Here's a story about how members of the Changemakers community are promoting social enterprise in Bangladesh:
In these topsy-turvy economic times, there's great hope in the fact that one of the world's most famous banks is one that caters to the poorest of individuals and that its founder makes regular appearances in the financial news media. The Grameen Bank in Dhaka, Bangladesh, started by Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, is a bank of the future.
Yunus’ Grameen Bank is world-renowned for popularizing micro-credit—the lending of small amounts of money to poor people so they can invest in business—and their dreams—and rise above the poverty line.
Read more about this solution, or discuss this topic below.
We are a social enterprise working for the economic benefit of farmers, working in three agro climatic Zone. Currently we are present in Jamui, Baniapur, Banka, Munger, Gopaljung (Bihar) and Mal, Kalinpong, Jal Dhaka (North Bengal). In North Bengal we are strategically located in the foothills of Himalayas very close to Nepal and Bhutan on the gateway to North East India and Sikkim.
Milaap is an online platform that enables you to lend to India's working poor so they can get access to education, clean water, sanitation, energy and more.
We believe that while a handout is good, a hand-up is even better. That is why we ask you to make a loan and not a donation. While donations in the form of charity can create great impact, they have a relatively short life-span.
Forus Health as the name stands for means Affordable health "For us". Our vision is to provide affordable technology solutions including new products that address India's unique health care delivery needs. Forus products and solutions are centered on the premise of enabling preventive screening even in remote villages and serviced by minimally trained field worker.
Our flagship innovation is 3nethra- An intelligent pre-screening ophthalmic solution that can identify common eye problems that is reason for 90% avoidable blindness in India.
Competition Status:
Closed
Competition Milestones
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[...]
This innovation also has a Project Page where you can read more about its latest progress.
Go to Project: Kasiisi Food Farm Future.
Created on 06/18/2013 by celerity
Kasiisi Food Farm Future aims to utilize agriculture, fundamental to the economy of many developing nations, as a lever to create change in education, financial literacy, social interactions, and health at the primary school level in Uganda for strengthening the local community.
Organization: Kasiisi Food Farm Future
Visit websitemore ↓↑ hide↑ hideOrganization Country
United States, MA, Cambridge
Country where this project is creating social impact
Is your organization a
Non‐profit/NGO/citizen sector organization
Has the organization received awards or honors? Please tell us about them
Finalist, Do Good Well Social Innovation Prize
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideStage
Start-Up (a pilot that has just started operating)
This Entry is about (Issues)
Elevator Pitch
Kasiisi Food Farm Future aims to utilize agriculture, fundamental to the economy of many developing nations, as a lever to create change in education, financial literacy, social interactions, and health at the primary school level in Uganda for strengthening the local community.
Problem
Primary school students in rural western Uganda have limited nutritional knowledge and often do not have the resources to consume enough food to even focus in school. Additionally, the vast majority of families do not have the resources to allow their children to pursue further education beyond primary school.
Solution
Students at Kasiisi Primary School in rural western Uganda will engage in a hands-on curriculum centered on experimental agricultural techniques, which maximize and focus on crops that are highly nutritious. Students will have their own plots on available land at the primary school. For development of financial skills, students will also be empowered to run a business through the club based on selling food products made from what they grow and raise and where they can reinvest the profits in furthering the club’s mission.
We aim to:
Maximize productivity and nutritional value of family subsistence farms.
Increase willingness of families to support children’s education.
Develop financial literacy, developing future business leaders
Example
Utilize student created plots as an example of how to maximize the productivity and nutritional value of family subsistence farms.
- This would allow families to pay secondary fee by increasing farm profits.
- Give students, the majority of whom will be farmers, the skills needed to successfully join the agricultural economy, by demonstrating that agriculture has the potential to be a viable, profitable, and honorable career.
Improve the nutrition of students, by having families provide high nutrient crops to supplement the provided school porridge.
- Empowering families to help feed their children as opposed to completely depending on the school provided porridge.
- Helping improve the nutrition of food provided at home.
Impact
Increase the willingness of families to support their children’s education beyond primary school by demonstrating the short-term benefits that education can bring (in this case increased agricultural productivity) by
- involving parents in an event each term such as an exposition fair, with meal from the grown crops.
- Providing chicks, piglets, seeds for plants, etc. as incentive prizes (for achievement, good work, etc.) that are tangible benefits to the family.
In building up to these greater goals, we traveled to Uganda in winter 2012 to form local partnerships and learn about on the ground conditions. We have already started the club as a pilot at Kasiisi Primary School, which serves over 1000 students, and developed nutritional and agricultural curriculum in partnership with experts at Harvard and MIT.
Marketplace
We are formally collaborating with the nonprofit The Kasiisi Project, which has worked in the region for more than a decade. They help provide a maize-based porridge to Kasiisi Primary School students at lunch, which helps students who would otherwise go hungry that school day. However, this is a carb-heavy, empty calories meal which we are working with to help make more nutritious yet still cost-effective. We will also be collaborating with them to make our nutritional and agricultural curriculum complement their conservation curriculum.
Sustainability Plan
A main component of our club plan to develop financial literacy from an early age, crucial for understanding of microfinance, budgeting, savings, insurance etc. which would help develop Uganda’s future business leaders.
- Use the small student-run business as an example of how to generate and maximize profit by taking basic raw materials and increasing the value (and thus price) by additional processing (such as cooking, preservation).
Founding Story
We believe in the power of agriculture, fundamental to many African economies, as a lever to create change in education, financial literacy, social interactions, and health at the primary school level in rural Africa for strengthening the local community.
Our team has had experience working on food, nutrition, and health issues in rural western Uganda for the past two years in partnership with the Kasiisi Project. Team member Dominic grew up in rural western Uganda and attended Kasiisi Primary School. Bonnie and Julia have both traveled to and worked with programs at Kasiisi Primary School.
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideWhere do you ensure the availability of nutrients?
Healthy environments., Nutrient-rich farming, Full nourishment foods.
If you had greater capacity, which additional sectors would you like your solution to target - either through expansion, partnership, or thought exchange?
Nutrient-rich farming, Human wellness and vitality.
How specifically would this added capacity help you improve the quality, efficiency, or sustainability of your existing product or service?
We will be able to expand our programming to involve other schools in the region, as well as make the programs adapted to involve more age groups at each school. We will also be able to launch into the next stage of our project, which will be the social enterprise of value-added nutritional products that the students will create and sell.
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideHow 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).
Kasiisi Food Farm Future aims to utilize agriculture, fundamental to the economy of many developing nations, as a lever to create change in education, financial literacy, social interactions, and health at the primary school level in Uganda for strengthening the local community.
Created on 06/18/2013 by RealImpactKenya
Imagine if leaves from a tree could solve micro-nutrient deficiencies for thousands of children. Imagine the leaves were produced by a network of vulnerable groups, and their profits allowed them to start businesses. Imagine the leaves were produced using sustainable agronomic practice.
Organization: Real Impact
Visit websitemore ↓↑ hide↑ hideCountry where this project is creating social impact
Is your organization a
Non‐profit/NGO/citizen sector organization
Has the organization received awards or honors? Please tell us about them
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Miraculous Moringa: Nutrition for Health and Economic Development
Stage
Idea (poised to launch)
This Entry is about (Issues)
Elevator Pitch
Imagine if leaves from a tree could solve micro-nutrient deficiencies for thousands of children. Imagine the leaves were produced by a network of vulnerable groups, and their profits allowed them to start businesses. Imagine the leaves were produced using sustainable agronomic practice.
Problem
This solution targets both producers and consumers: producers are identified as vulnerable groups such as women, youth and persons with disability (PWD), those who face particular difficulties accessing finance, inputs and markets in Kenya. Consumers are orphaned children: 30% of all children suffer from nutritional deficiencies. Nutrition is key for children to get a healthy start in life, concentrate at school & find employment later in life.
Solution
Real Impact will form a network of out-growers consisting of vulnerable groups. Groups will be trained on agronomy, business & livelihoods management, provide seeds and other inputs at cost price. The unique aim of this project is for out-growers to create enough capital to exit the programme and start their own business. New vulnerable groups are then invited to the network to replace graduating groups. At each harvest Real Impact will buy fresh leaf from the network, dry and process it into moringa powder. The powder is incredibly nutritious, offering high quantities of protein, iron, vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium and selenium. The powder will be sold to Macheo Children's Home, a local orphanage, which feeds 12,000 kids each day.
Example
Mary is hearing impaired and unable to find employment. She is a member of a PWD group which has a five acre plot. The group decides to join the Miraculous Moringa programme, seeing it as an attractive opportunity to gain training, farming knowledge and income in order to later develop a fruit orchard business. Partners develop a business plan for production and an exit strategy after one year of taking part. Within that year, 20,233.5kg of powder is harvested. Selling at 200 ksh per kg = 4,046,700 ksh per year ($47,230). This is enough for Mary and her group to graduate the programme and establish their fruit orchard. Real Impact supports the group design a business plan for a propagation house, drip line irrigation & charcoal cooler.
Impact
Macheo Children's Home, for 12,000 children, requires 60kg of moringa powder per day (5g powder per person per day). That's a total of 120m2 of to be harvested each day (0.5kg yield per m2). On a 90 day regrowth cycle, that’s 10,800m2 to be in continuous production. If 2/3 of an acre are in production at any time (due to access paths and field boundaries) that’s 43.5 acres of coppice required to supply Macheo Children’s Home. If the average plot size is 5 acres, that’s 9 partnering out-grower groups at any one time. Each group may consist of 5 people, therefore 45 out-growers graduate each year, supporting themselves out of vulnerability and into self-employment, self-empowerment and economic stability. The World Food Programme wants to work with Real Impact on a moringa programme to supply the 650,000 children they feed daily, building scope for quick up-scaling of this project,
Marketplace
Two moringa-based projects have applied to Nutrition For All, demonstrating the drive to promote moringa projects. It is an important solution because it is botanical and easy to cultivate. It is also suited to semi-arid growing environments, where food and nutrition security are most needed: moringa is grown throughout the tropical belt where malnutrition is most prevalent, maps of the two fit each other almost perfectly. Our solution differs because it is designed to also benefit the producers, offering them a pathway to establish their own businesses and become economically empowered.
Sustainability Plan
Real Impact has a strong ethos of financial sustainability and is unfunded for day-to-day activities. We require support to get this project off the ground, but have designed it to soon pay for itself and allow groups to graduate from the programme and into self-employment. Macheo is financed by donor support, however it is expected that the moringa programme will significantly reduce costs on healthcare due to boosted nutrition and immunity.
Founding Story
Moringa has progressively gained recognition for it's seemingly magical properties. The moment Real Impact knew it could do something special came about during talks with Macheo Children's Home. Working out the quantities required demonstrated a need for substantial land area. As a food security and livelihoods development organisation working closely with PWD, the solution of creating a network of out-growers who graduate the programme after some time hit two members of Real Impact at the same time. This is too good an opportunity to miss and we would relish the chance to test it and see it succeed with the support of Ashoka Changemakers and the Nutrients For All programme.
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideWhere do you ensure the availability of nutrients?
Full nourishment foods, 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, Human wellness and vitality.
How specifically would this added capacity help you improve the quality, efficiency, or sustainability of your existing product or service?
Whilst moringa powder for human consumption is known to have benefits to human health, additional benefits abound. It is a future aim of Real Impact, an organisation centred on food security through agro-nutrition, to develop an organic fertiliser made from nitrogen-rich moringa leaves, and powdered moringa seed used for water purification. It is poor human nutrition, access to clean water and ecologically sound agricultural inputs that are the most limiting factors to development, not just in Kenya but Sub-Saharan Africa. Moringa is for a more sustainable, healthy & secure future.
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideHow 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).
Imagine if leaves from a tree could solve micro-nutrient deficiencies for thousands of children. Imagine the leaves were produced by a network of vulnerable groups, and their profits allowed them to start businesses. Imagine the leaves were produced using sustainable agronomic practice.
Throwing away vegetables because their looks are not perfect? Kromkommer battles food waste by bringing wonky but otherwise perfect veggies back on your plate.
Created on 06/18/2013 by Sara Li-Chou Han
Stitched Up Co-Operative Ltd is a not-for-profit organisation of six women, whose mission is to inspire people to adopt a more sustainable and creative wardrobe approach. Stitched Up provides fun, ethical, creative fashion, craft and textile workshops for people of all ages.
Organization: Stitched Up
Visit websitemore ↓↑ hide↑ hideOrganization Country
United Kingdom, MAN, Manchester
Country where this project is creating social impact
United Kingdom, MAN, Manchester
Is your organization a
Non‐profit/NGO/citizen sector organization
Has the organization received awards or honors? Please tell us about them
In November we provided the 9 sewing classes for the award winning Watch Your Waste Week for Recycle for Greater Manchester and we have also received some funding from the local council Community Waste Fund to set up a pop up workshop space in a retail unit, in order to promote textile recycling activities, to provide sewing and clothes upcycling workshops, operate a drop-in centre and run social gatherings and educational events that provide an alternative to the high street consumerism that has become so prevalent.
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideStage
Start-Up (a pilot that has just started operating)
This Entry is about (Issues)
Elevator Pitch
Stitched Up Co-Operative Ltd is a not-for-profit organisation of six women, whose mission is to inspire people to adopt a more sustainable and creative wardrobe approach. Stitched Up provides fun, ethical, creative fashion, craft and textile workshops for people of all ages.
Problem
Our project provides new ways of solving larger problems, such as climate change and pollution, through small steps such as learning recycled crafts and sustainable sewing skills. The combined waste from clothing and textiles in the UK is approximately 2.35 million tonnes, of which 74% (around 30kg per person) is sent to landfill, causing problems such as carbon emissions, toxic pollution to our soil and water.
Solution
As an effective waste management strategy, upcycling is the practice of taking discarded or 'useless' goods and transforming them into products of greater use and value, often through the use of creative design and skilled craftsmanship. In contrast to this, recycling is a process that downgrades products almost immediately into low-quality end-uses. Sewing and upcycling skills workshops, showing communities how to effectively maintain and repair garments, work to change behaviour and encourage people to make small changes in the way they consume, teaching new skills and bringing together like-minded individuals; who all want to work together to change society for the better, to make a big impact overall.
Example
During our November 2012 workshops, participants were invited to bring along any clothes or textiles that they still used, but needed a new lease of life, or mending. We discussed possibilities for upcycling or refreshing the items, either through mending or changing the item's appearance using appliqué and other embellishing techniques, or changing its functionality or style – for example turning a pair of jeans into a miniskirt. There were also opportunities for participants to learn more about the environmental and economic issues of clothing and textile waste, and to gain an understanding of the implications in throwing clothing and textile waste in the refuse bin through group discussions at the beginning and end of sessions.
Impact
In November 2012 we delivered 9 sewing classes, developed to build the sewing skills and confidence of local Manchester residents, to help them be able to mend, re-fit and re-style their own wardrobes. The total number of residents engaged at the sewing classes were 91, and 98% of the residents attended felt they then had the skills and confidence to start upcycling and 83% were inspired to buy second-hand and upcycled clothing. For the next stage of the project, we propose to run 24 upcycling and sewing workshops, hold 6 drop in upcycling sessions, host monthly clothes swap and stitch clinic, host two themed social evenings for local crafts-persons, engage with a minimum of 48 local residents through all services, establish a reclaimed haberdashery service in shop, recruit 3 volunteers to support project and re-use or divert at least 100 items of textiles.
Marketplace
There are currently several other groups in Greater Manchester offering sewing workshops based on garment construction which are very expensive. We feel this excludes low income sectors of the community as there is no provision for affordable workshops. Low cost and free workshops that have been put on by us and others have been well attended and reactions have been entirely positive. During our current economic situation services are being cut and places to go and learn and meet up people are diminishing. Our project fulfils both these needs, as well as teaching practical skills.
Sustainability Plan
Our products and services are:Retail Shop, Reclaimed Haberdashery, Clothes Swaps, Workshops , Sewing Café – pay-per-hour sewing machines, Networking Events, Awareness-Raising Events
As well as running the shop, we will continue to travel to deliver paid workshops at other organisations, venues and events, such as festivals, museums and schools, empowering others with the skills, knowledge and desire to become socially responsible consumers.
Founding Story
Stitched Up is a group of creative, passionate, earth conscious fashionista-revolutionaries. Our shared passion for fashion justice brought us together to form an all-women ethically-minded non-profit co-operative on a mission to inspire people to choose a more creative and sustainable wardrobe.
Our name reflects the way we feel the fashion industry treats us, its workers and its shoppers. Our workshops, clothes swaps and styling expertise encourage people to upcycle, create and stitch, empowering, enlightening and engaging people of all ages and backgrounds. It is great to see the difference we can make once participants have created something by themselves, and feel an enormous sense of achievement. We also place great emphasis on our
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideWhere do you ensure the availability of nutrients?
Healthy environments., 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, Human wellness and vitality.
How specifically would this added capacity help you improve the quality, efficiency, or sustainability of your existing product or service?
Being able to offer fair-trade sustainably sourced refreshments in our sewing cafe would create a completely ethical and socially responsible business. Offering additional workshops in growing your own food would also add to the well being and self-sustaining ethos we are promoting through our workshops to mend and create your own clothing. The added capacity to offer all these services would enable us to become a centre for improving the quality, efficiency and sustainability of the everyday lives of local communities in the Greater Manchester area and the UK.
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideHow 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).
Meadville, Pennsylvania United States
The goal of the Food for Sustainability project at Allegheny College is to demonstrate the interconnectedness of all living organisms by integrating ecological principles into the industrial process of food production. In addition, the project seeks to cultivate meaningful relationships between humans and nature, promote lifelong learning for the advancement of sustainability, and to engage students and community members in cooperative projects that empower them to develop new ideas and innovations.
64% of consumers are eating healthier today and making choices
they hope will help stave off ailments and chronic disease.
EH&S Functional Bakery provides nutritional-natural health benefits,delivered through a ‘universally’ liked food product and intrinsically linked to Social Impact BoP.
Created on 06/14/2013 by Terra Nova
Terra Nova produces compost from organic urban solid waste in Mozambique so small local farmers can grow more crops and provide more variety of vegetables of good quality on local market.
Organization: Terra Nova Limitada
more ↓↑ hide↑ hideCountry where this project is creating social impact
Is your organization a
For‐profit
Has the organization received awards or honors? Please tell us about them
2011 : Iniciativas negocios verdes in Mozambique from BidNetwork /GAPI / WWF
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Reforcing production of vegetables using compost from urban waste
Stage
Growth (the pilot has already launched and is starting to expand)
This Entry is about (Issues)
Elevator Pitch
Terra Nova produces compost from organic urban solid waste in Mozambique so small local farmers can grow more crops and provide more variety of vegetables of good quality on local market.
Problem
Poor farmers immigrate every day to Beira, fast growing city of 600000 citizens, increasing waste production. Accumulated waste, mainly made of organic matter, degrades itself releasing greenhouse gases and polluting environment.
Local food availability (quantity and quality of vegetables) decreases as peri-urban soils are degraded. There is not enough cow manure neither, used as a fertilizer. Low crop yields do not provide farmers enough income
Solution
Organic waste can be recycled in compost, that increase crop yield from 15% to 70%, decrease pests and rehabilitate agricultural degraded soils.
We already recycled 3.700 tons of waste and distributed compost to 1000 farmers of Beira to facilitate introduction/acceptation of this new revolutionary product on the farmer’s market.
Until 2018 we aim to recycle 50 % (20000 tons/year) of the total waste of Beira and sell 5500 tons of compost. That will self-sustain our activity and more than 200 employees mostly unqualified within the poorest of the city. That will increase revenues of thousands of local farmers and increase soil fertility on long term. Use of compost, will provide more variety of vegetables of good quality on local marke
Example
Ernesto, a small farmer of Beira used this year 75 kg of our compost made from waste . He sold his salads a week earlier than those fertilized with both cow manure and chemical fertilizers and increased its price by 23% = $ 30 (1/4 of the minimum wage). He was glad that his customers have chosen to prioritize its larger and more numerous green salads, produced from compost and expects to make an additional harvest this year. He will soon be pleasantly surprised to see that all future crops will give him better results without the need to add any fertilizer!
Impact
We intend to sell 5500 tons of compost made from waste in 2018 to improve general peri-urban soil fertility. This will encourage diversification of vegetables produced, increasing their quality and quantity on local market. 1000 little producers (less than 1/5 hectare) will thus increase their income and will be encouraged to cultivate bigger areas to improve even more their life conditions.
Recycling 20000 tons of waste will decrease half of the waste entering in the open air dump and pollution risks linked to it, reducing also methane gas emissions. We already recycled 3700 tons of waste.
We employed in 2011 over 30 persons including 20 unskilled almost all aged under 25 and 9 women. Terra Nova helped its employees to be reintegrated in society: to construct or rehabilitated their homes and to return to school in evening classes. We aim to have more than 200 employees until 2018.
Marketplace
Main difference with other international recycling projects (have a look at Gevalor website) is that we focus on compost quality and its marketing so that its large scale use makes possible to sustainably improve soil fertility, increase farmers’ revenue and availability of fresh vegetables on local market.
There is no other project producing natural fertilizer, or recycling organic waste in Mozambique, neither supporting small farmers of Beira’s city however very dynamic in terms of waste management. So we established a strong partnership with them that gives us the exclusivity of the waste.
Sustainability Plan
A current crowdfunding campaign (http://igg.me/at/TerraNova/x/3476549) will allow us to maintain production until the BAGC (Beira Agricultural Growth Corridor) subsidizes the sale of our compost for 1 or 2 years. This will allow us to increase our production capacity to achieve internal rate of return. Obtaining additional financing will accelerate this process.
Founding Story
French business and project manager I wanted to build a truly sustainable local development project with positive impact on environment, society and generating profits for its perpetuation. In Madagascar I was shocked by waste management system and little farmer’s conditions. My formation in agriculture, a strong environmental ethic and an 8-year experience in Africa encouraged me to develop a local solution for recycling waste which would also enhance agricultural development. I worked on this concept in Madagascar before starting in 2009 in Mozambique.
Determinated to change social situation of the poorest in the long run, I have used an integrative management method valuating each other's strengths and works, whatever their levels were.
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideWhere do you ensure the availability of nutrients?
Healthy environments., Nutrient-rich farming, 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?
Human wellness and vitality.
How specifically would this added capacity help you improve the quality, efficiency, or sustainability of your existing product or service?
Increasing production will permit more farmers to use compost and increase their incomes.
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideHow is your product or service connected to vitality for the people and planet?
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?
100 mots ou moins (800 caractères)
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?
What do you consider the most promising trends or evidence that indicates that the developments you described are emerging? Please elaborate.
100 mots ou moins (800 caractères)
Funding Opportunity Link:
This innovation also has a Project Page where you can read more about its latest progress.
Go to Project: Hakuna Matata Project.
Created on 06/13/2013 by crofab
Help us defeat food and water scarcity and poverty through community-level capacity building in Meru, Kenya. The plan: reclaim precious water and nutrients from greywater for growing food through a free capacity-building greywater training program and the creation of a greywater plumbing co-op.
Organization: Hakuna Matata Project
Visit websitemore ↓↑ hide↑ hideCountry where this project is creating social impact
n/a
Is your organization a
Non‐profit/NGO/citizen sector organization
Has the organization received awards or honors? Please tell us about them
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideStage
Established (the solution has passed the previous stages, and has demonstrated success)
This Entry is about (Issues)
Elevator Pitch
Help us defeat food and water scarcity and poverty through community-level capacity building in Meru, Kenya. The plan: reclaim precious water and nutrients from greywater for growing food through a free capacity-building greywater training program and the creation of a greywater plumbing co-op.
Problem
Meru, Kenya suffers from the triple-whammy of food scarcity, water scarcity, and poverty. Greywater is used water from kitchens, laundry washing, showers, and sinks (but not toilet water). This nutrient-rich wastewater is not clean enough to use for cooking or drinking, so it's often wasted or dumped into the street. A lack of knowledge and capacity prevents this precious water and nutrients from being used to grow much-needed food.
Solution
Our answer is to build capacity through the training of local residents in installation of edible greywater systems, raise public awareness of the ease and benefits of reusing greywater, and to form a co-op from the trained plumbers to provide a much-needed business platform and extra income source for them to become successful.
First, we bring in a greywater expert to provide technical training to plumbers on setting up edible greywater systems in a free 5-day workshop for local plumbers.
Then, we give workshop attendees the option of taking an exam at the end of the workshop to certify them as approved greywater system installers. If they pass, they can join the greywater plumber co-op we will create and hand off to them.
Example
Let's take two examples: a single mother with several children struggling with a lack of income to feed her kids; the second is a family whose breadwinner is a laborer with a variety of different skills, but struggles to find regular work.
The laborer attends the workshop, takes the exam at the end and passes, becoming a certified installer and joining the co-op as well. We pay for him and several other plumbers in the co-op to install edible greywater systems for needy and interested residents, including the single mother. The laborer gets extra income from the job and a business platform for future work. The single mother gets a well-watered food system to help feed her kids and a sanitary way of treating her greywater.
Impact
The technology behind greywater systems is tried and tested, possessing no new technology or specialized equipment. UNESCO and WHO both note that properly constructed greywater systems are safe and effective ways to grow food. Building capacity for installing these systems in Meru will contribute towards sustainable development in a very real and meaningful way.
Marketplace
There are a number of NGOs working across the globe on promoting greywater systems. The primary factors that set us apart are, firstly, the fact that we are focusing only on the Meru area in which our NGO is based; and secondly, that we are not simply installing greywater systems for residents, but rather training locals and putting the power in their hands to do the installations themselves and receive income from doing so.
Sustainability Plan
The budget needed for this project will not be considerably high and a central aspect of this plan is the eventual financial sustainability of the greywater installers co-op. After the co-op is formed, we will fund a limited amount of installations of greywater systems in local schools and for disadvantaged families. But at a certain point, after promoting and gaining visibiltiy of the co-op, it will be supported by the business it receives.
Founding Story
Hakuna Matata has its roots as a shared vision between members of a Kenyan community who were informally supporting about 20 orphans and abused children in and around the Meru area since around 2008. Muriungi-Julius, a native resident of Meru, was nearing completion of his master’s degree in New Zealand in 2010. He knew of the situation back in Meru, and saw this as the perfect opportunity to use his education to help create a positive impact back home. He envisioned creating an official non-profit charity organization in Kenya dedicated to supporting and providing care for orphans and abused women and children in the Meru/Isiolo area. Thus, Hakuna Matata was born in April 2010.
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideWhere do you ensure the availability of nutrients?
Healthy environments., Nutrient-rich farming, Full nourishment foods, 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, Human wellness and vitality.
How specifically would this added capacity help you improve the quality, efficiency, or sustainability of your existing product or service?
As a community organization, it would add capacity for sustainable growth in our community and our organization. The workshop for this program would include a demonstration installation for the participants to get hands-on experience with that would be based at our site. Therefore, we would also get an excellent edible greywater system for our community site that we are in the process of developing. The installers that we have trained will have a business platform and be part of our network, being available as skilled installers that we can call upon for future greywater installations.
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideHow 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).
Help us defeat food and water scarcity and poverty through community-level capacity building in Meru, Kenya. The plan: reclaim precious water and nutrients from greywater for growing food through a free capacity-building greywater training program and the creation of a greywater plumbing co-op.
This innovation also has a Project Page where you can read more about its latest progress.
Go to Project: Spiruline et santé.
Created on 06/11/2013 by Stéphanie DIETSCH
Le projet « Spiruline et santé » d'Entrepreneurs du Monde vise à rendre accessible à tous la spiruline produite localement par l'instauration d’un modèle de distribution viable et pérenne avec un triple impact positif sur l'emploi, le pouvoir d'achat et la santé des populations les plus pauvres
Organization: Entrepreneurs du Monde
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Is your organization a
Non‐profit/NGO/citizen sector organization
Has the organization received awards or honors? Please tell us about them
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideStage
Growth (the pilot has already launched and is starting to expand)
This Entry is about (Issues)
Elevator Pitch
Le projet « Spiruline et santé » d'Entrepreneurs du Monde vise à rendre accessible à tous la spiruline produite localement par l'instauration d’un modèle de distribution viable et pérenne avec un triple impact positif sur l'emploi, le pouvoir d'achat et la santé des populations les plus pauvres
Problem
La malnutrition est un problème majeur au Togo où selon l’OMS 27% des enfants souffrent de carences alimentaires. La spiruline, de par sa composition riche en protéines et micro-nutriments remarquablement assimilables par l’organisme est un très bon complément alimentaire, capable de pallier les carences constatées. Mais au Togo la production locale de spiruline est peu valorisée, et les produits d’importation sont onéreux.
Solution
Pour rendre accessible la spiruline au plus grand nombre tout en renforçant la production locale, Entrepreneurs du Monde instaure un modèle de commercialisation durable de la spiruline produite localement : un prix juste payé au producteur, une activité génératrice de revenus pour les vendeurs, un prix de vente abordable pour les consommateurs et la création à terme d’une entreprise sociale autonome et pérenne.
Il est essentiel de souligner l’originalité du projet qui permet de concilier amélioration de la santé nutritionnelle de la communauté et création d’activités génératrices de revenus pour des personnes en situation de précarité ou d'exclusion.
