when the founder(s) saw this solution's potential to change the world.

Our “aha” moment came during a 2011 teaching visit in Hanoi. We were making presentations on nursing best practices for the treatment of pressure ulcers in patients with diabetes. During the question and answer session, one of our Vietnamese nurse colleagues wanted to know if we could come to Hanoi more frequently. Currently, we are funded for 2 visits per year and do not have funds to increase our physical presence in Hanoi. Since an unmet need is often the stimulus for innovation, we began a conversation to explore how we might increase our availability for consultations with our Vietnam partners. One of the nurses suggested using the Internet to connect us. We agreed that obtaining mobile technology (high-resolution video & audio, with recording capability) would enable us to collaborate in classrooms and clinical settings (at patients’ bedsides) to assist them in real-time assessment and treatment of their patients. We are seeking this grant to launch the inaugural program.

Please describe the goal of your initiative; outline what you are trying to achieve

Our goal is to demonstrate, at the point-of-patient care delivery, that nurses educated to practice in expanded roles in the ICU at TNH will be more effective in meeting the needs of their patients. Systems barriers to delivery of safe, high-quality patient care in VN are similar to those in the U.S.; however, the scale of these issues, such as prolonged length of stay due to patient complications that result in increased costs and poor quality, plague their system. Research clearly supports that when nurses are allowed to practice in expanded roles, issues of cost and quality are positively impacted. Micro-level demonstration projects have the potential for enormous impact at the macro-level, and we strongly believe this will be the case with this initiative.

What has been the impact of your solution to date?

The innovation project(VNGR)at TNH has not begun. VNP has many important milestones. Of great importance to our partner schools, we introduced and trained faculty on the concepts and practices of evidence-based practice, advanced physical assessment, and use of the nursing process. We have assisted the Ministry of Education & Training to introduce the above concepts into the national nursing curriculum. At Bach Mai Hospital nurses in the neonatal ICU were not permitted to do physical assessments on neonates, develop a plan of care, or alter any aspect of care without physician approval. After this project, nurses in the NICU routinely conduct comprehensive assessments and develop and alter nursing care plans. Their physician colleagues have confidence in the nurse’s skills, and now rely on them to assess and make recommendations for treatment. In the past 3 years alone we have conducted more than 45 high-impact seminars with more than 4800 nurses, students, and faculties participating.

What is your projected impact over the next five years?

At the completion of this initiative, the following outcomes will be realized in the ICU at TNH: a) decreased infection rates, b) decreased medication errors, c) decreased hospital acquired pneumonia, d) decreased cost of care, and e) increased nurse job satisfaction. The former CEO of TNH, Dr. Chinh, with whom we have built a trusting and productive relationship, is now the Director of the Science and Education Department at the Ministry of Health. Through our close relationship with Dr. Chinh, we will have access to other hospitals in Hanoi to replicate this innovation project. Replication will enable refinement of the model to be universally applicable to any hospital in Viet Nam, with the potential to be used in other countries as well.

What barriers might hinder the success of your project? How do you plan to overcome them?

Limited English-speaking nurses in Hanoi. VNP has a pool of English translators in Hanoi with whom we have worked for 7 years. The physician director of the ICU at TNH is an English speaker. Lack of contemporary nursing practice knowledge. The physician director completed a residency in the U.S. and has first hand, in-depth knowledge of nursing practice and standards in the U.S. Time zone differences. The 15-hour time difference between San Francisco and Hanoi, requires all VNGR sessions be conducted between 1500 & 2400 hours California time. VNP leaders, USF faculty, and nurse volunteers have agreed to conduct VNGR during the day shift in Hanoi. Vietnam health care data are not readily shared with foreigners. Due to the unreliability of public data sources, we will collect baseline data.

Winning entries present a strong plan for how they will achieve and track growth. Identify your six-month milestone for growing your impact

VNGR leaders debrief via Skype after each session to evaluate process and outcomes of the session.

Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your six-month milestone

Task 1

Purchase equipment and create the infrastructure (iPads, wireless Internet, hire translators) to facilitate VNGR

Task 2

Collect baseline data on identified outcome criteria

Task 3

Orient staff to VNGR process & conduct 4 VNGR sessions

Now think bigger! Identify your 12-month impact milestone

Measurable positive trend lines for outcome criteria with dissemination of findings to Vietnam leaders.

Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your 12-month milestone

Task 1

Design and use data collection tools specific to project, ensuring the integrity of data collection.

Task 2

Survey nursing staff and physicians to determine their satisfaction with VNGR.

Task 3

Identify appropriate, effective methods to disseminate outcomes to Vietnam leaders; published manuscripts to follow.

Sustainability

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Tell us about your partnerships

The Vietnam Ministries of Education/Training and Health, and nurse and physician leaders, have identified the need for improved nurse education and expanded practice capacity to meet the health care needs of its citizens. Partners include: Bach Mai SON (focus: teacher & curriculum development, student & faculty exchanges); Vietnam University of Traditional Medicine SON (focus: establish masters & baccalaureate programs); An Khanh SON (focus: teacher & curriculum development); Thanh Nhan Medical Center (focus: improve standards & scope of nursing practice & nurse leadership).

Are you currently targeting other specific populations, locations, or markets for your innovation? If so, where and why?

At this time the innovation grant we are seeking will fund the pilot to develop, implement, and evaluate process and impact of Virtual Nursing Grand Rounds as an economically-sustainable, easily-accessible, point-of-care consultation and staff development model to enable collaboration among nurses providing direct patient care to improve patient outcomes. Through publications, the innovation will be disseminated to nursing communities worldwide.

What type of operating environment and internal organizational factors make your innovation successful?

The Project enjoys the ongoing contributions of an effective, well-established, productive team. Additionally, we have been diligent in learning the values, customs, and business approach of our Vietnam partners and are committed to advancing our shared agenda to improve the education of healthcare providers and subsequently improve the health of Vietnam’s citizens. At TNH, our chosen site to implement the innovation project, we have established trusting and enduring relationships with our nurse colleagues and physician leaders. This relationship is sustained because the VNP has continued to visit, provide consultations and educational programs, and we have delivered everything we have promised.

Please elaborate on any needs or offers you have mentioned above and/or suggest categories of support that aren't specified within the list

Internal grants at USF have now been exhausted. Funding of this innovation grant will enable us to involve additional nurse experts, students, and nurse leaders to create synergy in our efforts to improve nursing practice in Vietnam. Our volunteer participants represent California, Colorado, Washington, Maryland, Wisconsin, Georgia, and Arizona.

InForming InNovation InMedicine

Created on 02/5/2012 by Paulina del Carmen

Quality information on new treatments being used already in some parts of the world - linked to top hospitals and clinics worldwide

About You

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About You

First Name

Paulina

Last Name

Villamil Larrea

About Your Organization

Organization Name

Organization Website

Organization Country

n/a

Country where this project is creating social impact

n/a

Is your organization a

For‐profit

How long has your organization been operating?

Please select

Has the organization received awards or honors? Please tell us about them

References - Please provide two references with a two-sentence biography, email address, and phone number for each

The information you provide here will be used to fill in any parts of your profile that have been left blank, such as interests, organization information, and website. No contact information will be made public. Please uncheck here if you do not want this to happen..

Innovation

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Select the stage that best applies to your solution

Idea (you're poised to launch)

How long have you been in operation?

Still in idea phase, but looking to launch soon

Which of the following best describes the barrier(s) your innovation addresses? Choose up to two

Access.

The Need: What problem are you trying to solve?

Doctors and researches come up with new treatments in different parts of the world, and they start working on them in the clinics/hospitals they work in. Access to this new treatments to people worldwide is limited, and the spread of those new treatments is slow to other countries

The Solution: What is your solution? Be specific!

A cloud based, fee-paid, information and booking system that can be accessed by patients from anywhere in the world, in many different languages; that sources information from the most innovative doctors working in hospitals and clinics wherever in the world they might be.

The Model: Walk us through a specific example of how your solution makes a difference; include your primary activities

*A doctor develops and tests a new procedure
*The details of the procedure and the doctor and hospital are posted
*Patients worldwide pay a fee and access information on the procedure and the doctor
*Patients can choose to pay a doctor fee and send exams etc on-line to doctor to see if they could benefit from the new treatment
*Based on doctor's feedback patients decide to book an appointment with doctor
*Site has association with other companies to make the trip also easier

The Marketplace: Who are your peers and competitors? Identify others also working to address the needs you are and what differentiates you from them. What challenges could these players pose to your success or growth?

*Many organizations, hospitals, universities, that provide partial information for free. We will create a trusted brand and provide quality.
*Sites with traditional and non-traditional information published like www.newcures.info
*Government organizations like http://clinicaltrials.gov/ which provide information on trials. We would focus on treatments that have passed the trial stage and have not become mainstream yet.
*Organizations like www.shopdoc.com that list doctors in different specialties and locations. We will focus on the best and most innovative clinics and hospitals worldwide
*Word-of-mouth and sending doctors information requests or booking with them without a prior on-line interaction. Our system will help so the customer will be willing to pay the fee

This Entry is about (Issues)

Social Impact

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Founding Story: We want to hear about your "Aha!" moment. Share the story of where and when the founder(s) saw this solution's potential to change the world.

As I was discussing with a friend a couple ideas I have about telemedicine - which in principle are more complex than this one - I just thought: "what if I start focusing on the information side first?". Then I discussed with 2 friends that have doctors in their families - one mentioned his brother is practicing a new type of surgery and the procedure is not known here - he has refered people to him. My other friend said her brother had developed some device and would need to spread the use - though this last one is not exactly the core of my plan it is a potential extension of it. She as many other friends 'potential' users of the idea have been very supportive of it.

Please describe the goal of your initiative; outline what you are trying to achieve

Faster and more global access to new treatments developed in medicine - true, would serve initially people that can pay for it, but I believe innovations like this have a cascading effect to the whole society

What has been the impact of your solution to date?

Not started yet

What is your projected impact over the next five years?

To have created a trusted central point of information that almost starts feeding itself (quality control will always need to be there) because doctors see the benefit of sharing their new treatments through it, and patients are using it more and more to get access to the latest treatments available independent of national rules, trials and regulations. Maybe doctors will be using it also to plan updates to their skills and practices.

What barriers might hinder the success of your project? How do you plan to overcome them?

Quality - we will establish a process that will be followed everywhere in the world before anything gets published; we will ensure complete transparency to users - as of potential risks of treatments and the many or few cases that so far have been treated

maybe some governments or hospitals will be weary of the idea - mistrusting quality and concerned by the protection of people from 'fake doctors' or 'not 100% proven risks'. This site will work only with legal hospitals and clinics around the world. This site is a tool for information and contact only - the patient will visit the doctor like any time now and will make his own judgement about his/her credibility. Currently, people do the same just information is not so easily accessible.

Winning entries present a strong plan for how they will achieve and track growth. Identify your six-month milestone for growing your impact

Have the product in place and buy-in from 5 to 10 credible hospitals

Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your six-month milestone

Task 1

Create a list of hospitals and clinics worldwide (define the initial countries to be sourced)

Task 2

Prepare the site mock version, and the sourcing and quality process to be presented

Task 3

Get buy-in from source of information and create the product

Now think bigger! Identify your 12-month impact milestone

launch the first pro-type of the site with at least 20 different new treatments in 2 languages

Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your 12-month milestone

Task 1

Hire 'consultants' to help continue recruiting hospitals/clinics

Task 2

Start marketing process - tracking use and numbers - start directed publicity funding

Task 3

Identify 'the' quality on-line medical translation to work with

Sustainability

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Tell us about your partnerships

I am looking for a couple partners - someone with medical experience and someone with internet marketing experience in the e-commerce and/or healthcare sector

Are you currently targeting other specific populations, locations, or markets for your innovation? If so, where and why?

