Swiss Re Foundation’s 2021 Entrepreneurs for Resilience Award

Deadline: 8-Nov-20

The Swiss Re Foundation has announced 2021 Entrepreneurs for Resilience Award to recognise entrepreneurial initiatives that take innovative approaches to building resilient societies and realising the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

The 2021 Resilience Award focuses on innovative solutions that increase financial access to healthcare in low-income communities. More specifically, they are looking for innovative, market-based solutions that increase the household resources available for healthcare and/or reduce health shocks that lead to poverty or economic vulnerability following a disease or an accident.

The Award program also offers Swiss Re employees across the world a chance to select their favorite enterprise from the three finalists. The finalist with the most votes receives the “Employee Award” and a special prize. The same enterprise may win both the Employee Award and the Resilience Award in a given year.

For those ventures where the financial solution is part of a more comprehensive approach, they are in scope for this award if the financial solution is both a) at the core of the broader approach used and b) innovative or distinctive in some way.

The Award program involves a grant (paid in several instalments over one to three years) from the Swiss Re Foundation and, depending on the nature, scope and needs of the enterprise, non-financial contributions from Swiss Re employees, such as coaching and technical advice.

Scope

Despite real progress in improving global health and reducing mortality, according to the World Bank around 400 million people still lack access to essential healthcare services. In 2017 the Geneva Association estimated the health protection gap in emerging markets – defined as the sum of financially stressful out-of-pocket expenses and the estimated cost of medical non-treatment due to unaffordability – at USD 2.9 trillion. The Swiss Re Foundation aims to improve access to health, especially to life-saving healthcare in low-income and low-middle-income countries, and to have made basic healthcare more accessible to 1 million people by 2021.

Increase the household resources available for healthcare eg:
- savings solutions that make it easier and cheaper for people to allocate resources to healthcare;
- payment solutions that make healthcare more affordable and/or better adapted to cash-flow constraints or that boost compliance with chronic disease treatment;
- credit solutions for covering more expensive treatments;
- remittances from friends and family abroad to pay for healthcare;
- financial mechanisms to incentivise provision and uptake of preventative, comprehensive and/or quality healthcare.
Reduce health shocks that lead to poverty or economic vulnerability following a disease or an accident eg:
- microinsurance schemes that drive higher access and/or adoption of health insurance;
- other “safety nets” and risk mitigation mechanisms.

Award Information

The Award comprises:

A total grant of USD 700 000 for three finalists. This amount is divided among the winner (which receives up to USD 350 000) and the two runners-up and paid in several instalments over one to three years;
Non-financial support such as coaching and technical advice from Swiss Re employees and experts, tailored to the needs of the ventures;
The Employee Award. Swiss Re employees around the world are invited to vote for their favourite Resilience Award finalist. The finalist with the most votes receives a special prize.

Selection Criteria

Swiss Re Foundation encourages enterprises that fit the above-described scope and meet the following criteria to apply:

Level of maturity: Applicants are 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 are also on a clear path to full or partial financial sustainability while still requiring grants (or other support) to improve their business model, to reach low-income households and/or to attain full financial sustainability.
Innovation focus: Applicants display high levels of innovation in their product, service and/or delivery and likely use technology to deliver value to underserved populations at scale.
Mission and purpose: Applicants have a strong social purpose while using commercial mechanisms to achieve sustainability and scale. The strongest contenders are able to demonstrate high levels of social impact and ideally to measure it in a reliable manner.
Target group: Applicants focus on serving people living in poor to very poor communities, who should represent at least 30% of those served. They also have a deep understanding of their end-users’ specific circumstances (eg barriers to using financial instruments to better manage their own healthcare).
Geography: Applicants may operate in any geography, rural and/or urban. At least one of the three finalists will come from the Americas.
Legal: Within the legal framework of the country in which they are registered, applicants should be allowed to receive grant funding from a Swiss non-governmental organisation (ie the Swiss Re Foundation).