Looking back on my 2011 iCal calendar, I had logged way more “road days” than I originally thought.  Never moving very far from my home base, I still managed to log at least one flying-trip every month.  I visited four new countries in 2011 (Poland, India, Holland, Indonesia) and made a few return trips to some of my favourite places.  It was a mixture of work, volunteering and pleasure (a perfect mix, really).

I took what I thought was a couple of “mini-vacations” throughout the year, and combined 2011 annual leave holidays with attending weddings of friends (yes, it is that period of time in life).  But it really wasn’t until late December that I finally felt I was truly “on holiday”.  There is something truly magical about the December holiday period that time, deadlines, calls and emails just pause – even just –  for a moment.  In previous years, I had always taken Christmas time to travel, go somewhere new; but this year, I took the “visiting home” approach seriously. (or more accurately, I picked a city that made a family reunion more convenient).

For those who work abroad, don’t you always dread the last few days of the holiday season where you know you will have to go back to work? (The countdown: 3 days before I have to fly back, 2 days before… 1 day remaining). Perhaps thousands of miles away from family and the simple comforts and familiarity of home.  I know many friends who find the first few weeks of January hard to bear. For those who work in the finance industry and follow their hearts and paycheques to the streets (and desks) of New York City, London, Tokyo, Hong Kong – coming back in January of a new year is never quite the same.

I love what I do and I love where I live (to do what I do) – but I can’t deny that I absolutely enjoy the simple kind of happiness of having shelter, clothing and eating three meals a day with my favourite people in the world.  Family love is special. It is a simple love of waking up every morning knowing that you are welcome in this world.

Photo credit: A great photographer, Katarina on Flickr.

[Post inspired & written January 5, 2012. Posted after 12 hours on a plane, stuck in a middle seat January 11, 2012 - but it was a safe journey].

Tucked away behind a concrete on-ramp to a highway and in between the technology industrial parks and automotive factories of the Indian city of Pune, lies a serene patch of grassland where a few horses are roaming free.  Upon closer inspection, the edges of the grassland extend to a multi-building complex bearing the name: Serum Institute of India.

Serum Institute of India, founded in 1967, received its seed capital from the sale of horses in its sister company’s stud farm.  In 2011, it is now a global top five vaccine manufacturer in terms of volume 80% of its products go to UNICEF and the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) to immunize children in low and middle-income countries. Serum is part of India’s growing life sciences industry, one that is still dominated by generic manufacturers.  But even established firms can display traits of entrepreneurial spirit and pursue new opportunities in innovation.

In 2001, Serum Institute decided to venture out of its traditional childhood vaccines with known technology and develop a new vaccine of great need in sub-Saharan Africa.  In the semi-arid region of sub-Saharan Africa stretching from Senegal to Ethiopia, meningitis epidemics can sweep across this “Africa Meningitis Belt” and affect up to 250,000 people annually. Meningitis is an aggressive disease when bacteria invade the protective membranes of the central nervous system and cause adverse inflammatory responses. Even with aggressive treatment, case mortality is high, reaching up to 25%.  However, this may be underestimated due to the high number of cases where the patient does not reach the hospital-level for appropriate treatment and therefore no record is kept.

The Meningitis Vaccine Project (MVP) is a group of 21 stakeholders working together on eliminating these devastating meningitis epidemics in Africa.  MVP is a public-private development partnership with public sector participants, NGOs and private sector entrepreneurial firms.  The power of vaccines against infectious diseases is two-fold. One, the vaccine is able to protect the individual and second, because the disease does not as easily infect the first individual, he/she is less likely to pass on the disease to others in the community, establishing a larger defense against the disease.  With the power of vaccines, medical interventions can originate from anywhere in the world and be delivered to patients who need it most.

The MVP project is an example of how increased financing for global health has stimulated new waves of entrepreneurial activity.  MVP is coordinated by PATH and the World Health Organization and started with a $70 million USD 10-year grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation targeted at eliminating the disease in the meningitis belt.  The coordinators found SERUM, based in India, as a private sector partner ready to take on the challenge of making a vaccine at a price African ministers of health identified as affordable – less than $0.50 USD a dose. SERUM, being a privately owned company, committed financially and technically to the challenge at-hand of producing a new vaccine of the highest quality and at low cost affordable to African ministers of health.