The project would not be geographically targeted - from the source of information yes, from the available languages yes, but access would be hopefully global

What type of operating environment and internal organizational factors make your innovation successful?

The success factors will be clarity of purpose, create but flexible plan and targets, ability to share a vision with the source of information, market and gain trust within users of service, and maintain low operating expenses

Please elaborate on any needs or offers you have mentioned above and/or suggest categories of support that aren't specified within the list

Committee of Health Development - Foundation for Consumers

Created: 11/01/11 by eveline eveline

Location

Thailand

part of network for consumer protection in Thailand's health care system, Committee of Health Development is working at a district level through local and provincial administrations to establish a policy for the disabled, and lobbying local shop-owners to refrain from buying–and selling–unsafe products.

Med Supply Made Easy

Created on 09/21/2011 by ict4health

One of the many problems health workers like ASHA, ANM, nurses and doctors in rural India face is irregular supplies of essential medicines and other supplies.

Apparently, the problem is not intentionally caused by health workers or medicine suppliers. Rather, people associated with supply chain management do not have precise and actionable information on the requirement, amount, time of supplies.

About You

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About You

First Name

ICT

Last Name

Health

Twitter

Facebook Profile

About Your Organization

Organization Name

Innovadors Lab

Organization Website

Organization Phone

+91-9776431902

Organization Address

KIIT School of Biotechnology, Patia, Bhubaneswar, Orissa

Organization Country

India, OR

Country where this project is creating social impact

India, OR

Is your organization a

For‐profit

How long has your organization been operating?

1‐5 years

Is the project that you are entering related to this organization?

Yes

Innovation

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Entry Form title

Med Supply Made Easy

What change do you want to bring to the world?

One of the many problems health workers like ASHA, ANM, nurses and doctors in rural India face is irregular supplies of essential medicines and other supplies.

Apparently, the problem is not intentionally caused by health workers or medicine suppliers. Rather, people associated with supply chain management do not have precise and actionable information on the requirement, amount, time of supplies.

Therefore, this proof-of-concept project intends to verify if information regarding current stock status, estimated demand and order information can be made available through SMS among the stakeholders, this problem could significantly be alleviated.

If this idea proves to be effective, we will disseminate the results and scale-up the project.

What are the primary activities of your project?

1. Background:
This idea will be tested in a rural community in Orissa, which has one of the lowest health achievements in India and the world. National Rural Health Mission is a pan-India rural health delivery program which provides services in reproductive, maternal, neo-natal, child health, malaria, filaria, blindness and TB. In a cluster of 2 villages with a total of 5000 people, there is one Sub-Health Centre (SHC) and in a cluster of 6 villages (30,000 people) there is one Primary Health Centre (PHC). Details are available here: http://mohfw.nic.in/WriteReadData/l892s/file35-33319850.pdf.

2. Problem
NRHM has provided with essential drugs and supplies list for SHC, PHC and each health workers. However, facilities and health workers do not have an effective mechanism to report stock status and order fresh stocks. Supply store manager (in district headquarter) also does not react to demands effectively. An effective supply management means i) fast and reliable check of stock status, b) fast order for replenishment and c) store manager who acts upon requests. Traditional paper based system can not solve this problem.

3. Solution approach (activities):
i) Mapping the supply requirements: Since in a given community, number of eligible beneficiaries registered under NRHM is finite and predictable, it is also feasible to predict the stock requirement in SHCs and PHCs, in each category of supplies. There could be additional 10% stocks as safeguard. This analysis of requirements could be done using three databases - a) Register of patients maintained at facilities and health workers, b) NRHM-HMIS database - http://nrhm-mis.nic.in which keeps data at SHC and PHC levels and c) community survey.

ii) SMS: We will then develop an SMS system to allow health workers report stock status in all supply categories and place requisition for fresh stocks. The SMS will be done using a small set of English keywords which will be written in a printed and illustrated pocket guide that will be distributed to all concerned people. The SMS method will be implemented using a commercial SMS gateway and short codes and strings will be developed.

iii) Store manager: We will present this data to the district store manager and other stakeholders - Block Health Manager, CMO, among others. We will also send periodic updates (monthly) on stock requirements. Store manager will receive the SMS from health workers and will act upon those requests. If he does not act upon within 3 days, a subsequent alert will be sent to Chief Medical Officer for him to follow up.

iv) Training: Training in SMS reporting will be provided to health workers, store managers and others involved in supply chain management.

v) Community involvement: Despite this intervention, there is a need for the beneficiary to be able to report stock out status. Using the SMS gateway or direct call, they can register complaints. We intend to publicise this intervention and provision of complaints through wall painting. We would also like to distribute a printed list of essential medicines that should be available with the health workers and facilities among the entire population in the project site.

What is innovative about your initiative? How is it a new contribution to the field?

1. Compared to traditional system: There are significant improvements over the traditional systems, in areas of a) near accurate prediction of stock requirements, b) (almost) real time communication of current stock status, c) faster order for fresh stock, d) ability to act upon precise and actionable information for stock manager and health workers, e) supervisors can check and follow up on supplies and f) community can monitor and complaint on non-availability of essential medicines.

2. Compared to other mHealth: Population Service International (PSI-India, Rajasthan) implemented SMS reporting of condom sales and stock status by their sales persons. However, sales persons in private sector are motivated by their incentives. In public sector, motivation does not come automatically, unless there is a proper system to hold one accountable. Therefore, the real innovation is in business process, rather than introduction of the SMS technology.

3. Involvement of community: To our knowledge, there is another initiative called Stop Stock Out (http://stopstockouts.org) in Africa. This works in campaign mode in which community members and NGO workers randomly check medicine availability in stores and report in a web-based forms. In the proposed method, community members can lodge complaints which will directly be sent to the concerned officials.

What stage is your project in?

Idea phase

Tell us about the community that you engage? eg. economic conditions, political structures, norms and values, demographic trends, history, and experience with engagement efforts.

We intend to implement this idea in a rural and tribal community where mobile network is available. The project site will be one of the KbK districts. The members of tribal community are mostly (95%) live in below poverty line and depend upon agriculture, forest, handicrafts for livelihoods.

We are strongly connected through community based organizations (CBOs) and health officers in number of locales in the proposed districts. In the past, we have undertaken several field studies involving health workers in this area and we saw interest among health workers and communities.

Share the story of the founder and what inspired the founder to start this project

Founder:
The founder has undertaken major research projects in the area of using mobile communication for improving rural health delivery and uptake. He pointed out structural limitations and barriers in the traditional methods of health delivery and promotion, especially in developing countries. He provided with evidence how these barriers can be significantly reduced with the appropriate usage of information and communication technologies. He studied information management and e-Governance from EPFL. He intends to demonstrate this idea for all the stakeholders for further scaling up across societies.

Co-founder:
He received Master of Technology in Computer Science with specialization Software Project Management (SPM) from Utkal University (Bhubaneswar, India). He received post graduate degree in business administration with dual specialization of Enterprise resource planning (ERP) and human resources (HR) from Vinod Gupta School of Management, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (Kharagpur, India). He received specialized education in ERP from Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (Ahmedabad, India).

He has been working as a freelancer for software design development and deployment in various domains such as education, health care and security for 5 years (2003-2008) and started software development research and Consultancy Company as a proprietor during 2008-2009. This company was registered as private limited company in 2010.

Social Impact

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This Entry is about (Issues)

Please describe how your project has been successful and how that success is measured

We intend to use both qualitative and qualitative indicators in measuring the success of the proposed intervention. This will be done through a pre-post study. The key indicators will be:

Process improvements:
1. Improvement in time taken by the health worker send (only sending) a requisition for fresh stock;
2. Improvement in time taken in reaching (that is, send time, processing by intermediaries and final reach) the requisition to store manager;
3. Improvement in quality of processing (reading requisition, placing the order and actual supply of stock) of requisition by store manager;
4. Improvement in preparedness in stock management as a consequence of accurate estimation of stock requirements;
5. Improvement in capacity of health workers in managing their stocks;
6. Improvement in ability of beneficiaries in lodging complaints;
7. Improvement in awareness and knowledge among community in their entitlements about medicines and supplies;

Outcome improvements:
6. Improvements in actual stock status across supplies categories;
7. Improvements in community knowledge about their access to medicines;
8. Improvement among health workers in managing stock more efficiently, with lesser effort

How many people have been impacted by your project?

1,001- 10,000

How many people could be impacted by your project in the next three years?

More than 10,000

Winning entries present a strong plan for how they will achieve growth. Identify your six-month milestone for growing your impact

We intend to implement this idea as a proof of concept for demonstrating the efficacy of the idea.

Task 1

We will select the project site and partner with concerned stakeholders. We will then undertake a formative research to identify gaps and limitations.

Task 2

We will develop the tools and messages in a week and field test it for another week. We will then deploy the tools through training, community advocacy.

Task 3

At the sixth month, we will undertake an evaluation of the intervention.

Identify your 12-month impact milestone

We intend to raise additional fund to scale-up the intervention in few more blocks (20 villages) and integrate with other provider-centric components.

Task 1

Develop and integrate IT infrastructure and tools to facilitate demand forecasting (of medicines) in additional project sites.

Task 2

Provide capacity building support to supply chain managers, health workers and communities in using the system.

Task 3

Fund raising for undertaking further R&D for improving system efficiency and reach.

How will your project evolve over the next three years?

1. We intend to integrate this component with other mHealth components. The integration can happen at the end of first year.

2. In the second year, we intend to implement the integrated model in a district, while continuing further R&D.

3. In the third year, we intend to further scale up and collaborate with other innovators who are developing advanced devices.

Sustainability

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What barriers might hinder the success of your project and how do you plan to overcome them?

We have found numerous SMS-based projects were undertaken and successfully carried out in various resource poor settings. We do not anticipate any programmatic, technological and cultural barriers in implementing this idea.

Tell us about your partnerships

1. We will partner with the Department of Health and Family Welfare and National Rural Health Mission of Government of Orissa. They are primarily responsible for providing maternal and child health across rural Orissa.

2. We intend to partner with local village administration (panchayat) and community based organizations (CBOs) like self-help groups.

3. We intend to bring in a senior medicine supply specialist in Government of India as adviser to the project.

Current annual budget of project, in US dollars

Less than $1,000

Explain your selections

We as proprietors of an IT company have conceptualized this project.

How do you plan to strengthen your project in the next three years?

Once we are able to demonstrate the effectiveness of the project in improving performance among health workforce, we will continue to add new methods and technologies in the work-flow. We are confident that this demonstration with help local and national governments to decide to support us in continuing with innovation and implementing projects in other states and scaling up the current project.

Challenges

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Which barriers to health and well-being does your innovation address?
Please select up to three in order of relevancy to your project.

PRIMARY

Limited access to preventative tools or resources

SECONDARY

Lack of access to targeted health information and education

TERTIARY

Other (Specify Below)

Please describe how your innovation specifically tackles the barriers listed above.

1. Limited access to preventive tools and resources: Non-availability of medicines can deter health workers provide services to patients. The proposed intervention is aimed at ensuring that medicine supply will be based on evidence(i.e. based on demand forecasting), precise (what medicine, which quantity and where to supply) and actionable (x health worker asks y store manager) information.

2. Lack of access to targeted health information and education: In traditional method, health worker does not have any control on time, access and process of the requisition. In the proposed method, health worker and store manager can exchange information on supplies.