Example
Tso-Tso Adjanon a intégré le réseau de vendeurs de spiruline d'Entrepreneurs du Monde en 2012. Tso Tso est une consommatrice de spiruline de longue date. Avant, elle s'approvisionnait dans les pharmacies au prix fort, donc occasionnellement car ses moyens ne lui permettaient pas d'en acheter de façon régulière. Elle témoigne :
"Lorsque l'on m'a proposé de devenir vendeuse de spiruline, je n'ai pas hésité : c'était pour moi l'occasion d'améliorer ma santé et celle de mon entourage. Cela me permet d'améliorer mes conditions de vie, et aussi de mettre de l'argent de côté". L'activité lui permet d'épargner près de 5000FCFA (10$ environ) chaque mois, elle espère ainsi pouvoir accéder à son propre logement.
Impact
Depuis le démarrage du projet en 2012, Entrepreneurs du Monde a recruté parmi son public cible 71 vendeurs de spiruline. Ceux-ci sont formés sur les thèmes de la spiruline, de la nutrition et des techniques de ventes. Par les formations qu’ils reçoivent, les vendeurs renforcent leurs connaissances dans le domaine de la nutrition et la vente de spiruline leur permettent d’améliorer leur niveau de vie. De plus, cette activité au service du bien-être de leur communauté leur permet de se sentir valorisés et est par conséquent un facteur d’intégration.
Le réseau de distribution qui compte 98% de femmes a permis de commercialiser 175 kg de spiruline en un an, ce qui correspond à près de 50% de la production de la ferme.
Cela représente aussi une cure de spiruline pour 1 750 personnes, qui constituent, avec les vendeurs formés, les bénéficiaires directs du projet.
Marketplace
Au Togo, la spiruline disponible sur le marché provient essentiellement de l'étranger, d'où elle est importée au prix fort et revendue uniquement en pharmacie, et donc destinée essentiellement à une clientèle restreinte. Le projet "spiruline et santé" d'Entrepreneurs du Monde permet non seulement de mettre sur le marché de la spiruline produite localement et donc vendue à un prix abordable, mais aussi de mettre en place un réseau de vendeurs de proximité, qui interviennent au plus près des communautés et permettront d'atteindre les populations les plus vulnérables.
Sustainability Plan
La phase pilote du projet montre des résultats significatifs, qu'il convient d'amplifier pour viabiliser le modèle.
La pérennité de la future entreprise sociale passe par le renforcement des réseaux de distribution, pour permettre de multiplier et diversifier les points de vente et accroître significativement le volume des ventes, mais aussi par la diversification des produits proposés, afin de diversifier les sources de revenus.
Founding Story
Le projet "spiruline et santé" est mené depuis 2010 par Entrepreneurs du Monde au Burkina Faso.
Au vu de la réussite de ce projet, Entrepreneurs du Monde a mené une prospection vers les fermes de spiruline présentes dans ses différents pays d'intervention, en vue de répliquer ce programme. C'est ainsi que s'est faite la rencontre avec Tonato Agbeko, producteur de spiruline à Agou Nyogbo au Togo. Passionné par la spiruline et très engagé pour le bien-être de sa communauté, Mr Agbeko a très vite convaincu Laetitia Raginel, directrice des programmes Afrique, de travailler en partenariat avec lui, dans l'objectif commun de faire connaître aux familles togolaises tous les bienfaits de la spiruline.
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideWhere 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?
Full nourishment foods, Human wellness and vitality.
How specifically would this added capacity help you improve the quality, efficiency, or sustainability of your existing product or service?
Dans le cadre du projet "spiruline et santé", Entrepreneurs du monde vise à faire entrer la spiruline dans les habitudes alimentaires des ménages togolais. L'élaboration de produits enrichis à la spiruline (biscuits, jus...), permettra aux vendeurs de communiquer plus facilement sur la spiruline et ses bienfaits, tout en diversifiant leurs sources de revenus. La diversification de l'offre s'accompagnera d'une campagne de communication efficace et ciblée, pour une meilleure visibilité du produit.
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideHow is your product or service connected to vitality for the people and planet?
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?
100 mots ou moins (800 caractères)
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?
What do you consider the most promising trends or evidence that indicates that the developments you described are emerging? Please elaborate.
100 mots ou moins (800 caractères)
The Cameroon Solar Solutions (CSS) makes a positive impact for environment, economy and society facilitating access to affordable, reliable and clean solar energy.
Margahayuland senantiasa memimpin perusahaan property pasar Indonesia, Margahayulan genap 42 tahun membangun kesuksesan. Apakah anda penggemarnya juga Seperti saya? margahayuland group menjadi sorotan publik tentang kehebatan meniti kesuksesan jaya.
Created on 05/27/2013 by Kim Van Asch
Offer a wide range of care services to older people in great need of care 24/7, with coordination by a case manager / care coach.
Visit websitemore ↓↑ hide↑ hideName
Solidariteit voor het Gezin
Type
Social enterprise (partly economically self-sustained through market products and services, primary mission is to solve a social problem)
Country where main implementer is located
How long has the main implementer been operating?
More than 5 years
Please provide a short description of the main implementer.
'Solidariteit voor het Gezin' is an independent (non profit) service for welfare and health care that offers a versatile range of services starting from home care, but depending on the needs of its clients, is also committed to organizing and coordinating additional services. Assistance is offered by knowledgeable and motivated staff, starting from a humanist vision and dynamic client centered attitude.
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..
Name
Huisartsenvereniging Gent (Ghent General Practitioners' Association)
How does this cooperation partner support the initiative? What competencies and resources does this partner bring to the initiative?
The General Practitioners' Association's first task is making the project known to general practitioners in Ghent. Moreover, general practitioners will also participate in team consultation meetings for selected patients.
Name
UZ Gent (Ghent University Hospital)
How does this cooperation partner support the initiative? Which competencies and resources does this partner bring to the initiative?
The Ghent University Hospital delivers expertise in care for older people and release management. They are in charge of screening and referral of possible patients. The continuity of care and an optimum reintegration in patients' home environment is ensured together with the care coach.
Name
OCMW Destelbergen & Gent (Ghent & Destelbergen Social Service Centres)
How does this cooperation partner support the initiative? Which competencies and resources does this partner bring to the initiative?
The Ghent & Destelbergen social service centres employ occupational therapists who screen patients' homes and make adaptations in order to prevent patients from falling. Furthermore, they teach patients to use simple tools enabling them to live in their homes longer with a few minor interventions.
Name
Liever Thuis LM (mantelzorg)
How does this cooperation partner support the initiative? Which competencies and resources does this partner bring to the initiative?
Liever Thuis LM is a volunteer care association that organizes about 5 information sessions every year on relevant topics for individuals in need of care and carers: subsidies in home care, how to prevent falls … During these sessions both parties meet others who are in similar situations.
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideName Your Entry
P3 - Care Innovation: a coordinated and comprehensive care package
Describe your initiative
Offer a wide range of care services to older people in great need of care 24/7, with coordination by a case manager / care coach.
Which of these fields of Active and Healthy Ageing are addressed by your initiative?
Health literacy and patient empowerment, Personalized health management, Integrated care for chronic conditions, Independent living solutions.
If none of the above, answer here:
Please describe and explain the problem your initiative is trying to solve.
The introduction of an innovative range of care services (including night rounds, professional alert responses, emergency relief, individually scheduled day care, occupational therapist advice) aims to enable older people (aged 60 or older) to benefit from care in their own home for a longer time. A better harmonization of care services will guarantee the continuity of care for individuals in need of complex and/or long-term care. Intensive counselling of patients/clients by care coaches/case managers as well as optimum cooperation between all partners in charge of both care and carer support, should make it possible to postpone or avoid admission to nursing homes. If individuals/older people in need of care can benefit from quality care in the safe environment of their own home, this will keep health care expenses in check.
Please describe and explain the solution your initiative is implementing. What is innovative about your solution? What distinguishes your solution from other existing approaches to the problem?
This is an innovative project because a whole range of services is added to existing initiatives (home nursing, family care…). Unlike for the current offer of services, the care provided in this project is not limited to office hours (8AM-5PM), but can also be offered to individuals in need of care outside office hours and at the weekend: night rounds by professional carers between 10PM en 6AM, evening rounds by professional carers between 5PM and 10PM, weekend assistance. All services are coordinated by a care coach/case manager acting as a single point of contact. Consequently, individuals in need of care or carers only have to contact the care coach to start, adapt… care services. Care coaches monitor the evolution of patients' care needs from start to finish and make adjustments wherever necessary in consultation with patients, carers, general practitioners and the care and assistance providers involved. For individuals in need of care who cannot find their way in the current offer of care services, their care coach/case manager will be the person to talk to. Together with all care and assistance providers involved, the care coach/case manager will assist patients and carers from their first request for care to the final stage (admission to a nursing home or decease).
Walk us through a specific example of how your solution makes a difference; include your primary activities.
An older individual in need of care can return home after a long stay in hospital thanks to the necessary support during the day, at night and at the weekend. Carers will be less worried and will decide to postpone admission to a nursing home and take care of their mother/father at home, with the necessary professional support: a home nurse will come by every day for medical care, a professional carer will take care of household chores and assistance with daily meals. At 8PM the evening round professional carer will come in to change individuals in need of care and put them to bed. At 11PM and at 4AM the night round professional carer will stop by to see if everything is all right and to change incontinence products. At the weekend too, individuals in need of care can count on a few hours of assistance so that carers have some time to relax. An occupational therapist has screened the home so that the chance of falling has been seriously reduced. Assistance is fully coordinated by a care coach/case manager. All care and assistance providers involved are kept up to date on possible adjustments of care organisation.
Please describe if and how your stakeholders (cooperation partners, funders, users, etc.) have been participating in defining the problem and developing the solution.
Our various partners have been active in first-line care for many years. Based on their experience they have a clear view of the problems experienced by older people in need of care and of the gaps in the offer of care services leading to early admission to a nursing home for many older people in need of care. Our partners have been involved in the preparation of the project at different levels: defining the target group, defining and developing care services… Carers were also consulted during the elaboration of the project, because without them home care would be impossible.
Has your solution been tested in trials, experimentations, or pilot projects? If yes, please describe the process and outcome.
No, our care services were not tested in advance since elaborating and testing a tailor-made range of services was part of the National Health Insurance Institute (RIZIV) call for projects.
How long has your solution been in operation?
for 1‐5 years
Select the stage that best applies to your solution
Established (past the previous stages and has demonstrated success)
Please select the relationship between your solution and related solutions currently established in our society. Is your solution…
complementary (your solution is complementing existing solutions and compensating their weaknesses while not intending to substitute them)
Please try to identify and describe competing solutions implemented by other organizations addressing the same problem as you are. What challenges do these competing solutions pose to your success or growth?
Other organisations focus on only 1 or 2 services exclusively: only night care services, only care coordination… but do not offer 24/7 care services combined with a care coach for coordination. When allocating resources for the project the National Health Insurance Institute (RIZIV) took account of where projects were located. In Ghent there are a few other projects focusing on a part of care provision, but not on 24/7 support and an extensive range of care services. Taking into account the needs of the individual in need of care and the carer, the care coach/case manager will compose an individual, tailor-made care package. Services and staff from other projects will be involved at the request or in the interest of patients.
What barriers might hinder the success of your initiative? How do you plan to overcome them?
Flemish and federal rules and regulations are not entirely harmonised and make it difficult to optimise care services. The various types of care providers and their professional status are often defined by different regulations, which sometimes prevents flexible employment of these professionals. A concrete example: professional carers subject to Flemish regulations who provide assistance at the weekend cannot be replaced in case of illness… As a result, carers will have to be appealed to. However, some individuals in need of care do not have carers or they are unavailable (they are abroad…), which compromises the continuity of care provision.
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What are the specific professional backgrounds and competencies your team brings to the initiative?
Our team consists of:
- nurses (verpleegkundigen)
- professional carers (verzorgenden)
- nursing assistants (zorgkundigen)
- carers (mantelzorgers)
- occupational therapists
- social workers
- general practitioners
- geriatricians
- volunteers
who, each from their own training, background and experience contribute to the project objective: keeping older people in need of care at home longer with the necessary support.
Please describe your management or coordination structure in the initiative.
Project progress is monitored by a steering committee consisting of representatives of our various partners. Furthermore, a project report must be submitted to the National Health Insurance Institute (RIZIV) every six months. Within Solidariteit voor het Gezin the project is monitored by an administrative coordinator who is also in charge of contacts with the National Health Insurance Institute (RIZIV). Our care coaches ensure care coordination.
Please provide the total yearly budget in Euro that your initiative spends on implementing the solution.
European Union public funding
Economic return from own products/services
Foundations and philanthropy capital
Single donations from private individuals
Donations from private companies
Other (please specify)
1,5% (overhead costs of the organisation that are not subsidised through public funding)
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideWhich target group(s) do you want to reach with your solution?
People aged 60 or older who need complex or long-term care after hospitalization or who suffer from serious health complaints, with an inevitable admission to a nursing home on the short term. The patient needs to meet one of the following conditions: FFA/FFB/FFC Katz-scale, FFB/FFC/FFCd Residential Katz-scale, suffering from dementia, 6 or 6+ on the Edmonton-scale.
We also target carers who need professional support to continue to deal with these challenging tasks and to avoid admission in a residential setting.
Please estimate the number of persons within your target group (users, clients, etc.) that you currently reach directly with your solution.
In which local/regional/national area(s) is the solution currently implemented?
What is the impact on your target group (users, clients) you want to generate?
Many older people (in need of care) are keen to stay at home, in a familiar environment, for as long as possible. In practice, however, a lot of older people live in their homes in awkward and unsafe circumstances because care services are not adapted to the concrete needs of this target group.
With this project we would like to enable older people in need of care to stay at home longer, in worthy and safe conditions, and to postpone and even avoid admission to a nursing home.
What is the wider impact on society you want to generate?
As our population grows older, society faces an enormous challenge. Health care costs are already a considerable part of the budget that can be spent. To keep health care and the impact of an ageing population payable, it is necessary to introduce innovative forms of care aimed at caring for older people at home longer and at providing residential care to older people who are in great need of care but for whom quality care at home is no longer possible. Since there already is a shortage of residential settings, the introduction of 24/7 support at home can remedy this situation.
What are the impacts on your target group you already achieved?
Since the start of the project, older people in need of care have been able to postpone admission to a residential setting with an average of 240 days. Thanks to different types of care (day and night), they have been able to stay in their homes, which would have been impossible without this project. Support by carers and close monitoring by our care coaches makes older people in need of care feel more supported at home, and their specific care needs are met. If attention is paid to quality and safety as well as affordability, older people could/can stay in their familiar environment longer.
How has the impact of your initiative been assessed?
Experience-based self-assessment (you assessed the impacts based on your experiences with the target group), Self-evaluation (you used qualitative and/or quantitative methods to assess impacts), External evaluation of impacts based on quantitative methods (quantitative measurement of impact indicators).
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideWhat information on your initiative is publicly available?
Mission and strategy, Organisational structure, Information on team members.
Please indicate webpage or contact for obtaining the respective information.
What are your milestones for further developing, implementing, and establishing your initiative in the next three years? Please describe 1-3 milestones.
We would like to continue to improve the range of care services in this project based on the experience we have acquired in the past three years. Both the input of individuals in need of care and professional care providers is very valuable in this respect.
We intend to submit the modified project for a 4-year prolongation in the same region. Additionally, we will submit the improved project for a second region.
Created on 05/24/2013 by meredithdf
An average 80-seat restaurant discards 80 kg of waste per day, and 75% or more of that garbage is organic. FERN analyzes the waste stream, provides waste separation training activities, conducts continuous followup activity, and collects waste from restaurants to facilitate composting and recycling.
Organization: FERN [Food Establishments Recycling Nutrients]
Visit websitemore ↓↑ hide↑ hideOrganization Name
FERN [Food Establishments Recycling Nutrients]
Country where this project is creating social impact
Is your organization a
Hybrid
Has the organization received awards or honors? Please tell us about them
Seed grant from the British Embassy to Lebanon. We applied for and were awarded one grant for 10,700 British Pounds, for the period between October, 2012 and March, 2013.
We are finalists for the 2Degrees Sustainability Champions Award, in the Waste and Resource Management category. Results will be announced at an official ceremony in London on July 10th, 2013.
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideName your entry
FERN [Food Establishments Recycling Nutrients]
Stage
Scaling (the solution has passed the previous stages, and the next step will be growing its impact on a regional or global scale)
This Entry is about (Issues)
Elevator Pitch
An average 80-seat restaurant discards 80 kg of waste per day, and 75% or more of that garbage is organic. FERN analyzes the waste stream, provides waste separation training activities, conducts continuous followup activity, and collects waste from restaurants to facilitate composting and recycling.
Problem
The dependence on landfills in Lebanon is economically, environmentally, and ethically irresponsible and unsustainable. Land is limited, materials are expensive, and the negative social and environmental impacts of waste disposal are long-lasting. Topsoils are rapidly disappearing, and food waste sent to landfills rots and creates methane, a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming. Waste separation and recycling are uncommon.
Solution
FERN allows for the environmentally responsible treatment of waste by ensuring that it is sorted at source, collected daily, and distributed to recycling and treatment facilities. Implementation in each establishment begins with waste analysis, during which the average daily volume of waste is quantified. In the following staff training session, we introduce the concepts composting and recycling, and walk through a short interactive waste sorting exercise that introduces color-coded "Organic" and "Recyclable" categories. Our team conducts regular followup visits and we develop waste reduction guidelines for each establishment. We partner with a local composting company, and host monthly public events for engagement, education, and advocacy.
Example
We launched operations in November 2012 with five establishments in Beirut, and have since adopted five more. We analyzed waste, met and trained the staff, continue to visit the locations to check up on sorting activities, and our team collects waste daily.
Initially, the staff is always skeptical, assuming that our project will require more of their time. After a few weeks of sorting waste, the staff finds that the new system is easily adaptable, and they are often enthusiastic to play a part in a process that has a positive impact on the environment.
Our logistics team, young Lebanese men that do daily collections and manage the warehouse, are proud to be part of a fledgling initiative that counters conventional opinions of trash.
Impact
The ten restaurants that we work with generate an average of 80 kg of waste per day, and we assume that 60 or more of those kilograms are food waste that is compostable. The other portion of the waste stream is packaging, especially cardboard, aluminium, plastic, and glass.
We currently collect all inorganic material, and we network with an informal industry of scrap yards and materials processing and recycling facilities. The small revenues that we generate from selling recyclable materials are reincorporated into our operating expenses, (particularly, gasoline expenditures). Our continued followup in the restaurants is geared towards perfecting waste sorting, so that we can begin to collect the organic material and transport it to Cedar Environmental for composting. Lebanon's colored glass recycling facility waste destroyed in 2006, and we are developing future upcycling projects.
Marketplace
Organic waste is treated as a valuable resource in many European countries, where municipalities carefully developed education campaigns to accompany commercial and residential waste sorting and collection. Most cities including Beirut lack the political will, resources, or both, to implement sweeping change.
FERN is the only activity of its kind in Lebanon, and we believe that training and education are our most essential components. Helping individuals and the public to comprehend the motivation for our activities will do more to help the cause than collecting their garbage ever will.
Sustainability Plan
FERN's startup costs were supported by a one-time grant of $16,853 from the British Embassy to Lebanon. The establishments that participate in FERN's program provide monthly donations of between $100 and $400, which are calculated based on the amount of waste that they generate. We are seeking a grant to support the addition of 20+ establishments, so we can begin collecting organic waste and increase revenue from more recyclable materials.
Founding Story
I discovered the potential for FERN when I volunteered in Beirut during my MS Urban Policy and Sustainability Management program. I returned to New York and by the time my coursework was complete in December 2011, I was consumed by the drive to return to Lebanon and get my hands dirty.
I was sitting alone on my couch immensely frustrated, staring at a page full of words related to recycling, environmentalism, composting, sustainability, urbanism, and far too many other concepts, when "Food," "Establishments," "Recycling," and "Nutrients" pulled themselves into line. GoogleDocs for training program development, mission statements, financial analyses, and legal documentation finally had a folder to call home, and I bought a plane ticket.
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideWhere do you ensure the availability of nutrients?
Healthy environments., Nutrient-rich farming.
If you had greater capacity, which additional sectors would you like your solution to target - either through expansion, partnership, or thought exchange?
Full nourishment foods, Human wellness and vitality.
How specifically would this added capacity help you improve the quality, efficiency, or sustainability of your existing product or service?
We try to impact overall wellness through public education during our events and campaigns. However, with added capacity we would love to follow the food waste that we collect and distribute for composting directly to its end destinations.
We believe farmers can benefit from capacity building programs that focus on using compost for healthy, resilient soils, and long-term sustainable cultivation. We want children to have gardens at schools that act as breathing samples of nutrient cycles at work. Such ecosystems can range from full-scale gardens to tiny windowsill seedlings.
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideHow 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).
An average 80-seat restaurant discards 80 kg of waste per day, and 75% or more of that garbage is organic. FERN analyzes the waste stream, provides waste separation training activities, conducts continuous followup activity, and collects waste from restaurants to facilitate composting and recycling.
A Peace of Cake primarily aims to achieve two goals which are the core belief for every activity to build upon: first is to unlock every children's hidden potential in order to allow them to use their capacity to their full potential, and second is to create a peaceful society based on understanding
Created on 05/14/2013 by kitameri
CORE Foods' mission is to cultivate a healthier planet by empowering people with fresh food and resources. Our CORE Meals are the first real perishable packaged food option on the go – all delivered in a not-for-profit model that reinvests in food quality, the planet, and honest nutrition advice.
Organization: CORE Foods
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United States, CA, Oakland, Alameda County
Country where this project is creating social impact
United States, CA, Oakland, Alameda County
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Hybrid
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Established (the solution has passed the previous stages, and has demonstrated success)
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Elevator Pitch
CORE Foods' mission is to cultivate a healthier planet by empowering people with fresh food and resources. Our CORE Meals are the first real perishable packaged food option on the go – all delivered in a not-for-profit model that reinvests in food quality, the planet, and honest nutrition advice.
Problem
We are constantly bombarded with competing nutrition information, making it difficult to make healthy choices. It is especially difficult to make these choices on the go because nearly all packaged foods contain additives, preservatives, sugar, oil, and flour. Furthermore, pursuit of profits drives down packaged food quality, so larger food companies exploit confusion and cheap ingredients to further their own goals - not feed us the best food!
Solution
CORE Foods has developed an on-the-go meal that is nutritionally balanced and 100% organic, raw, and gluten-free: a full bowl of oatmeal in bar form that delivers four hours of stable energy. If you don't have time for a salad, and don't want to eat the candy that is most on the go food, CORE Meals are for you! Beyond making the best food we can, CORE believes in reinvesting its profit in food quality, sustainability, and our community. Even more, CORE provides completely unbiased online nutritional information and community outreach/events in order to increase awareness about the basics of healthy eating: eat mostly whole raw fruits, vegetables, and other produce!
Example
One example of how our solution operates is for a working mom. She is unable to take the time for breakfast in the morning because she is occupied with other tasks. She can reach for a CORE meal and eat it on-the-go like she would normally with a bar that may not be healthy. Then, after drinking water, it will be as if she has eaten a whole bowl of oatmeal and will get the nutrient value and the energy, but in a more convenient form. In addition to eating our meal, she can look online for a plethora of nutritional information and simple principles to live by. Through our efforts, this working mother is able to accomplish her goal of healthy eating, both by eating her CORE meal, and by absorbing the nutritional guidelines we provide online.
Impact
Despite CORE’s recent beginnings, its impact is vast and increasing rapidly. We represent over $1,000,000/year (at current rates) in economic activity dedicated to non-extractive work with a positive impact on human health, the planet, and the environment. The over 10,000 meals that CORE delivers per week displace both unhealthy food options that are made using unsustainable methods, and people skipping meals altogether. CORE Foods increases access to fresh meals and community health by serving over 1,875 pounds of organic, raw, gluten free food per week. Both revenue and meals delivered are expected to double within the next year. And CORE goes further than organic by committing to never include additives in our ingredients and pushing our suppliers to make the finest, purest ingredients to meet our strict quality standards. We are constantly pushing to increase our positive impact.
Marketplace
CORE foods is an innovator because we are a packaged food company that makes perishable, fresh food and we commit to incredibly strict nutritional standards. And we do all of this in a business model that is not extractive and not focused on making profits. These values go against current norms for packaged food companies. We commit to making only the healthiest, whole, produce-based foods--no syrups, salts, flours, oils, or additives and operating with an innovative not-for-profit business model that both out-competes traditional for-profit businesses and makes the world a better place.
Sustainability Plan
By selling our food at retail outlets we have built a small, but reasonable margin into our model to fund growth, while still delivering food at an incredible value: ingredient costs that are 4x industry avgs (40% or revenue v. industry avg 10%). Whenever we sell CORE Meals we are able to finance even more food, and work in education and social and environmental work. The more meals we sell, the more we can reinvest in what matters!
Founding Story
In our founders' search to understand the human relationship with food, he lived with 12 traditional tribes across the globe. Looking at these cultures and our society today, it was clear that the confusion consumers have about what to eat was not always a problem. Truly healthy, long-standing diets all focused on simply fresh food, whole foods, and raw or unprocessed food. Corey became inspired to create an unbiased source for healthy food that took the confusion out of the eating. While traveling he noticed that all the on-the-go food options available did not meet basic historical nutritional principles, so he decided to revolutionize this industry by creating an on-the-go option that promotes health and community reciprocity.
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideWhere do you ensure the availability of nutrients?
Full nourishment foods.
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, Human wellness and vitality.
How specifically would this added capacity help you improve the quality, efficiency, or sustainability of your existing product or service?
By having our own locations, and not just selling products at retail, we could create a lifestyle destination that would allow us to have direct and deeper impact on our customer's lives through nutrition education workshops, counseling, meetup groups, and serving fresh food every day. Also, these locations would allow us to source and serve even more fresh food every day, allowing us to partner with local farmers to support nutrient-rich, organic farming of high-impact crops.
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideHow is your product or service connected to vitality for the people and planet?
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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.
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Created on 05/14/2013 by Dhruv Bansal
Balancers trying to reduce hunger crisis, are developing a food-o-social website cum application which would elaborate the concept of social inclusion. We are availing an opportunity to the people, to be recognized for the efforts they have put with innovative calorie donation cum execution.
Organization: Balancers
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n/a
Is your organization a
Non‐profit/NGO/citizen sector organization
Has the organization received awards or honors? Please tell us about them
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Idea (poised to launch)
This Entry is about (Issues)
Elevator Pitch
Balancers trying to reduce hunger crisis, are developing a food-o-social website cum application which would elaborate the concept of social inclusion. We are availing an opportunity to the people, to be recognized for the efforts they have put with innovative calorie donation cum execution.
Problem
The unbalanced state of our society, the deteriorating condition of nourishment, unequal distribution of resources and lack of awareness amongst the masses motivated us, to work for the society, for the sake of people, for the social welfare.The website-cum-application will generate awareness and provide practical solutions to the issues, the ones we face today.Providing practical solutions to deal with the epidemic obese and undernourishment.
Solution
Food|booK focuses on generating, operating and spreading solutions by creating a Global Alliance. This leads to the ultimate goal of uprooting the status-quo and thereby promoting an idea to feed a massive population of 9 billion.
-To make people aware and awaken their consciousness.
-To hand out practical solutions by connecting people.
-Accounting and recognizing people's efforts by Socializing Food Credits.
-To create a balanced calorie distribution system.
-Cartel NGO's for channelizing of funds and promote transparency.
Example
If I don't feel like eating today, what i have to do is: Login in to the Food|booK application/website and can donate that particular meal or calories that i was about to consume to people in any of the continent (struck by undernourishment). Food|booK simplifies the concept of the donation and tries to carry it forward in terms of calories. Through this, we are also letting people know how much calories they are consuming and donating. A real-time display of cumulative calories donated and how many lives saved so far are also featured on our platform.
Impact
• Age Group
➢ To connect people of age group 15-42, as they are more likely to be on social networking and believe in change.
• Building Audience
➢ Through the means of:-
• Twitter
• Tumblr page
• Fb page
• Promotional videos
• Collaboration with NGOs and Corporates
The innovative idea behind donation is not to feed the hungry, but it’s to uplift their status, from those poor conditions, thus, empowering poor societies. This leads to the ultimate goal of uprooting the status-quo and thereby promoting an idea to feed a massive population of 9 billion.
Marketplace
Food|booK provides the chance to be the philanthropist by even doing a bit, and promotes the efforts of one. It depends on the efforts of the people. It even highlights the projects which promote green thinking and preserves environment.
Sustainability Plan
It will be self sustained project, as it depends on the donations made by the people for the others. It provides a sit-at-home-donation opportunity to people.
Founding Story
As any idea gets its roots from another idea, to us that another idea was the Thought For Food Challenge’13. One pleasant morning, we all were surfing on Google, starting with as simple as Food wastage to as complicated as Sustainable Food Systems, etc; and after going through all the leading websites like fao, wfp, etc and wonderful blogs by different enthusiasts, we came across simple questions-Why do I have to go through various websites working for the same vital issues? Why aren’t some exploding-ly interesting blogs not able to reach out to people they should have? When I am ready to help, why do I have limited resources and options? Then we thought, are we capable enough to club? And the answer came YES, WHY NOT!
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideWhere 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?
Nutrient-rich farming, Full nourishment foods, Human wellness and vitality.
How specifically would this added capacity help you improve the quality, efficiency, or sustainability of your existing product or service?
If the project works, we would like to spend in Nutrient Rich Farming and Nourishment Food.
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideHow 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).