The commitment to excellence is pervasive amongst SERUM’s workforce. After taking a tour of SERUM’s manufacturing facilities on a monsoon-season rainy day in August, I couldn’t help but notice all interviewed employees understood the implications of cost and price of their products.  Even as pure scientists, they understood the importance of affordability of healthcare and the power each little vial contains.

From SERUM’s perspective, the public-private partnership allowed them to gain new production capabilities in a new disease area with lower risk than if they ventured alone. SERUM depended on the partnership for technical support and financial support to co-invest in R&D. The structure of the public-private development partnership serves as a business model vehicle for delivering medical innovations much needed in the developing world.

To date, a total of 19.5 million people have received the meningococcal A conjugate vaccine manufactured by SERUM and developed through the MVP partnership.  The vaccine has been distributed at an astonishing pace since approval and distribution in mass vaccination campaigns starting 8 months ago in December 2010.  The plan is to vaccinate 300 million adults between the ages of 1 through 29 by 2015 to stop the epidemics.

The MVP partnership was a new path in SERUM’s traditional business model, however, it was a partnership that allowed for minimization of technical risk and leveraging of all stakeholder capabilities.  The world needs more adapted business models to allow innovators from the private sector, small and large firms, from across the world to contribute towards solutions.  This Meningitis Vaccine Project was not a feasible option for the traditional big pharma vaccine firms, but the partnership structure allowed developing country innovators to contribute. Public health officials and governments alone cannot fight global health battles alone.  Entrepreneurs too must join the fight to accelerate discovery, development and diffusion of innovations for the poor.

Today is world pneumonia day. Why designate such a day? Maybe it is because not many of us know that pneumococcal disease is the #1 vaccine-preventable cause of death in children under 5.

The GAVI Alliance (formerly Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations, introduced in a previous post) is currently rolling out pneumococcal vaccines across 3 continents and will potentially prevent more than 650,000 deaths by 2015 in 58+ countries.

The complex pneumococcal vaccines first started rolling out in GAVI-eligible countries in 2010 and the development and manufacturing process for these vaccines (rolled out in the millions) were stimulated by an ADVANCE MARKET COMMITMENT (AMC).

The AMC’s goal is to bring forward the availability of effective vaccines through scaling up of production capacity to meet developing country vaccine demand and secure long-term predictable demand, supply (by manufacturers) and pricing.

In June 2009, the governments of Italy, UK, Canada, Russia, Norway and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation committed to a $1.5 billion USD AMC fund for pneumococcal vaccine. The AMC funded acted as a “pull” incentive for pharmaceutical companies participating in the AMC to develop and produce the appropriate vaccines needed in developing countries: the right vaccine at the right price, in the right quantity and at the right time. A second goal is to accelerate vaccine uptake by developing countries once the right vaccine is available. The AMC acts as a innovation diffusion catalyst as well!

The supplier pharmaceutical firms under legally-binding contracts must agree to supply their vaccines at $3.50 USD for 10 years for GAVI purchasing to the developing country governments. For 20% of the doses, companies receive a “top-up” payment from the AMC pool of funds of another $3.50 USD out of the $1.5 billion donor commitments.

So why is the AMC innovative? 

It really is a new way of using donor funds for international development. The group of donors could have chosen to donate $1.5 billion AFTER the vaccines were available on the market and use their funds to help subsidize the price for developing country governments. However, who is to say that the vaccines would be rolled out faster? Or the price would be higher/lower than $3.50 or $7.00 for the 20% (how you look at it)?

From the supplier firm’s perspective, why invest in R&D and production capabilities when you do not know what demand (both quantity in volume and in price) is? How do you justify building this one vaccine manufacturing facility over another therapeutic in your portfolio?

Through the GAVI alliance, an agreement was brokered between participants in the alliance. If the ultimate mission is to save children’s lives, then there is an urgency factor to do it as soon as possible. The inherent power of vaccines is prevention of getting the disease in the first place. Instead of the $1.5 billion funds being used in purchasing post full-commercialization, the commitment is brought forward into a legally-binding agreement to set price and volume and therefore set the ability to quantify demand.