3. Similarly, community becomes more knowledgeable about what medicines are supposed to be available in local facilities.

How are you growing the impact of your organization or initiative?
Please select up to three potential pathways in order of relevancy to you.

PRIMARY

Grown geographic reach: Within host country

SECONDARY

Enhanced existing impact through addition of complementary services

TERTIARY

Influenced other organizations and institutions through the spread of best practices

Please describe which of your growth activities are current or planned for the immediate future.

We intend to raise additional fund for scaling-up this proposed model.

Do you collaborate with any of the following: (Check all that apply)

Government, Technology providers, NGOs/Nonprofits, For profit companies.

If yes, how have these collaborations helped your innovation to succeed?

1. We will collaborate with the government - National Rural Health Mission, Orissa (www.nrhmorissa.gov.in). The project will be carried out upon NRHM project site, protocols and HNWs. By collaborating with them, we shall also provide them with the results for the need to scale up the project.

2. We intend to collaborate with a leading medical science education and research institute in India. This institute is already providing MBBS and MD degrees, with approval from Medical Council of India (MCI). Their expertise is required to vet the health related content, alerts, ethics clearance etc.

3. We will collaborate with the panchayats of the project site.

4. We will also collaborate with local community based organization (CBO) to identify and facilitate beneficiary registration.

Citizen's Voice (Nagorik Kontho)

Created: 09/15/11 by

Location

Dhaka
Bangladesh

The Citizen's Voice (Nagorik Kontho) Web Portal is an internet-based platform (based on Ushahidi) that is equipped to receive citizens' opinions and reports via a range of options using mobile phones and the web. Citizens can now participate in quality of public service reporting by sending their text, video, or voice messages from mobile phones, or directly uploading them to the portal via web.portal via web.

http://nagorikkontho.org/portal/index?l=en_US

Making the Switch to Independent Media in Canada

Created on 09/14/2011 by OpenMedia.ca

We're asking Canadians to make the switch from Big Telecom to small/indie/local media & create a people-centered media system!

About You

Organization: OpenMedia.ca Visit websitemore ↓↑ hide↑ hide

About You

First Name

Reilly

Last Name

Yeo

Twitter URL

Facebook URL

About Your Organization

Organization Name

OpenMedia.ca

Organization Website

Organization Country

Canada, BC

Country where this project is creating social impact

Canada, BC

Is your organization a

Non‐profit/NGO/citizen sector organization

How long has your organization been operating?

More than 5 years

The information you provide here will be used to fill in any parts of your profile that have been left blank, such as interests, organization information, and website. No contact information will be made public. Please uncheck here if you do not want this to happen..

Innovation

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Entry Form title

Making the Switch to Independent Media in Canada

Select the stage that best applies to your solution

Idea (you're poised to launch)

How long have you been in operation?

Still in idea phase, but looking to launch soon

THE NEED: Describe the need for your solution and the size/dynamic of the community (ies) you will engage

Currently, big Internet service providers (ISPs) are able to act as gatekeepers, controlling the Internet market while they strangle certain online services (a practice known as throttling) and gouge citizens with unethical billing practices (Canadians pay some of the highest prices for high-speed Internet access in the OECD). An oligopoly of 5 big companies control Internet access for 94% of customers. This leaves Canadians in an incredibly vulnerable position: at any time, these big 5 companies can decide to essentially “shut off” any service they dislike. An access-to-information request revealed that our communications regulator, the CRTC, is ignoring complaints that ISPs are doing just that - discriminating against certain online services. This is antithetical to a community-centered media model.

By engaging communities in Nelson, BC and Vancouver, BC, we will show what a community-centered Internet solution looks like in both a rural and an urban area.

THE SOLUTION: Please explain what your solution offers and how it is innovative. How will you put your solution into the hands of users or beneficiaries? Be specific!

We will pilot a project in Vancouver, BC, and Nelson, BC, in which Internet users are encouraged to switch from one of the big ISPs to smaller, more local solutions. Should there be no private competitor available (as is the case in about 20% of Canadian regions), we will encourage Canadians to spearhead the construction of their own municipal Internet infrastructure by making a “Build Your Own Internet” kit. We will build on the success of small ISPs and community networks in Canada and the US (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izYslyrm3oU) to introduce true choice into the Internet service market, and guarantee Canadians have access to open & affordable Internet.

We have over 33,000 supporters in Vancouver, as well as deep roots in a community of media makers; we have over 500 supporters in Nelson (a community under 10,000 people) and the surrounding area. Our national mailing list is over 500,000, one of the biggest in Canada. We would use the strength of our network to put our tools into the hands of Internet users. This will help demonstrate the demand/need for choice in the Internet market, and broaden the base of those finding alternatives to big telecom.

THE MODEL: Walk us through a specific example of how your solution makes a difference through use of information technology and media

Our solution provides a wider user-base for small independent Internet service providers, which need to find a way to reach users and inform people that their services are available; it provides a guide for communities looking to come together and take control of their telecommunications infrastructure.

Our Make the Switch/Build Your Own Internet toolkit will empower communities to exercise choice when it comes to Internet service provision. Every Canadian should enjoy real choice and diverse options for Internet access; this will help lower prices, increase Internet speeds, and ensure non-discrimination against certain services (net neutrality) for everyone.

Ultimately, we imagine the tool scaling up nationally, and providing an interactive national broadband map for Canada. We also imagine it expanding to include other types of digital services and content, encouraging users to ‘make the switch’ not just from their big ISP but from their big media providers more generally, in the process becoming a supporter of more independent, community-oriented media.

THE MARKETPLACE: Who are your peers and competitors? What challenges could these players pose to your success or growth?

The size of OpenMedia.ca’s online community means we can overcome the Catch-22 where services need users first, but people need the service in order to become users. We can demonstrate that demand for these services exists, grow demand, and connect people to work together. Our peers are other community net initiatives & independent ISPs, whom we would hope to work with closely but who do not have national reach. Our competitors are big ISPs, who would likely use political pressure to try to change regulations and make the development of local and independent alternatives more difficult.

Social Impact

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FOUNDING STORY: We want to hear about your “Aha!” moment. Share the story of where and when the founder(s) saw this solution’s potential to change the world.

Our “A-ha!” moment came earlier this year, when our Stop The Meter campaign went viral and we saw almost half-a-million Canadians finally take action against Big Telecom. We realized Canada is at a pivotal moment, where Canadians have become aware that Big Telecom isn’t serving their interests, and are willing to consider changing their communications system from an oligopoly to a more democratic, community-centered model. We see “Make the Switch” as a vital next step towards this model of a communications system that serves citizens first.

Specify both the depth and scale of your solution’s social impact to date

The social impact of Stop The Meter has been immense - because of pressure from Canadians, politicians intervened in big telecom’s attempt to shut down small Internet providers, insisting the regulator (the CRTC) reverse its decision. We were also invited into what would otherwise have been a closed-door CRTC process, and we generated over 100,000 public submissions into the regulatory proceeding, an increase over past proceedings by many orders of magnitude. We have demonstrated that Canadians understand the lack of democracy, accountability and transparency in the current policy-making and communications service provision processes in Canada. We have built a movement to reform the digital political economy in Canada.

What is your projected impact within the next 1-5 years? Is your idea replicable? If so, how?

Our projected impact within the next 1 to 5 years is bringing the percentage of Internet users choosing independent and/or local alternatives over Big Telecom up from 6% to 10%.

Our idea is definitely replicable - the “Make the Switch” tool would be an easily-navigable, crowd-sourced database of many different kinds of independent and/or local content and services. It will be built using an open-source model that would make it easily customizable for different communities, including those in other countries.

Winning entries present a strong plan for how they will achieve and mark growth. Identify your six-month milestone for growing your impact

20,000 people signed up to “Make the Switch” either by switching providers or joining a local initiative to build alternatives.

Six-Month Tasks

Task 1

Build interactive database of alternatives in Vancouver and Nelson, with potential for crowdsourced additions.

Task 2

Build pledge tool to enable our supporters to pledge to “Make the Switch”.

Task 3

Write email to our supporters and launch a social media campaign to encourage them to sign and share the pledge.

Now think bigger! Identify your 12-month impact milestone

nteractive database covers entire country, and more than 50,000 Canadians have signed up to “Make the Switch.”

12-Month Tasks

Task 1

Ensure crowdsourcing function works well and is attracting input nationally. Design process to vet submissions.

Task 2

Engage in targeted local campaigns to ensure any un- or under-represented areas are built up in the database.

Task 3

Launch successful, collaborative communications strategy nationally to encourage Canadians to sign the pledge.

How many people have been impacted by your project?

More than 10,000

How many people could be impacted by your project in the next three years?

More than 10,000

Sustainability

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Explain how your company, program, service or product is structured

Non-profit

What barriers have hindered the success of your project to date? How do you plan to overcome these and other challenges as you grow your solution?

Lack of funding for the creation of the database. We do not have the resources to do this in-house - funds are necessary to work with independent contractors to create the database, and ensure the crowdsourcing features are robust and simple to use.

How do you see the information-technology and media sectors shifting over the next decade? How will your solution adapt to and/or drive that changing environment?

IT and media sectors are shifting in two competing ways: concentration in the hands of big providers, and increasing numbers of local, smaller alternatives. We have to ensure that the latter trend is strong enough to compete with efforts to quash it (see http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/tech-news/small-isps-lame... or http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/05/nc-gov-anti-muni-broadband/ ).

Failure is not always an option. If your solution fails to gain traction in the next two years, what other applications of the idea could you explore?

We can’t imagine this idea not gaining traction with our community of supporters, but should the idea of using this type of database for Internet service provision fail, we could easily re-purpose the database and use it to build maps of any kind of alternative media service (i.e. free public Internet hotspots; independent or public media; local media using new, innovative crowd-sourced journalism methods; communities of open media activists etc.)

Expand on your selections, explaining how you will sustain funding

We will sustain funding mainly through contributions from our supporters - once the tool is built and launched, and people can see its effectiveness, we feel confident that they will donate to keep it growing and expand the impact of the campaign. Other groups that benefit from the tools (particularly smaller ISPs) could be another key source of funding, though it is important to be independent of any single type of alternative model (i.e. we equally support independent private provision or public provision models, so long as they respond to the needs of the community).

Tell us about your partnerships

OpenMedia.ca operates as a network of member organizations, many of which contribute to our campaigns in-kind, in the capacity that makes the most sense for them. Independent publications such as The Tyee and Rabble.ca, for example, will help us spread the word about our campaign, its importance, and how their readership can get involved.

The full list of network members can be found at http://openmedia.ca/network

What type of team (staff, volunteers, etc.) will ensure that you achieve the growth milestones identified in the Social Impact section?

We have a small but dedicated staff of 4 with expertise in community organizing, online campaign design, and media. In order to complete a project of this scale we’ll have to hire a developer on contract, who will have a reliable team of volunteer designers and developers to provide support, using their strong skill sets and experience working collaboratively to create engagement tools.

Changemakers is a collaborative and supportive space. Please specify any community resources you would need to grow and sustain your initiative. Select all that apply

Investment, Research or information, Collaboration or networking.

Specify any resources you might offer to support other initiatives. Select all that apply

Marketing or media, Collaboration or networking, Innovation or ideas.

Please elaborate on any needs or offers you have mentioned above and/or suggest categories of support that aren’t specified within the list

We’re happy to provide support for ideas that advance openness and affordability for Canada’s communications system. Our skills lie primarily in public engagement and coalition building, and we’re confident that these core competencies could give legs to projects that empower Canadians to communicate.