Created on 05/14/2013 by Nicholas Luther
Kwik Khana aims to reduce food insecurity in urban slums worldwide by providing people in need with nutritious, affordable and convenient food. Our current model has been developed forDharavi, Mumbai, one of the largest urban slums in the world, and we hope to expand to slums worldwide.
Organization: Kwik Khana
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Hult Prize 2013 Global Event, Top Ten Finalist; recognized as one of the top ten social entrepreneurship ideas out of more than seventy video submissions by public votes
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Idea (poised to launch)
This Entry is about (Issues)
Elevator Pitch
Kwik Khana aims to reduce food insecurity in urban slums worldwide by providing people in need with nutritious, affordable and convenient food. Our current model has been developed forDharavi, Mumbai, one of the largest urban slums in the world, and we hope to expand to slums worldwide.
Problem
We live in a world where 925 million suffer from hunger. Each day, people suffer in both health and happiness due to lacking easy access to affordable and nutritious food. Food insecurity rural areas is widely-known. But tackling the issue in urban slums requires a different approach.
Solution
All Kwik Khana products are contained within a revolutionary flexible packaging system that contains two compartments separated by a resin seal. One compartment contains the solid ingredients, Kwik Khana’s fortified food blend, while the adjacent compartment contains clean water. When the resin seal separating the two compartments is broken by hand, the solid and liquid ingredients mix creating a porridge-like consistency familiar to diets around the world.
Example
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Impact
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Marketplace
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Sustainability Plan
Approximately 75 words left (600 characters).
Founding Story
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read more↓↑ hide↑ hideWhere do you ensure the availability of nutrients?
Healthy environments., Full nourishment foods, 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?
Nutrient-rich farming.
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).
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideHow 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).
"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.
Women at Lotus House are extremely low-income and largely minority. 78% have a mental illness with 81% having been victims of some form of trauma. Via evidence-based, trauma-informed counseling, women and children can heal and build resiliency, breaking a cycle of violence and homelessness.
With a dilapidated educational system in a world that will soon move toward human capital as the basis of the global economy, Liberia faces an uncertain future unless tougher reforms are created and funding is increased in the education sector to empower young people fill its human resource needs.
This innovation also has a Project Page where you can read more about its latest progress.
Go to Project: Dreaming Out Loud, Inc..
Created on 05/7/2013 by dreamingoutloud
Dreaming Out Loud inspires and builds a more ethical society through human development, community engagement and social enterprise. We founded the AyaUplift Project, an innovative food access, urban farming and “healthy food hub”, to generate sustainable employment in underserved communities.
Organization: Dreaming Out Loud, Inc.
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United States, DC, Washington, Washington
Country where this project is creating social impact
United States, DC, Washington
Is your organization a
Hybrid
Has the organization received awards or honors? Please tell us about them
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Growth (the pilot has already launched and is starting to expand)
This Entry is about (Issues)
Elevator Pitch
Dreaming Out Loud inspires and builds a more ethical society through human development, community engagement and social enterprise. We founded the AyaUplift Project, an innovative food access, urban farming and “healthy food hub”, to generate sustainable employment in underserved communities.
Problem
Entrenched generational poverty, inadequate education and broken food systems in America’s distressed communities have negatively impacted economic development, wellness and community vitality. Our partner communities lack the food-system infrastructure and workforce development strategies that allow them to utilize the nutrient economy for the creation of sustainable jobs, the solution to food access challenges, and realization of health equity.
Solution
We will address the inadequacy of food-systems infrastructure in distressed communities and the lack of food-system workforce education and training opportunities. We will develop food-system workforce education and training programs to solve these problems.
The foundation of our work is social. We use our ethical core values to engage in community-building and dialog with institutions (faith-based, schools and community organizations) to shift culture and behavior towards healthier lifestyles and work that sustains them. Building upon community knowledge, our approach provides training to enhance and advance those 21st century skill-sets necessary for vulnerable populations to enter the nutrient economy as healthy skilled workers.
Example
AyaUplift integrates community-building and social enterprise, linking the non-profit and for-profit sectors of the food system. We use a “hub and spoke” strategy: a central space with extensions into the community.
The hub includes: (1) AyaFarm, a full-scale urban farm growing nutrient-rich food; (2) Aya Community Food Hub, a food distribution and processing facility supporting multiple revenue streams including: a vegetable delivery service, farm-to-school model, processing of value-added, full nourishment food products; shared commercial kitchen; and (3) a training space. The spokes include: (1) Aya Community Markets, a network of farmers markets and (2) micro-farming projects that support growing and community learning.
Impact
Our impact can be felt on multiple levels. An example is Khalil: a 10 year-old boy. We met him at our first farmers market while hitting one of our yard-signs. When I gently approached him, I jokingly asked if he had something against vegetables; he blushed with embarrassment, as his friends laughed. I asked him to return to the market the next week along with his friends. They returned, along with several other friends, at 7:30am every Saturday for 18-weeks. We are now growing Khalil and friends as new leaders and community voices through a structured youth development program for 15 youth, primarily African-American males. By June 2013 we will have two market locations; will hire two returning citizens, or ex-offenders, in the markets and start a pre-order vegetable delivery service supported with our recently purchased refrigerated truck to four sites.
Marketplace
We are uniquely integrating food production, value-added processing and distribution as a social enterprise. Locally, Common Good City Farm grows food but doesn’t train low-income residents effectively to maintain sustainable employment in DC’s agriculture economy. DC Central Kitchen, and it’s LA Kitchen spinoff, doesn’t integrate food production, rather purchasing wholesale or acquiring donations; and doesn’t help to alleviate “food deserts” in the same manner. Will Allen’s Growing Power, grows and trains effectively, but has not adopted the healthy food hub concept.
Sustainability Plan
Financial sustainability will be ensured through multiple revenue streams including: 1. Produce sales: retail via farmers markets and vegetable delivery service; wholesale to restaurants and institutional clients. 2. Sale of value-added food products, 3.Rental of commercial kitchen space, and 3. Sale of electrical power to the grid from on-site solar arrays. 3. Vendor fees at farmers markets, and 4. Grants, fundraising, CDFIs and mission loans.
Founding Story
Chris first felt the passion for social change as a third-grader when a teacher-issued ban on tag sparked him to organize with classmates to sign petitions, stage a sit-in on the sandbox and boycott recess for their right to play!
He carried that spirit into adult-life, founding Dreaming Out Loud to help build strong character among children and youth. While running afterschool and summer programs, he noticed troubling issues around food: children being fed sugary snacks with empty calories by schools, obese teens and parents, and no healthy options in the community. He then realized that Dreaming Out Loud had to do more than teach lessons on healthy eating, so he set about starting a farmers market that grew into the AyaUplift Project.
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideWhere do you ensure the availability of nutrients?
Healthy environments., Nutrient-rich farming, Full nourishment foods, 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?
Full nourishment foods, Human wellness and vitality.
How specifically would this added capacity help you improve the quality, efficiency, or sustainability of your existing product or service?
Added capacity will help us to improve the quality, efficiency and sustainability of our vegetable delivery service. We must secure refrigerated storage space for overnight storage of produce and other perishable food products. Storage space will allow us to extend our delivery range and improve the quality, range and diversity of regional agricultural products offered. We have established three micro-farming projects that need infrastructure upgrades to improve the quality and amount of produce harvested, decreasing procurement costs and increasing sustainability.
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideHow 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).
This innovation also has a Project Page where you can read more about its latest progress.
Go to Project: 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
Organization: Beam of Light ltd.
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Is your organization a
For‐profit
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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.
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideWhere 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.
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideHow 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).
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.
Created on 05/2/2013 by BenitoB
AgriCool tackles poverty by creating opportunities in agriculture. It offers employment in farming and provides the supply base for agriculture-based social businesses that equally generate employment. We aim to reposition a farmer's live, as well as the practice of farming.
Organization: AgriCool: Transforming Agriculture in the Philippines
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AgriCool: Transforming Agriculture in the Philippines
Country where this project is creating social impact
Is your organization a
Hybrid
Has the organization received awards or honors? Please tell us about them
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Growth (the pilot has already launched and is starting to expand)
This Entry is about (Issues)
Elevator Pitch
AgriCool tackles poverty by creating opportunities in agriculture. It offers employment in farming and provides the supply base for agriculture-based social businesses that equally generate employment. We aim to reposition a farmer's live, as well as the practice of farming.
Problem
Poverty in the Philippines is widespread with more than 20 million slum dwellers. Out of necessity, a great majority of them ends up in gangs or in unregulated jobs. This, and the unhealthy food that is accessible to them (due to cheap low-quality imports) prevent the development of lives characterized by wellness and well-being. The problem: How to eliminate poverty and enable healthy consumption and lifestyles - without sacrificing our planet.
Solution
Through Agricool we create dignified employment in organic and sustainable farming. Our platform is the Enchanted Farm where we employ 20 farmers; all former slum dwellers. The EF also serves as hub for trainings – organic crop-specific trainings, entrepreneurship, and values formation – to enhance six provincial farming co-ops (2700 farmers) and to provide them equitable market connectivity. Agricool also advocates farming as employment and sends kids to school (“Agricoolers”). These kids (42 at the moment) receive daily complementary agricultural training in order to attract them to go into farming later on. In addition to this, we are working to establish a brand through which to market nutrient-rich foods to the impoverished consumer.
Example
Tita Marites, a mother from the nearby community, confesses she would like to eat more healthy food but doesn’t have the money, so she needs to resort to canned and heavily degraded foods such as instant noodles. At the same time, Magsasaka Co-op’s 30 active farmers cultivate only 26.5 out of 432 Ha of land, selling their produce at farm-gate prices less than half of wholesale prices. This is the typical situation in the country. It indicates that there is huge scope for the production of crops at a price accessible to poor people such as Tita Marites. Through our work, we help raise farmers’ productivity and train them on organic farming; attract (young) people to go into agriculture; and strive to market food at accessible-to-all prices.
Impact
Two and a half years after we started, we are employing 20 farmers and are sending 42 kids to school. 44 college students graduated a month ago as teachers from our program. As of last week, we commenced collaboration with 2700 provincial farmers on 3600 Ha of land to optimize their productivity and to establish a secure market for their produce. We are also preparing ourselves to expand our social enterprise in 5 additional Enchanted Farms that are being developed. As we seek to establish a brand that attracts and pushes consumers to consume healthy, locally sourced food, we really address poverty over the entire spectrum: pursuing human-nature harmony at the source through organic farming; poverty eradication by providing dignified jobs in farming and agri-industries; and solving the food security problem by providing affordable nutrient-rich food on the shelves.
Marketplace
There are two basic dimensions to our work: countryside development (farming) and nutrient-rich food production. On the farming side, we partner with the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), as we share similar goals. They provide land, equipment, seedlings and expertise. On the market, we operate in a category that would typically be called organic, but without the exclusive price-tag & high-end branding. Here, we seek to partner with other food producing social enterprises to create a wide and consistent marketing campaign.
Sustainability Plan
With regard to the farming itself, our partnerships provide us the resources needed. Where we need capital is on the part of the education (the Agricool program) and on the establishing of our brand and setting up the production process of intermediate ingredients (dried veggies, spices and vinegar). We must also acquire an expert in food production, and an additional colleague to manage the expanded farm operations. Our market is already secure.
Founding Story
AgriCool started April 2011 on two Ha of idle and quarried land (31 Ha today). The founders felt challenged by the fact that the Philippines has twelve million Ha of unproductive land, and still, 41% of the people are claiming they are going hungry. AgriCool, started as an educational program of sending 10 kids to school (we call them 'Agricoolers'). They're taught about agriculture at the farm aside from their regular classes, and we promote farming as the new cool and fashionable career option. Five of their fathers, former construction workers, drivers and rebel returnees, were the first to become farmers. Bottom line, seeing an idle land and hopeless people, the founders began to dream of flourishing sustainable farming communities.
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideWhere do you ensure the availability of nutrients?
Healthy environments., Nutrient-rich farming, Full nourishment foods, 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, Human wellness and vitality.
How specifically would this added capacity help you improve the quality, efficiency, or sustainability of your existing product or service?
With regards to farming, establishing human-nature harmony and the wellness and vitality of our farming communities, the added capacity would enable the expanse of our work, such that our scope increases. It would also increase the quality of our work through the enabling of expertise and/or technologies. Greater capacity in the dimension of full nourishment foods would enable the development of such food products (through AgriFoods), which in turn impacts on the wellness and vitality of our customers.
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideHow 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).
Pass It Forward was founded by two people - a soccer professional and a teacher - who were seeking a way to combine soccer and social consciousness.
Our concept is simple: buy a soccer ball, and one ball will be donated to a child or an organization in need. Every child deserves the right to play.
Created on 04/30/2013 by mariana.fontoura
The SAÚTIL is a a search engine created primarily to help people find information on the public health system. A simple guidance, with all the resources that SUS (the Brazilian national health system) provides to the population.
Organization: Saútil - Internet Portal and Health Services
Visit websitemore ↓↑ hide↑ hideOrganization Name
Saútil - Internet Portal and Health Services
Organization's Country of Operation
Type of Organization
For‐profit
Year of launch of the organization
Years in Operation
Operating for more than 5 years
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 project was born during a brainstorm in a coffee shop, after its founders, a doctor and another industrial designer, decided to join their experiences working with medical management and communication to create a solution that could help population to being more aware of their health rights through IT.
A way to combine medicine and communication to help people on a large scale.
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read more↓↑ hide↑ hideName Your Entry
Saútil - Internet Portal and Health Services
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.?
Saútil innovation was to apply information technology with a geo localized search engine, specifically for health resources.
Describe how your innovation model is distinct from any other organization in your field?
We know other organizations that treat health subject more generically - only informative material and content. Saútil goes beyond that, showing people where the resources are available and how to access them.
What type of operating environment and internal organizational factors make your innovation successful?
We are always updating our data research and new technologies, so that the final product is increasingly accessible.
How do you make sure you constantly innovate in light of (potential) external challenges, or your growth plan?
We maintain a high performance and motivated team so that any challenges or difficulties are overcome.
This Entry is about (Issues)
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideThe 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]
Prevention, Follow-up, Social integration.
Please describe in more detail: what problem are you trying to solve in the organization's specific context?
Access to information is the main problem that we propose to solve. Low-income populations have too much trouble finding information and guidelines that meet their needs. Our purpose is to facilitate access and guide people in what they need.
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.
Most relevant tools you are using to implement the strategies outlined above [select only two]
Technology, Education/training.
Please describe your solution in more detail
The search engine for health resources we created aims to facilitate access to health resources, bringing the result to the user in 3 simple steps. First, you search the name of the service you need (drug, vaccine, consultation, exam, materials, equipment, health facilities). In the second step, we ask in which city, region or district you want to find it. And the third step already brings the results of the geo locations and guidelines necessary to obtain the demanded service/resource.
What are your vision and overall objectives?
Our vision is to be the primary means of access to health resources for the population. We have an universe of over 140 million people who do not have health insurance in Brazil and need to use the resources available in the SUS (the Brazilian public health system). Our goal is to inform and guide an increasingly larger number of people through various platforms: Internet, telephone, in person.
What is your value proposition?
Aware, guide and facilitate access to health resources for the population.
Who is your customer(s)?
Companies with employees who do not have the benefit of the health plan, and individuals in general.
What approaches to you use to reach your customers?
We approach our clients stating that, through the correct guidelines and access to quality resources, individuals' well being will be optimized and they will have a better performance at work and in their personal life.
What are your primary activities?
Educating the population about their health rights and how to get them through the search service on the Internet, and by nurses on the phone.
Who are your peers and competitors? What problems could these players pose to your success or growth?
Today's competitors focus on health information, instead of access information. These competitors could hinder our growth if they begin to offer the same kind of guidance to access that Saútil does. But as the market is very big and we have been pioneers, our main concern is to provide quality service to people.
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?
One challenge we have is the cultural barrier of low-income people, especially elderlies who do not have much access to technology. That's the reason why we provide the same kind of guidance by phone, so it is accessible to all.
We also have the challenge of showing the public that despite the difficulties in accessing, SUS also has positives points. Today the population has a widespread view that the SUS does not work. We can change that perception with the help from SUS itself and through partnership with government, which we do not have yet.
Briefly describe your growth strategy going forward
Our growth strategy is based on the expansion of facilities and access platforms. We know that in Brazil we have approximately 55 million users of the classes C and D (low/medium classes). On the other hand, we have more than 200 million enabled telephone lines.
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?
To have all the access information compiled for research made by our representatives, and also by the users through the search engine.
What are your key growth objectives?
Build a high performance service structure, scalable, to meet both an increasingly larger number of people, and also increasingly systematic research information.
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 this year, we might have 50 thousand people served by Saútil. In the long term - 3 years - 1 million people.
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideWhat has been the impact of your solution to date?
Today, we know the existence of people who obtained health resources through Saútil. One example is tha case published in magazines PEGN and Exame PME (some of the most prominent magazines focused on business and small/medium enterprises): a retired man needed two eyedrops to treat glaucoma and the medications that his doctor had prescribed costed R$ 180 (about US$90), and he could not afford it.
After a lot of searching without success, his daughter found Saútil on the internet and sent a message asking if the medicines were available in SUS. Our guidance was for her to ask the doctor to prescribe the recipe again, with the name of the active ingredient. She returned to the doctor who changed the recipe and after that she got the medicine for free in SUS.
What methods for quantification of social impact are you applying (if at all)?
We quantify and qualify the impact through testimonials sent to Saútil. We also stratify the amount of research in low-income neighborhoods.
Could your solution work in other geographies or regions? If so, where?
The solution already serves whole Brazil and can be replicated in other countries that have a similar model to the Brazilian.
What is your projected impact over the next 1-3 years?
In 1 year, we intend to impact 50 000 people as the example given above, and in 3 years, 1 million people
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideElaborate on your current financing strategy
Our current strategy is to achieve a faster revenue by selling advertising on the site and in the medium term through the sale of personalized service orientation, that can be really scalable.
Share of revenue generation in total income of organization (in percent)
Direct sales to patients or other beneficiaries (in percent)
Online advertising and personalized guidance service that can be sold to businesses and retail.
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
Private businesses.
Service contract with organizations, e.g., government, NGOs (in percent)
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
We have two main sources of revenue. Online advertising and personalized guidance service that can be sold to businesses and retail. This second source has a very low value compared to a health plan and the price can be scalable according to the number of employees a company has. This product can also be sold at retail for people who cannot afford health insurance, but want to have a channel to receive guidance for their questions at a low cost.
Share of philanthropy in total income of organization (in percent)
We do not work with philanthropy.
Philanthrophy strategies you are using
Explain your philanthropic approach in more detail
We do not work with philanthropy.
Expand on your selections; explain how you will sustain funding over the next 1-3 years.
We have two main sources of revenue. Online advertising and personalized guidance service that can be sold to businesses and retail.
This innovation also has a Project Page where you can read more about its latest progress.
Go to Project: Benevolence Inn.
Created on 04/28/2013 by rv4life
A key component attracting guests to Benevolence Inn will be our giving to youth development programs. Imagine being able to benefit charity by staying at a hotel that is very comparable to already existing national brands.
Organization: Livingston County Youth Bureau
more ↓↑ hide↑ hideCountry where this project is creating social impact
United States, NY, Geneseo, Livingston County
Is your organization a
For‐profit
Do you work with any social organizations?
How did you hear about the competition?
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..
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideSelect the stage that best applies to your venture
Existing project (scaling)
This Entry is about (Issues)
Summary: What specific issue or problem does your Venture address?
Over the past several years, we have witnessed drastic budget reductions at the local and state level. Everything from environmental agencies to transportation departments have been dramatically cut. Youth Bureaus in New York State are county agencies that fund youth summer employment, youth development programs and services in their respective counties. The bureaus fund programs that many youth depend on to survive and thrive. In addition to a funding role, Youth Bureaus provide a one stop referral resource for youth and adults seeking services for teens and young adults.
Although Youth Bureaus are county operated, a high percentage of funding is provided by New York State. This reliance has created serious budget shortages over the past five years. From 2008 to 2009, Youth Development and Delinquency Prevention Program (YDDP) funding, which is distributed to Youth Bureaus statewide, fell from $29.5 million to $20.0 million.1 By 2011, that funding stream fell to $15.9 million. It is currently projected that Youth Bureau funding will decrease again by 33% for the upcoming budget year. This funding drop has and will continue to have dramatic consequences.
In my rural county of 65,000 people, the services provided by the youth bureau are the only support available. We must fight to support these programs and I plan on doing just that.
Misson Statement: What will your venture do?
Welcome to Benevolence Inn. This social enterprise, family oriented lodging chain will be so that after expenses are paid, 50% of the profit from the hotel will benefit non-profit youth development programs. When a person travels to and stays in a community, they are benefiting that communities’ youth. When a Benevolence Inn is located in that same individual's community, those communities’ youth programs will benefit from travelers and tourism. The hotels will be a win-win for travelers and communities alike. Several college and industry experts are currently researching the concept. Some have told me the concept will not work but that is just like what people originally said about my youth center idea. Sometimes miracles happen. Some experts have been very supportive of the idea and have said it can work with the right team and startup funding. My current plan calls for an initial 60 room hotel in the Western New York area. Over 75% of entry level jobs at the hotels will be fulfilled by youth. I plan for the organization to grow into a national brand in the future.
The Model: Walk us through a specific example of how your solution makes a difference; include your primary activities
Suppose an individual donates one million dollars to a youth program. The program has a $100,000 budget annually. In ten years, this donated money will be gone. When programs are provided funding from Benevolence Inn, they be feel confident that funds will be available for decades to come. Instead of funds being exhausted, youth development programs can receive Benevolence Inn funding for the programs life period with the understanding that funding will fluctuate over time and is dependent on the hotels’ profitability. We will always recommend that youth programs continue to seek out traditional methods of funding and use Benevolence Inn funds as a reserve so that when other sources cease, programs will not be affected.
The Community: Define the community that you work on behalf of. What population is affected? Are there other organizations working in this space?
For the opportunity to help local youth, guests will feel special knowing they are making a difference while they sleep. According to a recent survey, respondents stated that when similar rates, services, and qualities are offered, respondents would prefer to stay at a hotel that benefits youth programs over a national brand.
The services for children, teens, and families that will be offered for free at our brand are not offered complimentary at other national brand. Although these are major advantages, challenges will persist when in comparison to our competitors. These corporations are nationally recognized and have national support teams. Our brand will be independently run and not yet hold the recognition of a large chain. We will also lack the financial credibility often held by large hotel chains. Although these are significant challenges, we are currently receiving feedback from national experts who say that these issues can be overcome and that Benevolence Inn will work!
Founding Story: What inspired your venture? Why?
Throughout my young life I have been very different. I have been diagnosed with Tourette's Syndrome, a condition that causes me to have unmanageable motor and physical “tics” since third grade. I also was diagnosed with Dysgraphia, a condition that causes very poor handwriting. There have been benefits to being “different.” I have never followed the crowd and have always done my own thing. Over the past several years, I just thought and thought about things. I developed ideas that were unique and innovative. One day I decided to share one of those dreams and I hope I can share it with you.
Being a youth who does not participate in sports and has unique interests, I found it extremely difficult to find interesting activities in my small school. In early 2009, I approached my school with the idea of expanding clubs and activities. Due to the economic meltdown, the school did not see it feasible to create new activities. I then looked at what could be done in the community. I thought of the idea of a youth center. There had been attempts to open such centers in the past but all efforts failed. I began to research what our community could use and benefit from. It became aware to me that the small size of our village could pose problems for the youth center and the number of youth who would attend. I thought of a countywide model. If an activity attracted ten youths from one community, think of how better it would be if ten kids came from seventeen different towns and communities throughout a county. You could have a very sustainable program. You see, this project really awakened me and gave me a purpose in life. I then decided I needed a plan and help with the project. When applying for a summer job, I learned about a group run through the county youth bureau called EDIFY, which stands for Educating and Directing Influential Forces with Youth. This is a group of teens from around the county who meet monthly to discuss issues revolving around youth. I approached this group with my youth center idea and we have worked together ever since. I then determined that I needed further education on how to run a nonprofit and manage a project. I joined a year long program called The Young Entrepreneurs Academy at SUNY Geneseo. This ten month program teaches students how to start and effectively operate a business or non-profit organization. This program was instrumental in helping to plan for the youth center’s success. After the ten month program ended in June 2010, the youth center project began to even further develop, having formed a committee, been awarded eight hundred dollars in investor funding, and most remarkably, having partnered with the not-for-profit ABVI-Goodwill. ABVI-Goodwill was opening a store and community center in Geneseo, the community I reside in. ABVI approached our group when they heard about the youth center and how it needed a home. Both groups then joined projects together. The youth center opened in November of 2010 at the ABVI-Goodwill Community Center and will serve the youth of Livingston County, hopefully for many years to come.
Define your Venture in 1-2 short sentences
A key component attracting guests to Benevolence Inn will be our giving to youth development programs. Imagine being able to benefit charity by staying at a hotel that is very comparable to already existing national brands.
In eight to ten years, three hotels will be operational. The two new hotels will be very similar to the first model and will be located in tourist and necessity travel concentrated areas that face a lack of youth development programs or services. Feasibility studies will be completed to determine whether a location and model would be practical for a new build. These hotels will be built from earned capital at the initial Benevolence Inn and from social investors. Investment can be difficult for a social enterprise but can be achieved by proving to investors that our brand is established and sustainable.
Youth Programs across the United States have such an impact on today’s youth. From recreation programs, mentoring, and business programs, youth have been positively impacted by these programs for generations. In many communities, these programs have suffered from a lack of funding. Funding becomes less available as each year passes. In many smaller communities, these programs do not even exist. Benevolence In will fill these gaps and ensure our youth have a bright future.
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideWhat do you want to accomplish in your first year?
In our first year, we will actively seek a partner to launch the Benevolence Inn brand. While this is ongoing, we will continue to refine our business plan while also enhancing the hotel concept model.
Set your first goal or milestone for your Venture Team in the next 6 months that will bring you to your vision
Find a partner to launch the Benevolence Inn brand
Task 1
Reach hotel management companies with concept
Task 2
Attend conferences related to hotel management
Task 3
Create a more presentable business plan
Set a second goal or milestone for your Venture Team in the next 6 months that will bring you to your vision
Improve our business plan
Task 1
Consult with business plan experts
Task 2
Adapt the plan to better suited markets to launch the brand
Task 3
Obtain better budget projections
Set a third goal or milestone for your Venture Team in the next 6 months that will bring you to your vision
Enhance the hotel concept model
Task 1
Provide more marketable, unique features
Task 2
Create a hotel model that serves as a destination
Task 3
Create a character or motto that attracts children
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideHow will your Venture define success in the short term (1-12 months)?
We will define our success in the short term as having obtained a financial and developmental partner to launch the Benevolence Inn brand.
In the long-term (1-3 years)?
In the long-term, Benevolence Inn will be considered successful with the planning and creation of our first family oriented hotel that actively funds youth development programs.
How will you measure success?
Our success with be measured through the quality of the youth programs we fund and the satisfaction of our guests.
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideHow will you recruit new members for your venture?
New members for our team will be actively sought. We are currently contacting hotel management and ownership companies to find a partner. Currently, several companies are interested in the brand.
How will you appoint new leaders and transfer leadership when the founding members want to leave the team?
Promotion from within will always be a consideration and we desire to lift our team members to new heights.
How will you continue your project in 6-months time or once you have spent all of its initial capital?
Once a financial partner has been obtained, we will have the seed capital necessary to launch the brand.
Created on 04/24/2013 by tdazad
Reinventing the way food is accessed in low-income areas of St. Louis. The St. Louis MetroMarket will create a presence in all 15 St. Louis food deserts within 5 years of launching.
read more ↓↑ hide↑ hideCountry where this project is creating social impact
United States, MO, St. Louis, Saint Louis City
Is your organization a
Not registered
Do you work with any social organizations?
How did you hear about the competition?
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..
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideSelect the stage that best applies to your venture
Idea (you're ready to start)
This Entry is about (Issues)
Summary: What specific issue or problem does your Venture address?
13.5 million Americans reside in areas with low access to fresh, affordable food, known as food deserts. The USDA defines these areas as census tracts where more than 33% of the population lives one mile or more from a major grocery store. In St. Louis, 14,000 children and 52,000 adults live in food deserts. The percentage of our city’s population living in a food desert if 233% higher than the national average. We have identified four central barriers to equitable food access: physical access, education about healthy eating, economic constraints, and inhibited community awareness about this issue.
Misson Statement: What will your venture do?
St. Louis MetroMarket seeks to deploy a city bus modified into a one-aisle grocery store. Primary offerings include fresh, naturally grown fruits and vegetables, meat, dairy, and other staple foods. We are not simply aiming to alleviate symptoms of food deserts but rather affect meaningful behavioral change by breaking down the four barriers that perpetuate food insecurity.
The Model: Walk us through a specific example of how your solution makes a difference; include your primary activities
With our mobile farmers' market, we seek to couple significant social impact with innovative financial sustainability. Using city bus modified as a walk-through store, we will sell and distribute locally sourced produce and staple goods to predetermined stops in St. Louis. The majority of our revenue will come not only from product sales, but also from membership sales. We will then reinvest in both subsidies for low-income members and in purchasing an additional 5 vehicles to expand to all 18 food deserts in St. Louis city within 5 years. We will couple increased access with practical lessons about meal planning, food preparation and nutrition.
The Community: Define the community that you work on behalf of. What population is affected? Are there other organizations working in this space?
