Deadline: 13 January 2022
The Entrepreneurs for Resilience Award 2022 is an invitation to (social) entrepreneurs working in low and middle-income countries to make healthcare financially more accessible in low-income communities.
The Swiss Re Foundation Entrepreneurs for Resilience Award recognises entrepreneurial initiatives that take innovative approaches to build resilient societies in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Demand for affordable healthcare has increased along with the global population, and COVID-19 has only intensified the challenges of providing it.
Health expenditures push an estimated 100 million people worldwide into extreme poverty every year. New approaches to financing healthcare are more urgently needed than ever.
Areas of Interest
The 2022 Entrepreneurs for Resilience Award focuses on innovative solutions that increase financial access to healthcare in low-income communities. More specifically, they’re looking for innovative, market-based solutions that:
- increase household resources available for healthcare
- reduce health shocks that can lead to poverty or economic vulnerability after a disease or an accident
Award Details
The three finalists will be awarded with funding up to USD 700 000 and non-financial support from experts across Swiss Re and beyond.
Eligibility Criteria
- In the 2022 award cycle, they are looking to support innovative solutions that increase financial access to healthcare in low-income communities. To be eligible for the award, an enterprise must take a business-minded approach that increase the resources available to households to pay for healthcare or that reduces the risk of lasting economic vulnerability or poverty following an illness or accident.
- Mission and purpose: Applicants must have a strong social purpose and use commercial mechanisms to achieve sustainability and scale.
- Target group: At least 30% of the people served by applicants must come from poor to very poor communities. Applicants should have a deep understanding of the specific circumstances of the people they serve (eg barriers to using financial instruments to better manage their healthcare).
- Geography: Applicants must operate in countries that are defined as low-income and/or lower-middle-income by the World Bank.
- Maturity: Applicants must be formally established, serve at least 20 000 people and have the potential to reach at least 200 000 people in the coming three years. They should also be on a clear path to financial sustainability yet still require grants (or other support) to improve their business model, reach low-income households and/or attain full financial sustainability.
- Innovation focus: Applicants must display high levels of innovation in their product, service and/or delivery and use digital technology to deliver value to underserved populations at scale.
- Outcome focus: Applicants must explain in their application how the solution will positively impact its target beneficiaries and the broader ecosystem in which they operate, clearly articulating the outcomes to be achieved in the next two years. The strongest contenders will be able to demonstrate high levels of social impact and ideally to measure it in a reliable manner.
- Legally compliant: Applicants must comply with the legal framework of the country or countries in which they operate and are registered and must be allowed to receive grant funding from a Swiss non-governmental organisation such as the Swiss Re Foundation.
For more information, visit https://www.swissre.com/campaigns/e4ra22.html