Summary

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Define your company, program, service or product in 1-2 short sentences

We are piloting projects to get Canadians to “Make the Switch” away from big telecom companies that restrict online choice.

Identify what is innovative about your solution in 1-2 short sentences

We're asking Canadians to make the switch from Big Telecom to small/indie/local media & create a people-centered media system!

Zabatak: the anti-crime, anti-corruption initiative

Created on 09/14/2011 by abbasadel

People are doing the change or at least contributing largely to it. It’s the power of people.

About You

Organization: Zabatak Visit websitemore ↓↑ hide↑ hide

About You

First Name

Abbas

Last Name

Ibrahim

Twitter URL

Facebook URL

About Your Organization

Organization Name

Zabatak

Organization Website

Organization Country

Egypt, QHR

Country where this project is creating social impact

Egypt, QHR

Is your organization a

Not registered

How long has your organization been operating?

Less than a year

The information you provide here will be used to fill in any parts of your profile that have been left blank, such as interests, organization information, and website. No contact information will be made public. Please uncheck here if you do not want this to happen..

Innovation

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Entry Form title

Zabatak: the anti-crime, anti-corruption initiative

Select the stage that best applies to your solution

Growth (your pilot is up and running, and starting to expand)

How long have you been in operation?

Operating for less than a year

THE NEED: Describe the need for your solution and the size/dynamic of the community (ies) you will engage

After the events of Egypt 25th of Jan revolution, it has become normal to witness crime incidents on daily basis. Some were rumors and some were true. The people perception of their country has improved and it’s only through collective work that we are able to achieve the desired change. Our country still suffers from corruption that’s spreading likee cancer. We believe that if we worked together as we did in the revolution days we can change everything. The collaborative efforts and the accumulating change is the key. Everybody contributes to the bigger picture of change

Currently we are targeting people with mobile/Internet connections but soon enough we will enable the service for every average citizen.

THE SOLUTION: Please explain what your solution offers and how it is innovative. How will you put your solution into the hands of users or beneficiaries? Be specific!

We as a group of youth started this project to collect information form people in the streets. Our main focus is to provide a tool and an easy method for positive people to reports incidents that happens everywhere and these incidents are neglected all over the time. The aim of this initiative is to empower the average citizen through the usage of technology namely crowdsource reporting and interactive mapping.

The solution offers reporting crimes from any place in Egypt using PC or a mobile device, the user needs to enter a title, location on map, description of what happened, time, date and any other resources such as photos of videos which raises the credibility of the report.
On the other side users can view reported crimes, description and ranked on map view or list view to get enough information about how and when this crime happened.
Users can also specify a location to get alerts from such as their city or neighborhood. Recently we launched a blog in which we give people advices in how to protect themselves depending on data from analysed reports.

THE MODEL: Walk us through a specific example of how your solution makes a difference through use of information technology and media

In a regular street, a lady is walking and suddenly a thief with a motorcycle took here bag and number of people are present on the same location. A man was able to see the criminal face features and another one was able to memorize this motorcycle number. A smart-phone holder was able to take his picture and maybe another one was able to film the whole accident. Each one holds a piece of information which is very important for the lady and for the police. The first person who saw the criminal face maybe late for work and can't give the lady the information he knows. The one who has the criminal picture maybe in a moving car and he will late post it on facebook to share with friends. Every witness will use the information he holds in not a proper way. If we were able to collect these pieces of information in one place, we will be able to create a useful information that will help us bringing the lady's bag and catch the thief. And this is what Zabatak aims at. We provide online and mobile service to collect information about crime and corruption from people and locate the information on Egypt Map.

With these information we can warn each other and locate crimes spots on the map.

Zabatak is not only asking people to report anything wrong they see but we want people to help fixing what annoys them too. They can propose solution and vote on it and we as Zabatak team take these solution and give it to people on charge to apply them.

THE MARKETPLACE: Who are your peers and competitors? What challenges could these players pose to your success or growth?

So far we have no competitors. Moreover, we are cooperating with any entity interested in fighting crime and corruption.

Social Impact

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This Entry is about (Issues)

FOUNDING STORY: We want to hear about your “Aha!” moment. Share the story of where and when the founder(s) saw this solution’s potential to change the world.

During the revolution, the police existence became virtually non-existent and people had to defend their own properties and also the public properties as well. And to make things even worse, Egypt suffered from high crime rate after the mass escape of prisoners during the 25 of jan Revolution so we decided to help people by assisting them in reporting crimes easily using new technologies such as mobile phones and Internet applications we established Zabatak website and developed mobile applications to allow reporting from any place. Zabatak is now working as a website to raise awareness against different forms of crimes and corruption, and to warn people from visiting suspicious places.

Specify both the depth and scale of your solution’s social impact to date

Our social impact and theory of change model are based on these assumptions:

We believe If people have more info about corruption and crime where they live or work, it will lead to better measurements for lessen exposure

We believe If people could report anything they see wrong and find something in return, they will feel safer and have better sense of security

We believe If people report everything wrong they see, it will be easier to generate transparent statistics and the governments wont be able to claim something that’s not happening or vice verse.

We provide a service for people to report anything wrong they see ranging from organized crimes, bribe to normal day-to-day issues like street and transportation problems.

Many people are using our services mostly for viewing reports near where they live or work. We only have 2 reported cases that the lost items where recovered using our website.

We are measuring our success with number of website visits, number of reports and Facebook likes. After 6 months of operation we achieved 60,000 visit, 600 reports and 5 likes.

What is your projected impact within the next 1-5 years? Is your idea replicable? If so, how?

The ideal way we think about this is that we shall be able to detect problems by people through their reports, monitor the resolution through analysis of the flow and actually trying to prevent it from happening again through cooperation and integration with government, NGOs, Media and Companies and through forming social pressure.

We believe that when people work together they can make a difference and that’s what we are trying to educate the people. Corrupted people will have less better chances to operate since everybody is watching. Drivers on streets will follow driving rules for fear that they might be caught on camera.
We believe that in 1-5 years we will be able to eliminate corruption and crime to a non-noticeable level and replicate our idea in neighbour couturiers

Winning entries present a strong plan for how they will achieve and mark growth. Identify your six-month milestone for growing your impact

Provide a channel from people-to-government and people-to-people to report instantly and anonymously.

Six-Month Tasks

Task 1

Publish the service

Task 2

Mobility

Task 3

Co-operate with government

Now think bigger! Identify your 12-month impact milestone

Expand and Replicate

12-Month Tasks

Task 1

Expand the focus

Task 2

Create a free standalone solution

Task 3

Replicate to neighbour couturiers

How many people have been impacted by your project?

More than 10,000

How many people could be impacted by your project in the next three years?

More than 10,000

Sustainability

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Explain how your company, program, service or product is structured

Non-profit

What barriers have hindered the success of your project to date? How do you plan to overcome these and other challenges as you grow your solution?

We are a group of youth with limited financial resources and experience. However some individuals and NGOs believes in our cause and supporting us to drive the change.

How do you see the information-technology and media sectors shifting over the next decade? How will your solution adapt to and/or drive that changing environment?

While the previous regime has put massive restrictions upon information, we embody the value of democratization of information; the right of people to know what’s happening, when and where. Zabatak is motivated by the same concept; provide people with the right tools and they will make the change.
Also, Social media is changing the way we work and communicate and as of 25th of Jan revolution. Some call it Facebook revolution but we prefer IT revolution because IT enable people to cross the barriers that the governments draw around themselves.

Failure is not always an option. If your solution fails to gain traction in the next two years, what other applications of the idea could you explore?

what other applications of the idea could you explore? :
Our main idea it to fight crime and corruption by providing a channel from people-to-people and people-to-government. It we failed to make the government cooperate, we will stick with people-to-people and maybe people-to-NOGs to fix people needs.

Expand on your selections, explaining how you will sustain funding

We will use many business models to sustain our project:
-Google Ads model
-Subscription model for people interested in specific information, and people who want information on the go.
-Selling statistical data to media while maintaining user privacy

Tell us about your partnerships

Incubator: Tahrir2 is all about doubling the energy of the youth and getting their ideas to the second step.. We try to lower the risk on entrepreneurs while offering an environment for them to interact with each others and get tutored by top notch mentors, and yah.. we keep it fun while they build their Empire.

Media Sponsor: Age of Science Society is a non-partisan, non-religious, non-political, non-profit civil association aimed at better areas of knowledge, culture and modern science.

What type of team (staff, volunteers, etc.) will ensure that you achieve the growth milestones identified in the Social Impact section?

We all part-timers and university students volunteers. We are currently 15 members but we are planning to grow to 30 after 2 quarters. Every member contributes with 1-2 hours a day.

Changemakers is a collaborative and supportive space. Please specify any community resources you would need to grow and sustain your initiative. Select all that apply

Investment, Human resources or talent, Marketing or media, Pro-bono help (legal, financial, etc.), Mentorship.

Specify any resources you might offer to support other initiatives. Select all that apply

Human resources or talent, Research or information, Collaboration or networking, Innovation or ideas.

Please elaborate on any needs or offers you have mentioned above and/or suggest categories of support that aren’t specified within the list

Summary

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Define your company, program, service or product in 1-2 short sentences

Zabatak is an initiative aims at fighting corruption and seeking to empower average citizen through sharing information.

Identify what is innovative about your solution in 1-2 short sentences

People are doing the change or at least contributing largely to it. It’s the power of people.

現場を重視した生のニュースを生活者個人の視点でタブーなく報道するMyNewsJapan

Created on 09/14/2011 by mwatanabe

MyNewsJapanでは、知らせるべき情報を持つ全ての人が発信者となるニュースメディアです。

About You

Organization: 株式会社MyNewsJapan Visit websitemore ↓↑ hide↑ hide

About You

First Name

正裕

Last Name

渡邉

Twitter URL

http://twitter.com/#!/mynewsjapan

Facebook URL

About Your Organization

Organization Name

株式会社MyNewsJapan

Organization Website

Organization Country

Japan

Country where this project is creating social impact

Japan

Is your organization a

For‐profit

How long has your organization been operating?

More than 5 years

The information you provide here will be used to fill in any parts of your profile that have been left blank, such as interests, organization information, and website. No contact information will be made public. Please uncheck here if you do not want this to happen..

Innovation

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Entry Form title

現場を重視した生のニュースを生活者個人の視点でタブーなく報道するMyNewsJapan

Select the stage that best applies to your solution

Established (you've got demonstrated success)

How long have you been in operation?

Operating for more than 5 years

THE NEED: Describe the need for your solution and the size/dynamic of the community (ies) you will engage

MyNewsJapanは、ジャーナリズムに特化したニュースメディアである。本来のジャーナリズムにはタブーがあってはならないが、日本のニュースメディアは主な経営基盤を企業からの広告収入に依存しているため、ほとんどのメディアでタブーが存在し、報道されない。MyNewsJapanでは、既存マスコミがスポンサータブーで伝えられないことも、タブーなく、むしろ積極的に報道する。それによって、人々に、本当に知りたかった情報を提供したり、特に、潜在的に多くの能力を持って、社会を作って行こうとする若年層に対して、様々な閉塞感と障壁を生む既存の社会の仕組みや価値観にとらわれない、新しい発想による起業や、社会変革を起こしてほしいと考えている。

THE SOLUTION: Please explain what your solution offers and how it is innovative. How will you put your solution into the hands of users or beneficiaries? Be specific!