Our central focus involves serving individuals who live in areas with low access to healthy, affordable food. In St. Louis, individuals living in these areas tend to have lower income and reduced mobility. Often, the nutritional value of their food is of less concern than simply securing food. In St. Louis, the population that we wish to serve is predominantly African American. A number of St. Louis organizations work to support these populations; however, the groups addressing food-related issues are working on hunger relief. We hope to supplement these existing efforts by focusing on access to healthy and affordable food.
Founding Story: What inspired your venture? Why?
Co-founder Tej Azad was discussing the high rates of obesity and diabetes with his father. Unlike his father, Tej believed that macroscopic, structural issues contributed to these rates, in addition to any potential cultural or behavioral influences. That same night, Tej watched a special on “food deserts” on 60 minutes. A unique program, a Chicago-based mobile farmer’s market called Fresh Moves was profiled. From that point on, Tej has explored ways in which to bring a similar model to St. Louis.
Define your Venture in 1-2 short sentences
Reinventing the way food is accessed in low-income areas of St. Louis. The St. Louis MetroMarket will create a presence in all 15 St. Louis food deserts within 5 years of launching.
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideWhat do you want to accomplish in your first year?
In the first year, we wish to organize a few pilot programs to test specific assumptions in the model. Specifically, we hope to identify a potential food desert market stop. Even without the bus, we will test whether 1) The community is interested in purchasing our food 2)How effective this specific stop as a distribution point. A second pilot program is to test the corporate memberships aspect of our model.
Set your first goal or milestone for your Venture Team in the next 6 months that will bring you to your vision
Run the first pilot - food desert sales
Task 1
Identify a strong community partner
Task 2
Determine how to most effectively structure the pilot
Task 3
Secure funding necessary to run the pilot
Set a second goal or milestone for your Venture Team in the next 6 months that will bring you to your vision
Run the second pilot - corporate sales
Task 1
Find contacts with local corporations
Task 2
Determine what they require for us to sell to their employees
Set a third goal or milestone for your Venture Team in the next 6 months that will bring you to your vision
Obtain city bus and organize necessary modifications
Task 1
Foster St. Louis government contacts
Task 2
Identify architect/engineers to design the vehicle
Task 3
Obtain bus and have modifications applied
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideHow will your Venture define success in the short term (1-12 months)?
In the next 12 months, we will define success relative to the efficacy of our pilot programs. Specifically, our ability to design, plan, and carry out the programs.
In the long-term (1-3 years)?
After obtaining the vehicle, we have set out specific goals. At the end of year 1 of operations (2 years from now), we should have completed 52,000 total food desert transactions, served 4,000 food desert residents, implemented a 10% subsidy for EBT users. At the end of year 2 (3 years from now), we should have added a second bus, completed 120,000 total food desert transactions, served 8,000 food desert residents, implemented a 15% subsidy for EBT users.
How will you measure success?
We will measure success in terms of the number of food desert transactions, food desert residents served, and the amount of EBT sales we are able to subsidize. Though corporate sales are part of our model, the true focus of our venture is to improve access to food in these chronic low access areas.
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideHow will you recruit new members for your venture?
We have strong relationship with the undergraduate community at Washington University in St. Louis and the medical student community at St. Louis University. We will recruit members from these populations. Furthermore, we hope to excite community members as well and plan to draw volunteers and members from here as well
How will you appoint new leaders and transfer leadership when the founding members want to leave the team?
While the venture is young, we will draw new leaders from existing volunteers and supporters. This will allow continuity of mission and vision. Due to our affiliation with both St. Louis University and Washington University in St. Louis, we will have a renewing pool of students to recruit to the venture.
As the venture matures, it is likely that the scale will require full time employees with significant management experience. As we approach this stage, we will work closely with our board to determine potential leaders.
How will you continue your project in 6-months time or once you have spent all of its initial capital?
Our blend of corporate memberships, high-income memberships, and low-income memberships will enable the venture to remain financially sustainable following the front end capital. This is demonstrated in our financial projections.
Created on 04/24/2013 by SolomonRajput1
Solving Dinner is a social enterprise that aims to shift America towards a healthier and more sustainable diet by simplifying the home cooking process.
read more ↓↑ hide↑ hideCountry where this project is creating social impact
United States, NH, Hanover, Grafton County
Is your organization a
For‐profit
Do you work with any social organizations?
How did you hear about the competition?
I am part of the Making More Health Youth Venture Webinar Series
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..
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideSelect the stage that best applies to your venture
Idea (you're ready to start)
This Entry is about (Issues)
Summary: What specific issue or problem does your Venture address?
One of the best ways to eat well is to cook your own food. However, at the end of a long work day, the last thing many working Americans want to think about is how to put a meal on the table. Although they would love to eat a home-cooked meal, they often don't want to put up with the hassle that comes with cooking. Instead of trying to put up with the stress of planning, shopping, and prepping that comes with cooking, many opt for convenient, but unhealthy, alternatives: fast food, microwavable meals, take out, etc.
Misson Statement: What will your venture do?
Solving Dinner is a social enterprise that aims to shift America towards a healthier and more sustainable diet by simplifying the home cooking process. We produce meal kits that make cooking healthy food a breeze and we partner with companies to market and distribute the kits to their employees. Solving Dinner is looking to completely overtake our customers’ weeknight meal routine so that people can eat well regularly.
The Model: Walk us through a specific example of how your solution makes a difference; include your primary activities
Every meal kit contains everything you need to make dinner: all the ingredients, in the exact quantities, with everything already prepped so all you have to do cook! We also save our customers a shopping trip because we will actually deliver to their workplace so that they can pick it up right before they go home and then cook it when they're home. All of our meals will meet recommendations set by dietitians and the government as to what constitutes a healthy meal: less sodium and sugar, and more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.
We will receive all the ingredients from food distributors, and then we will prep all of the ingredients, package them into meal kits, and store them overnight in a cooling unit. The next day, we will load the meals onto a refrigerated truck and make a series of deliveries to various workplaces; we will collaborate with the employers to make sure refrigeration at the workplace is taken care of. Then, customers will take their meal home and cook a tasty meal in less than 30 minutes. We aim for around fast-food prices: $5-7 per person.
It's quick, convenient, affordable, tasty, and above all, healthy.
The Community: Define the community that you work on behalf of. What population is affected? Are there other organizations working in this space?
All of America struggles with obesity; it's not just impoverished individuals in food deserts. Many other organizations are working to increase access to healthy food, but the majority of people who have access choose not to eat well; often they don’t cook healthy meals because they feel too busy and stressed. Working parents and busy, young single people are our two initial target demographics-- they often don’t cook because they’re either too tried or don’t want to put up with the hassle. Some organizations try to raise awareness about what to eat; we actually make the process easier.
Founding Story: What inspired your venture? Why?
Watching a documentary called “Forks over Knives” sparked my interest in our nation’s diet, and after consuming volumes of information, I gradually accepted a shocking truth: if we change what we eat, we can solve many pressing environmental and health problems. Most of our healthcare costs come from preventable illness, which is largely caused by poor diet, and the food sector actually contributes more greenhouse gasses than the entire transportation sector. I resolved that I wanted to tackle this problem, to shift America to a healthier and more sustainable diet, and after doing in-depth market research I realized that the home-cooking process was a real paint point many people had. By simplifying home cooking, I could create a healthier and more sustainable world.
Define your Venture in 1-2 short sentences
Solving Dinner is a social enterprise that aims to shift America towards a healthier and more sustainable diet by simplifying the home cooking process.
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideWhat do you want to accomplish in your first year?
We first want to prove that this model works and that there is demand for this product. I've taken this term off to pursue this business idea, and in a week we will start delivering meals to our first company partner. We are renting out a kitchen for the next month in order to pilot this idea for the next month. We will spend the pilot tweaking our model and seeing what demand we get, and at the end we will evaluate if this is worthwhile to pursue in its current incarnation or if we need to pivot. If our model seems promising, we will seek initial funding to lease a facility and to hire labor to produce the meals. We will create partnerships with multiple workplaces in the area that we launch in order to expand our market and our impact. After showing that we can operate with multiple businesses and that sufficient demand exists, we will seek further investment to create other production centers in areas all around America. If our trial goes well and much demand exists with our current model, we believe that we can rapidly expand within our first year of operating.
Set your first goal or milestone for your Venture Team in the next 6 months that will bring you to your vision
Get at least 1/3 of the employees in our pilot to have ordered at least twice by the end of this month
Task 1
Hold a catered luncheon at the company where employees can taste test the food they will ultimately cook for themselves
Task 2
User customer feedback to modify our products and our prices in order to yield the highest engagement
Task 3
Make sure to create our product in a safe way that abides by government regulations to prevent cross contamination
Set a second goal or milestone for your Venture Team in the next 6 months that will bring you to your vision
Gain funding to establish a permanent facility
Task 1
Ask friends and family for money
Task 2
Refine our formal business plan to present to angel investors
Task 3
Determine where we want to have our initial launch site and scope out a kitchen facility we can lease
Set a third goal or milestone for your Venture Team in the next 6 months that will bring you to your vision
Start operating from our facility and be present at 5 large workplaces
Task 1
Find someone with much operational expertise in food service to help run our operation
Task 2
Find an experiences sales person to make formal partnerships with new businesses
Task 3
Hire labor and find a manager or learn how to manage
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideHow will your Venture define success in the short term (1-12 months)?
In the short term, we will define success by having at least 1/3 of the employees at a given workplace using our service regularly (order at least one week's worth of meals per month). We will also define success if we're profitable by the end of a year (because then we can reinvest in ourselves and spread to more regions and create more impact). Ultimately, our true measure of success will be whether we are actually changing a large component of our customers' diets using behavioral assessments. If 1/3 of our customers think they cook at home more often because of our product, or if they're eating healthier more often because of our product, we are succeeding. Of course, creating a product that people love, developing customer loyalty, leaving our employer partners satisfied, and proving that our model both has high social impact and a large return are all important parts of success.
In the long-term (1-3 years)?
In the long term, we want to rapidly expand to many different regions; we will be successful in terms of scale if we are growing and have many production facilities to service many customers. In regards to proving our health impact, ultimately we want to create a large-scale study that assesses whether the companies who use our service actually have healthier employees. That will help us validate that we're fulfilling our mission, and that will also be a very powerful competitive advantage we have over potential competitors that emerge in this space.
How will you measure success?
Immediately for our month-long pilot, we are using before-and-after questionnaires to assess behavior. We will be asking them how often they cook at home, how often they eat meals at dinner time that aren't home cooked meals, and how much of a hassle they find cooking. We will also ask them how important it is for them to eat healthy meals (meals with lots of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and not much sodium and sugar). After the pilot, we will see if these people cooked more because of our product and if the types of people who were using it were those who weren't all that concerned with healthy eating already. As indicated in the previous question, we will ultimately measure success if we can clearly show that we made the employees healthier at the companies we partner with. We are aiming for 1/3 of the company to sign up with us, and 1/3 of our customers to gain healthier habits because of our offering.
Since we are a double-bottom line company, we are aiming for both high impact and a high financial return so that we can grow quickly. Business metrics, like profit margin, customer retention, customer satisfaction, and number of locations opened will also be important. We are aiming for a profit margin of 20% (higher than the average for the food service industry) and we want to have 20 production facilities by the end of our 5th year. We aim to pay our employees a living wage as well, so the quality of life of our employees will be important to us; we want to pay them at least $10/ hour with benefits. We don't think we can be successful unless we treat our customers well.
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideHow will you recruit new members for your venture?
We will recruit new members for our venture by first assessing the skills we need. Immediately we will need people in sales and operations, and we would like a dietitian or a MD on board. Already I've been in talks with some of these people from attending conferences with them and being connected to them. After having a successful pilot in hand, it will be much more compelling for top-quality talent to join me.
How will you appoint new leaders and transfer leadership when the founding members want to leave the team?
New leaders will be appointed through a merit-based promotion system; employees will be offered much autonomy and those who will perform best will be in line to be new leaders. We will consult with our board to help transfer leadership when the founding members want to leave the team.
In all honesty, we would like more assistance with this part of our business; we have very little experience with this and are seeking advice in this area.
How will you continue your project in 6-months time or once you have spent all of its initial capital?
After seeking initial investment, this shouldn't be a challenge for us because we will be creating revenue from day one, and we hope to have positive cash flow within a year.
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A Facebook app that crowdsources & sells old composite school photos to raise money, promote legacy and strengthen community for K-12 schools.
Created on 04/10/2013 by john.nguyen
East Meets West provides innovative solutions to challenging development problems. Their Breath of Life (BOL) program tackles infant mortality and morbidity by equipping hospitals with new, durable neonatal equipment appropriate for low resource settings coupled with staff training in neonatal care.
Organization: East Meets West
Visit websitemore ↓↑ hide↑ hideOrganization Country
United States, CA, Oakland, Alameda County
Organization's Country of Operation
Type of Organization
Non‐profit/NGO
Year of launch of the organization
Years in Operation
Operating for more than 5 years
Has the organization received awards or honors? Please tell us about them
• EMW has been awarded Charity Navigator’s highest rating—four stars—for the fourth year in a row, putting it in the top 6% of charities rated.
• EMW was recognized as Charity Navigator’s “Top 10 Charities Expanding in a Hurry” in 2012, growing revenue by over 35% in the last three years with sufficient capital for sustained growth.
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 Breath of Life program was initially developed in Vietnam, which had few hospitals treating sick newborns and existing medical devices were broken or unused. 99% of newborn deaths occur in the developing world, and the fact that the WHO estimates that 75% of medical devices fail within the first several years in low-resource environments spurred our interest in addressing this market failure.
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East Meets West: Saving Newborn Lives through Appropriate Technology in Low-Resource and Inefficient Markets
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.?
East Meets West (EMW)’s fastest growing healthcare program is Breath of Life (BOL), which tackles infant mortality and morbidity by equipping hospitals with new, durable neonatal equipment appropriate for low resource settings and staff training in neonatal care. Some 54,000 babies are being treated each year through EMW-provided neonatal equipment.
The equipment suite developed in this way comprises resuscitaires (which double as open-care warmers), highly effective blue light-emitting-diode (LED) phototherapy for the treatment of jaundice (replacement lights not required for 50,000 hours – 5.7 years if used continuously), and continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) for providing advanced respiratory support to sicker infants requiring oxygen supplementation. Initial training and equipping of Vietnamese national level hospitals was followed by the use of these hospitals as training centers for doctors and nurses from lower level hospitals, and the provision of equipment to those hospitals.
Since the program launch in 2005, East Meets West’s Breath of Life has been successful in addressing the issue of infant mortality in Vietnam through the provision of key medical equipment to hospitals and clinics, integrating these technologies into the medical system, training medical personnel (doctors, nurses and other medical practitioners) and working with local health authorities to increase the capacity of newborn care.
East Meets West's understanding of the "bottom of the pyramid" market allows BOL to replicate our work and make rapid, scalable impact in new areas.
Describe how your innovation model is distinct from any other organization in your field?
BOL’s innovative and holistic approach addresses the issue of “innovation pile up,” a problem in which lifesaving technology never reaches the intended beneficiaries. Our emphasis on working with strategic local partnerships, providing ongoing training to medical practitioners, local technical assistance, and regular monitoring and evaluation builds the capacity of public health systems in the developing world that lack the staff, training, or infrastructure to utilize these burgeoning innovations.
While there are other devices currently in the market, most notably the Rice University bubble CPAP, the Breath of Life device is not only low-cost, but built to be appealing and simple to use for medical practitioners. An innovation is effective so long as the beneficiaries make use of it.
What type of operating environment and internal organizational factors make your innovation successful?
East Meets West values partnerships with clinicians and medical professionals in local hospitals in Asia. Our experienced field staff work closely with doctors and nurses to provide appropriate training and gather feedback from these practitioners. The development of the Breath of Life suite of medical devices was the result of extensive testing and evaluation of the device with close involvement of the medical staff at the National OBGYN Hospital in Hanoi, Vietnam. It is the close collaboration with local medical staff that make the BOL program an innovation that is successful and sustainable.
How do you make sure you constantly innovate in light of (potential) external challenges, or your growth plan?
In recent years, EMW has expanded into eight countries throughout Asia and piloting in West Africa, so we have learned to adapt our programs to varying conditions and environments. Our public/private partnership with social enterprise Medical Technology and Transfer Services (MTTS) provides us a resource for R&D to test out new innovations and changes to our medical devices.
This Entry is about (Issues)
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideThe 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]
Maternal care
Categories along the health continuum you are covering [select all that apply]
Intervention, Follow-up.
Please describe in more detail: what problem are you trying to solve in the organization's specific context?
East Meets West's mission is to find innovative solutions to challenging development problems. We attempt to address the severe lack of appropriate medical technology built for the developing world. These are devices that are low-cost, durable (resisting heat and humidity), use little to no consumables, have manuals in the local language, readily available technical assistance, local training for medical practitioners to properly operate the devices, and appropriate monitoring to evaluate impact.
Due to market failures, the "bottom of the pyramid" has been an untapped market for locally appropriate medical devices, and we feel that our suite of BOL equipment has and will continue to prosper in that niche.
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, New/redefined roles for healthcare service provision, Unconventional partnerships (between traditional healthcare players and players outside healthcare).
Most relevant tools you are using to implement the strategies outlined above [select only two]
Technology, Education/training.
Please describe your solution in more detail
Breath of Life's solution to the lack of healthcare in emerging markets is to provide custom-designed, low-cost equipment to hospitals, and targeted training to medical personnel, to save the lives of infants suffering from common newborn pathologies. To ensure sustainability, BOL works to strengthen linkages with local health authorities to involve them in integrating these technologies into the larger health system.
When EMW provides a hospital in the developing world with the full range of Breath of Life equipment, this complex of innovative technologies constitutes a cost-effective, durable, low-maintenance NICU, or Neonatal Intensive Care Unit to effectively treat premature infants and other newborns with life-threatening health conditions.
What are your vision and overall objectives?
While global under-five child mortality rates have been decreasing in recent decades, the rate of neonatal mortality has been on the rise. Annually, 43% of all child deaths occur in the first four weeks of life, the crucial neonatal period. Yet typically, newborn care is the branch of medicine with the least investment, research and innovation.
The Breath of Life program aims is to equip and empower medical institutions at all levels to provide appropriate, responsive newborn care, from national hospitals to regional facilities and clinics throughout the developing world. The strategy starts with the provision of equipment and training at the highest, most centralized level, then expanding out to train staff and supply facilities in more remote areas.
What is your value proposition?
East Meets West's Breath of Life (BOL) program develops customized, clinical solutions to significantly reduce neonatal mortality and morbidity in developing countries. Our value proposition is as follows:
Locally manufactured by MTTS (Medical Techology Transfer Service)
Instructions, controls, and manuals in local language
Replacement parts easily obtained
Accessible technical support and maintenance
Tested in conditions of actual use and appropriately adapted
Durable and low maintenance
Low-cost
Not reliant on expensive consumables
Warrantied (3 years, no questions asked)
Scalable for each country, hospital, clinic conditions
Who is your customer(s)?
Public and private neonatal hospitals and clinics in the developing world with high level of births, mortality and morbidity rates. Ministries of health, local and provincial governments.
What approaches to you use to reach your customers?
Contact with local doctors to become advocates of the BOL program. The appeal of the BOL suite of medical devices that are functional and incorporated with technical assistance and monitoring
CPAP to address respiratory distress syndrome (RDS)
LED phototherapy machine to treat neonatal jaundice
Infant resuscitation station
Portable “bilibed” to provide both phototherapy treatment and heat
Pulse oximeters to measure oxygen levels in the blood
Hand sanitizers
What are your primary activities?
Breath of Life concentrates its resources on designing and distributing equipment solely for the critical newborn period, because by supplying the basic package of equipment and providing first-rate training for the medical personnel who will use it, many lives can be saved.
BOL distributes equipment designed and produced by EMW technical partner MTTS (Medical Technology Transfer Services), which conducts its research and development in the field. Machines based on globally developed designs are designed for local conditions, tested in real clinics and hospitals, then adjusted. Local manufacture means manuals and controls in local languages and easy access to parts and technical help. BOL machines are durable, easy to use, and don't use expensive consumables— ensures sustainability.
Who are your peers and competitors? What problems could these players pose to your success or growth?
As EMW and BOL continues to grow, we expect that other medical device manufacturers will see the potential of addressing the urgent need of locally appropriate medical technology. We see this as encouraging, in that the BOL program model is flexible to work with other devices as appropriate. EMW's area of strength is our ability to identify market failures in the medical infrastructure, and make linkages to partners, funders and manufacturers to develop an impactful and sustainable health delivery system for newborn babies.
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?
As with many NGOs, our challenge is to further scale our work with the limited resources (financial, human) available. We address this constraint by constantly looking for local partnerships that are aligned and mutually beneficial, where ever we choose to expand.
Briefly describe your growth strategy going forward
Our strategy is continue to identify markets that have a large potential for growth and impact (Myanmar, for example).
We continue to develop MTTS as a enterprise focused on effective and innovative solutions to medical device manufacturing and distribution.
What dimensions for growth are you currently targeting for your innovation [select all that apply]
New regions(s), New market(s)/country(ies).
What makes your business "ready" for growth?
Our BOL staff are actively looking to expand in other countries as appropriate, leveraging our experience and expertise in implementing BOL in eight countries to date.
What are your key growth objectives?
-number of BOL devices installed
-use and maintenance of devices in hospitals and clinics
-number of new countries to expand
What is your timeframe for growth, in the short and mid-term? What are the growth milestones and key activities going forward?
Short term (2 years): Expansion and establishment of BOL program to another region, such as West Africa, with local manufacturing and technical assistance.
Long term (5 years): Along with partnerships with private enterprise/local government/medical institutions, have a global presence in emerging markets to distribute, install and implement the BOL model.
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideWhat has been the impact of your solution to date?
As of 2013, the Breath of Life Program treats over 54,000 babies each year through Breath of Life technologies operating in eight countries in Asia. We have distributed 650 Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) machines and other neonatal medical devices to over 300 hospitals, and have intensively trained over 2,400 medical staff in advanced newborn care and the operation of BOL neonatal equipment.
What methods for quantification of social impact are you applying (if at all)?
Using rigorous impact evaluation, our Breath of Life team will quantify our impact using the proposed indicators:
• Inputs (machinery installation + training) delivered on time and within budget;
• Outputs (machine use) demonstrated through monthly monitoring;
• Mortality outcomes: Decrease in mortality by birthweight for inborn infants: a) 1000-1499g; b) 1500-1999g; c) overall; and
• Morbidity outcomes: Decrease in the number of exchange transfusions.
The proposed indicators are restricted to ensure that additional data collection required at the hospitals is restricted to the absolute minimum; data collectors will be employed at each hospital, and trained by our staff.
Could your solution work in other geographies or regions? If so, where?
Absolutely. In recent years the BOL program has since expanded to eight countries in South and Southeast Asia, including pilot programs in India, the Philippines, Myanmar and Benin. Experience with this expansion highlights the critical differences between countries, and has led us to conclude that the program is flexible enough to respond appropriately to local circumstances and challenges. Pilot programs allow BOL to identify local issues and develop relationships with local partners while establishing infrastructure for in-country training.
What is your projected impact over the next 1-3 years?
As BOL continues to expand in other countries and regions, we expect to replicate and scale the program to other emerging markets that are suitable for the BOL program. Part the assessment involves identifying local partners and champions in the medical community, the capacity of medical practitioners and local manufacturers, partnerships with ministries of health and other organizations to implement the program and bring it to scale.
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideElaborate on your current financing strategy
Breath of Life is currently primarily funded by private foundations and individual donors as well as international agencies. Our financing strategy is to create demand among low resource hospitals by installing these devices, primarily funded by philanthropy, to create future opportunities to purchase equipment and training through our private/public partnership with MTTS.
Share of revenue generation in total income of organization (in percent)
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
Caregivers.
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)
Of the possible sources of the service contracts listed below, check all that apply to your current strategy
Regional government, National government.
Explain your revenue generation strategy in more detail
Our strategy is to partner with social enterprises such as MTTS, or larger corporations such as GE Healthcare, to provide locally appropriate medical devices in emerging markets. Part of the cost of the device would include funds to cover the training, technical assistance, monitoring and evaluation of the device use, which is EMW's core competency.
Share of philanthropy in total income of organization (in percent)
Philanthrophy strategies you are using
Diversified strategy.
Explain your philanthropic approach in more detail
We work with foundation, individual and institutional funders to develop customized, clinical solutions to significantly reduce neonatal mortality and morbidity in developing countries. These donors are interested addressing neonatal mortality, innovative technologies, and social enterprise.
Expand on your selections; explain how you will sustain funding over the next 1-3 years.
We expect to take an increasing equity stake in promising social enterprises as we continue to deliver innovative healthcare solutions to emerging markets.
Created on 04/10/2013 by Samuel Agutu
Changamka Microhealth is a Social enterprise whose mission is to use mobile technology to deliver innovative health financing solutions to those not covered by formal health and insurance programs. Changamka has developed a mobile phone based medical savings program, a maternal health e voucher system and a phone based microinsurance program.
Organization: CHANGAMKA MICROHEALTH
Visit websitemore ↓↑ hide↑ hideOrganization's Country of Operation
Type of Organization
For‐profit
Year of launch of the organization
Years in Operation
Operating 1-5 years
Has the organization received awards or honors? Please tell us about them
Kenya MDG 5 Award in 2010 for Innovation
CIO Award in 2011 for Innovative Health Technologies;
East African CHMI Award for Innovative Health Technologies;
Saving Lives at Birth Grand Challenges Grant Award;
United Nations Foundation Innovation Working Group Grant 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.
Over 90% of Kenyans have no access to health insurance or any formal health plan.
Over 90% of Kenyans have access to mobile phones
More than 50% of global mobile money transactions happen in Kenya
Aha! We can use mobile telephony and mobile money to deliver healthcare
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Scaling proven mobile maternal health e-vouchers in Western Kenya
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.?
Our first plan is to dramatically scale a proven e-voucher program that reduces financial, transport, and informational constraints to dramatically increase skilled facility-based deliveries in rural Kenya and to evaluate its impact using a randomized study design. We also further innovate and test ways to overcome cultural and gender-based constraints to maternal health care by engaging traditional birth attendants and husbands, and to improve the quality of care by incentivizing community health workers.
In addition, we have developed a microinsurance product that is procured on an individual's phone to overcome the challenge of distributing microinsurance and health services. Individuals who register, get a sequestered "wallet" in their phones in which they can save little by little as they accumulate enough funds, which automatically convert to premium when the set threshold is reached.
Describe how your innovation model is distinct from any other organization in your field?
Our e voucher program replaces conventional paper voucher subsidy programs and reduces administrative costs by almost 50% whilst increasing reach in an unprecedented way.
Our phone based Microinsurance plan enables anyone with a mobile phone and a mobile money account to subscribe and register for insurance; thereby significantly increasing access whilst lowering the affordability barrier by enabling individuals save little by little in a sequestered account.
What type of operating environment and internal organizational factors make your innovation successful?
Over 90% of Kenyans have no access to health insurance or any formal health plan and over 90% of Kenyans have access to mobile phones. The Government has put in place a conducive environment that supports innovation by eliminating taxes on IT hardware.
Changamka is an innovative organization, where new ideas are encouraged and nurtured; and investments made to support new ideas.
How do you make sure you constantly innovate in light of (potential) external challenges, or your growth plan?
Changamka invests heavily in research, monitoring and evaluation. Each of our projects has a research component to ensure that rigorous randomised evaluation is carried out and that results are fed back to ensure continuous improvement
This Entry is about (Issues)
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideThe 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]
Maternal care
Categories along the health continuum you are covering [select all that apply]
Intervention.
Please describe in more detail: what problem are you trying to solve in the organization's specific context?
The goals of our project are to dramatically increase the rates of skilled and institutional deliveries while generating generalizable knowledge about the effectiveness of this m-health program. Specifically, we plan to (1) double the rates of institutional and skilled deliveries in a population of 10,000 women in Western Kenya; (2) increase the rates of antenatal and postnatal care, in particular the number of women who receive four or more antenatal visits; and (3) improve the quality of care delivered by incentivizing CHWs. We hope to generate generalizable knowledge on: (1) the effectiveness of maternity and transportation vouchers; (2) the impact of SMS messages on the demand for care, (3) ways to reduce gender and cultural barriers by also targeting husbands and Birth Attendants
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.), 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.
Most relevant tools you are using to implement the strategies outlined above [select only two]
Technology, Community financing.
Please describe your solution in more detail
We have engaged Community Health Workers who use a poverty tool to identify eligible women, deserving of maternal health subsidy vouchers. Those who qualify are registered, Bio data and photographs taken and uploaded into our Cloud based Online Payer Provider Platform. The women receive e- vouchers on their phones which they present on their visit to health facilities. Upon validation/verification of identity and schedule of benefits, services are rendered in an absolutely paperless process. Health facilitie are given timely payments without having to lodge any claims or issue statements.
Women not qualifying are registered on the microinsurance programme and encouraged to make regular savings on their phones until they reach the insurance premium threshhold.
What are your vision and overall objectives?
For the maternal health e voucher programme, our vision is to at least double the number of women delivering under skilled care in the selected districts, and eventually to scale this to the whole country. For the microinsurance programme, our first objective is to register at least 1 million families in the first twelve months and increase this to five million within three years.
What is your value proposition?
