The Entrepreneurs for Resilience Award recognises entrepreneurial initiatives that take innovative approaches to building resilient societies and realising the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The 2022 award theme is improving financial access to healthcare.
Illness and disease are universal, while access to healthcare is not. Moreover, ill health exacerbates and cements poverty, which breeds ill health – a vicious circle. Health expenditures alone push an estimated 100 million people worldwide into extreme poverty each year. A lack of financial resources or information, in turn, can stand in the way of accessing health services. Does healthcare have to be harder for low-income people to access although they often need it the most? At the Swiss Re Foundation, we believe the answer is no.
In this year’s award cycle, we supported innovative solutions that increase financial access to healthcare in low-income communities. To be eligible for the award, an enterprise had to take a business-minded approach that increases the resources available to households to pay for healthcare and/or that reduces health shocks that lead to poverty or economic vulnerability following a disease or an accident.
Together with subject matter experts from Swiss Re, we reviewed applications from 264 candidates in 81 countries and selected the three finalists listed below.
The finalists pitched their ventures to a jury of Swiss Re senior executives, a representatives from academia and Swiss Re client at a live hybrid event on September 7 at the end of which we announced the winner for the 6th Entrepreuners for Resilience Award and People's Choice Award Winner.
As every year, the finalists shared a grant from the Swiss Re Foundation of USD 700 000 – with the award winner receiving up to USD 350 000 – and, depending on each venture’s nature, scope and needs, non-financial contributions from Swiss Re employees, such as coaching and technical advice.