Deadline: 9 November 2018

Nominations are open for Swiss Re Foundation Entrepreneurs for Resilience Award to recognise entrepreneurial initiatives that take innovative approaches to building resilient societies and realising the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

While resilience is the core theme of this annual programme, its specific focus changes from year to year.

This 2019 award will focus on innovative solutions that offer more and better access to healthcare for households in low-income communities. They’re looking for business-minded organisations that leverage technology to successfully tackle the behavioural, knowledge, infrastructure, financial and/or other barriers to such households’ access to healthcare solutions – from prevention to treatment.

The award comprises a financial grant from the Swiss Re Foundation and, depending on the nature, scope and needs of the enterprise, non-financial contributions such as coaching and technical advice from Swiss Re employees and experts.

Theme: Technology to improve healthcare access in underserved communities

Focus Areas

• Access to information for patients and healthcare professionals
  • Targeted approaches
    • Online health education platforms, helplines
    • Apps that allow for (customised) preventative or chronic care (including nutrition/exercise)
    • Health/treatment data collection solutions (eg digitalisation of medical records, apps that help patients/doctor monitor intake of medicine or course of treatment)
    • Leverage/create (social) networks to change behaviour on a larger scale (eg peer-to-peer mentoring, disease-based groups)
    • Other
• Capacity-building of Healthcare professional
  • Targeted approaches
    • Low-cost, effective solutions for training/increasing capabilities of healthcare professionals operating remotely
    • Solutions for remote support (administered from better-staffed/-equipped facilities), such as telemedicine
    • Other
• Distribution and supply chain integrity
  • Targeted approaches
    • Solutions for safe delivery/management of vaccines/medication in remote locations (eg designated channels, counterfeit detection, refill availability for chronic diseases, no excessive markups to patients)
• Upgrading healthcare facilities and access to appropriate medical equipment
  • Targeted approaches
    • Commercial dissemination of innovative, lower-cost equipment for diagnosis, treatment and patient monitoring
    • Solutions to improve medical facilities’ processes related to screening, diagnosis, referral, treatment and patient compliance
    • Other
• Access to financing for patients
  • Targeted approaches
    • Solutions to increase household resources available to pay for healthcare (eg e-wallet accounts)
    • Solutions to increase access to and understanding of health insurance
    • Other

Prize Information

The total prize money of USD 700 000 is divided among the winner (which receives up to USD 350 000) and the two runners-up.

Selection Criteria

They encourage enterprises that fit the above-described scope and meet the following criteria to apply:

• Level of maturity: Are established as formal start-ups, growing and on a clear path to full or partial financial sustainability (eg if only some operations are commercially based) but still dependent on grants (or other support) to improve their business model and/or reach full financial sustainability
• Innovation and technology focus: Leverage technology or an innovation in product or service delivery to deliver value to underserved populations at scale.
• Mission and purpose: Have a strong social purpose while using commercial mechanisms to achieve sustainability and scale.
• Target group: Serve moderately to very poor communities in rural and/or urban areas. Poor and vulnerable populations should be a clear focus and priority and/or represent more than 30% of people served. Candidates should have a deep understanding of their end users’ specific circumstances and address barriers to healthcare that they face.
• Geography: Ideally, operate in low-income communities with limited/no access to quality healthcare.

How to Apply

• To apply for the 2019 Entrepreneurs for Resilience Award, applicants must complete the online questionnaire about their enterprise  given on the website.
• Only applications completed in English and submitted by this deadline will be considered.

For more information, please visit Entrepreneurs for Resilience Award.