The affordability barrier can be reduced if individuals are given the mechanisms for saving in secure, sequestered little instalments on their mobile phones. Health Microinsurance is available to all who have access to a mobile phone and mobile money accounts. Access to healthcare is as easy as making a phone call.
Who is your customer(s)?
Our customer is the mother who needs subsidized Ante Natal, delivery and post natal services; the family which does not have access to health insurance but can put aside 40 US cents per day for this. Our other customer is the urban middle/lower class who need a solution to the health problems experienced by their close relatives living in rural areas
What approaches to you use to reach your customers?
With the support and active involvement of the National and District Ministry of Health officials we introduced innovative Demand Creation activities comprising of among others interactive peer engagement forums at village level as well as SMS messaging with the result that in just over one month, we recruited more than 500 women into the experimental pilot program, demonstrating overwhelming demand for the vouchers.
What are your primary activities?
Our primary activities involve communication and behaviour change campaigns, enrollment of eligible individuals into either the maternal health or microinsurance programs. We also engage Hospitals and make regular, timely payments to them.
Who are your peers and competitors? What problems could these players pose to your success or growth?
Our peers and competitors comprise all who provide some form of health financing plans such as insurance companies and Health Management Organizations
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?
Financing a social enterprise is a major challenge. In order to break the affordability barrier, our services have to be very low priced, meaning that we have to on board a large number of individuals. We have overcome this by developing a mobile application to enable individuals do a self subscription.
Briefly describe your growth strategy going forward
We have established unmatched strategic partnerships with Safaricom, the largest mobile network operator; the ministry of health and Britam, one of the largest health underwriters in our market. Our strategy is to leverage the resulting synergies to create sustainable customer value. Safaricom's 17 million customers provide a captive market that can be easily retained through superior service.
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?
We have carried out the research, developed the products, proved the concepts, carried out the pilot runs, developed the marketing concepts and collateral; and have some of the greatest testimonials- we are therefore ready.
What are your key growth objectives?
To increase the registration of needy mothers from 1,500 in one district to 10,000 in four districts; to register 1 million families into the microinsurance programme within the first 12 months and to increase this to 5 million within 36 months.
What is your timeframe for growth, in the short and mid-term? What are the growth milestones and key activities going forward?
To increase the registration of needy mothers from 1,500 in one district to 10,000 in four districts; to register 1 million families into the microinsurance programme within the first 12 months and to increase this to 5 million within 36 months.
We aim to engage with the Government's National Health Insurance Fund to cross underwrite the microinsurance product so as to make it more affordable; and to use their countrywide network of accredited facilities as the avenue for achieving Universal Healthcare in Kenya.
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideWhat has been the impact of your solution to date?
Since launching in 2009, we have reached approximately 15,000 individuals. However, we were not content with the pace of scaling as our technology was expensive and not always reliable. We thus embarked on a technology upgrade that will now ensure that we reach 1 million families (approximately) 5 million individuals or 12.5% of the population within 12 months. This number is planned reach 5 million families (25 million individuals) or approximately 50 % of the population in 3 years.
Awareness creation and behaviour change are critical components of our activities. We have thus engaged with the Government to incorporate our activities into their plans in the areas in which we are operating. This has added critical validation to our operations.
What methods for quantification of social impact are you applying (if at all)?
We have not yet embarked on measuring social impact
Could your solution work in other geographies or regions? If so, where?
Our solution can work in any geographical region , provided there is a reliable mobile telephone network and a mobile money culture
What is your projected impact over the next 1-3 years?
5 million individuals in 12 months and 25 million in 3 years
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideElaborate on your current financing strategy
The company has three product lines. Grants are for specific projects and to the extent of using our resources, get compensated for these resources, thus enabling us to cover a sizeable component of our overheads. Our social entrepreneurial line relies on grants. We have developed a commercial line- microinsurance which we expect to start returning profitability by the end of 2014. This line is planned to cross subsidise the loss making/social entrepreneurial lines of the business. We are currently seekung capital injection into the company to help realise the business goals that we have set.
Share of revenue generation in total income of organization (in percent)
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
Individuals, Patients, Private businesses.
Licensing fees, e.g., for technology/franchise model (in percent)
$ 1.25 per customer registered per annum
Of the possible sources of these licensing opportunities listed below, check all that apply to your current strategy
Foundations, NGOs, Private businesses, National government.
Service contract with organizations, e.g., government, NGOs (in percent)
Of the possible sources of the service contracts listed below, check all that apply to your current strategy
Foundations, NGOs, Private businesses, National government.
Explain your revenue generation strategy in more detail
On our microinsurance product we earn a net of 7.5% on each sale made. We have signed up a distribution plan with Safaricom, by developing a mobile application that is integrated to the Safaricom M PESA platform This allows us to directly market via SMS to all, Safaricom clients and to enable them to self subscribe for the insurance services.
Share of philanthropy in total income of organization (in percent)
50% currently but planned to go down to 25% by 2014
Philanthrophy strategies you are using
Diversified strategy.
Explain your philanthropic approach in more detail
We sell a subsidized maternal and family health card to needy individuals. We have the further strategy of engaging with large corporate organizations to subsidize these costs through a structured Corporate Social Responsibility program
Expand on your selections; explain how you will sustain funding over the next 1-3 years.
We are launching a large microinsurance programme in June 2013. The marketing and distribution costs in year one are large and a loss is expected in year 1. However year 2 is expected to realise a small profit. Year three will see a major increase in profitability as the product will have matured and efficiencies also achieved especially in the areas of Marketing and Distribution. As a result we are currently seeking an injection of equity to the tune of $1 million to help us meet the initial costs of taking the product to market.
Created on 04/10/2013 by jsturdevant
The problem is that our nation does not understand and treat addiction to alcohol and other drugs like any other chronic disease. We are trying to solve this problem, which is at the root of our nation’s most destructive problems. Face It TOGETHER® is a team of social entrepreneurs focused on solving this problem, and eliminate addiction as a major public health issue.
Organization: Face It TOGETHER
Visit websitemore ↓↑ hide↑ hideOrganization Country
United States, SD, Sioux Falls, Minnehaha County
Organization's Country of Operation
United States, SD, Sioux Falls, Minnehaha County
Type of Organization
Non‐profit/NGO
Year of launch of the organization
Years in Operation
Operating 1-5 years
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.
Co-founder Kevin Kirby, in addiction recovery, saw too many futures lost to addiction due to shame, fear stigma, and a nation of dysfunctional treatment systems. He convened a seven-month "recovery town hall" process to overhaul the community's approach to addiction. The success of "Face It TOGETHER Sioux Falls" spurred creation of a national organization.
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read more↓↑ hide↑ hideExplain 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.?
The problem is that our nation does not understand and treat addiction like any other chronic disease. We are trying to solve this problem, which is at the root of our nation’s most destructive health, social, and safety problems and a tremendous economic drain on the private and public sectors. Our solution is focused on systemic and sustainable change that disrupts the status quo by attacking the underlying shortcomings of the public and social service sector approaches to addiction. Our solution is scaled community-by-community via a network of affiliates. We operate this first affiliate as a beta site or incubator for testing and validating the model. Among its many innovations, the affiliate deployed strategies that place the affiliate in the roles of catalyst, coordinator, and clearinghouse in creating community-wide recovery system change; established an Employer Initiative with 23 local major organizations, reaching one-third of the community’s workforce; designed, developed, and implemented an award-winning Awareness Program in partnership with the community’s major behavioral health provider to reduce barriers to seeking help; developed and are rolling out a Comprehensive Recovery Capital Evaluation Model© to measure effectiveness and outcomes; and demonstrated recurring funding support from employers, providers, and the United Way. A primary means of scaling our model is through partnerships with integrated health providers. Another means of scaling is a community-by-community approach, and we have been in exploratory talks with leaders in 10 more cities.
Describe how your innovation model is distinct from any other organization in your field?
There are three distinct and fragmented fields: a) treatment of health effects from addiction; b) focused treatment on addiction, such as rehab; and c) relapse prevention and counseling for recovery. The distinctions among them are blurred, and collectively they are grossly ineffective. Competition for the few who get help, and dependency on public sector funding, render these fields impotent to design and execute large-scale strategic plans. It is possible that the emerging field of recovery community organizations (RCOs) may view us as competition. But they do not focus on fundamental system-wide change, implement far-reaching, societal programs to eliminate stigma, nor do they offer value propositions to employers and others that return a sustainable stream of private sector funding.
What type of operating environment and internal organizational factors make your innovation successful?
As social entrepreneurs out to create a nation that understands and treats addiction like any other chronic disease, we are ever observant of developments both within and outside the realm of the traditional addiction, treatment, and recovery fields. For the first time in history, a confluence of market forces enable the creation of a sustainable model of community transformation, the foundation of which is the delivery of value to those with a financial stake in solving addiction. These external forces include: ever escalating health care costs, skyrocketing rates of chronic disease, health care transformation, greater adoption of chronic care models, and the ever-increasing emphasis on employee health. We innovate with partners, such as integrated health providers and employers.
How do you make sure you constantly innovate in light of (potential) external challenges, or your growth plan?
We continually innovate via our first affiliate--a beta site or incubator for testing and validating the model. Among its many innovations, five are highlighted here:
a.Deployed strategies that place the affiliate in the roles of catalyst, coordinator, and clearinghouse in creating community-wide recovery system change;
b.Established an Employer Initiative with 23 local organizations, reaching one-third of the community’s workforce;
c.Developed and are rolling out a Comprehensive Recovery Capital Evaluation Model© to measure effectiveness and outcomes;
e.Demonstrated recurring funding from employers and the United Way, among others.
We partner with health providers, higher education, and other stakeholders at each step along the way.
Most importantly, we are social entrepreneurs.
This Entry is about (Issues)
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideThe 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]
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?
The problem is that our nation does not understand and treat addiction like any other chronic disease. This is at the root of our nation’s most destructive health, social, and safety problems and a tremendous economic drain on the private and public sectors. More than 22 million Americans suffer from addiction, which represents nearly 10% of people ages 12 and up. Yet, nearly 90% of those who need help don’t receive treatment in a given year, and about 75% will never get help in their lifetimes. The failures are inextricably linked to the way health care is delivered and paid for in America. The current “acute” model of care is due in large part to decades of regulations and public policy that created a payment system based on volumes instead of outcomes.
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.), 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.
Most relevant tools you are using to implement the strategies outlined above [select only two]
Education/training, Community financing.
If other, specify here:
Innovative partnerships between a peer-based recovery community organization and multiple private & public sectors
Please describe your solution in more detail
Our solution is focused on systemic and sustainable change that disrupts the status quo by attacking the underlying shortcomings of the public and social service sector approaches to addiction. Our solution is scaled community-by-community via a network of affiliates. We essentially work with multiple community sectors to create a recovery-oriented system of care. Although we have learned a tremendous amount since our first affiliate started in 2009, we have no cookie cutter model for scaling. Rather, we work with community leaders to tailor the Face It TOGETHER model to meet the specific needs and circumstances of each respective community. The conceptual essence of our model is the affiliate’s mission: to initiate and sustain addiction recovery for dramatically more people.
What are your vision and overall objectives?
We marry social mission with innovation and business discipline to fundamentally transform the way our nation deals with this addiction. Our bold vision is a nation that understands and treats addiction the same as any other chronic disease. The mission is to empower communities with innovative, proven, and sustainable tools to attract millions of Americans to recovery from addiction. The mission of the affiliate complements that of Face It TOGETHER: to dramatically increase both the number of individuals and families in recovery and the quality and accessibility of services by creating a recovery-oriented system of care. Affiliate leaders must be social entrepreneurs.
What is your value proposition?
Inputs: Include community leaders, entrepreneurs, available Face It TOGETHER products and tools, recover volunteers
Activities: Health care provider partnerships, employer partnerships, awareness program, advocacy activities, recovery support services, evaluation
Outputs: More people initiating and sustaining recovery, better access to peer-based quality services, more "recovery capital" in a community, cost avoidance and savings by those with a financial stake in addiction
Outcomes:Elimination of addiction as a major public health problem, cultural change, educated and informed public, improved public health and safety, quality of life, and economic development
Who is your customer(s)?
Adopters of our model are communities. Community leaders spearhead adoption. We lead a community through four-phase community adoption process. We are about social change in all private and public sectors of a community. The current and projected demand for societal change around addiction is enormous. So ultimately, the customers are people suffering from addiction. In addition, about one-in-four children under the age of 18 will at some point live with a parent with an addiction problem. These children are at substantially greater risk of school failure, mental health and behavior problems and addiction. Moreover, addiction among parents is a contributing factor for between one- and two-thirds of maltreated children in the child welfare system.
What approaches to you use to reach your customers?
With respect to scaling the model to create a national network of affiliates, we are pursuing multiple approaches simultaneously. One is through partnerships with integrated health providers. Strategic business planning is underway with Sanford Health, an integrated health care provider with facilities in North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, and Nebraska. We are piloting with Sanford in Thief River Falls, MN, and currently defining the terms of the partnership. We are also exploring scaling to communities via community leader relationships, and via large, multi-state employers. . Through it all, there is one mandatory and indisputable principle: no matter the means of proliferation, people with an entrepreneurial spirit must embrace and lead the efforts.
What are your primary activities?
Primary activities are 1) continual improvement of the first affiliate (the beta site), 2) scaling the model, and 3) development and building capacity. With respect to the first activity, the first affiliate has six lines of business: 1) health provider initiative, a partnership between our affiliate and local health care provider in the build out of the recovery oriented system of care; 2) Employer Initiative to extend the recovery community into the workplace, adding value to the private sector through reduced absenteeism, attrition, higher quality, and improved safety; 3) Awareness Program designed to reduce fear and stigma; 4) Advocacy for addiction chronic care with other community sectors; 5) peer-based recovery support services; and 6) evaluation program.
Who are your peers and competitors? What problems could these players pose to your success or growth?
We perceive no direct peers or competitors for Face It TOGETHER®, nor do we anticipate problems from them. There simply is no other team of social entrepreneurs articulating the big problems and meaningful and sustainable solutions relating to addiction. Notwithstanding the above, it is likely that organizations within one or more of these fields may view us as competition. Arguably, the most likely source of that confusion will come from the emerging field of recovery community organizations (www.facesandvoicesofrecovery.org). Overall, these organizations contribute to the fragmented nature of our nation’s addiction treatment and recovery infrastructure. Most track progress through conventional measures of success, and are guided by researchers and payors.
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?
The primary need is growth capital. So during 2012, we began executing a comprehensive and cohesive plan focusing on organizations that fund venture philanthropy and social entrepreneurs. At the same time, we continue to seek funds from donors at the local and regional level. While it states the obvious, our greatest "internal" risk is an inability to attract and retain the human and financial capital needed to execute our mission and proliferate our model. Close behind this is curse of the entrepreneur's DNA to underestimate the magnitude of the challenges an early stage enterprise faces in addressing an issue of this scope while upheaval is occurring all around the issue. To help overcome this, we partner closely with those organizations that have a financial stake in solutions.
Briefly describe your growth strategy going forward
We are committed to a national model to transform nearly everything about addiction in communities across the country. We are working to achieve this through the creation of a national network of affiliates. But we must scale deep, by continually improving our first affiliate--the beta site. We scale out by partnering with health care providers, large employers, and others.
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?
Experiences and measurements by our first affiliate demonstrate model effectiveness. We have developed a suite of products and tools for use by affiliates. Experiences from early-stage rollouts into other communities, show that the strongest advocates are those who see the disease everyday, such as employers, criminal justice officials, health care providers, and higher ed officials.
What are your key growth objectives?
Overall, the primary growth objective is millions of individuals who have entered and are staying in addiction recovery. Success also is dozens of communities operating our model. This will provide tremendous benefits to our communities: saved lives, healthier and more stable families, reduced crime, lower business costs, and a better quality of life.
What is your timeframe for growth, in the short and mid-term? What are the growth milestones and key activities going forward?
We are in the middle of several strategic and exciting discussions with health providers and community leader. The distribution plan is to rollout the model:
--in 2013, to two SD communities in partnership with the State of SD, and one MN community in partnership with Sanford Health.
--in 2014, three ND communities in partnership with Sanford Health.
--in 2015, Kansas City, Minneapolis/St. Paul, and a community TBD; each will be in partnership with a large regional or national distribution partner.
This plan is conservative, and shows only the communities in which scaling is underway and is highly likely in 2014 and 2015. Ongoing discussions could yield a far more aggressive plan.
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideWhat has been the impact of your solution to date?
The national Face It TOGETHER organization has guided the first affiliate, established in 2009. It serves as a beta site, or incubator in which the model is implemented, tested, adjusted, etc. The national office has also focused on its strategic goals of scaling, development, and capacity building. The impact of the solution through the first affiliate has served many thousands of individuals. In 2011, the average monthly number of personal visits to the affiliate was about 300, the average monthly number of calls was over 200, and the average monthly number of website visits topped 1,300.
Face It TOGETHER Sioux Falls became a United Way Agency organization in 2012. The affiliate is required to measure certain outcomes. Those outcomes include:
a. Total number of clients served through the affiliate’s Recovery Support Services: 2451 clients in 2012;
b. Level of satisfaction of clients who received information from the affiliate: 1838 or 75% of clients report being satisfied;
c. Number of clients served with Telephone Recovery Support Services or Recovery Coaching with reduced risk factors for relapse: 138 or 60% of clients report reduced risk factors for relapse, i.e., report having stable employment or housing after 6 months;
d. Number of clients served with Telephone Recovery Support Services or Recovery Coaching in recovery from addiction: 116 or 50% of clients report being in recovery after 12 months.
A survey of clients in early 2013 showed 71% of respondents reported better lives because of the affiliate's services.
What methods for quantification of social impact are you applying (if at all)?
Our solution will promote fundamental, long-lasting change, which we are committed to measuring. The Face It TOGETHER “Comprehensive Recovery Capital Evaluation Model©” is a proprietary tool that uses accepted research and evaluation practices to measure the impact of the Face It TOGETHER model on the creation of “recovery capital” throughout a community. It is an evaluation tool that will be provided to affiliates as a condition of affiliation. Partners and stakeholders within each community sector help define the critical metrics and outcomes. This approach produces results showing where our model is most effective—and where improvements are needed. The model is a balanced framework that considers collateral effects on the growth of "recovery capital" in a community.
Could your solution work in other geographies or regions? If so, where?
Yes, our solution can work anywhere in the country. The recent trend of health care providers to integrate behavioral health (including addiction) and primary care is a significant market force affording tremendous opportunity for scaling our model. There are many reasons for providers to integrate services, including today’s movement toward the delivery of accountable care. The momentum of health care reform is now requiring holistic, long-term care for those with chronic disease. Providers will less frequently be paid for the amount of services they provide, and instead be paid for how well they manage their patients’ conditions. This will provide strong incentive to control costs and improve patient outcomes by partnering with community-based organizations.
What is your projected impact over the next 1-3 years?
Scaling the Face It TOGETHER model to 10 additional communities by the end of 2015 has the potential to transform the way these communities deal with addiction, and bring thousands of people to long-term recovery. Helping more individuals enter and stay in long-term recovery will provide tremendous benefits to these communities: saved lives, healthier, more stable families, reduced crime and a better quality of life. Recovery also reduces the substantial financial costs of addiction on the public, private and non-profit sectors. It also means that children in these communities will be at dramatically reduced risk of abuse and neglect, school failure, behavioral problems, depression and anxiety, and addiction. But our vision is to go national!
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideElaborate on your current financing strategy
The primary need is growth capital primarily for labor. Our scaling plan is limited only by funding. Our infrastructure is poised for growth. For example, our facility space can occupy an additional 8-12 people. Our conservative estimates for earned revenue are based on a conservative scaling plan. We must have $500,000 per year for three years other sources in order to meet our operating budget and to carry out our scaling plan. The primary need is growth capital. So during 2012, we began executing a comprehensive and cohesive plan focusing on organizations that fund venture philanthropy and social entrepreneurs. At the same time, we continue to seek funds from donors at the local and regional level. To date, funding the national organization has come from angel investors and a couple of friendly integrated providers. A key source of revenue in the future will be earned revenue in the form of fees for facilitating the community adoption process and annual fees from the network of affiliates. We are estimating a $12,000 annual fee per affiliate, and this could change. A guiding principle is the fees will not be encumbering, and will be consistent with the value we can provide to Affiliates. Revenue sources for each affiliate will be the Employer Initiative, health providers, the United Way, and local donors.
Share of revenue generation in total income of organization (in percent)
Earned revenue is expected to be 35% o 40% of total income over the next three years.
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
Licensing fees, e.g., for technology/franchise model (in percent)
Fees paid by affiliates for licensing and the model rollout are expected to be 35% to 40% of total income over 3 years.
Of the possible sources of these licensing opportunities listed below, check all that apply to your current strategy
Others.
Service contract with organizations, e.g., government, NGOs (in percent)
Of the possible sources of the service contracts listed below, check all that apply to your current strategy
Private businesses, Others.
Explain your revenue generation strategy in more detail
We are in discussions with health care providers for an infusion of growth capital, which could take the form of a service contract, to partner on the Provider Initiative--the partnership between a recovery community organization and the provider in order to control costs, improve patient health outcomes, and improve patient experience.
Share of philanthropy in total income of organization (in percent)
Philanthrophy strategies you are using
Diversified strategy.
Explain your philanthropic approach in more detail
During 2012 we began executing a comprehensive and cohesive plan focusing on organizations that fund venture philanthropy and social entrepreneurs. At the same time, we continue to seek funds from donors at the local and regional level.
Expand on your selections; explain how you will sustain funding over the next 1-3 years.
The above information regards the national Face It TOGETHER organization. To be more clear, revenue for a Face It TOGETHER affiliate comes from the private sector for value provided. But providers will be a source of revenue. Here is why: Integrated health care providers soon will be treating those with addiction inside the walls of primary care clinics and hospitals. It may be the only way they will be comfortable being held accountable for outcomes. But there are serious limits to any provider’s ability to successfully treat addiction. Research and experience shows that the single-best thing we can do to increase the probability of recovery from addiction is to extend the person’s period of connectivity to peer-based recovery support. This connectivity must not end at the walls of the health provider. Integrated providers and traditional addiction treatment providers are simply not equipped to deliver the types of continuing services and supports that might extend over the lifetime of those with addiction. Holistic and long-term services are needed long after “treatment” ends. Millions of survivors of addiction are equipped to provide recovery supports and serve as recovery coaches for those working to manage their disease over a lifetime. Thus, in the emerging world of integrated provider service delivery, we (and the communities we serve) need provider partners interested in designing and executing innovative solutions just as much as providers need us to deliver the improved community-based outcomes for which they are being held accountable.
Created on 04/10/2013 by ashnab
Approximately 50 words left (400 characters).
Organization: NAYA JEEVAN
Visit websitemore ↓↑ hide↑ hideOrganization's Country of Operation
Type of Organization
Please select
Year of launch of the organization
Years in Operation
Please select
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.
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read more↓↑ hide↑ hideName Your Entry
Busanti- Women Empowerment on Wheels!
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.?
The idea is innovative because it represents the first ‘public health’ bus service for underserved
women in Pakistan and is committed to delivering:
• Safe and reliable transport (for women)
• Financial inclusion (the bus pass is equipped with mobile micropayments and
microsavings technology)
• The first health insurance plan in Pakistan for women working in the informal economy
By institutionalizing a safe, sustainable, alternate mode of transport to access both work and
quality primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare, Busanti will help relieve both the mental and
physical stress that is imposed on women who work in the informal economy.
Describe how your innovation model is distinct from any other organization in your field?
There have been other programs that were launched but had major issues of sustainability. Busanti is a sustainable model because it will charge the same fare that other buses on the road are charging yet offering women a safer and more dignified solution method to travel. The main distinction between Busanti and other buses on the road is:is
1. This Busanti is a safe/secure/reliable way to travel (innovation)
2. Busanti provides healthThis is education/awareness on wheels (innovation)
3. BusantiIt is a billboard on wheels which can promote progressive messaging around women’s empowerment (social innovation)
What type of operating environment and internal organizational factors make your innovation successful?
NAYA JEEVAN has a women-friendly work environment which is committed to positive social transformation for women in Pakistani society. A significant portion of our managers/leaders are women and we want to infect others with this positive spirit
How do you make sure you constantly innovate in light of (potential) external challenges, or your growth plan?
This Entry is about (Issues)
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideThe 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]
Primary healthcare services
Categories along the health continuum you are covering [select all that apply]
Prevention, Detection, Long-term care, Social integration.
Please describe in more detail: what problem are you trying to solve in the organization's specific context?
Naya Jeevan is still a relatively new organization albeit part of a growing health insurance ecosystem in Pakistan. No other insurance entity caters to the lower income socioeconomic groups using a convergence, integrated innovation model. Naya Jeevan is targeting employees whose monthly incomes are under PKR 25,000/month (~less than $8/day) which includes a large population of informal workers – maids, babysitters, cooks, etc. On the path to sustainability, Naya Jeevan is also partnering with corporations to provide health insurance to their low income workers and supply chains. Busanti targets these segments as well as there are a significant number of female workers working in factories as well as in agriculture and retail.
Stage that best applies to your solution [select only one]
Idea (poised to launch)
Core strategies of your business model [select all that apply]
Approaches to behavioral change at the individual level, Patient-centered design, 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.
Most relevant tools you are using to implement the strategies outlined above [select only two]
Technology, Education/training.
Please describe your solution in more detail
The solution is straight forward. We create awareness of women’s health issues among our targeted population and they become initiators of change within their communities. They become accelerators of the same idea. We provide for them with a safe environment where they can commute daily and earn a dignified living. We provide a solution around these womenagainst the social and cultural barriers that impede access to socioeconomic opportunities for women. By educatingWomen can be educated them about their legalon women rights, legislation such as women protection bills and tools of personal safety (e.g. pepper sprays) through via film/video montages and interactive workshops
What are your vision and overall objectives?
The goal of the program is to provide low-income women workers with safe, reliable public transport and increased capacity to create financial and social value for themselves and their families. In addition, this program seeks to facilitate women’s active participation society and the workforce, empowering women with information, resources and institutions acquire control over their lives and improve attitudes and behavior towards women.
Objective 1: Increase women’s empowerment by expanding their awareness of labor laws and opportunities to exercise their rights in the workplace, community, and home.
Objective 2: Combat Gender Based Violence (GBV) and/or intimidation/harassment that informal, low-income female workers are routinely subjected to on public transport and in the workplace
What is your value proposition?
Given the problems that women face in public transport, such as verbal abuse, groping, physical attacks... stalking- many women themselves feel uneasy and avoid travelling alone. We have taken 2 negatives, lack of access to healthcare & lack of access to safe transport, & created a positive in the form of Busanti. Busanti will be PK's first public health service for women. It will provide women a secure vehicle to get them to their destinations safely, all while providing them with access to education/awareness and resources on matters of health.
Who is your customer(s)?
Our primary customer are informal working women who are typically underpaid compared to their male counterparts, for the same job classification, in Pakistan ($1/day to $3.3/day). They are also often subjected to verbal/psychological harassment by their employers who exploit their vulnerable situation in economically challenging times. A majority of Pakistani women workers are unaware of their rights & hence, have not demanded that these rights be enforced. Awareness must by necessity precede change. Forming groups or UNIONS of working women who are made aware of their rights and labor laws will enable these women to collectively demand their rights.
What approaches to you use to reach your customers?
We will partner with corporations to raise awareness of this bus service through their marketing and distribution networks. We also expect media (TV/radio/print) to spotlight this initiative.
What are your primary activities?
All participating women will be trained in life skills including:
• Stress/time management
• Work-life balance
• Personal hygiene/sanitation
• Environmental hygiene
• Negotiation skills
In addition, women workers will be exposed to the following legal training modules including:
• Personal Safety in the workplace
• Protection Against Workplace Harassment (2010 act)
• Protection of Women Act (2006)
• Constitutional Labor Rights
Who are your peers and competitors? What problems could these players pose to your success or growth?
Busanti is an initiator in this field, hence, competition is out of the question. There are other private buses currently on the road, but they do not pose a threat at all, since women would be more than willing to switch buses because of the obvious advantages of Busanti over the rest.
Daewoo is another good quality bus service, although it does not run within the cities, they are competitors to trains and flights that run nationwide.
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?
One of the major challenges is to handle the cashflow, the price that the average buses are charging is enough to cover the fuel of the buses but not enough to cover the cost of the trainings being held. Hence, the business innovation will come in handy, where corporates will BRAND a BUS for a limited time period, which will turn the bus into a moving billboard; a type of outdoor media that doesn’t exist in Pakistan right now. This innovation gives some breathing space to cover other costs.
Another challenge might be gangs/criminals that might want be tempted by a bus full of women. For such people we will employ guards in the buses. Safety is a priority.
Briefly describe your growth strategy going forward
Creating awareness for the cause
Creating a curriculum to be followed (workshop/education on wheels)
Living up to the promise
What dimensions for growth are you currently targeting for your innovation [select all that apply]
What makes your business "ready" for growth?
A similar project was launched which was wrapped up within months. Women enrolled promptly although they were let down because the bus started taking everyone on board to cover their costs. Busanti is a sustainable model; BRAND your BUS, is an alternate revenue source that will keep it afloat
What are your key growth objectives?
Indicators:
• 50% reduction in incidence of gender-associated harassment/violence
• 100 course enrollments/month
• 100% awareness among those women who travel in Busanti
What is your timeframe for growth, in the short and mid-term? What are the growth milestones and key activities going forward?