「権力の監視」こそが、本来の本物のジャーナリズムである、とMyNews Japanでは定義します。そのために、権力と反対側の立場（視点）でモノを見ます。現在の日本では、明らかに政・官・業の供給者側に権力がある、と我々は考えています。これまでMyNewsJapanでは2009年に米国で問題となったトヨタのリコール車問題、2011年に全面停止となった浜岡原発の危険性、携帯電話電波の発がん可能性、「セブンイレブン」の独禁法違反、販売停止となった花王「エコナ」の有害性など、それらの問題が勃発する数年前から報道しています。いずれも、対象が広告主であるがゆえにマスコミが報道できなかった問題です。MyNewsJapanを読むことで、いかに既存のメディアがスポンサータブーによって偏向しているかがわかります。MyNewsJapanは企業広告を一切入れず、読者の会員収入によって成り立っているメディアです。MyNewsJapanでは、Newsの現場にいるあらゆる個人を発信者とすることで、生活者、消費者、有権者の視点でのニュースを供給しています。市民記者は現在2990人（2011年9月16日現在）の登録があり、7年間で1492本の記事が掲載されています。厳しい編集プロセスを経て掲載されるため、実際に記事が掲載された人はユニークで80人です。誰でも身近にある本当のNewsを、多くの人に、信頼できる情報として（掲示板やブログではなく）知らせることができるインフラは、革新的と言えます。

THE MODEL: Walk us through a specific example of how your solution makes a difference through use of information technology and media

MyNewsJapanでは現場からのニュースを最も重視する。新聞、テレビなど既存のニュースメディアは、社会的な力を持たない個人・団体の発信する情報を取り上げることはほとんどない。そこでMyNewsJapanでは、知らせるべき情報を持つ全ての人が、その事実を多くの人に知らせることができる仕組みを作った。ここでは有名人も無名人も関係なく、あらゆるニュースの現場にいる人が、既存メディアと違う視点、つまり組織や権力者でなく個人や生活者の視点で発信する情報を発信できる。MyNewsJapanへの記者登録には、資格などは一切必要なく、記事の掲載を最後に決めるのも記者自身だ。これを受け、読者が記事の評価を決めたり、コメントを書いてフィードバックする仕組みで運営される。個人の現場から、本当に知られるべき情報が発信され、誰もが情報にアクセスできるという新しいメディアによって、特に10、20、30代の層が、様々な情報を自ら判断し、発信し、社会を担う世界に変わっていく事を目指す。

THE MARKETPLACE: Who are your peers and competitors? What challenges could these players pose to your success or growth?

OhmynewsJapan,JanJanといった市民メディアが数年前まで存在していたが、競合は全てつぶれてしまった。いずれも広告収入に依存していたため、リーマンショックによって企業が広告支出を絞ったことで赤字を垂れ流す事態となった。MyNewsJapanでは、フリーミアムモデルを採用しており、途中までは無料で記事が読めるが、後半３分の２～４分の３と拡大画像やダウンロードファイルは有料会員のみに提供されている。こうすることで、ニュースメディアとしての影響力を保ちつつ、収益をあげ、かつ、広告に一切頼らないことでタブーなきジャーナリズムを追求できる。今後の課題は、書き手のスキルアップである。現在、日本で訓練を受けた記者は大手新聞社に囲い込まれており、全国紙は一社も潰れていない。これが米国のように経営破綻してリストラされ社外に出てくると、MyNewsJapanの書き手になりうる。新聞社の経営破たんと、それに伴うリストラは日本でも時間の問題であり、これは弊社にとってチャンスである。

Social Impact

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This Entry is about (Issues)

FOUNDING STORY: We want to hear about your “Aha!” moment. Share the story of where and when the founder(s) saw this solution’s potential to change the world.

渡邉正裕は大学卒業後、日本経済新聞社の記者となり、1,000本超の記事を日経各媒体に執筆した。しかし、会社の求める記事は、企業の人事速報や企業合併など、いずれは明らかになる事実であり、渡邉が考える、自分が取り上げなければ一生闇に葬られるような権力の監視を行う調査報道には価値が置かれなかった。新聞社を辞し、1999年から５年間IBMビジネスコンサルティングサービスでコンサルタント及びマネージャーとして参画。2004年2月、起業し、独立系インターネットメディアMyNewsJapanを創業。ジャーナリズムを「権力と反対側にいる人たちをクライアントとするコンサルティングビジネス」と考え、コンサルティングのノウハウをジャーナリズムに適用した新しいメディアとなった。

Specify both the depth and scale of your solution’s social impact to date

１日あたりのユニークアクセス数は10,000件、１週間で、70,000〜100,000アクセスある。特に、10代、20代、30代の若い読者層が多く、平均年齢は29歳前後である。MyNewsJapanが特にターゲットにしたいのも、このような将来の日本を担う団塊ジュニア以降の若者世代である。

What is your projected impact within the next 1-5 years? Is your idea replicable? If so, how?

特に、震災・原発事故以降、日本の人々の、政府や既存メディアの情報開示の仕方に対する疑心が増しており、誰でもが発信でき、タブーなく事実を追求し報道するメディアの需要は増しており、これを機会に、新たな会員の増加が見込まれる。さらに、MyNewsJapanで報じるニュースを、既存のメディアが取り上げるという方法で、我々のアイディアを第三者が活用することも可能であり、その場合、より多くの人々に、必要な情報が届けられ、大きな社会的インパクトが予想される。実際、過去にはタブーだったトヨタ自動車のリコール問題をMyNewsJapanで事件化する前に連載し、それが書籍になり（『トヨタの闇』）、ハングルに翻訳され韓国でも出版され、韓国のテレビメディアから4回にわたって取材を受けるなど海外でも話題となった。

Winning entries present a strong plan for how they will achieve and mark growth. Identify your six-month milestone for growing your impact

アクセス数と会員数の向上が目標である。現在1400人ほどの会員数を2000人超に引き上げ、財政基盤を充実させ、より多くの優秀な市民記者をリクルーティングし、教育し、育てる。

Six-Month Tasks

Task 1

単行本の出版。

Task 2

ＳＥＯ対策の充実。検索連動（アドワーズ）広告の効率化。

Task 3

掲載記事本数の倍増。

Now think bigger! Identify your 12-month impact milestone

会員数を1万人に引き上げる。そのためにはアクセス数を5万／1日にする必要がある。そのためには記事本数を1日１～２本とする必要がある（現状、15本／月）。そこまでいけば、かなりの存在感と、ニュースメディアとしてのインパクトを持てる。

12-Month Tasks

Task 1

Task 2

Task 3

How many people have been impacted by your project?

More than 10,000

How many people could be impacted by your project in the next three years?

More than 10,000

Sustainability

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Explain how your company, program, service or product is structured

Business

What barriers have hindered the success of your project to date? How do you plan to overcome these and other challenges as you grow your solution?

既存マスコミのタブーについても積極的に報道するため、既存の新聞が紹介しない。サイト発の書籍の広告すら拒否された（『トヨタの闇』）。この1年では、ソーシャルメディア対応を進め、記事画面の右半分を「ツイッター」「はてなブックマーク」「facebook」「ブログ」のコーナーとすることで、草の根でニュースが伝播するようにはなったが、まだまだ日本では新聞テレビの支配力が圧倒的に大きい。ただ、中東のジャスミン革命と同様、旧来型メディアの情報支配は、時代の趨勢で、長続きすることはない。

How do you see the information-technology and media sectors shifting over the next decade? How will your solution adapt to and/or drive that changing environment?

誰でもどこからでもITを通じて発信ができる世界が加速しており、今後も急速に進んで行くだろう。我々は、ここでしか得られない情報に特化し、具体的な証拠を画像で見せるなど、インターネットの強みを活かして、記事の質を担保してきた。今後もこの方針を貫きながら、さらなる企画力で勝負していきたい。

Failure is not always an option. If your solution fails to gain traction in the next two years, what other applications of the idea could you explore?

できる人がいないので不可能である。ライティングと編集ができ、経営もできる人物は日本人ではほかに見当たらない。このプロジェクトは、記者とコンサルタントの双方のキャリアを持つ渡邉だからこそできる仕事である。

Expand on your selections, explaining how you will sustain funding

我々は、企業からの広告を一切とらず、読者からの会員収入に依存した有料課金モデルが特徴だ。広告費で収入を賄う既存マスコミは商業的には成功しても、広告主に関するネガティブな情報を発信することができない。我々のミッション担保の為、企業や政府からのお金に依らず、読者からの収入を得るモデルを貫く必要がある。その取り組みの中でも、あくまで市場経済の中で、ジャーナリズムとコマーシャリズムを高度な水準で両立させたい。

Tell us about your partnerships

すでに、MyNewsJapanの記事を元に編集された10冊以上の単行本が出版されている。また、MyNewsJapanに連載されている記事が、同時掲載で、月刊誌にも連載されている。その意味では、プリントメディアを持つ出版社は、パートナーである。企業からの広告収入は今後も、一切とらない。

What type of team (staff, volunteers, etc.) will ensure that you achieve the growth milestones identified in the Social Impact section?

既存メディアが載せられない情報を見つけ発信するためには、その業界に精通しており、長期的に綿密な調査のできる記者の存在が欠かせない。現在は、企業ネタに精通する記者が集まっているが、今後、ニーズの高い食の安全分野や労働分野をはじめ、タブーとされていることが多い他のあらゆる業界の内部情報提供者を見つけ、より多くの若い層がMyNewsJapanにアクセスすることを目指したい。

Changemakers is a collaborative and supportive space. Please specify any community resources you would need to grow and sustain your initiative. Select all that apply

Human resources or talent, Research or information.

Specify any resources you might offer to support other initiatives. Select all that apply

Marketing or media, Collaboration or networking.

Please elaborate on any needs or offers you have mentioned above and/or suggest categories of support that aren’t specified within the list

情報源の確保、書き手の確保、さらには、提携してMyNewsJapanの記事の配信先となってくれるメディアの確保が必要。

Summary

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Define your company, program, service or product in 1-2 short sentences

既存メディアで取り上げられない事実をタブーなく発信するオンラインジャーナリズム

Identify what is innovative about your solution in 1-2 short sentences

MyNewsJapanでは、知らせるべき情報を持つ全ての人が発信者となるニュースメディアです。

Changeshop

This project also has a Changeshop where you can read more about its latest progress.
Go to Changeshop: Helping Todays Students Becoming Critical Consumers of Online Information.

Helping Today's Students Becoming Critical Consumers of Online Information

Created on 09/13/2011 by carlheine

Information Investigator improves information fluency in 3 hours by combining interactive games with live search challenges.

About You

Organization: 21st Century Information Fluency Project Visit websitemore ↓↑ hide↑ hide

About You

First Name

Carl

Last Name

Heine

Twitter URL

Facebook URL

About Your Organization

Organization Name

21st Century Information Fluency Project

Organization Website

Organization Country

United States, IL, Dupage County

Country where this project is creating social impact

United States, IL, Dupage County

Is your organization a

For‐profit

How long has your organization been operating?

More than 5 years

The information you provide here will be used to fill in any parts of your profile that have been left blank, such as interests, organization information, and website. No contact information will be made public. Please uncheck here if you do not want this to happen..

Innovation

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Entry Form title

Helping Today's Students Becoming Critical Consumers of Online Information

Select the stage that best applies to your solution

Established (you've got demonstrated success)

How long have you been in operation?

