Overall I am really impressed by the speed with which initiatives are being generated – Business Fights Poverty is a model here for building a platform for collaboration and intervention very quickly.
For the social enterprise/SME sector there are so many other initiatives, captured by SOCAP, Next Billion and many others
However, a key issue is that a lot of these are still directed at individual enterprises and/or types of businesses
In the recent work in a challenge with Business Fights Poverty, Visa, AB Sugar, Bayer and others the opportunities of collaboration between large businesses and SMEs, particularly through an ecosystems lens, came out clearly. At the same time, this is not an easy task and the question is if there is an opportunity to fast-track some of this collaboration in this crisis |
A lot of Small Foundation partners, both in terms of networks, intermediaries such as fund managers and finance providers, and SMEs, are responding to the crisis – and are open to partnerships. This is a real opportunity to think outside the box- and quickly – to overcome constraints that have held the sector back for decades|
Fewer examples exist around livelihoods and learning. One great initiative to “build back better” is a collaborative platform of Spanish energy companies called Positive Energy +, which seeks to support projects with an energy angle in the fields of environmental sustainability, mobility, social impact, digitalisation, and telecommunications.
Governments, NGO’s, Private companies and Universities are working together to come up with solutions to support frontline health workers all over the world.
For example, we have been producing face shields in few makerlabs using 3D printers for 3 weeks now. Our health workers were struggling badly to get access to PPE’s. The design blueprint was shared with one of our partner MFI’s from Philippines. We have collaborated with them, a local maker labs like EMK Center and Wizkit in Bangladesh. In one week we went from prototyping to distribution when we had only one hospital doing COVID-19 tests. After a successful prototype of our model, we have started to sale these to hospitals and organizations as a social business. Since last week I am talking to one of our partner organizations in Thailand who now wants to replicate the model.
There are many examples from almost all sectors where companies are working differently and together to quickly respond to the pandemic.
At GSK alone we have entered into numerous new and exciting partnerships as part of our contribution to fighting COVID-19.
As the world’s leading vaccine manufacturer, our number one focus is to help develop a vaccine. This is, of course, core to the “exit plan” the world needs, and we are working with companies and institutions across the globe, including in North America and in China, to help find the best and most effective vaccines, since we believe it is likely that more than one will be required.
At AB InBev, we are deeply connected to the communities where we live and work and strive to be part of the solution. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, we have been delivering impact where it is needed. We are coming together to prioritize each other’s health and safety, to support our operations through new ways of working, and to help our communities where we can.
Some examples of the projects and partnerships that have delivered rapid innovation to support those most vulnerable during the COVID-19 global crisis, are:
Together with local governments and partners we’re using our existing operations and infrastructure to address immediate needs by developing, donating and distributing essential resources needed to fight the pandemic. This includes:
Producing and donating nearly three million bottles of hand sanitizer and disinfectant to hospitals and front-line health workers in 20+ countries. We have partners with local suppliers to produce and distribute the product.
Providing water and medical supplies to front-line emergency workers around the world, including the donation of 3 million face shields in Brazil by Cervejaria Ambev. The face shields are being distributed by the Ministry of Health across the country.
At the League of Intrapreneurs, we see our members are being able to accelerate the ideas that were in the innovation pipeline for a while and now the barriers have gone down, and is allowing for faster partnerships.
For instance Jannet working at Medbank in Australia, they have been with solutions for telemedicine and homecare for quimioteraphy, exams, etc and it was always complicated regulatory wise and to get public health coverage
Now they finally approved in 2 weeks what they have been lobbying for and trying to promote for over 10 years. This is partnership between private sector together with public sector working together at a full different speed
They were also developing a whole line of mental health and well being with social entrepreneurs and now they are being given a new space and speed, again with further support of public partnerships
Partnerships focused on infectious diseases activated early and decisively: I’ll give some examples of the Global Fund and the RBM Partnership:
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB & Malaria (GF) acted to authorize $1B in funding to strengthen health systems and mitigate impact on existing HIV, TB and Malaria programs, both through grant flexibilities and new funding to improve resilience. The stakes are so high because ~ 2.6 million die from these three infectious diseases. While this is about 1/2 half the death toll of a decade ago, it’s still an immense number of lives. https://www.theglobalfund.org/en/covid-19/
Before designing the innovations, we will need to do a rapid market assessment to find out how the COVID19 is currently impacting to the most vulnerable or “last miles population”. Getting their views on how they would like to solve their problem. Any one is doing this currently?