The next 3 steps to develop this idea include:
(i) Develop a mobile software application that will enable customers the ability to purchase a monthly Busanti Pass/open a mobile money account
(ii) Test the utilization of the bus pass technology in a prototype ‘Busanti’ bus.
(iii) Design and develop the ‘women’s health' modules that will be displayed via video in the
bus
June 2013 – September 2013: Mapping Study with Data Analysis
July 2013 – August 2013: Focus Groups along with gender sensitization training and capacity-building of project staff
September 2013 –April 2014: Pilot project: Four 1-week training modules x 8 months
May 2014-June 2014: Collection and Analysis of Employee Feedback
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideWhat has been the impact of your solution to date?
NAYA JEEVAN has achieved the following results thus far:
23,000+ low income members enrolled in corporate, NGO and community Health plans across 100+ organizations in Pakistan
5000+ medical consultations conducted by phone
3000+ Health risk assessments and 500+ hospital admissions averted In addition to this, we have measured the following:
Evidence of User Satisfaction
*In 2010, the client organization renewal rate was 82%. The beneficiary renewal rate was 79%.
*In 2011, the customer renewal ratio was 95 %, indicating high user satisfaction with the product.
*Naya Jeevan achieved a growth ratio of 582% in 2010 and 630% in 2011.
Improvements in Efficiency
* Naya Jeevan's operating cost/life impacted has decreased from US$8/life impacted in 2010 to US$6/life impacted in 2011; and should continue to do so due to increased resource optimization
And increased number of beneficiaries/economies of scale.
What methods for quantification of social impact are you applying (if at all)?
Employee Feedback surveys will be conducted within 4 weeks of training completion to assess satisfaction with training
Outputs:
• Number of Women Workers completing legal training program
• Number of Harassment/Violence incidents self-reported by women workers completing legal awareness training program compared to other factory-based women workers
Indicators:
• 50% reduction in incidence of gender-associated harassment/violence
• 100 course enrollments/month
Could your solution work in other geographies or regions? If so, where?
More than half of Pakistanis are women, and a high percentage of SEC C and below have working women, this would mean that Busanti will be successful all over Pakistan, wherever slums, urban slums are found. This would include (put percentage of population) of the total population to be our target market.
Apart from Pakistan, in India the recent and fatal rape case is evident of the fact that Busantis are needed there more than ever. Also the population of India and Pakistan are similar. Other South Asian countries might also be in favour of the launch of Busanti in their countries.
What is your projected impact over the next 1-3 years?
We anticipate that working women’s awareness of rights and labor laws will increase by 50% in the target population over 12 months. We expect that industrial working women will become more facile with mobile banking and financial services that they will be provided. Equipped with improved life skills and knowledge, we expect that these factory/industry-based workers will be treated with far more dignity and respect by their employers and will actually enjoy going to work, demonstrated by a 20% increase in their attendance rate.
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideElaborate on your current financing strategy
Share of revenue generation in total income of organization (in percent)
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
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)
Of the possible sources of the service contracts listed below, check all that apply to your current strategy
Explain your revenue generation strategy in more detail
Share of philanthropy in total income of organization (in percent)
Philanthrophy strategies you are using
Diversified strategy.
Explain your philanthropic approach in more detail
Income: List existing income sources for this project
• Existing sources of funding (incl. other grants received and income generated by project): $150,000 (USAID,
Nestlé Prize in Creating Shared Value - Nomination Form Page 12 of 13
Grand Challenges Canada)
• Organisation’s own contribution (cash or in-kind):
Total income: $150,000
Expand on your selections; explain how you will sustain funding over the next 1-3 years.
Created on 04/9/2013 by effijono
A New Vision (ANV) is about applying practical solution to end avoidable blindness, urgently.
ANV works by setting examples on how the solution can be applied; how multiple partners (including non-traditional partners) can play defining role in this solution; how to break current resistance and barriers, all which cannot be done by continuing current "business as usual" approach.
Organization: A New Vision
Visit websitemore ↓↑ hide↑ hideOrganization's Country of Operation
Type of Organization
Non‐profit/NGO
Year of launch of the organization
Years in Operation
Operating 1-5 years
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.
Seeing how a 5-minute cataract surgery which costs less than a dinner can instantly change the lives of blind patients and their families.
Millions of people stay blind unnecessarily; a cure is available now, no research or medical breakthrough is required. We only need to change the game to end their blindness.
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read more↓↑ hide↑ hideExplain 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.?
A New Vision (ANV)’s mission is to help eradicate avoidable blindness.
ANV innovative ideas:
a. Utilize and build the capacity non-traditional resources:
ANV engages members of the Indonesian military (Bintara Pembina Desa/”Babinsa” or Petty Army Office for Village Development) to find villagers with cataract blindness for ANV charity cataract surgery events.
Babinsa is not combat personnel but stationed in each village for security and development. Babinsa are great resources as they live and work in local community and they work well under chain of command. This is especially advantageous under current territorial autonomy in Indonesia where Central Government no longer can command Provincial Government and so forth.
ANV trains Babinsa on basic eye health to identify people with cataract blindness and refer those with other eye diseases to seek treatment. Babinsa also bring primary care workers/health volunteers from their areas to this training.
b. Involve wider community:
Community eye hospitals are proven successful in Nepal and India (www.aravind.org/www.tilganga.org). ANV’s innovation ideas include:
• Involve wider community with initial operating funds sourced from crowd funding
• Invite local ophthalmologists to have stakes in this community eye hospital
• Continue community awareness and education on eye health
• Utilize Babinsa
Describe how your innovation model is distinct from any other organization in your field?
Seeing the success in utilizing Babinsa, other NGOs are now starting to use them too, to find cataract patients for their charity events but ANV is the only organization to give Babinsa the required training.
ANV is the only international NGO in Indonesia engaging private social enterprises to build, run and own high quality, affordable and sustainable community eye hospitals. The said crowd funding approach will also be the first for health sector in Indonesia.
What type of operating environment and internal organizational factors make your innovation successful?
The community eye hospitals ANV envisages aim to give high quality eye-care affordable to all. Profits earned from paying patients shall subsidize lower cost or free treatment to those who can’t afford.
This cross subsidy approach has been proven successful in other parts of the world and will be tailored for Indonesia.
Getting wider community involvement (private social enterprises, crowd funding, local ophthalmologists, Babinsa etc.) will help create a sense of belonging by all.
ANV has good and growing relationship with these multiple stakeholders, as well as extremely good reputation on quality from ANV’s past charity cataract surgery events.
How do you make sure you constantly innovate in light of (potential) external challenges, or your growth plan?
To-date we have trained 3,000 Babinsa and 500 primary care workers.
Future training will include village chiefs, women association, religious and community leaders. They too, can refer patients to community eye hospitals and/or log patients’ details for charity events.
ANV is in discussion with three groups of private social enterprises for potential hospital in three provinces. A successful model can be replicated across the country. The private sector’s interest is strong. With an estimated 3.5m Indonesians blind, the demand is there. We just need a catalyst to start the spark.
This Entry is about (Issues)
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideThe 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]
Other specialty care
Categories along the health continuum you are covering [select all that apply]
Intervention.
Please describe in more detail: what problem are you trying to solve in the organization's specific context?
The two biggest barriers preventing the blind from getting treatment are awareness and affordability.
Indonesia has 9100 primary care clinics but the clinics’ role is passive, treat only patients who come. Many blind patients don’t go to clinics, believing it is not treatable, doubtful over the quality or the treatment is not affordable.
The cost of cataract surgery is USD450/eye at public hospital, too prohibitive for the 120 million Indonesians (50% of the population) who earn less than USD2 a day* (*source: The Jakarta Post, Beyond Statistics of Poverty, Iin P. Handayani, February 13 2012)
Thus, surgery output is very low (averaging less than 10 cataract surgeries/hospital/week), making Indonesia the country with one of the lowest Cataract Surgical Rate in the world.
Stage that best applies to your solution [select only one]
Idea (poised to launch)
Core strategies of your business model [select all that apply]
New/redefined roles for healthcare service provision, Unconventional partnerships (between traditional healthcare players and players outside healthcare), New financing strategies for health.
Most relevant tools you are using to implement the strategies outlined above [select only two]
Education/training, Community financing.
Please describe your solution in more detail
Solution: break the awareness and affordability barriers.
Awareness:
* Regular training to grass roots resources (Babinsa, village chiefs etc.)
*Use media to help improve public awareness on avoidable blindness.
* Increase accessibility to treatment by providing transportation to the hospital.
*Improve the surgery quality by training and incentivising medical and hospital staff.
Affordability:
* Make available high quality and affordable community eye hospitals.
* Targeted free (charity) cataract surgery to ensure the unreached is reached.
* Document surgery output and outcome; share this data with the public and policy makers. This is useful in advocating eye health to policy makers.
What are your vision and overall objectives?
Our vision is a world where no one is blind needlessly.
Technology and accessible treatment are available for 80% of blindness (cataracts and refractive errors; source: Vision2020, International Agency for Prevention of Blindness).
No one should remain blind simply because of lack of awareness or inability to pay.
What is your value proposition?
Utilize our international and local network to mobilize local community to take part in ending avoidable blindness.
ANV is a young organization with little resources but we have made good impact in local community and we are well known for high volume and high quality cataract surgeries. We are on the right track to take the work to the next level – drive the building of sustainable community eye hospitals.
We can collaborate with non-traditional partners (Babinsa and private social enterprise). We also collaborate with large INGOs - The Fred Hollows Foundation (www.hollows.org.au) to share knowledge and compliment each other’s work.
Who is your customer(s)?
Our customers are:
1. Paying patients
2. Non-paying patients
Profits made from paying patients are used to fund subsidized or free treatment to the unreached.
The quality of treatment is the same for both paid and free patients. Only the level of comfort in service differentiates the two categories of patients.
What approaches to you use to reach your customers?
Community education – basic eye health training for Babinsa, village chiefs, local women associations, religious and community leaders.
Publicity – media (radio), stage play, flyers, banners.
Making accessibility easy – provide scheduled and regular transportation to the hospitals.
Referral by shareholders – members of the private social enterprise and local ophthalmologists association are likely to refer customers to this hospital.
Word of mouth – high quality yet affordable treatment with good service experienced by patients will be invaluable referral for future patients.
What are your primary activities?
- Community education on basic eye health.
- Build the capacity of local medical team by funding intensive quality training on cataract surgery.
- Equip trained local medical team with mobile equipment and encourage them to actively take part in community work including charity surgery events held by other NGOs.
- Drive private social enterprise to start the building of sustainable community eye hospitals.
- Connect the private social enterprise with other INGO (eg. The Fred Hollows Foundation) for additional support.
- Advocate policy makers by presenting record and output and outcome data from our activities.
Who are your peers and competitors? What problems could these players pose to your success or growth?
There are no real comparable peers or competitors in what we try to do. Private for-profit eye clinics/hospitals may see us as a threat and competitor but it is a misguided because there are so many patients who are currently not serviced due to lack of awareness, trust (quality) and affordability.
For the middle to upper middle class patients, their trust in the local quality of surgeries is low. Many choose to have their cataract surgeries abroad even though it costs a lot (Malaysia, Singapore)
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?
Our challenges are For-Profit eye hospitals who are going to view low cost high quality eye hospitals as a threat to their business and they might use local ophthalmologists association to influence the authority to stop this hospital from operating.
To overcome, we encourage private social enterprise to invite local ophthalmic association to have profit shares in this hospital.
The local ophthalmic association keep their share of profits. Only share of profits owned by private social enterprise will be used to subsidize free treatment for the poor.
As a result, local ophthalmologists will also help refer patients to this hospital and help it grow.
Overtime, the market will prove that the greater the public awareness, the more patients for everyone.
Briefly describe your growth strategy going forward
The strategy is to have one sustainable community eye hospital operating by year 2014, this gives us one year to secure crowd funding, recruit and train personnel, refurbish the hospital, increase the training to the community.
Once the hospital is running, the operating model can be quickly applied to the second and third hospital in other provinces.
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?
There are public demands and interest from social enterprises.
First three years: new regions (other provinces)
After three years: with good reputation established, the hospital can:
* Expand the scope of treatment to include other eye sub-specialties.
* Reach to customers who currently seek treatment overseas.
What are your key growth objectives?
The growth objectives we envisage are:
* To replicate this hospital model across Indonesia’s 33 provinces.
* To influence policy makers to place greater resources on eye health and put eye health on priority health list.
What is your timeframe for growth, in the short and mid-term? What are the growth milestones and key activities going forward?
Please kindly refer to answers in 3.2.a and 3.2.b above.
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideWhat has been the impact of your solution to date?
ANV is the first in Indonesia to hold:
*High-volume high-quality cataract surgery events
*High-volume community training on basic eye health and awareness
To-date we have performed 3,751 surgeries in 4 events; trained 3 local medical teams (3 surgeons, 6 paramedics); equipped 2 local eye clinics; trained 3,500 Babinsa and primary care workers.
2,384 surgeries were performed on those who are still in productive age (20’s to 60’s); 80 surgeries were on children/juvenile.
The impact on sight restoration is not limited to only the patients but also their family members. This impact is immeasurable but one can imagine how powerful it is.
Please find attached ANV’ past newsletters with stories on some patients.
This high volume event is possible with Babinsa’s contribution. The high quality is possible by training local medical teams.
But charity event cannot resolve the blindness problem and the barriers to treatment currently faced by patients must be resolved. ANV hopes the privately owned and well-run community eye hospital can be the catalyst.
What methods for quantification of social impact are you applying (if at all)?
By getting private sector to take the lead, ANV hopes to demonstrate to the government and policy makers that high quality yet affordable community eye hospitals is possible and sustainable.
Eradicating avoidable blindness does not cost much, yet the impact is multi-folds in economics terms and immeasurable in social terms, for the patients, their families and the country.
A successful cross subsidy scheme in eye care may also incentivize numerous existing privately owned and run free general medical clinics across Indonesia to look into similar scheme for other specialized treatment such as kidney dialysis, dental etc.
Could your solution work in other geographies or regions? If so, where?
Yes, virtually everywhere.
Privately owned and run sustainable community eye hospital model has been proven successful in India and Nepal, they play significant role in reducing avoidable blindness in these countries.
What we do differently is bringing in non-traditional partners, ie. Babinsa, village chiefs, private social enterprises and local ophthalmologists association to take part in this community program.
What is your projected impact over the next 1-3 years?
Year 0: Staff for the community eye hospital #1 recruited and trained. Facility is ready.
Year 1: Hospital #1 restored 3000 eye sights (80% free patients). Model starts replicated in other provinces (hospital #2 and #3). Recruit additional surgeon for hospital #1.
Year 2: Hospital #1 restored 6600 sights (70% free patients). Hospital #2 and #3 start operating with similar targets as Hospital #1's year 1. Total 15,600 sights restored by the 3 hospitals. Recruit additional surgeons for other eye specialties.
Year 3: Hospital #1 restored 7500 sights (60% free patients). Total 20,700 sights restored by the 3 hospitals.
If Hospital #1 does 7,500 surgeries as projected, this will represent 50% of estimated annual cataract incidents in North Sumatra, before clearing existing backlog.
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideElaborate on your current financing strategy
Currently, 50% ANV’s funds are generated from corporate donors (international companies with active businesses in Indonesia and large local companies). This % is expected to grow with more corporate donors becoming interested, citing they have CSR funds which are unused because they can't find a cause or operator who they like and trust.
We approach these corporation via. personal introduction to the senior management. Some corporations read up on us and contacted us directly.
Share of revenue generation in total income of organization (in percent)
100% ANV revenue comes from donation.
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
Friends and family, Individuals, 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)
Of the possible sources of the service contracts listed below, check all that apply to your current strategy
Explain your revenue generation strategy in more detail
I. Raise funds from individuals (non-corporates) to help training local medical teams, community awareness and charity cataract surgical events.
II. Approach multinational companies who have active businesses in Indonesia to fund majority of the cost of charity cataract surgical events. Once they see the impact, they are often willing to expand the support to include funding the training of local medical team and community awareness.
III. Use our reputation gained from these charity events to get into discussion with private social enterprises to own and run community eye hospitals.
Share of philanthropy in total income of organization (in percent)
Philanthrophy strategies you are using
Diversified strategy.
Explain your philanthropic approach in more detail
We raise the funds we need to start the initial work, such as outreach (cataract surgical events), community training, medical teams training; this is to get the attention and to expose private social enterprises to the issues on eye health and potential service opportunity.
ANV does not fund the building of community eye hospitals. Subject to availability of funds and performance of the hospital in the early years, ANV may contribute intraocular lenses for surgeries done on free patients at these hospitals.
Expand on your selections; explain how you will sustain funding over the next 1-3 years.
ANV revenue will continue to come from donation. We are expanding the source of funds to include other charity organisation (eg. Lions Club Singapore and private foundations)
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).
Organization: NAYA JEEVAN
Visit websitemore ↓↑ hide↑ hideOrganization Country
United States, CT, Darien
Organization's Country of Operation
Type of Organization
Non‐profit/NGO
Year of launch of the organization
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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read more↓↑ hide↑ hideExplain 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)
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideThe 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.
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)
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideWhat 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.
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideElaborate 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)
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
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)
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)
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)
Created on 04/9/2013 by melissa@accessafya.com
Access Afya is creating a chain of ultra-mini-clinics that provide standardized outpatient services targeting the extreme poor. Health technologies support operations and patient communication. This model lowers barriers to good health by bringing care directly to the doorstep of the people who need it the most. The clinic links to existing community networks for outreach and health financing.
Organization: Access Afya
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United States, NY, New York
Organization's Country of Operation
Type of Organization
For‐profit
Year of launch of the organization
Years in Operation
Operating for less than a year
Has the organization received awards or honors? Please tell us about them
Access Ayfa was selected to be part of the inaugural Village Capital Nairobi program, which involved peer exchanges, mentor matching, and business plan coaching with a local consulting group and 15 Kenyan start-ups.
Founder Melissa Menke is also a current semi-finalist for an Echoing Green fellowship.
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.
In Co-Founder Duncan’s extensive microfinance experience, he saw how treatable health issues caused problems for clients in loan repayments. This prompted us to brainstorm new health models in November 2011. We discussed a ‘health kiosk’ that lowered the time-burden of seeking care, and I developed the concept through a trip to Kenya where I met with stakeholders and saw the potential impact.
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideName Your Entry
Health "Kiosks" for Kenya Slums
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.?
Access Afya is redefining the healthcare experience at the base of the pyramid through a community based mini-clinic model. There are many innovations in new diagnostics, products, and apps but there is a bottleneck getting these to mass markets. We are taking a completely different approach to healthcare by creating clinics in vulnerable populations, staffing them with qualified health professionals, equipping them with the latest health technologies and diagnostics, and linking to a larger referral network to handle advanced health needs.
The model is a private sector solution for poor markets, charging small fees for each service. Patients are offered a variety of health financing options to meet their small, irregular cash flows from pay-per-use products and services to bundled care packages to membership plans. We build on the existing community social infrastructure, through community health workers, savings groups, and schools, to promote our products and screen potential clients.
We are planning each element of the organization for scale, from recruitment and hiring criteria to training plans to clinical and operational protocols. Technology is the backbone of this vision, as all records are already managed electronically. Smart health systems will increase efficiency through saving space and reducing repetitive data collection, and improve outcomes through diagnostic protocols and treatment reminders. As we expand, small positive margins from each mini-clinic will contribute to operational overheads, making the model self-sustaining at scale.
Describe how your innovation model is distinct from any other organization in your field?
The status quo if you are sick and poor in Kenya is to either spend time and transit money to go to a public facility, where you then spend hours waiting for treatment, or to self-diagnose and purchase medication from an unregulated chemist. Chemists are rarely staffed by health professionals, nor do they have training or tests to give an accurate diagnosis. Charitable programs exist but cannot reach the millions living in poverty and are heavily subsidized.
Other health enterprises in Kenya such as do not target the ultra-poor, or they focus only on specific needs such as maternity or HIV/AIDS. We bring a holistic healthcare model directly to the doorsteps of the people who need it the most.
What type of operating environment and internal organizational factors make your innovation successful?
The business model fits into Ministry of Health strategy and goals, including increasing primary care, services for expectant mothers, public-private partnerships, and health technologies. Our partnership with the public sector, from licensing to reporting to receiving free supplies, makes the model more feasible and scalable. Nairobi is emerging as Africa’s Silicon Savannah, giving us many organizations and individuals to partner on tech innovations. Mobile penetration is high, meaning our text message communication strategies are feasible here. We also have strong local support networks, and a solid knowledge of our target market through our growing electronic database of our patients' demographics, symptoms, treatments and also process documents from the pilot.
How do you make sure you constantly innovate in light of (potential) external challenges, or your growth plan?
We currently have weekly all staff meetings to facilitate challenge and idea sharing. I have also engaged interns and external student groups to study our model, financials, interview previous patients, and provide feedback and recommendations.
I have been a contributor to global health networks, blogs, and conferences as well as frequently posting on our website. This demonstrates that I am ready and willing to share our ideas, progress, challenges, and solicit feedback and ideas from others. I have learned a lot from mentors and advisors, and believe that open, honest dialog about our model and challenges will keep us nimble and innovative. Social impact is the primary goal, and if the path to that goal is constantly changing our organization is prepared for that.
This Entry is about (Issues)
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideThe 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]
Primary healthcare services
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?
In Kenya 9 out of 100 children will not live to see their fifth birthday. Wealth is a major determinate of health; the poor are less likely to access preventative and life-saving treatments, to use family planning, and to know their HIV status. This leads to unnecessary suffering and death from preventable and manageable conditions.
Slum conditions exacerbate disease, where 150 families can share a latrine, just over half of homes treat their water, and registered clinics are rare. The National Health Accounts finds that 30% of Kenyans do not seek care when sick, citing cost and access as key reasons. Most health-seeking behavior at the base of the pyramid centers around waiting for conditions to exacerbate and medication is usually purchased from informal, unregulated chemists.
Stage that best applies to your solution [select only one]
Piloting (a pilot that has just begun operating)
Core strategies of your business model [select all that apply]
Approaches to behavioral change at the individual level, New/redefined roles for healthcare service provision, New approaches to distribution of health products and services, New financing strategies for health.
Most relevant tools you are using to implement the strategies outlined above [select only two]
Technology, Consultation.
Please describe your solution in more detail
Access Afya is creating a chain of ultra-mini-clinics that provide standardized outpatient services targeting the extreme poor. This model lowers barriers to good health by bringing care directly to the doorstep of the people who need it the most. Through community marketing and convenient proximity, patients are encouraged to have earlier, more frequent conversations about their health.
Each clinic has a registered nurse on site, supported by electronic health systems to manage patient files, stock, and communication. There is a consultation room, mini-lab, and a dispensary to fill prescriptions right on site. The clinic is open every day for ten hours. Patients pay small fees for each service, making the model self-sustainting.
What are your vision and overall objectives?
There is a massive opportunity to reach the millions in poverty with a private, affordable, social health enterprise model. Despite common perceptions, there is a willingness to pay for health services at the base of the pyramid. This is evidenced by the prevalence of informal chemists profitably peddling medications in the slums, and the early successes of organizations around the world rolling out low-cost clinic models. More evidence is coming in through the Access Afya pilot site. Technology is transforming the way medical workers and facilities diagnose diseases, manage conditions, and engage with their patients, and we use these to lower costs and improve outcomes. After its pilot, Access Afya will expand with a branded chain of mini-clinics serving poor markets in Kenya and beyond.
What is your value proposition?
Our clinics are cleaner, better stocked, and more convenient options than public health centers, while being more reliable sources of information and supplies than surrounding informal chemists. Diagnoses are accurate because the clinic has registered medical staff and rapid diagnostic tests. Care is friendlier because we have quality control checks and protocols for treatment and follow-up. We link to existing community groups, making payments easier by lumping them in with school fees or savings groups. The brand Access Afya will be a name people come to trust, providing a consistent, quality, convenient experience.
Who is your customer(s)?
The Kenyan population is 43 million with around half living in poverty. We target these base of the pyramid customers in catchment areas of around 5,000. We emphasize services for women through prenatal outreach because women are often health decision makers in the household and likely to bring their children and refer their friends. A secondary target group is youth. 43% of Kenya’s population is under 15, they are a growing force in the country, and we reach them early through talks on sexual and reproductive health. Our customers have low, irregular incomes, work in the informal sector, live in households with an average size of five, and do not have health insurance.
What approaches to you use to reach your customers?
The clinic markets itself partially through design and materials, which send a message about our permanence and commitment to quality. A permanent, physical structure in a dense, urban area is part of how we generate traffic for our services. Design elements include a front window where our community health worker can interact with passers-by and sell over the counter. We are open seven days a week, from 8:00am to 6:00pm.
Our core sales force is our cadre of community health workers—government appointed health volunteers who are already doing home-based care with an emphasis on HIV/AIDS. We equip these workers with information on Access Afya to facilitate referrals. The clinic team does health and outreach talks with existing community groups. We are experimenting with SMS promotions.
What are your primary activities?
Access Afya is redefining each element of the health delivery value chain with rigorous attention to cost, quality, and scalability. We start with the physical space. The average plot size in the slums is 12 x 15 feet, meaning a full outpatient center needs to fit in this. We design and construct clinics, and negotiate land and lease arrangements and stock them with reliable supplies. Next, we recruit, hire, train, and support health staff. Pre-screening systems, group interviews, and mock consultations help find the right people. At the core of the model is excellent service delivery. Our staff gives consultations on common ailments, family planning, prenatal care, and perform first aid. We follow up with each patient via SMS reminding them of treatment and to check back in.
Who are your peers and competitors? What problems could these players pose to your success or growth?
The largest competition is from informal chemists, who are unregulated but ubiquitous sellers of medication through small shacks. Competing with the unregulated drug supply chain, where up to a third of drugs are expired or stolen, we might not always win on price and must establish a reputation for quality. Chemists do not have the staff or supplies to offer our services. Quality private facilities are serving mostly upper-middle income and above. Large networks of healthcare providers could look to go down-market. These organizations have an advantage from their experience managing large healthcare organizations, but they are currently nowhere near our market. Additionally, we are tailoring our model for the urban poor, and will have an advantage in reaching this population.
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?
Weak land rights in informal settlements is a risk to quickly expanding in number. Engaging the public sector in lease negotiations overseen by our chief to having Ministry of Health visit the site reduces this risk, and a mini-clinic model spreads the risk of any single land title across many sites. Infrastructure costs are low but concrete walls strong. A similar organization in the education space invested in a strong legal team, and we may have to do the same. The model rests on excellent staff, and rapid growth and replication. A competitive HR package and building positive organizational culture through staff meetings and training opportunities will help attract and retain staff. Our various technology systems are not integrated, and we need to invest in a seamless eHealth platform.
Briefly describe your growth strategy going forward
Following one additional pilot site in 2013, we will start to roll out the mini-clinic model in urban areas. An estimated 3 million Kenyans live in urban informal settlements, and we will start expanding within Nairobi and other urban areas. In parallel, we will pilot our rural model for bringing the same standard of care to rural communities, and use this data to craft a rural expansion plan.
What dimensions for growth are you currently targeting for your innovation [select all that apply]
New regions(s).
What makes your business "ready" for growth?
In four months we have attracted 400 patients, residents of our target slum, who are paying small fees for health services. Countless more purchase supplies over the counter. Daily traffic and sales are increasing, and the market for primary care for the poor is vast. We've developed processes and protocols for operations and are ready to test these and our ability to run a mini-clinic chain.
What are your key growth objectives?
Expansion goals are to explore variation in customer preferences in different areas, add new products and services and learn about willingness to pay for these, increase marketing and outreach, invest in protocol development and technology integration, and create a prototype for an improved clinic design. As we expand we will also explore economies of scale with resource accumulation and spreading
What is your timeframe for growth, in the short and mid-term? What are the growth milestones and key activities going forward?
This year we are experimenting with new marketing and health financing strategies to increase clinic throughput, and will open one additional site. Medium term expansion will be through a cluster model, quickly opening up pods of mini-clinics in slums allowing us to leverage referral networks and relationships. We aim to be operating 15 mini-clinics in urban areas and have a rural pilot by the end of 2015.
Key milestones will be expanding traffic to 15 patients per day, increasing the core team, signing a bulk purchasing agreement with our largest supplier, obtaining the highest level of SafeCare certification illustrating our quality standards, partnering with at least one insurance provider, and signing up half of our patients for membership, packages, or health savings products.
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideWhat has been the impact of your solution to date?
The pilot opened December 3, 2012 and has been providing consultations, wound dressings, rapid diagnostic tests, vitals monitoring, and sales of medications and health supplies. In just ten weeks the clinic did over 100 consultations, 25 family planning visits, dressed 16 wounds, and ran 34 tests. An essential piece of our marketing strategy, health talks also transfer information to targeted groups such as women living with HIV support networks, savings groups, and secondary schools. We held our first large outreach event, a deworming campaign, and had 176 children come to the clinic in two days.
Patient feedback is incredibly positive. Through follow-up surveys, all interviewed patients have told us they felt better within five days of their appointment, and felt as through they were treated with respect. Many told us the attention paid to them by health staff was the best thing about the clinic and the reason they will go back. One women explained that she did not know family planning pills were to be taken at the same time each day prior to talking with our nurse. Another woman with frequent asthma attacks is saving for an inhaler with us instead of relying on reactive injections. Multiple men who have tried to purchase malaria medication over the counter have been surprised to pay for a blood test and learn that their fever was not caused by malaria. Word of mouth is spreading, and early anecdotes demonstrate the huge social value of having reliable health information within the community.