Operating for more than 5 years

THE NEED: Describe the need for your solution and the size/dynamic of the community (ies) you will engage

Today’s digital students lack effective strategies and techniques to find information efficiently, evaluate it effectively and use it ethically. These skills are not typically taught in schools. Consequently, colleges devote a large amount of effort to raise students’ research proficiencies. This problem is worldwide and affects virtually every young person who uses the Internet. The 21st Century Information Project addresses this need by creating free and low-cost resources for students in middle schools and high schools, delivered online. In its first years, the Project’s approach was to “train the trainer,” providing free instructional resources and professional development for thousands of educators. One of the persistent problems that schools face is determining where information literacy (we prefer fluency) training belongs. Since class time is such a limited commodity and there is a need for differentiated instruction, we develop flexible, online, self-paced modules for students that may be used individually or by groups during or outside of classroom time.

THE SOLUTION: Please explain what your solution offers and how it is innovative. How will you put your solution into the hands of users or beneficiaries? Be specific!

Information Investigator is an innovative online solution to raising students’ information fluency without the need for additional classroom time or even direct teacher involvement. Three years ago, the Center for Talent Development at Northwestern University contacted us to develop self-paced training modules to help students enrolled in their programs become better digital researchers--in particular, enabling them to apply effective evaluation strategies and techniques to be sure the information they find online is relevant and credible. The approach combines authentic performance assessment with interactive, game-like tutorials that target essential information competencies such as browsing, querying, evaluating freshness, authority, external references, identifying bias, fact checking and more. The course takes no more than 3-4 hours to complete. Sessions are saved in a database, so students may move forward at their own pace without losing their work and teachers may monitor their performance and their progress. All the materials are accessible by creating an account on our website (an enrollment key is required). Teachers may assign modules to individuals or groups as part of classroom activities, or as in the case of Northwestern University, have students work outside of class.

THE MODEL: Walk us through a specific example of how your solution makes a difference through use of information technology and media

Last year, approximately 2,000 middle school and high students completed information fluency certification training using this package. Without training, students typically earn 35-45 points out of 100 on an information fluency scale. After training, those scores improve to 60-70, an average gain over 50%. One thing that sets Information Investigator apart from the majority of information literacy assessments available today, is its use of live online search challenges to demonstrate true competencies, eliminating the possibility of guessing (as in the case of true/false and multiple choice items). The game-like interface provides immediate feedback, helping students learn from mistakes and motivating them to complete all the steps. Scaffolding is integrated through the use of just-in-time help modules that provide video explanations and additional examples of applied techniques. A significant component of the assessment design is the creation of a dedicated website (e.g., http://newmedz.com/) that serves as a controlled testing environment for challenges. This alleviates the problem of Internet “drift”, a common problem online that results in broken search challenges whenever information changes or is moved.

THE MARKETPLACE: Who are your peers and competitors? What challenges could these players pose to your success or growth?

Organizations that offer online information literacy assessment include TRAILS, SAILS and November Learning. Moreover, hundreds of colleges have created their own training and assessment packages, an indication that even where the market is the most crowded there is a prevalence of unique rather than universal solutions. The middle school and high school markets remain largely open and while approaches such as TRAILS and SAILS may be found in this space, there is plenty of room for expansion. Authentic performance assessment is what sets Information Investigator apart from all competitors. Our growth depends on reaching large audiences and very affordable
pricing.

Social Impact

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This Entry is about (Issues)

FOUNDING STORY: We want to hear about your “Aha!” moment. Share the story of where and when the founder(s) saw this solution’s potential to change the world.

Any educator who has observed students search online becomes aware that students tend to search superficially (i.e., they tend to take the first hit they find), fail to evaluate the information they take, and sometimes plagiarize what they find. This phenomenon became clear to the project creators when 21st Century Information Fluency was founded in 2001 as a federally-funded (US Dept of Education) research project to study the search practices of students and recommend improvements. In the years since, students are still superficial searchers and the vast majority do not evaluate what they find, primarily because they have not been shown how to
do this. The mission of our project is to provide resources and methods that educators may use to improve the information fluency of their stuents, and more recently, engage students directly in a learn-by-doing online environment.

Specify both the depth and scale of your solution’s social impact to date

Our research shows that with even few hours of focused training, students become significantly better (re)searchers and consumers of information. Searching online is often a solitary pursuit, with learning taking place at the individual level. With guided practice provided by tutorial games and automated feedback, students assimilate techniques and strategies they can use when searching for both academic and personal information. The impact of evaluating information for credibility can have untold benefits. Students learn how to investigate and weigh sources, determine bias, and dig for information using multiple forensic methods. Developing a 21st century mindset about information can change lives and open doors to ideas that are in all reality, just a few keywords away, as well as prevent costly mistakes that result from acting on inaccurate or misleading information. Having this training available in an online, self-paced, and very low cost course can help address a critical gap in the education of most Internet users.

What is your projected impact within the next 1-5 years? Is your idea replicable? If so, how?

We speak directly to Changemakers' interest in helping people better navigate information and ascertain content reliability and authenticity. A database driven self paced course like Information Investigator is designed to scale globally. We hope to reach over 1,000,000 international participants a year. We communicate using our http://21cif.com and http://
facebook.com/informationfluency websites, our blogs and a host of teacher-librarian social networks to connect with people around the globe. Making our services affordable is really the only limitation to our expansion. With greater volume, we will be able to reduce the cost of our services per student.

Winning entries present a strong plan for how they will achieve and mark growth. Identify your six-month milestone for growing your impact

Our six-month milestone is to enrol an additional 2,500 students in our self paced online training course

Six-Month Tasks

Task 1

Use social media to offer free subscriptions to up to 100 educators to evaluate the course

Task 2

Offer free subscriptions to 2-3 influential schools willing to tell others about the effectiveness of our course

Task 3

Add an additional part-time team member to assist with development of new leads, follow-up and sales

Now think bigger! Identify your 12-month impact milestone

8,000 total students enrolled. While this is over a 200% growth rate, it represents only four suburban high schools.

12-Month Tasks

Task 1

Publicize the experiences of participating schools in our newsletters, blogs and at conferences.

Task 2

Hire an external evaluator to research the effects of using the course.

Task 3

Publish the findings from the course: compare what students were able to do before and after instruction.

How many people have been impacted by your project?

1,001 - 10,000

How many people could be impacted by your project in the next three years?

More than 10,000

Sustainability

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Explain how your company, program, service or product is structured

Business

What barriers have hindered the success of your project to date? How do you plan to overcome these and other challenges as you grow your solution?

One daunting barrier is finding a place in the highly structured school curriculum. Teachers don’t have time to teach information fluency. To break into the school day we created a short and effective online learning experience that assesses and improves user’s information fluency. To get the word out that our performance assessment works we need more effective marketing. We seek to leverage our archive of free resources by sharing them with a global community. Currently we rely on strong organic keyword indexing in Google search results, Facebook, blogs and an online newsletter to generate interest in the project. Keywords: Information Fluency!

How do you see the information-technology and media sectors shifting over the next decade? How will your solution adapt to and/or drive that changing environment?

As it affects our field, information retrieval is moving continually toward ‘user-friendly’ results. This is actually an insidious problem (recently examined in Eli Pariser’s book, the Filter Bubble). Users will increasingly get results defined by their search habits—hence, a narrower and narrower range of results. Investigative search strategies taught in Information Investigator will help users understand and overcome this hard-to-detect effect. We will continue to develop new strategies and techniques to adapt to the changing digital environment.

Failure is not always an option. If your solution fails to gain traction in the next two years, what other applications of the idea could you explore?

Finding the right (affordable) pricing model is the key to the successful expansion of Information Investigator. We already have a network of educators who are interested in using it. If it turns out that there are a large number of interested schools that cannot afford to pay anything for a service like this, we can approach foundations to underwrite their participation. Continuing work in game based learning is also promising.

Expand on your selections, explaining how you will sustain funding

Financial support comes from customers who purchase annual licenses (e.g., Northwestern University) and pay professional development fees. Since we are able to operate without paying salaries, our current customer base sustains and grows the project. Since losing our federal grant in 2007 we have been self-sustaining. No funding has been received from any of the entities listed.

Tell us about your partnerships

We have partnered with the following organizations to deliver programs to their members (or students): Illinois School Library Media Association (ISLMA), Illinois Computing Educators (ICE), Wisconsin Educational Media and Technology Association (WEMTA), State of Wisconsin Department of Educational Technology, Northwestern University Center for Talent Development, Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA) and Creekview High School (Canton, GA), among others.

What type of team (staff, volunteers, etc.) will ensure that you achieve the growth milestones identified in the Social Impact section?

21st Century Information Fluency has two business partners who develop and maintain online training, assessment and workshop materials. Carl Heine, Ph.D. has over 30 years experience in curriculum and instruction, assessment design and instructional technology. Dennis O’Connor is a nationally-recognized educator who designs and teaches and manages distance education graduate courses for the University of Wisconsin Stout. We plan to
bring in a seasoned project manager whom we have worked with in the past.

Changemakers is a collaborative and supportive space. Please specify any community resources you would need to grow and sustain your initiative. Select all that apply

Marketing or media.

Specify any resources you might offer to support other initiatives. Select all that apply

Research or information, Collaboration or networking, Innovation or ideas.

Please elaborate on any needs or offers you have mentioned above and/or suggest categories of support that aren’t specified within the list

We would be willing to assist other Changemakers initiatives by conducting research (our specialty) as well as through collaboration and networking. Additionally we have 10 years worth of online curriculum, micro-modules, assessment tools, multimedia enhanced learning objects and a number of specially designed web-based assessment environments we could share with
the community. We give most of our materials away as it is. The bigger the audience we reach the better.

Summary

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Define your company, program, service or product in 1-2 short sentences

We help students in grades 6 to 12 search, evaluate and use online information efficiently, effectively and ethically.

Identify what is innovative about your solution in 1-2 short sentences

Information Investigator improves information fluency in 3 hours by combining interactive games with live search challenges.

Clear Health Costs

Created: 09/12/11 by

Location

New York
United States
See map: Google Maps

Clear Health Costs is an online platform that aims to bring transparency to the health care market. The way it does this is to engage people to post how much they are paying for a given health procedure and to supplement this crowdsourced data with reporting and fact checking from professional researchers and journalists. The result: people have information that allows them to make much better informed decisions about their health care. Currently focused on New York the project is in beta form. It aims to go nationwide.

Vehicle anti collision device-Say No road accidents

Created on 08/16/2011 by Subba Rao.Ithadi

According to WHO resources Road Accident death rate are superseded by HIV/AIDS by 2014.

Due to Road accidents

Globally More than
10,30,000 died /Year
43/hour
3300/day
5,00,00,000 Injured & Disabled Every Year.
In India
1,20,000 people die/year
14 /Hour
INDIA TOPS in road accidents death rate across the world.
State wide
TOP -5 STATES IN INDIA and world
Andhra Pradesh
Tamil Nadu
Maharashtra
Karnataka
Uttar Pradesh
and
 Global Warming.
 Energy lost.
 $ Billions property lost.
 4%GNP lost for India and every country.
 Carbon emissions.
 Restoration Cost

About You

Organization: safeamagnauto(Vehicle anti collision device technology for new & existed vehicles ) more ↓↑ hide↑ hide

About You

First Name

subba rao

Last Name

ithadi

Twitter

Facebook Profile

About Your Organization

Organization Name

safeamagnauto(Vehicle anti collision device technology for new & existed vehicles )

Organization Website

Organization Phone

+91-9700846276

Organization Address

Organization Country

India, AP

Country where this project is creating social impact

India, AP

Is your organization a

For‐profit

How long has your organization been operating?

Less than a year

Is the project that you are entering related to this organization?

