Applications Invited for Entrepreneurs for Resilience Award 2021

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About the Organization:

Swiss Re Foundation is governed by a Board of Trustees, which sets their strategic direction. They are one of the world’s leading providers of reinsurance, insurance and other forms of insurance-based risk transfer, working to make the world more resilient. They have a distinct mission: Together, they apply fresh perspectives, knowledge and capital to anticipate and manage risk. That's how they create smarter solutions for their clients, helping the world rebuild, renew and move forward.

Entrepreneurs for Resilience Award 2021

The Swiss Re Foundation Entrepreneurs for Resilience Award recognises 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.

The 2021 Resilience Award focuses on innovative solutions that increase financial access to healthcare in low-income communities. More specifically, we 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.

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.

Criteria

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

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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)
• Applicants may operate in any geography, rural and/or urban. At least one of the three finalists will come from the Americas.
• 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).

Award

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 favorite Resilience Award finalist. The finalist with the most votes receives a special prize.

The winners of both the Resilience Award and the Employee Award will be announced in May 2021.

If you have questions or need guidance, you are welcome to contact at swissrefoundation@swissre.com.

Deadline:  8 November 2020, 24.00 CET

For more information please check the Link