What methods for quantification of social impact are you applying (if at all)?
We opened our pilot clinic in December, and are tracking services as outputs. Through quickbooks, we run reports on total and monthly sales of health supplies and services. The desired outcome is that our services create wellness. Our follow-ups with patients confirm this early on, and we are looking at tracking systems that can summarize outcomes for all patients. We want to understand which of our services are saving our patients time and money in comparison to their next best alternative, versus which are services that would not have been consumed if our clinic had not been there.
Could your solution work in other geographies or regions? If so, where?
The model could be replicated throughout East Africa, and has potential to spread further. Distributed healthcare in smaller and more convenient spaces is the future of healthcare and will work through quality protocols, health supply chain work, linkages to existing community structures and networks, and design. I am committed to sharing our model and our learning, so that as Access Afya grows, other organizations can take the methods and approaches and implement them in other markets as well. Technology, marketing strategies, and protocols will be adapted to local contexts, but the core vision and value chain will translate.
What is your projected impact over the next 1-3 years?
In the next three years, half of the three million residents in Kenyan slums will have access to reliable healthcare. This means 33 clinics serving an estimated half million without a current health center. Each clinic will reduce infectious disease through proper diagnosis and treatment. 9.2% of children in Kenya die before their 5th birthday; 55% of these deaths are due to malaria and respiratory disease, which can be diagnosed and treated at the clinic level. There will be a drop in unsafe abortion because more women are using family planning. Family sizes will be lower, and women will have more time to work. Maternal mortality will decline because of our antenatal services. Health knowledge will be democratized, as even HIV tests can happen quickly, inexpensively, and privately.
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideElaborate on your current financing strategy
Financing currently comes from a social investor and will fully cover operating costs through May 2014. Access Afya is seeking charitable funding to help study and expand the pilot. Charitable funding would be dedicated to opening an additional site, integrating technology systems, and covering core operations. We are applying for grants, fellowships, and launching a crowd-funding campaign to tap into social networks.
Each mini-clinic will take around one year to break even, and the Kenyan organization will be able to sustain itself when it is operating 15. The pilot site is generating revenue that currently covers around half of its operating costs and all revenue is used directly for operations. Once the sustainability case is proven through the expanded pilot, Access Afya will seek social investment to increase the number of mini-clinics. At this point we will also be exploring other forms of financing, such as partnerships with insurance to increase earned revenue. Another option is local capital, such as constituency development funds, which will be allocated by the newly elected government and is in-line with Kenya's decentralization goals.
Share of revenue generation in total income of organization (in percent)
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
Friends and family, Individuals, Patients.
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)
Of the possible sources of the service contracts listed below, check all that apply to your current strategy
Explain your revenue generation strategy in more detail
Revenue is generated through a combination of products and services. Consultations and other services are priced low- around $1.25 for an adult consultation- to get people in the door, and memberships and packages make these margins slimmer. We make the larger shares of revenue on testing and medicine and product sales. Lab tests and injections have an average 60% mark-up, and medicine and supplies average 40%. Most patients pay for a test or medication as a result of consultation. Around half of revenue comes from the retail window selling basic health supplies. Each mini-clinic will operate on slim positive net income, contributing to organizational overheads.
Share of philanthropy in total income of organization (in percent)
Philanthrophy strategies you are using
Diversified strategy.
Explain your philanthropic approach in more detail
The 90% is currently not actually philanthropy but social investment capital. Moving forward, we aim to diversify philanthropic capital to include grants and fellowships. The strategy is to use philanthropy to test new ideas, such as marketing primary care memberships, integrating mobile money savings products, and expanding to a rural pilot, while keeping the long-term model to have each mini-clinic fully cover its own operating costs.
Expand on your selections; explain how you will sustain funding over the next 1-3 years.
We have funding for the next year, and are raising charitable funding to cover an operating loss for the next three years. The mini-clinics contribute to their own operating expenses and we see our revenues growing throughout our early months. Additionally, there are a number of future revenue streams we are exploring: expanded service delivery menu to include more lab work, other health and sanitation services such as providing clean water, collaborations on data collection and sharing, and leveraging our messaging and community health worker networks for advertising.
Created on 04/8/2013 by carter.powers
Dimagi Inc. is an award-winning, socially conscious technology company that helps organizations deliver quality health care to urban and rural communities across the world. Dimagi designs clinical interfaces, health information systems, and mobile technologies to perform patient-level disease management, clinical decision support, and health system monitoring.
Organization: Dimagi, Inc.
Visit websitemore ↓↑ hide↑ hideOrganization Country
United States, MA, Cambridge, Middlesex County
Organization's Country of Operation
United States, MA, Cambridge, Middlesex County
Type of Organization
For‐profit
Year of launch of the organization
Years in Operation
Operating for more than 5 years
Has the organization received awards or honors? Please tell us about them
-Incorporated as a Benefit Corporation in MA (2012)
-Certified as a B Corporation (2008-present)
-Selected as a finalist in the GBCHealth’s 2012 Business Action in Health Awards in the category “Technology for Health” (2012)
GBCHealth Business Action Health Awards (2012)
-Named Bloomberg BusinessWeek's America's Most Promising Social Entrepreneurs (2011)
-Invited to the Business Call to Action Initiative (2011)
-Derek Treatman, Named "Top 11 innovators in mHealth by the mHealth Alliance and Rockefeller Foundation" on behalf of Dimagi(2011)
-Legatum FORTUNE Technology Prize Finalist (2008)
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.
Dimagi founders Vikram and Jonathan consistently designed and implemented innovative solutions for healthcare domestically and globally. However, Dimagi's work in community health was completely focused abroad. In 2012, MHP partnered with Dimagi to bring CommCare to their own programs in the US, and we all realized the potential value and opportunity to expand on this effort.
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideName Your Entry
Expanding low-cost mobile health tools for domestic CHW programs.
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.?
Community Health Workers (CHWs) that are properly trained, motivated, and supervised can be the single most efficacious technology in the public health toolkit for improving health outcomes. Unfortunately, the full potential of health programs is rarely achieved in practice because training, motivation, and supervision are pervasive weaknesses of CHW programs.
CommCare, Dimagi’s flagship mobile health (mHealth) platform, resolutely addresses these weaknesses: it expands the technical capacity of CHWs and the quality of their services, increases CHW motivation, and provides a powerful set of tools for monitoring, supervising, and supporting CHWs. This is done by replacing cumbersome paper registers, reporting forms, and patient education flipcharts with an open source, customizable software application that is housed on a mobile phone. At the simplest level, CommCare tracks and supports CHWs’ interactions with clients. At a broader level, CommCare is a cutting-edge electronic health record system, a dynamic quality improvement system, and a tool for delivering innovative services and content to clients more effectively. Ultimately, CommCare enables health worker programs of all sizes to achieve their full potential.
CommCare has been widely used effectively in numerous global markets and we’re looking to bring CommCare to domestic markets. Dimagi and Migrant Health Promotion (MHP) are forging a partnership to offer the CommCare app and wraparound support to health centers and other organizations throughout the U.S.
Describe how your innovation model is distinct from any other organization in your field?
With over 5,000 registered mobile users across 35 countries in our cloud environment and over 1 million forms submitted to date, CommCare is one of the most widely adopted, technically advanced, and evidence-based mobile health platforms.
Dimagi supports CommCare through a Software as a Service (SaaS) licensing model. This SaaS model not only provides both an industry-leading set of features and ability to support large-scale deployments, but also lowers the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). Together, these aspects differentiate CommCare from other competing mHealth products and position it well for the U.S market.
In addition, Dimagi and MHP are not aware of any other organizations that are partnering to provide mobile technology to organizations utilizing the CHW model in the U.S.
What type of operating environment and internal organizational factors make your innovation successful?
The focus of the U.S. health care system is shifting toward improving the quality and coordination of care, promoting patient engagement, reducing costs, and improving health outcomes. There is a growing interest nationally in the potential of both the CHW model and innovative technology advance these objectives. This is an ideal environment for introducing the CommCare mobile app and wraparound support services to health centers and other organizations.
Dimagi has a long history of partnering with funders, researchers, and implementers who want to use technology to strengthen their health projects. We believe the key to social innovation is about knowing when to “out-collaborate” your way through the markets rather than “out-compete”, which is demonstrated by our partnership with MHP.
How do you make sure you constantly innovate in light of (potential) external challenges, or your growth plan?
Our efforts in developing the CommCare platform are constantly kept in check and directed by the needs of our users, the CHWs. Currently, new innovation is spurred by our team of international field engineers, working full-time with CHWs around the world. Our field engineers share experience and lessons-learned with each other.
As we look to further expand into the domestic healthcare market, our partnership with MHP will provide yet another avenue for contextually relevant feedback. MHP has over 30 years of experience with domestic healthcare systems, with an emphasis on the role of Community Health Workers; this collaboration will provide this same feedback mechanism for innovation as we further develop CommCare to respond to the needs of domestic CHWs.
This Entry is about (Issues)
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideThe 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]
Primary healthcare services
Categories along the health continuum you are covering [select all that apply]
Prevention, Intervention, Follow-up, Social integration.
Please describe in more detail: what problem are you trying to solve in the organization's specific context?
Health centers and other community organizations serve a critical role in serving Americans with limited access to care, including 48.6 million uninsured and 40 million and 50.7 million enrolled in Medicare and Medicaid, respectively. CHWs are uniquely qualified to help these organizations reach and improve services to underserved populations. CHWs can connect people to health care, deliver culturally and linguistically competent health education, increase compliance with provider instructions, and improve patients’ understanding of health conditions and ability to manage them. However, in order for CHWs to work effectively, there must be a clear link between their activities with patients and providers’ activities with those same patients. This link is weak or missing in many cases.
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]
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.), New approaches to distribution of health products and services, Unconventional partnerships (between traditional healthcare players and players outside healthcare).
Most relevant tools you are using to implement the strategies outlined above [select only two]
Technology, Consultation, Education/training.
Please describe your solution in more detail
CommCare is an open-source mHealth platform designed for data collection, client management, decision support, and behavior change communication. CommCare can support a large number of users and provides out-of-the-box reporting, analytics, and performance management to create actionable insight from collected data.
CommCare includes a feature-rich mobile application, data reporting tools, and an application-building platform through a cloud-based server application called CommCareHQ (www.commcarehq.org). CommCareHQ allows users to easily customize a CommCare mobile application and download it onto their phones. Users can submit data in real-time, and the data is immediately available to supervisors and program managers through automated, pre-canned reporting and data exports.
What are your vision and overall objectives?
Dimagi and MHP’s shared vision is that health centers and other organizations throughout the U.S. will successfully integrate CommCare and use it to increase cost-effectiveness and improve patient/participant outcomes. To that end, we aim to achieve the following objectives:
(1) By second quarter 2014, we will have developed and piloted at least one new innovative feature for CommCare in further enable CommCare to effectively serve U.S. CHW programs.
(2) By second quarter 2014, 3 health centers and/or other organizations in the U.S. will have contracted with MHP to implement CommCare.
(3) By fourth quarter 2014, MHP will pilot its cost savings/ROI calculator tool with several organizations attempting to show increased cost effectiveness and cost savings from using CommCare.
What is your value proposition?
CommCare has been used effectively in numerous global markets but has not yet been applied in the U.S. market. Dimagi believes CommCare can provide great value including increased quality of healthcare delivery and significant cost savings to health centers and other organizations utilizing the CHW model in the U.S.
As demonstrated by MHP’s implementation of CommCare in 2012, CommCare enables data drive management and transparency, increased quality of healthcare delivery while reducing cost at the same time. MHP reported a 55% reduction in program cost after the introduction of CommCare to their CHW programs. Together, this creates a strong value proposition for domestic health centers and organizations striving to increase impact while also looking to increase their cost effectiveness.
Who is your customer(s)?
MHP’s customers are health centers (including Federally Qualified Health Centers, or FQHCs) and other organizations throughout the U.S. that have CHW initiatives. As we actively look to extend CommCare in the U.S. for the first time, the target market will be organizations that (a) have CHWs, managers, clinicians, AND administrators who are highly motivated to integrate CommCare into their operations, (b) are able and willing to invest their existing resources in the mobile app and wraparound support (vs. seeking grant funding), and (c) are investing in CommCare not only to address their data and reporting needs, but also to deliver better care and improve health outcomes.
What approaches to you use to reach your customers?
MHP has worked with FQHCs and other organizations utilizing the CHW model throughout the U.S. for 30 years and is very familiar with the national landscape of FQHCs and organizations that are using the CHW model. This familiarity encompasses the capacity and extent of motivation and innovative spirit of many of these organizations. MHP and Dimagi will use in-person, print, and web-based marketing strategies to target first those organizations that are ideally positioned to participate, and later any additional organizations that use the CHW model but whose capacities and levels of motivation and innovation are yet unknown. MHP is in the process of hiring a National Contracts Facilitation Manager whose responsibilities will include promoting the Dimagi/MHP Product to the target market.
What are your primary activities?
Primary activities will include:
• Marketing CommCare and wraparound support;
• Conducting readiness assessments with interested organizations and helping them secure necessary buy-in;
• Working with participating organizations to establish implementation and T/TA plans;
• Tailoring the mobile application to the needs of each organization, with an emphasis on ensuring that the application generates patient data desired by clinicians in a format that is easy to consume;
• Training CHWs and other stakeholders within participating organizations to use the app;
• Providing training and support regarding the management of the app;
• Based on feedback, developing one or more new innovative features for CommCare that respond to needs for the U.S. market.
Who are your peers and competitors? What problems could these players pose to your success or growth?
We know of several other mHealth platforms including: Magpi, OpenDataKit, ClickDiagnostics, FrontlineSMS, and Datawinners.
CommCare’s feature list exceeds that of any competing product in mHealth. In particular, CommCare has the following differentiating features which are essential to the US market: (1) longitudinal client tracking (2) multimedia integration to foster client engagement (3) Android phones compatible (4) utilize SaaS and licensing product model which ease replication and enable scale.
The mHealth platforms mentioned have not yet earnestly targeted the U.S. market. However, these platforms could enter the market. But, we believe CommCare’s differentiating features better address the needs of domestic partners which will remain our advantage and lead to our success.
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?
While community health is a growing emphasis in the US healthcare system, the business models to support funding a community health programs and community health workers are nascent and sometimes non-existent. Without strong financial models for community health workers, innovating and supporting these programs will be extremely challenging.
Briefly describe your growth strategy going forward
Bringing our expertise of building CHW technology for years in global health, we are partnering with CHW programs in the US that have equally strong experience in the delivering care through CHW programs. Dimagi offers a tiered pricing licensing model seeks to enhance the business value of CommCare by better aligning and serving each organization’s program size and requirements.
What dimensions for growth are you currently targeting for your innovation [select all that apply]
New customer group(s), New market(s)/country(ies).
What makes your business "ready" for growth?
Dimagi supports CommCare through a SaaS model. This SaaS model not only provides both an industry-leading set of features, but also lowers the total cost of ownership for a partner.
With our completion of CommCare as a turnkey solution, this enables MHP to leverage their experience and not need to solely rely on Dimagi to further implement and scale CommCare in the U.S.
What are your key growth objectives?
As mentioned above, in 2014, Dimagi and MHP will have developed and piloted at least one new innovative feature for CommCare to better serve U.S. based CHW programs, partner with 3 organizations or health centers, and pilot its cost savings/ROI calculator tool with several organizations attempting to show increased cost effectiveness and cost savings from using CommCare.
What is your timeframe for growth, in the short and mid-term? What are the growth milestones and key activities going forward?
By second quarter 2014, Dimagi and MHP will have developed and piloted at least one new innovative feature for CommCare (e.g. custom reports and dashboards for CHW managers, web-based case management user interfaces for care providers in clinics, or custom summary screens for health care providers). By second quarter 2014, three health centers and/or other organizations in the U.S. will have contracted with MHP to implement CommCare. By fourth quarter 2014, MHP will pilot its cost savings/ROI calculator tool with several organizations demonstrating the increased cost effectiveness and cost savings from using CommCare. Dimagi and MHP will aim to engage at least three new health centers or other organizations each year after 2014.
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideWhat has been the impact of your solution to date?
To our knowledge, CommCare has the largest evidence base of any mHealth platform and is continually releasing new research with Dimagi’s academic partners as well. There are over 15 peer-reviewed papers on CommCare. Several additional studies are underway to evaluate the impact of CommCare and related systems.
CommCare has been shown to improve care across four dimensions: access to care; experience of care; quality of care; and cost of care. As described above, we have shown improvements in all these metrics (citations available upon request):
-ACCESS: SMS reminders increased timeliness of CHW visits by 85%
-EXPERIENCE: Multimedia improves worker performance, confidence, & ability to engage
-QUALITY: Decision support increases adherence to protocols by 20%
-COST: Dimagi implemented CommCare in MHP’s domestic programs in 2012. As a result, CommCare produced a 55% operating cost savings. These cost savings are largely due to a reduction in time spent on data coding and entry.
What methods for quantification of social impact are you applying (if at all)?
To measure cost savings and cost effectiveness, MHP will use the ROI/cost savings calculator with partner organization who implement CommCare.
To demonstrate increased experience and quality of the outreach services provided by the CHWs, MHP will plan to administer baseline and endline test surveys to CHWs. This survey will focus on the CHWs ability (experience) to use the phone during a beneficiary visit and how the phone affects their understanding (quality) of the focus topics. We have created templates with standard questions and formats that can be adapted for these CHWs.
Additional metrics:
- % of CHWs meeting the target duration of counseling session
- % of visits that occur on time
- % of CHWs showing improvement in test surveys after using CommCare for 2+ months
Could your solution work in other geographies or regions? If so, where?
Dimagi has implemented CommCare in 35 countries throughout the world. The Dimagi/MHP partnership to offer CommCare and wraparound support services to a currently-limited U.S. market – is specific to the U.S. MHP has offices in five states – Michigan, Texas, Florida, Ohio, and Washington – and in 2012 provided Training/Technical Assistance (T/TA) to 62 health centers in 25 states and Puerto Rico. The target market for Dimagi and MHP’s joint venture will not be limited to these states, though they will serve as a starting point.
What is your projected impact over the next 1-3 years?
By creating new, innovative features for CommCare and supporting health centers and other organizations throughout the U.S. in integrating CommCare into their operations and measuring its effectiveness, Dimagi and MHP aim to increase the extent to which CHW initiatives in the U.S. use mobile technology to lower costs, improve health care, and, ultimately, improve health outcomes.
Within the next three years, our goal is for 9 new health centers and/or organizations in the U.S. to implement CommCare. We expect that implementing CommCare will enable each participating health center or organization to increase its own social impact.
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideElaborate on your current financing strategy
Dimagi is currently funded by SaaS product sales and services revenue on private and public grant projects. MHP’s T/TA efforts are currently funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration/Bureau of Primary Health Care and the Office of Minority Health. The financing strategy for Dimagi and MHP’s joint venture will involve both grant funding and generated revenue.
MHP and Dimagi will pursue grant funding to create and implement additional CommCare innovations for use in the new U.S. market, such as: custom reports and dashboards that can be used by CHW managers to manage their workforces; web-based case management user interfaces to make CommCare more operationally relevant to community health workers and individual at health center (clinicians, nurses, and doctors); and custom summary screens that would give health care providers easy access to the most relevant patient information.
Dimagi and MHP’s generated revenue for this joint effort will come from contracts from FQHCs to provide CommCare and technical services support. MHP has decided to invest in a full-time National Contracts Facilitation Manager for at least the next three years to advance the agency’s generated revenue stream – including revenue generated from the joint effort with Dimagi – and is in the process of hiring for that position. Wraparound support will be offered at three different levels depending on the amount of planning, coordination, and management needed by each organization in order to produce a successful implementation of the app.
Share of revenue generation in total income of organization (in percent)
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
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
Foundations, NGOs, Private businesses, National government, Others.
Service contract with organizations, e.g., government, NGOs (in percent)
Of the possible sources of the service contracts listed below, check all that apply to your current strategy
Foundations, NGOs, Private businesses, National government, Others.
Explain your revenue generation strategy in more detail
Dimagi and MHP’s generated revenue for this joint effort will come from contracts from health centers and other organizations to provide CommCare and wraparound support. The product will be offered at three different levels depending on the amount of wraparound support needed by each organization for successful implementation.
Lvl.1: Base level implementation support which involves several consultations to ensure all processes and activities are addressed in their implementation plan.
Lvl.2: Mid-level implementation support which provides an increased number of consultation meetings and support in application design process.
Lvl.3: Full wraparound implementation support which provides completely customized planning and will completely build the mobile application
Share of philanthropy in total income of organization (in percent)
Philanthrophy strategies you are using
Single strategy, Diversified strategy.
Explain your philanthropic approach in more detail
As a for-profit social enterprise, Dimagi does not receive any philanthropic income. (NOTE: we're counting grants under service contracts.)
MHP, a non-profit organization, is primarily funded by grants. In 2012, 91% of MHP’s revenue came from federal grants, 5% came from private foundation grants, and 4% came from other sources (e.g. individual donors). MHP pursues funding to support both its direct service CHW programs and its national T/TA efforts with health centers and other organizations that use the CHW model.
Expand on your selections; explain how you will sustain funding over the next 1-3 years.
The upfront costs associated with actively promoting CommCare to the U.S. market include the salary and benefits of MHP’s National Contracts Facilitation Manager, the cost of developing print and digital marketing materials, and the cost of developing new CommCare features to facilitate the app’s use in the target market. MHP’s board of directors has already committed to investing reserves to hire the National Contracts Facilitation Manager and support the position for the next three years (after that time, the expectation is that the position will pay for itself). MHP will also invest time and resources up front to develop and produce the aforementioned marketing materials. Dimagi and MHP are actively pursuing grant funding to support the development and pilot-testing of new CommCare features. The cost of providing CommCare and wraparound support services to participating health centers and other organizations will be covered entirely by contracts from these organizations, resulting in a sustainable long-term business model.
Created on 04/8/2013 by smaz87
IRD’s mission is to improve the well-being of vulnerable communities through innovation in research and health delivery.Our strength lies at engaging with the the private sector through the interaction of mHealth technologies, CCTs and innovative healthservices which has enabled us to deliver high-impact market health interventions.
Organization: Interactive Research & Development
Visit websitemore ↓↑ hide↑ hideOrganization Name
Interactive Research & Development
Organization's Country of Operation
Type of Organization
For‐profit
Year of launch of the organization
Years in Operation
Operating for more than 5 years
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.
Our "Aha!" moment perhaps spanned over several years.After experimenting with various designs such as working on grants,partnering with governments, hospitals and NGOS, we realized that only our current approach would enable us to achieve the longer term sustainability to keep things going.We think the application of business principles in public health science can really 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..
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideName Your Entry
Commuinty Health Solutions:Transforming Lung Health in Asia through Social Enterprise
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.?
Tuberculosis (TB) is a crippling disease that infects over 8.7 million people and leads to 1.4 million deaths every year across the globe.TB control is a key MDG target and is of immense public health benefit,therefore programs across the developing world are largely driven by the public sector and financially supported by international donors.Whilst facing inherent constraints in sustainability,such programs fail to tap into exisiting resources provided by the private sector in emerging markets that have mushroomed in response to poor quality of care at government facilities.
Our innovation is part of a third wave of a jointly funded grant by UNITAID and the Stop TB Partnership that focuses on mass screening and detection for TB,diabetes and other lung health diseases whilst working on social business principles to achieve sutainability.In addition to mass-screening in the private sector,we are setting up state-of-the-art diagnostic facilites(including GeneXpert a revolutionary new rapid test for TB) through which suspects will be diagnosed and programmatically managed.Our intervention aims to catch these diseases early in the community and treat them at the right time before they are allowed to progress and disseminate.
Building and greatly expanding on the networks created by the first two waves of grants,our initiative will screen 9 million indiviudals in three Asian mega-cities:Karachi, Dhaka & Jakarta- all of which belong to high burden TB countries.In Pakistan this is being carried out by our newly established social enterprise: Community Health Solutions.
Describe how your innovation model is distinct from any other organization in your field?
Traditional approaches to providing healthcare to the poor within emerging makrets have relied heavily on philanthropic models that invest in structures rather than systems.We are utilizing existing networks of private providers to realign the health market which allows us to reach the kind of scale that organizations such as ours would find challenging.
Our patient-centric model maintains relations with Family Practioners whilst providing affordable diagnostics & evidence-based programmatic disease managment that is often lacking in the private sector.Additionaly, tools such as mHealth are used for data-capture,decision-support and monitoring of outcomes.Substantial grants for upfront captial investments make the disruptive potential of our innovation to existing markets distinctive.
What type of operating environment and internal organizational factors make your innovation successful?
IRD was founded in Karachi, Pakistan where a lack of well-trained researchers, unrealistically low salaries and poor working environments that did not support innovation presented real challenges to overcome.We established an operational model where all managers in the organization are initially 100% grant-based and are primarily responsible for bringing in funding for themselves and their teams. In exchange for the risk they undertake for this responsibility,IRD managers benefit from an environment that supports innovation and experimentation while being compensated internationally competitive salaries.This helped us to attract professionals with trainings from some of the world's best global health and development programs & setup a wide range of high impact partnerships in Asia & Africa
How do you make sure you constantly innovate in light of (potential) external challenges, or your growth plan?
Since its inception,our organization has sought to blend together the expertise of these qualified professionals with the knowledge and experiences of locally based staff and community health-workers.To establish sustainted parternships with more traditionally structured organizations in the region,we have incorporated two systems that have worked for us effectively.All communications with public partners is undertaken through a pre-selected manager conversant in government-speak, and project-critical decisions are made by group consensus rather than by an individual.Additionally,IRD consists of an in-house informatics team that provides technological expertise to our research studies and programs.It is often at the confluence of these different groups where our innovations takes shape.
This Entry is about (Issues)
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideThe 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]
Primary healthcare services
Categories along the health continuum you are covering [select all that apply]
Detection, Intervention, Follow-up, Long-term care.
Please describe in more detail: what problem are you trying to solve in the organization's specific context?
In the absence of agents such as vaccines, effective TB control strategies in high burden endemic countries involves "reaching out" & identifying cases within communities that otherwise may go undetected and continue to spread the disease.Traditional TB diagnostics, involving visualization of TB bacilli in sputum samples under the microscope, have remained unchanged in over 100 years.This process is time-consuming and often leads to false results despite obtaining repeated samples.In addition,identification of resistant strains through cultures can take several weeks.Co-morbidities associated with TB progression include lung diseases eg asthma,pneuomnia & COPD as well as others such as diabetes.Across all these diseases,access to care,early detection & standardized treatment is lacking.
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, New approaches to distribution of health products and services, New financing strategies for health.
Most relevant tools you are using to implement the strategies outlined above [select only two]
Technology, Education/training, Others.
If other, specify here:
Innovative financing for healthcare
Please describe your solution in more detail
GeneXpert is a rapid diagnostic test that diagonses TB & drug-sensitivity within 2 hours thus enabling mass identification and treatment of TB cases.The cost of the test is too prohibitive for low-income populations and this also limits the number of tests that can be supported through donors.Our solution lay in mass-screening and community outreach through which sufficient number of "suspects" can be indentified for testing.Through this advanced commitment the test manufacturer was able to reduce the upfront price of the test from USD 17 to USD 10 whilst retaining sufficient profits margins.Through donor support,we offer GeneXpert testing free-of-cost to patients thus increasing access to care for poor patients whilst our business model seeks to sustain GeneXpert testing in the long-term.
What are your vision and overall objectives?
We envision to scale-up and sustain GeneXpert based TB diagnostics for the poor through a social enterprise model.Diseases associated with latent TB activation and TB progression are common within these three cities and an urgent need to provide affordable care to patients is needed.
Therefore in addition to TB, we setup mass-screening, state-of-the-art diagnostic facilities and treatment programs for these conditions to provide a source of revenue.This innovative approach acknowledges the increased risk and poor outcomes of TB among such patients and improves care through integrated disease management. All revenue generated will be reinvested into the social enterprise in order to support an extensive network of community health workers and to purchase additional GeneXpert tests.
What is your value proposition?
Our value proposition involves improving healthcare access and making it affordable for the poor. This includes:
-Free of cost screening for TB, Diabetes, Asthma and COPD
-Free of cost, rapid diagnostic test for TB
-Affordable, high-quality diagnostics such as Digital X-rays
-Standardized case-mangement
-Cheaper pharmacotherapy for diabetes and other diseases
-Home based treatment support through healthworkers.
Who is your customer(s)?
Our customers include individuals of all demographics within the cities of Karachi, Dhaka and Jakarta. Our primary target population is the "working-poor". These individuals can be described as those with some disposable income to spare on healthcare but are likely to suffer catastrophic financial losses through expenditure in the private sector for diseases such as TB, without interventions.We have also partnered with local governments, charitable hospitals and NGOs to refer patients that are too poor to pay for any form of healthcare.
Nearly three-quarters of all healthcare across Pakistan, Bangladesh and Indonesia is delivered by the private sector.
What approaches to you use to reach your customers?
Customers are reached through mass-screening activities in the private sector which are carried out by community workers.In addition, local cable TV, radio and road-side advertisments are used to inform patients of the availability of screening and diagnostic facilites.Other innovative strategies such as the use of loyalty programs and lottery-based incetives for purchasing diagnostic services are being explored by our group.
What are your primary activities?