Google and apple are using geo-location of affected patients to tag potential exposed victims; in Bangladesh Govt and telecommunications companies have launched platforms that on creating system which can track the patients travel or location.
Hi all. I am independent consultant based in Malaysia brokering partnerships between smallholder farmers and large businesses in the value chain. I completed the partnership brokering course with PBA. Thanks. Julian Peach
It’s very interesting to see how in the face of common adversity, so many companies and organisations that might never have worked with each other, are suddenly combining forces in all sorts of interesting ways. In a blog that will come out tomorrow, my colleagues, Dave Prescott and Sarita Seghal talk about a Cape Town swimwear retail company, Granadilla, that found that much of its custom had dried up, leading to spare delivery logistics and staff, as well as an under-utilized e-commerce platform. It came up with the idea of partnering with local farms and food companies who were unable to sell their produce in the usual markets during lockdown, and use its logistics and platform to deliver nutritious food during lockdown.
Specific to malaria, the RBM Partnership to End Malaria (RBM) and WHO Global Malaria Programme (GMP) activated several new partner workstreams to support countries. One thing we saw with the ebola crisis is that more people ended up dying of malaria than ebola in affected areas – because both diseases start off with a fever, and people were afraid to go to health centers. We have a huge concern that COVID-19 could similarly compromise access to malaria prevention, diagnosis and treatment.
Disruptions to malaria programs have been linked to more than 75 resurgences in the past. In the worst case, given the global scale of the pandemic, a simultaneous disruption could reverse decades of progress against malaria. For context of the potential impact – malaria programs save almost 600,000 lives/year and prevent 100M cases.
To face this off, our well-established Partnership structures are coming together with great urgency to support countries and prevent this worst case. As one simple example of a rapid innovation - bednet distribution campaigns are being done door to door, with health workers wearing protective gear, rather than at a central distribution point.
o Donating 100 000 face shields, made from recycled beer crates in South Africa to the Gauteng Health Department for frontline health workers who are integral to the global response to COVID-19.
o Contributing to the enhancement of health infrastructure in several cities, including a Hospitals in Brazil where Cervejaria Ambev, alongside Gerdau, Hospital Albert Einstein, and the City of São Paulo are partnering to build a public hospital with 100 beds. A field hospital in Barranquilla Colombia in partnership with Itau Bank, Ministry of Defense and Bavaria (AB InBev) and other field hospitals built in Mexico City.
o Identifying available arenas and stadiums to be used by the American Red Cross for temporary blood drive centers across the United States
o Mobilizing our fleets of trucks in Colombia, Peru and Ecuador to deliver essential food and medical supplies to areas where they are needed, in collaboration with WFP and local food banks and governments
I agree, and this should consider the diversity of impacts on different people (gender) in different circumstances in a growing area. Smallholder farming and farmers are not all the same. And they are not all affected by C19 the same.
To support the most vulnerable communities we can bring in organizations with their resources and expertise to work on a common goal. For example, we have seen that millions of Bangladeshis were at risk of losing their jobs and since lockdown many of them were not having enough food or savings. Organizations and mass people have come forward to support. To facilitate such activity we have helped create CholoShobai crowdfunding platform while SSL Commerz supported us with payment gateway integration, and Spreeha Bangladesh Foundation on operational support to bring this platform live which is now helping many non-profits to raise funds to provide food for the most vulnerable.
Mobilizing our fleets of trucks in Colombia, Peru and Ecuador to deliver essential food and medical supplies to areas where they are needed
We have launched a series of initiatives to provide support to our customers (small retailers, bars and restaurants) by leveraging our volunteering platforms and partnerships with local banks, fintech and the governments to provide financial solutions.
In the Netherlands, AB InBev is supporting the #Helpdehoreca movement organized by the national hospitality industry association, which is offering consumers the opportunity to buy beer vouchers for the future.