Yes

The information you provide here will be used to fill in any parts of your profile that have been left blank, such as interests, organization information, and website. No contact information will be made public. Please uncheck here if you do not want this to happen..

Innovation

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Entry Form title

Vehicle anti collision device-Say No road accidents

What change do you want to bring to the world?

According to WHO resources Road Accident death rate are superseded by HIV/AIDS by 2014.

Due to Road accidents

Globally More than
10,30,000 died /Year
43/hour
3300/day
5,00,00,000 Injured & Disabled Every Year.
In India
1,20,000 people die/year
14 /Hour
INDIA TOPS in road accidents death rate across the world.
State wide
TOP -5 STATES IN INDIA and world
Andhra Pradesh
Tamil Nadu
Maharashtra
Karnataka
Uttar Pradesh
and
 Global Warming.
 Energy lost.
 $ Billions property lost.
 4%GNP lost for India and every country.
 Carbon emissions.
 Restoration Cost
 Traffic & Health

I strongly want to heal & nullify the above statistics and save the people from road accidents

What are the primary activities of your project?

We Invented a patent pending technology which will helps to avoid and later stages to prevent ,along with improvised value
additional features,

-Improvised value additional features with single core device.
-Many more safety applications for Army Defense safety applications.
Our device technology can easily fitted for new & existed vehicles.
This technology invention profoundly validated by Top technical Institutions in India.
To save our self from road accidents join with us.....!

What is innovative about your initiative? How is it a new contribution to the field?

With a single anti collision device technology can extend the features
set, the following additional benefits and these are become a value
added features. They are as follows:
1. Vehicle anti collision device
2. Vehicle -Vehicle communication (Voice & Data)
3. Alcohol detection alerting system.
4. Vehicle Towing system
5. Heavy Load identification system
6. Accident information &alarming system
7. Automated Pilot control system
8. Driver less vehicle segment.
9. Many Army defense safety Applications

What stage is your project in?

Idea phase

Tell us about the community that you engage? eg. economic conditions, political structures, norms and values, demographic trends, history, and experience with engagement efforts.

1. My present and future goal is to reduce & prevent road accident deaths, its a global problem. Through this so many families , environmentally traffic, pollution, carbon emissions, etc are the next effects.
2. I want to explore more things, like minded, networking with the people.

Share the story of the founder and what inspired the founder to start this project

Personally My dearest child hood friend was died due to massive road accident. He is very genius about science and technology and healthy body no diseases . But he died because of Road accident.

When ever i saw news in news electronic media & print media or heard from any one . I felt agony, strongly determined and desired i can& will solve this global problem through patent pending which is profoundly validated by top technological institutions in India .

I am very very passionate about the innovations and dedicative construction my country India.
1. According WHO resources Road accident death rates are super seeded by the AIDS (HIV)death rates by the 2014.
2. In (2010- 10, 50,000deaths globally, 1,30,000 deaths in India, 50 millions injured & disabled every year.
3. India Tops in road accidents death rates .

Challenges I faced
As a Indian, India tops i road accidents death 10,40,000 deaths/year globally and 1,31,030 deaths in 2010 now. More than 50 Millions people injures and disabled every year.

Whenever i heard the news in any medium i felt very sad & shame.

This was not only my challenge its a global challenge. Which is face by the all countries across the world.

I strongly wanted solve this problem. I was Innovated designs and technologies which are prevent vehicle collisions.

Still now i go some where present my technology. And every presentation gives lot of learning and improvised solutions. Keep on innovating for rural & urban areas problems.

Social Impact

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This Entry is about (Issues)

Please describe how your project has been successful and how that success is measured

Even single life can be saved by using our technology. It was great achievement of us.

We strongly believe this innovation will save more lives from road accidents deaths and Injuries.

Road accidents deaths and solve this global problem to save the people..

I was took the initiation and bring into make a prototype to prevent vehicle collisions along with more improvised features.

How many people have been impacted by your project?

More than 10,000

How many people could be impacted by your project in the next three years?

More than 10,000

Winning entries present a strong plan for how they will achieve growth. Identify your six-month milestone for growing your impact

Detection
3rd Month first beta (V2.0)product Ready with detection feature.
4 th month launch the release the V.2.0
Alerting
6th month ready to launch (V3.0 ) with alerting feature.

Task 1

Vehicle Collision Detection-3rd Month first beta (V2.0)product Ready with detection feature.
4 th month launch the release the V.2.0

Task 2

Vehicle Collision Alerting
6th month ready to launch (V3.0 ) with alerting feature.

Task 3

Vehicle collision Controlling
9th Month ready with V.3.0 with control feature.
10th month the launch the version V.3.0

Identify your 12-month impact milestone

collision Controlling
9th Month ready with V.3.0 with control feature.
10th month the launch the version V.3.0

Collision Avoid
12th Month ready with V.3.5 with control feature.

Task 1

1. Accident Information & alarming system Version 4.0
2. Vehicle Towing system Version 5.0

Task 2

2. Vehicle Towing system Version 5.0
3. Heavy Load identification Version 6.0

Task 3

3. Heavy Load identification Version 6.0
4. Vehicle – vehicle communication system ( voice –data) Version 7.0

How will your project evolve over the next three years?

We will reduce death rate by road accidents maximum 50% of present. Means we can save at least 5,50,000 lives/year and 25 millions peoples from injuries & disabilities.

an we can reduce the traffic. There after we can save GNP of the country. Reducing the carbon foot print by this technology and save the energy and fuel.

Sustainability

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What barriers might hinder the success of your project and how do you plan to overcome them?

strong executing team Financial support and Research & development facility.
I am keep on trying until successful completion this project

Tell us about your partnerships

We dint have any partners now

Current annual budget of project, in US dollars

$100,000‐250,000

Explain your selections

I am only spending my time, money, energy , thinking , since one year. i am looking for hope . I strongly believe i can do it for to save my people

How do you plan to strengthen your project in the next three years?

By applying B-plan competitions, fund rising, Research & Development,testing out put .. learning from failures and again trying for best results.

Challenges

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Which barriers to health and well-being does your innovation address?
Please select up to three in order of relevancy to your project.

PRIMARY

Lack of physical access to care/lack of facilities

SECONDARY

Other (Specify Below)

TERTIARY

Lack of physical access to care/lack of facilities

Please describe how your innovation specifically tackles the barriers listed above.

we are looking fro public -private sector auto mobile crash laboratories. to work together and there by live together.

How are you growing the impact of your organization or initiative?
Please select up to three potential pathways in order of relevancy to you.

PRIMARY

Grown geographic reach: Global

SECONDARY

Grown geographic reach: Global

TERTIARY

Grown geographic reach: Global

Please describe which of your growth activities are current or planned for the immediate future.

1. Proto typing

2. Testing

3. learning from failures

4. Add value additional features

Do you collaborate with any of the following: (Check all that apply)

Government.

If yes, how have these collaborations helped your innovation to succeed?

we applied for TePP fund from DSIR .we are waiting for that results

Internet Free Medical Tools: help or risk for the patients? HTAcamp will help you through

Created on 08/11/2011 by htacamp

The world is changing everyday especially thanks to introduction of new technologies and tools. Internet is providing daily new medical support tools in diagnosis and therapy in any platform.
These tools are free but are they really safe, reliable and accountable?
We want to assess them using the scientific Health Technology Assessment methodology to provide help on choosing them to doctors and patients.
The assess team is multidisciplinary: medical doctors, health economist, clinical engineers, sociologist, legal advisors etc.

About You

Organization: HTAcamp Visit websitemore ↓↑ hide↑ hide

About You

First Name

Mihaela

Last Name

Dubinski

Twitter

Facebook Profile

About Your Organization

Organization Name

HTAcamp

Organization Website

Organization Phone

+39 3291132777

Organization Address

Organization Country

Italy, RM

Country where this project is creating social impact

n/a

Is your organization a

Non‐profit/NGO/citizen sector organization

How long has your organization been operating?

Less than a year

Is the project that you are entering related to this organization?

Yes

The information you provide here will be used to fill in any parts of your profile that have been left blank, such as interests, organization information, and website. No contact information will be made public. Please uncheck here if you do not want this to happen..

Innovation

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Entry Form title

Internet Free Medical Tools: help or risk for the patients? HTAcamp will help you through

What change do you want to bring to the world?

The world is changing everyday especially thanks to introduction of new technologies and tools. Internet is providing daily new medical support tools in diagnosis and therapy in any platform.
These tools are free but are they really safe, reliable and accountable?
We want to assess them using the scientific Health Technology Assessment methodology to provide help on choosing them to doctors and patients.
The assess team is multidisciplinary: medical doctors, health economist, clinical engineers, sociologist, legal advisors etc.

What are the primary activities of your project?

The Multidisciplinary group will evaluate all the medical software and tools available on the web. The tool evaluation will be 360 degree around. Medical doctors, epidemiologists, health economists, clinical engineers, sociologist, legal advisors and other specialties will deeply evaluate if the tools are evidence based and their technical features, reliability, privacy safeness.
The HTAcamp website will be updated daily with new evaluated tools but it will be also a virtual meeting place where patients and doctors around the world can discuss, suggest, comment, vote and ask questions about the tools using social network and the web 2.0 philosophy. Web-tv, community forum and e-learning for the software will be available on the website as well.

What is innovative about your initiative? How is it a new contribution to the field?

The technology is evolving and internet is bringing this technologies quickly in to the market. The problem is that nobody is really monitoring this process, too often new tools offering clinical suggestions to physicians and patients are release without a quality control. Nowadays there is no official or government office taking care of it. The US FDA is starting to think about it now but will take care about it only in several years and only of the US market and only on purchased ones.
What about the free ones in the market? With the economic crisis everybody will prefer a free software to a high costly one. Who will check about conflict of interest? Who will check on evidence base medicine literature use? Who will check about high sensitive privacy data storage? How many young people will use their mobiles and PDA to get information and suggestions on health problems taking for granted unsupported advices? Who is behind these information? Do they have an health degree to suggest or prescribe? These and many other questions will be unanswered or answered by other unreliable groups.
Our group is and will be open to high specialists in different fields but all with an HTA (Health Technology Assessment) background. Every tools will be evaluated though a transparent HTA methodology and it will be discussed before and after been published on the website and everybody will be able to comment it. The HTAcamp website is not only a place where you can find health links, but will alert the user if that tool is accountable, reliable and safe for his/her life and privacy.

What stage is your project in?

Operating for less than a year

Tell us about the community that you engage? eg. economic conditions, political structures, norms and values, demographic trends, history, and experience with engagement efforts.

The target population is globally any patient or their relatives, doctor, nurse and health provider that will look on internet for apps, software, tools, online service, medical calculator or any electronic health support. As it is well known this kind of population is increasing exponentially everyday. The web site will be in English and eventually in other languages in the future. It will help to rely on good free health electronic supports saving money, especially in poor environments or in the young populations, but without risking health, life and privacy.

Share the story of the founder and what inspired the founder to start this project

The Idea was thought in February 2011. Health Technology Assessment Team based at the San Camillo-Forlanini Hospital in Rome evaluate health technologies to be implemented in the hospital or to be dismissed from it.
The team often host students and just graduated specialist from different universities.
Unfortunately most of them cannot support themselves economically, that will end in the impossibility to go and present their work in meetings and that will affect their chance to find a good job.
The idea is to show on one side how well they know how to apply their knowledge and how good is their work and on the other end to do something useful for the population.
Following the UK-NICE (National Institute of Clinical Excellence) guidelines on interventions prioritization, this is the perfect subject to show their knowledge on HTA. The free health tools have an high health impact and a wide target population and it easy to implement and it does not require huge funds to start except that for the “time spent” and “know how” and the field is new and empty of competitors because just few people have nowadays the “know how” to do it. The Publishing company “La Treggia” supported the project offering the “know how” to create the website.