Our activities can be broadly categorized as: screening, diagnosis and treatment.Trained community-health workers screen individuals at private Family Physician (FP) clinics and hospitals using a mobile-phone app with algorithmic decision support that identifies "Suspects".These patients are referred to our diangostic facility where appropriate tests are conducted to confirm the diagnosis.Additionally, direct walk-ins to the center can also take place.The manager of each facility assigns the patient to a Treatment Support worker and refers them back to their FP (or assigns one in case of walk-ins).The treatment supporter provides home-based drug delivery,counsceling and ensure adherece to treatment and follow-up testing in line with clinically established guidelines.
Who are your peers and competitors? What problems could these players pose to your success or growth?
No other groups to our knowledge in the private sector are involved in screening, case detection and treatment for these diseases within these three cities at this scale.Publicily financed TB control programs are present in each of these places and are important stakeholders within our innovation.An explicit aim of this intervention is to create sustainable public-private partnerships. In particular establish referral pathways where patients that are unable to pay for our program are managed.
Our potential competitors include other private labs and diagnostic centers, including ones for large tertiary care hospitals that frequently have lab collection units across the city.Whilst our VP is distinguished through free GeneXpert testing,pricing of other tests need to be carefully devised.
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?
Logisitcal challenges of organizing diverse teams across three different cities has been a major challenge.Political tensions and security constraints, in particular for Karachi are a continuing source of concern and have led to dealys.
Organizationally, recruitment of appropriatly qualified staff has been difficult especially given high expenditures and low-proft margins in low-income populations. Planning ahead and anticipating future requirements have been the key to success whilst maintaing electronic documentation for processes such as SOPs have been useful to share across the three locations.
Briefly describe your growth strategy going forward
We aim to replicate our existing model of harnessing the private healthsector for improved TB case detection and management to other parts of Karachi through the social enterprise model. Similar social businesses are being setup in Dhaka and Jakarta which allows for an extension of our learnings to other countries and provides a natural growth startegy in the coming years.
What dimensions for growth are you currently targeting for your innovation [select all that apply]
New customer group(s), New market(s)/country(ies).
What makes your business "ready" for growth?
Initial captial investments supported through grants allow for expansion locally where as strong linkages with in-country partner organizations in Dhaka and Jakarta allow us to take the social enterprise model forward to these cities.
What are your key growth objectives?
Our major growth objective is to reach screening targets in order to "funnel" sufficent number of TB suspects into our diagnostic center.Identification of a large number of suspects will be required to maintain the low-cost of GeneXpert tests which is based on an advanced market commitment.Similar growth will be required for the remaining diseases since TB diagnosis and treatment will be free.
What is your timeframe for growth, in the short and mid-term? What are the growth milestones and key activities going forward?
Over 1 million individuals were screened as part of the intial two TB Reach grants in Karach and Dhakai.For the third wave beginning in 2013, we aim to screen 9 million people over the course of 3 years in all 3 cities.Other key milestones for diagnosis and treatment include:
Suspects Identified for TB: 800,000
GeneXpert tests Consumed: 120,000
TB Drug Senstive Pts Treated: 18,000
TB Drug Resitant Pts Treated: 950
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideWhat has been the impact of your solution to date?
Nearly 0.5 million individuals were screened as part of our first wave of private-sector engagement strategy. An Impact Evaluation of this initiative at our study site in Karachi was recently documented in the medical journal, Lancet Infectious Disease. Overall, tuberculosis case notification doubled over the course of one year relative to the change to the control area. Case notifications at Indus Hospital, our primary implementation partner increased by 3·77 times for adults and 7·32 times for children; making it the second largest TB facility in the country in a short span of time.
Abstract: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(12)70116-0/abstract
What methods for quantification of social impact are you applying (if at all)?
Methods for qunatifying impact of the program will include:
-Number of individuals screened.
-Number of suspects identified
-Treatment success rates for TB
-Number of individuals on treatment for chornic conditition such as diabetes, asthma and COPD.
Impact evaluations of the program will be carried out using regression analyses similar to those conducted previously and comparing case detection and treatment success in control populations.Social impact will also be assessed through qualitative surveys of patients and healthcare providers.
Could your solution work in other geographies or regions? If so, where?
Our solution as well as the healthservices delivery approach is underway in Dhaka and Jakarta.
What is your projected impact over the next 1-3 years?
In total we aim to diagnose and manage 17,000 TB patients and similar number of cases of diabetes, asthma and COPD.
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideElaborate on your current financing strategy
Current financing of the program as well as its initial two phases has been through grants provided by international donors that have supported expenditures for implementation.These will also support capital investments required for the business model startup and finances to implement the scaleup of the program during for the first 3 years as part of this third wave.
Share of revenue generation in total income of organization (in percent)
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
Patients.
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
Regional government, National government.
Service contract with organizations, e.g., government, NGOs (in percent)
Of the possible sources of the service contracts listed below, check all that apply to your current strategy
Regional government, National government.
Explain your revenue generation strategy in more detail
Revenue generation will take place through fees for diangostic tests and treatment management for diseases other than tuberculosis.Pricing for tests vary across sites and will range from USD 3-5 for Xrays, USD 1-3 for spirometery tests,USD 5-15 for HbA1c (for diabetes). Finanical incentives for screeners are linked to increased referrals to the diagnostics facilites where as valdiations at the centers will monitor abuse.
Currently only treatment programs for TB are in place and patients are not charged for services.As part of our scale-up, patients will be recruited into treatment programs for other diseases where we hope to provide quality home-based care through treatment support workers for diseases such as diabetes.We anticipate signficant revenue generation through this process
Share of philanthropy in total income of organization (in percent)
Philanthrophy strategies you are using
Diversified strategy.
Explain your philanthropic approach in more detail
The share of philanthropy in our business model is described for the first year of operations where we expect signficant costs due to investments required to setup diagnostic centers and program teams.
Our philanthropic model at present is limited to free GeneXpert tests and capital investment for setting up diagnostic centers and program implementation.We anticipate increased reveune generation in the second and third years of operation by the end of which we aim to "break even" and enable operations beyond our grant horizon.
We are also seeking to expand our treatment-end business model through additional donor investments and CSR initiatives.
Expand on your selections; explain how you will sustain funding over the next 1-3 years.
The key feature of our financial startegy involves dealing in large numbers.We hope to generate systems efficiencies through economies of scale and also to maximize profits from our diagnostic facilites with passage of large patient volumes.This setup enables us to receive subsidized costs for diangostic tests as well as pharamceuticals to support treatment programs.
Future strategies will build upon learnings from other projects at IRD including schemes such as, lottery based cash transfers for vaccination completion, awards for completion of treatment and SMS Reminders for followup testing. We are therefore developing such Loyalty Programs for patients in order to retain clients within our system.Whilst these can help in longer-term financing, they will also ensure treatment adherence and compliance for our targeted diseases which are either chronic or have protracted treatment regimens.
The social enterprise will also setup co-opeartives in order to maximze community ownership of the diagnostic centers as well as management of screening and treatment programs.Under consideration are additional revenue strategies such as employment for women that have completed TB treatment in the handicraft cottage industry,counscelling sessions for adolescent patients and expanding services to include pediatric healthcare.A recurring theme across our financial strategies is that innovations are based on scientific evidence--women and children are more susceptible to TB infections where as these diseases are under-investigated in adolescents.
Created on 04/4/2013 by clinicacidada
Visão: Ser uma referência em saúde para a comunidade de baixa renda.
Missão: Atender as necessidades e as expectativas dos seus clientes, oferecendo-lhes serviços médicos de qualidade e tecnologia a preços acessíveis e competitivos.
Organization: IME - CLÍNICA CIDADÃ
Visit websitemore ↓↑ hide↑ hideOrganization's Country of Operation
Type of Organization
For‐profit
Year of launch of the organization
Years in Operation
Operating for more than 5 years
Has the organization received awards or honors? Please tell us about them
Sim.
- Ano 2005: Homenagem "Honra ao Mérito" realizada pela Câmara Municipal de Uberlândia.
- Ano 2006: Finalista do Prêmio Empreendedor Social da Folha de São Paulo e Fundação Schwab da Suição.
- Ano 2008: Homenagem Comenda "Dr. Arnaldo Godoy de Souza" realizada pela Câmara Municipal de Uberlândia.
- Ano 2011: Prêmio Empresário Herói recebido pela FIEMG.
- Ano 2011: Homenagem realizada pela Câmara Municipal de Uberlândia à Dr. Jussara M. L. Matsuda pelo dia Internacional da Mulher.
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.
Em Brasília (capital Federal), no ano de 1996, dedicava dois dias da semana ao atendimento voluntário para a população de baixa renda. Vivenciar todas as dificuldades sofridas pelas pessoas que precisavam do SUS (Sistema Único de Saúde), foi um convite para uma nova oportunidade: exercitar a prática do bem! Surge a ideia de uma clínica cidadã, (exercendo a cidadania e responsabilidade social).
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read more↓↑ hide↑ hideExplain 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.?
O IME - Clínica Cidadã é um projeto social e responsável que trabalha para resgatar a dignidade e, acima de tudo, a autoestima daquele cidadão cansado das filas que não andam, dos corredores lotados e das consultas demoradas do SUS (Sistema Único de Saúde). Melhorar a qualidade de vida do próximo através de iniciativas que buscam soluções e alternativas para os problemas enfrentados pela saúde pública em todo o Brasil. Implementar o atendimento médico e odontológico das populações de baixa renda com gestores, profissionais e colaboradores qualificados e motivados. Trabalhar e valorizar sempre a inovação, replicabilidade, sustentabilidade e o impacto social mensurável, esse é o trabalho da Clínica Cidadã.
Describe how your innovation model is distinct from any other organization in your field?
O IME - Clínica Cidadã é pioneiro no seu modelo de negócios. A inovação e diferencial está em prestar um serviço médico de alta qualidade, com respeito, carinho e dignidade, por um valor acessível à população de baixa renda, sem acesso a convênio médico particular e que não poderiam esperar por uma oportunidade de serem atendidos no sistema público de saúde. O IME - Clínica Cidadã trabalha com o valor único de R$ 80,00 a consulta, independente da especialidade. Esse valor corresponde a 30% de uma consulta particular que se pratica no mercado local. O atendimento é personalizado, com hora marcada e conduzido de maneira profissional. Quando necessário, o paciente é encaminhado para exames, que podem ser feitos em uma rede de parceiros que oferecem até 70% de desconto.
What type of operating environment and internal organizational factors make your innovation successful?
Sempre reforçar com seus colaboradores (parceiros, médicos e funcionários) aspectos importantes sobre a missão, visão e valores da empresa.
Visão: Ser uma referência em saúde para a comunidade.
Missão: Atender as necessidades e as expectativas dos seus clientes, oferecendo-lhes serviços médicos de qualidade e tecnologia a preços acessíveis e competitivos. Buscar atingir a resolutividade, a satisfação e o bem-estar de toda a comunidade.
Valores: Qualidade e Tecnologia; Ética e Transparência; Baixo Custo de seus Serviços; Competência e Inovação da Equipe; Ser uma Empresa Socialmente Responsável.
How do you make sure you constantly innovate in light of (potential) external challenges, or your growth plan?
Tendo como norte a ética e a responsabilidade social empresarial, investindo continuamente no diálogo com as comunidades para as quais trabalha e em ações que garantam melhores condições de vida para a população de baixa renda.
This Entry is about (Issues)
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideThe 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]
Primary healthcare services
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?
O problema da saúde pública no Brasil. Filas que não andam, procedimentos que levam anos para serem atendidos. A falta de Humanização no serviço de saúde.
Stage that best applies to your solution [select only one]
Established (past the previous stages and has demonstrated success)
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.), New/redefined roles for healthcare service provision, New approaches to distribution of health products and services, New financing strategies for health.
Most relevant tools you are using to implement the strategies outlined above [select only two]
Technology, New skills, Consultation, Education/training.
Please describe your solution in more detail
O IME - Clínica Cidadã é uma alternativa no atendimento médico para quem não pode pagar por uma consulta particular nos moldes praticados pelo mercado convencional e muito menos ficar aguardando pelo atendimento do SUS.
Na clínica cidadã o cliente paga R$ 80,00 a consulta, valor válido para qualquer especialidade. Através da clínica o cliente tem até 70% de desconto nos exames complementares.
Os clientes são atendidos nas duas unidades da clínica, são mais de 40 médicos divididos em dezenas de especialidades. Para conhecer nossos médicos e nossas especialidades entre: www.clinicacidada.com.br
Os clientes chegam até a clínica através de propaganda na TV e o boca a boca.
A empresa também atende gratuitamente crianças da comunidade através do Projeto Pequenos Olhares.
What are your vision and overall objectives?
Ser uma clínica de referência em saúde para a comunidade, especialmente para as classes de baixa renda.
Atender às necessidades e expectativas de nossos clientes, oferecendo-lhes serviços médicos de qualidade e tecnologia, a preços justos e competitivos, buscando atingir a resolutividade, a satisfação e o bem estar de toda a comunidade.
What is your value proposition?
Valores: Qualidade e tecnologia; Ética e transparência; Baixo custo de seus serviços; Competência e inovação da equipe; Ser uma empresa socialmente responsável.
Who is your customer(s)?
Parte das classes C, D e E.
Cidade de Uberlândia e Região.
Embora tenha finalidade lucrativa, dentro do contexto de uma empresa social,
o IME - Clínica Cidadã realiza cerca de 20% do total de suas consultas gratuitamente.
What approaches to you use to reach your customers?
Ações de Marketing e Projetos Sociais que beneficiam a população de baixa renda.
What are your primary activities?
Atendimento médico ambulatorial, exames complementares e cirurgias.
Who are your peers and competitors? What problems could these players pose to your success or growth?
Pares: Empresas na área da saúde que possuem a mesma visão social do IME - Clínica Cidadã.
Concorrentes: Outras clínicas particulares que praticam valor padrão de mercado, SUS (sitema único de saúde) e planos de saúde popular.
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?
Uma das barreiras a serem enfrentadas é o preconceito em relação a esse modelo de negócios, que visa atender uma fatia do público que estava esquecido pelo sistema de saúde tradicional e sobrecarregando o sistema público gratuito.
O modelo de negócios do IME - Clínica Cidadâ é ainda inovador e muitas vezes mal entendido pelo mercado, pela concorrência e poderes públicos.
Manter a qualidade dos serviços prestados e o valor da consulta baixo é um dos princípios norteadores para o crescimento do IME - Clínica Cidadã.
O IME – CLÍNICA CIDADÃ situa-se no setor dois e meio ou setor híbrido.
Briefly describe your growth strategy going forward
Reinvestir parte do seu lucro na construção de uma terceira unidade, que irá funcionar como um centro completo de saúde. Para isso, já começou a investir na aquisição de equipamentos e na busca de parcerias que possibilitem a viabilização do projeto. A empresa busca também linhas de financiamento específicas para o setor da saúde. A previsão é de que a nova unidade seja aberta até o final de 2015.
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?
O SUS não consegue absorver toda a demanda, a de se ter um olhar para o envelhecimento da população, pois, junto com envelhecimento surgem as doenças degenerativas que são onerosas para o sistema. Existindo mais clínicas cidadãs, elas trabalhariam no sentido da prevenção, orientação e tratamento de doenças em atendimento ambulatorial. Deixando para o SUS os tratamentos de alta complexidade.
What are your key growth objectives?
- Construção de uma terceira unidade.
- Adquirir equipamentos e novas tecnologias.
- Parcerias com o poder público e privado.
What is your timeframe for growth, in the short and mid-term? What are the growth milestones and key activities going forward?
Prazo de 2 a 5 anos.
- Compra do terreno onde será construído a nova unidade;
- Início das obras;
- Conclusão das obras;
- Estruturação do local.
Centro médico completo:
- atendimento ambulatorial;
- exames complementares e cirurgias;
- capacitação de equipe, médicos e colaboradores.
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideWhat has been the impact of your solution to date?
A clínica cidadã em 12 anos de projeto já ajudou mais de 217 mil pessoas de Uberlândia e Região que não tinham condições de arcarem com os altos valores das consultas médicas praticados no mercado convencional a terem acesso a saúde de qualidade pagando um valor social.
Através da clínica cidadã essas pessoas também conseguiram ter até 70% de desconto nos exames complementares. Esses exames são realizados por uma rede de parceiros que o IME - CLÍNICA CIDADÃ conquistou nesses 12 anos de projeto. Esses descontos são realizados apenas para os clientes da clínica.
Levamos para essas pessoas qualidade de vida, respeito e resgatamos a sua dignidade.
O IME - CLÍNICA CIDADÃ também oferece gratuitamente para a comunidade de baixa renda a oportunidade de ter acesso a saúde de qualidadede através do Projeto “Pequenos Olhares”, esse trabalho é feito com crianças de escolas municipais de Uberlândia, também doamos os óculos para a correção das ametropias.
A realização das triagens nas escolas é de responsabilidade das suas respectivas professoras que são treinadas e capacitadas para tal procedimento.
Esse trabalho social tem tido um impacto muito importante na vida dessas famílias, pois não possuem condições nenhum de arcarem com o valor de uma consulta particular. E através do SUS ficariam meses a espera de uma consulta, o que atrapalharia o desenvolvimento das crianças na escola.
What methods for quantification of social impact are you applying (if at all)?
Pesquisa banco de dados clínica.
Could your solution work in other geographies or regions? If so, where?
Sim. Qualquer cidade no território Brasileiro.
Que tivesse dispostos a priorizar o ser humano e não o lucro.
What is your projected impact over the next 1-3 years?
Crescimento de 15% ao ano.
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideElaborate on your current financing strategy
A captação de recursos da clínica cidadã para a sua manutenção e crescimento vem através das consultas, exames e cirurgias.
Reaplicamos parte dos lucros no crescimento da empresa e em projetos sociais que beneficiam a comunidade de baixa renda na qual estamos inseridos.
Share of revenue generation in total income of organization (in percent)
80 % consultas, 15% exames e 5% cirurgias.
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
Patients.
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
Foundations, NGOs, Private businesses, Regional government, National government.
Service contract with organizations, e.g., government, NGOs (in percent)
Of the possible sources of the service contracts listed below, check all that apply to your current strategy
Foundations, NGOs, Private businesses, Regional government, National government.
Explain your revenue generation strategy in more detail
Como já disse o IME - CLÍNICA CIDADÃ é um negócio social. Fazemos parte do setor híbrido.
Até o momeno não temos parcerias com o setor público.
Nosso rendimento se faz através de: consultas médicas, exames complementares e cirurgias.
Share of philanthropy in total income of organization (in percent)
Os valores destinados são variáveis de acordo com as necessidades e capacidade da clínica.
Philanthrophy strategies you are using
Diversified strategy.
Explain your philanthropic approach in more detail
Mantemos alguns projetos sociais com recursos próprios da organização.
Para saber mais informações entre: www.clinicacidada.com.br
Expand on your selections; explain how you will sustain funding over the next 1-3 years.
Os valores destinados são variáveis de acordo com as necessidades e capacidade da clínica.
Created on 04/1/2013 by Carlos Bassi
Vitalbox is a social business enterprise that focus on public health by applying innovative healthcare services and consumer internet technology. Vitalbox offers a personalized platform of health promotion and disease prevention that puts the individual back in control of his life.
Organization: Vitalbox S/A
Visit websitemore ↓↑ hide↑ hideOrganization's Country of Operation
Type of Organization
For‐profit
Year of launch of the organization
Years in Operation
Operating for less than a year
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.
We took a while before to decide to invest our lives in a social healthcare program. None of us came from this industry, so we started to look for some education on this matter. After join several congress, meetings with very prominent people in the healthcare industry, we realized was that any real disruptive innovation in this sector should would come from an outside view. We were ready for it.
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read more↓↑ hide↑ hideName Your Entry
Vitalbox - Personal Health Platform
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.?
Vitalbox is an innovation both in the offer standpoint as well as in its business model. Some big companies are trying to create new business models for healthcare. Some of them have failed already, like Google with Google Health. Most of them are focusing on health care data, but none of them gather all the aspect we believe that is fundamental to really create a new paradigm.
VitalBox assembles leading edge technology, wrapped by an "easy to understand" user interface to deliver knowledge and wellness, thru an innovative business model that makes it affordable to everyone. At the same time we are providing an important service to the community, we offer to companies and brands, that desire to emotionally connect with employees and consumers, a unique opportunity to execute it in a large scale at low cost.
Describe how your innovation model is distinct from any other organization in your field?
What distinguish Vitalbox from regular Preventive Programs, Risk Assessments, and Personal Health Records providers is that Vitalbox offers to the participant an immediate benefit in trade off of provide their health information, besides to offer a personal behavior change program and health monitoring for life. Other important aspect is that our services reach large populations at no cost to users. This is possible due to our exclusive business model.
What type of operating environment and internal organizational factors make your innovation successful?
The key success factors in our initiative are:
Best user experience - ensure that every customer understands and makes a optimal use of our services
Member confidentiality - privacy is one of the most important elements
Low cost - our target is to have our services offered the population at a cost less than one coffe per month to the sponsor
Winner team - like every success organization, a great team is fundamental
Continuous refresh - technology changes everyday. We must to be ahead of these changes.
Adaptability - healthcare is a very regulated sector and demands flexibility to be challenged
How do you make sure you constantly innovate in light of (potential) external challenges, or your growth plan?
Vitalbox has a very solid and well structured development roadmap that will ensure constantly innovation for the next 5 years at a high speed. Besides that, we understand that innovation is key to success, so every six months Vitalbox delivers to the public a new version of its platform, besides the changes based on participants feedbacks that occurs every single day.
Another important aspect is our innovation model, which was used to give birth to Vitalbox and is used to define the new features to be developed.
This Entry is about (Issues)
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideThe 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]
Primary healthcare services
Categories along the health continuum you are covering [select all that apply]
Prevention, 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?
How to keep people healthy and productive for a longer time?
This is a huge challenge to be overcome in a world where its population is still growing, is getting older and is developing chronic diseases earlier. In spite of population is becoming a little bit wealthy in developing countries, in comparison to some years ago, its higher "purchase power" does not means necessarily healthy lifestyle.
Lack of integration between preventive programs and primary care, unawareness on how to prevent chronic diseases and low willingness to pay from individuals and health insurers, combined with budget restrictions in government, projects a catastrophic scenario that must be addressed today by an innovative approach.
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.), New approaches to distribution of health products and services, Unconventional partnerships (between traditional healthcare players and players outside healthcare), New financing strategies for health.
Most relevant tools you are using to implement the strategies outlined above [select only two]
Technology, New skills.
Please describe your solution in more detail
Vitalbox shows to the participant the impact of personal decisions in the their own health, allowing them to understand that and decide what should be changed. After to provide some basic information, individuals receive a health map, showing the current risks to develop chronic diseases. Alerts to control some aspects of health (e.g. glucose, cholesterol), and to see a doctor when is recommended, are issued in accordance to the Health Ministry guidelines. Then, participants may run a "what-if" analysis to verify which behaviors are accountable to increase risks, allowing them to realize what should be changed. At this moment, individuals are ready to receive personalized guidance to reach their target and obtain more healthy days.
What are your vision and overall objectives?
We believe that healthcare sector will face a major shift in the following years, adopting new business models and technologies, in to adjust to the modern world. Like, for instance, bank sector had some resistence to move to internet, health providers sooner or later will open their minds and embrace technology.
Vitalbox aims to be the first choice platform provider for Preventive Services and Remote Primary Care that will become the new standard. Our business model was designed to render Vitalbox sustainable, while the company grows in term of number of users, at the same time that laws and regulations are being adjusted to the new reality of health care.
What is your value proposition?
Vitalbox currently approachs the market in three different ways:
- Allowing citizens and corporations to take advantage of government incentives
- Increasing company's productivity by driving corporate wellness programs
- Helping CPG, Pharma & Healthcare brands to occupy wellness whitespace by creating an emotional connection to consumers
Who is your customer(s)?
Our customers are the general population, in spite of the fund to finance the delivery of Vitalbox at no cost to the population comes from companies who share our vision and have social responsibility in their DNA.
What approaches to you use to reach your customers?
We reach customers trough the internet and mobile technologies
What are your primary activities?
We have 3 priorities where our focus are on:
- Product development
- Early adopters customers (sponsors)
- Fundraising
Who are your peers and competitors? What problems could these players pose to your success or growth?
Our business model offers a very unique and confortable position in the market. Of course there are some intersections with current offers, like Chronic Disease Management Programs and providers of EHR/EMR/PHR systems. There is also a some movement on the telecom industry, trying to position new products and services to health sector.
We are about 2 years on front of any competitor, but money can make it 6 months shorter. We cannot fail in execution in order to keep our advantage. Time to market will make the difference.
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?
Current players are not so open to new approaches on healthcare. This is always a major risk. So, we are building a strong committee, with representatives from several areas that could be an opposition to preventive programs, and we are bringing them on board to discuss all conflicting aspects and have an advanced agreement prior to deliver new solutions to the society.
Raise money is hard when you have an innovative or unproven business model. So we must to overcome the conflict "chicken and egg": we need money to prove the model, investors need a proven model to invest money. We decided to keep our main focus on prove the model, although a investor, who is really willing to take the risk, is more than welcome.
Briefly describe your growth strategy going forward
We are concentrating our efforts to have more and more participants, but keeping the operational costs at the minimum level. This is helping us to create data to make value propositions more elaborated and also provide us insights to adjust some aspects of the platform or to create new features.
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?
We have consistently tested (and failed in several ocasions), both the platform and business model. Although the core idea remains the same since the begining, live operations has showed us aspects that wouldn't work well in a large scale. So we have carefully reviewed and redesigned all points that could represent a risk when facing high volume.
What are your key growth objectives?
We expect to have more than 500.000 participants at the end of this year, reaching 10 million by 2016, only in Brazil. We also plan to launch a worldwide version that will expand our addressable market on 2014.
What is your timeframe for growth, in the short and mid-term? What are the growth milestones and key activities going forward?
As mentioned before, time to market is king. Increase the number of users is one one the most important thinks on the short term, as well as sign contracts that will fund our operations while we grow. We expect to have sponsorship 5 quotas sold in 2013 to finance operation, at the same time we grow with the corporate subscription model, which does not scale so fast, but offers a good revenue and margin. Again, 500.000 users in 2013 and 10 million by 2016 are the targets. Once we have that, we believe the market will be ready to receive primary care at distance.
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideWhat has been the impact of your solution to date?
Vitalbox is a brand new program, without any kind of mass communication setup. Nevertheless, Vitalbox provides wellness content and information daily to more than 15.000 followers. Today Vitalbox also delivers for free to the population, only considering new participants, about 150 health risk assessments in average. This number is increasing at a high rate, which makes us believe that we will meet our forecasts.
What methods for quantification of social impact are you applying (if at all)?
None has been used so far.
Could your solution work in other geographies or regions? If so, where?
We currently have participants in Brazil, Portugal, Angola and Mozambique, once Vitalbox is offered only in portuguese yet. Our plan contemplates a English version in 2013, plus other languages in the following years, in order to make the platform available to serve the worldwide population.
What is your projected impact over the next 1-3 years?
At the end of 2013, we expect to deliver more than 500.000 risk assessments and personalized change behavior programs. We believe we can reach, only in Brazil, about 10 million participants by 2016. To give an idea of the economic impact, a single Health Risk Assessment costs approximately $30,00 (users may have unlimited assessments).
read more↓↑ hide↑ hideElaborate on your current financing strategy
We have had a hard time to raise money, probably due to the complexity of our project, the level of innovation (which is not expected from a development country) and the lack of a proved model, which scares regular investors. So up to now, we have self funded and raised money with small investors, family and friends to finance the project. We have also signed small contracts that have helped to support operational costs.
Once we are proving the model and have a good number of users, we will start a road show in order to raise the enough money for the growth phase and internacionalization.
Share of revenue generation in total income of organization (in percent)
Direct sales to patients or other beneficiaries (in percent)
Of the possible sources of these sales listed below, check all that apply to your current strategy
Friends and family, Individuals, Patients.
Licensing fees, e.g., for technology/franchise model (in percent)
Of the possible sources of these licensing opportunities listed below, check all that apply to your current strategy
Service contract with organizations, e.g., government, NGOs (in percent)
Of the possible sources of the service contracts listed below, check all that apply to your current strategy
Foundations, NGOs, Private businesses, Regional government, National government, Others.
Explain your revenue generation strategy in more detail
1- Corporate Subscription - Healthcare Cost Reduction Program for large employers (R$ 29,90/year by active employee)
2- Sponsorship Quotas - 5 annual sponsorship quotas targeting brands connected to wellness (R$ 1.000K / year)
3- Diagnostic Labs & Hospital Integration - Lab results plus health risk ssessments over the internet (R$0,50/user/year)
4- Custom Reports & Clinical Trial Epidemiologic - Reports and Clinical Trial selection/locating services (avg R$ 300K/unit)
5- Digital Marketplace - Web and mobile widgets to improve healt and wellness (R$1,99/download)
6- e-Commerce - Partnership with already established on-line store & health brokers companies (1,5% fee/transaction)
7- Platform Direct Sales - Direct sales is used to set up subscription prices (R$29,90/year)
Share of philanthropy in total income of organization (in percent)
Philanthrophy strategies you are using
Explain your philanthropic approach in more detail
Expand on your selections; explain how you will sustain funding over the next 1-3 years.
We have a dual track strategy to fund the next years, with focus on have the operations expenses covered by new customers contracts in the first track. In the second track, research and product development will be funded by venture capitalists and investment banks.