Social Impact

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This Entry is about (Issues)

Please describe how your project has been successful and how that success is measured

Soon after the project started the team was invited to present their work and website in several international meetings (i.e. Zurs cardiovascular symposium Austria; HTA international Brasil, Evidence 2011 UK etc). http://www.latreggia.it/p-events.html
The scientific world was very receptive on the subject and appreciated the work done in such difficult, fluid and highly technological advanced field. Several university and scientific institutions approved the idea starting new collaborations (i.e. Catholic University, Rome, Italy; Mario Negri Institution, Milan, Italy etc.). The Roman municipality is validating the idea to sponsor the website. The website at the moment is not commercialized and the subscriptions are low because we are still in the testing phase, waiting scientific feedbacks before launching the project on the web for real.

How many people have been impacted by your project?

101-1,000

How many people could be impacted by your project in the next three years?

More than 10,000

Winning entries present a strong plan for how they will achieve growth. Identify your six-month milestone for growing your impact

Stabilize the project and the team
Improve the quality of the service provided thanks to the scientific collaborations
Increase scientific audience
Open to the wide and non-scientific users

Task 1

We will share our methodology and promote the website on scientific networks (i.e. meeting) and on scientific journals publishing articles and making interviews.

Task 2

We will optimize our visibility on search engines to be more visible on the web.

Task 3

We will promote the website through social networks and social tools to reach a wider population and to stimulate the user to participate.

Identify your 12-month impact milestone

-Positive statistical feedbacks
-Positive comment of the scientific side
-Audience growth and wide participation of the users
-New members in the assessing team
-New sponsorships for the project

Task 1

We will try to create a continuous feedback line with the users through social networks and social tools (i.e. blogs and forums)

Task 2

We will open to the scientific areas with the aim to recruit more specialized people that want to participate in the project and to share new ideas and comment.

Task 3

We will look for partnership to cover expenses to avoid de-motivation in the team

How will your project evolve over the next three years?

The project will stabilize and evolve on the web evolution using new tools to share the informations and to communicate. New health tools and services will be created and distributed and we will try to follow the big wave of creativity of internet, working on the website updating as soon as possible the database but also stimulation the awareness in the scientific community and government to create a quality control on the free health apps.

Sustainability

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What barriers might hinder the success of your project and how do you plan to overcome them?

There are no real barriers this project have a high impact on a wide and serious topic but at the same time it is a low budget project.
The fixed costs are on few and personal technical equipment and on the website cost. Most of the people working on it will come from the Partner Universities to practice on the subject as they are doing now. There are no risk on failing if the assessments are done properly even if it does not cover the entire web applications park. The risk is on completeness of the project for the huge quantity of new entrees tools in the market compare to the small group working on it. The focus goal is to increase sustainability of the core team to make it a full time job and increase the members of the team recruiting on the web interested persons that will be prepared with e-learning and webinars courses to overcome the huge quantity of apps released in the market.

Tell us about your partnerships

Actual Active partnerships: La Treggia srl publishing company;Public Health Department in the Medical Catholic University in Rome
In Evaluating phase Partnerships: Health Economic University, Catholic University in Rome; San Camillo-Forlanini Hospital in Rome; Rome Municipality;Italian Society of medical Managers SIMM; Italian Society of Health Technology Assessment SIHTA; Italian association of clinical engineers AIIC
Possible Partnerships:International Scientific Societies; Health Industries; Information Technology Industries;Non Governative Organizations (NGO), Patients Associations

Current annual budget of project, in US dollars

$10,001‐50,000

Explain your selections

Partner Universities are supplying students and fresh doctors to work on it as a stage.
La Treggia Publishing company is paying the basic expenses for the web site.
International scientific societies and Health industries are offering free access to scientific meeting.
The staff Team is doing it on their own expenses, few funds will be enough to pay the basic expenses, most of the technical instrument are free on the web (free website programs, free office, free photo editor etc.). More funds will permit to stabilize the core team. The great advantage is that the team have a strong “know how” and a great knowledge of the free tools available on the internet and will use them to do its job.

How do you plan to strengthen your project in the next three years?

Doing a useful and highly specialized job and offering it for free in an highly demanding market for the product is not very hard. The key is to sensitize the public awareness of the issue and communicate the solution trough the network.
- Strengthen the economic support to create a stabile workflow.
- E-learning meeting and webinars will be created to communicate assessment results and to educate people on the use of the health tools.
- Participate to international and national meeting to spread the news and to gain consensus.
- Use social networks and new free web tools to commercialize the website.
Access to the media to increase popularity (web-tv, cable TV, Web radio, Radio, blogs, news site etc.)

Challenges

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Which barriers to health and well-being does your innovation address?
Please select up to three in order of relevancy to your project.

PRIMARY

Lack of access to targeted health information and education

SECONDARY

Other (Specify Below)

TERTIARY

Other (Specify Below)

Please describe how your innovation specifically tackles the barriers listed above.

The general population, especially patients, but also the health specialists (doctors, nurses etc) more and more often rely on web information that often are not based on scientific literature or medical evidence (evidence based medicine). New web and devices applications and service are been offered for health support without giving any background informations on how they will end up with a diagnosis or a therapy.
We think that is mandatory to show and explaining who is the author and how he create the application and any presence of conflict of interest but also if private high sensible data is stored explain where and how do they store them. An independent, scientific, accountable a transparent evaluation is needed and we try to provided it while nobody does it at the moment.

How are you growing the impact of your organization or initiative?
Please select up to three potential pathways in order of relevancy to you.

PRIMARY

Grown geographic reach: Global

SECONDARY

Influenced other organizations and institutions through the spread of best practices

TERTIARY

Other (please specify below)

Please describe which of your growth activities are current or planned for the immediate future.

The website is on Internet in English and based on the web 2.0 technology, this will facilitate the global reaching and intercommunication. We will strengthen our collaboration with the scientific societies and patients associations that can collaborate and spread the information. We focus on the free protection and education of the citizens on free internet health resources and we aspect word of mouth to spread.

Do you collaborate with any of the following: (Check all that apply)

NGOs/Nonprofits, For profit companies, Academia/universities.

If yes, how have these collaborations helped your innovation to succeed?

Partner Universities are supplying students and fresh doctors to work on it as a stage and "know how" for the methodology.
International scientific societies and health industries are offering free access to scientific meeting.

Clear Health Costs

Created: 08/03/11 by Natalie Zuniga Gogny

They are working to bring  transparency to the health-care marketplace. By building a platform that focuses on price information for medical procedures, are empowering consumers to make informed decisions about the costs of their medical care and coverage.

Clearhealthcosts.com was founded by Jeanne Pinder, a longtime journalist who has a deep interest in health care and a great deal of experience in sorting through medical statements and trying to understand them.

Audio news

Created on 07/16/2011 by harishmanek

audio messages...

About You

Organization: SCORPIONA2Z Visit websitemore ↓↑ hide↑ hide

About You

First Name

HARISH

Last Name

MANEK

Twitter URL

http://twitter.com/#!/

Facebook URL

About Your Organization

Organization Name

SCORPIONA2Z

Organization Website

Organization Country

India, TN

Country where this project is creating social impact

India, TN

Is your organization a

For‐profit

How long has your organization been operating?

1‐5 years

The information you provide here will be used to fill in any parts of your profile that have been left blank, such as interests, organization information, and website. No contact information will be made public. Please uncheck here if you do not want this to happen..

Innovation

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Entry Form title

Audio news

Select the stage that best applies to your solution

Idea (you're poised to launch)

How long have you been in operation?

Still in idea phase, but looking to launch soon

THE NEED: Describe the need for your solution and the size/dynamic of the community (ies) you will engage

In todays world one has less of time..but to keep pace of the world a audio nwes will be sent in the form of audio sms which one can check in their mobile as and when they are free and hence keep them abreast of developments...

THE SOLUTION: Please explain what your solution offers and how it is innovative. How will you put your solution into the hands of users or beneficiaries? Be specific!

The solution is to keep the time paucity into mind..and it is innovative because it has so far not been launched...this solution is to be sold in a royalty format..with the end user developing a software and a back office that would provide the latest developments as and when it happens on a subscribed fee...

THE MODEL: Walk us through a specific example of how your solution makes a difference through use of information technology and media

Since it is an audio cum mobile format and would be a great boon to those who are short of time and moreover since it is involved in this making..hence could make a lot of difference...

THE MARKETPLACE: Who are your peers and competitors? What challenges could these players pose to your success or growth?

since this format has not been present hence has a great future..moreover since this can be taken by mobile operators in a big way hence it is a hot proposition...

Social Impact

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This Entry is about (Issues)

FOUNDING STORY: We want to hear about your “Aha!” moment. Share the story of where and when the founder(s) saw this solution’s potential to change the world.

it is just from an imagination...

Specify both the depth and scale of your solution’s social impact to date

the depth and scale of this innovation in future promises lot of benefits to many both the users as well as the developers...

What is your projected impact within the next 1-5 years? Is your idea replicable? If so, how?

the idea here is to look for an commercial organisation which has good flow of funds to bring this idea into reality..by starting off by paying a royality to the company...

Winning entries present a strong plan for how they will achieve and mark growth. Identify your six-month milestone for growing your impact

first to look for an investor..based on his strength i see my idea seeing light and commercially productive in six months time..

Six-Month Tasks

Task 1

Look for an resource ful company

Task 2

sign mou with that company

Task 3

get my royality

Now think bigger! Identify your 12-month impact milestone

improve on my idea or expand the base...

12-Month Tasks

Task 1

add more features on my idea

Task 2

expand the base

Task 3

look for franchising..

How many people have been impacted by your project?

Please select

How many people could be impacted by your project in the next three years?

More than 10,000

Sustainability

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Explain how your company, program, service or product is structured

Business

What barriers have hindered the success of your project to date? How do you plan to overcome these and other challenges as you grow your solution?

finance is the stumbling block..which i am planning to overcome as soon as i get hold of a sponsor...

How do you see the information-technology and media sectors shifting over the next decade? How will your solution adapt to and/or drive that changing environment?

it has a great future ahead..as i feel its potential has yet to be reached...my solution would bunggy ride on the it wave and cash big...

Failure is not always an option. If your solution fails to gain traction in the next two years, what other applications of the idea could you explore?

i am not thinking on the negative aspect..but if i face it then i would modify the idea according to the inputs i get from the market...

Expand on your selections, explaining how you will sustain funding

funding would be sustained by taking the confidence of the investor as and when he comes in...

Tell us about your partnerships

at the moment i am the sole proprietor..

What type of team (staff, volunteers, etc.) will ensure that you achieve the growth milestones identified in the Social Impact section?

top it proffessionals...

Changemakers is a collaborative and supportive space. Please specify any community resources you would need to grow and sustain your initiative. Select all that apply

Investment, Human resources or talent, Marketing or media, Research or information, Collaboration or networking, Pro-bono help (legal, financial, etc.), Innovation or ideas, Mentorship.

Specify any resources you might offer to support other initiatives. Select all that apply

Please elaborate on any needs or offers you have mentioned above and/or suggest categories of support that aren’t specified within the list

my one and only concern is finance..which i welcome from any source...

Summary

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Define your company, program, service or product in 1-2 short sentences

The company as its name suggests has a wide defination and programme..kindly visit the link to know better..

Identify what is innovative about your solution in 1-2 short sentences

audio messages...