From the donor’s perspective, the investment in aid was to be used for fighting pneumococcal disease.  The AMC brought forward the commitment in the innovation value chain (from end-purchasing to the development/manufacturing stage) so that the aid can be used as a “pull-incentive” for supplier companies to roll-out their product faster. From the firm’s perspective, yes there is now competition to produce as many doses as fast as possible because if you are the first firm to manufacture the vaccine, you would have the first right of access to the “top-up” funds from the AMC pool.

In March 2010 (9 months after the AMC became operational), GSK and Pfizer made long-term commitments to supply new vaccines against pneumococcal disease and the first roll-outs occurred in December 2010 in Latin America. GAVI has produced a comprehensive timeline to show the sequence of development of the AMC. Although press releases make it seem that the vaccine was completed quickly between AMC operationalization and roll-out, please remember all the background work! The supplier firms dedicating decades to research & development and the donor/innovative finance community first setting out the white paper on “making markets for vaccines”  back in 2005 led by Centre for Global Development.

It is now November 2011 and let’s continue the good fight against vaccine-preventable diseases.

I first learned about Acumen Fund through a series of TED talks by its Founder, Jacqueline Novogratz (highly recommend watching at least ONE of them right now – best 20 minutes of your day, promise!). I found her thoughts and ideas around Patient Capital to be truly inspiring and worthwhile – and at the same time it helped my thinking on social venture capital for global health. When people asked me “why would a venture capitalist want to forgo maximum returns in order to make health products at lower prices?” I would answer that social impact and # of patients helped and saved is just as important! And if you want proof-of-concept – just look at the emerging record of Acumen Fund and others (current status report published by the Aspen Institute).

When I moved to Cambridge for graduate school, I started volunteering for Acumen Fund through its global chapters network and started its London young professionals chapter.  Today, I celebrate your birthday by sharing 5 things I have learned from your organization by volunteering with you:

1) The world is connected. There are currently 10 global Acumen chapters and it’s been a pleasure to connect with you through social media and monthly calls. As an individual, I love going home to the Vancouver chapter as much as I love the London chapter! And speaking on behalf of the London chapter, we love to receive people who may be in town for a short while and want to pop into our events! small world it is! The Acumen chapters really do foster a feeling of connectedness. I have also enjoyed your innovative experiments and learning new things including Feb 14th Generosity Day. The purpose of Acumen Fund resonates with myself and many of my friends (across lines of professions/research interests/industries) who have come and volunteered in support through the chapter network – thumbs up!

2) The power of gratitude. I have not volunteered for an organization that expresses as much gratitude as Acumen for its volunteers. If an organization can exude humility, this one does. Each staff member I have come across is inspiring in their own right and have brilliant people skills, even over email!

3) The importance of a strong and unified brand (and communicating it!). I see Acumen, the organization, as a leader in its field. 10 years ago, the term “social impact investing” did not exist, and Acumen has helped bring it to the fore. Through its proof-of-concept model, it has helped open the gates to additional patient capital (this MUST be celebrated!). Its brand is embodied in its work and mission – and because of its clarity, it can be followed by others. And as a chapter volunteer, it is easy to spread the word to other volunteers/supporters when we can point them in the right direction for more info – ie. website, youtube channel, TED talks, The Blue Sweater book etc. With such a global fan base, your communications team does a good job of keeping everyone up to date!

4) Being the first penguin is okay. In nature, when penguins jump into the water where there are predators, one has to go first… it is okay being the first to prove something! [Thanks Randy Pausch for this particular lesson too] In the life sciences, proof-of-concept is a BIG DEAL (you may have noticed I’ve mentioned it 3x in this post already) and Acumen has been able to prove its model on fighting poverty in a new way. My hope is that by Acumen’s 20th birthday, this way is fully mainstream, and okay not to be “new”.  Around the same time as starting to volunteer for Acumen Fund, I set up my first ever social enterprise, the African Innovation Prize. 2009 was a pilot year to demonstrate that by working in partnership with African universities, business competitions can encourage youth entrepreneurship, and happy to say we’re going well in 2011!

5) Dignity supports the human spirit. I started my PhD 2+ years ago never thinking my research in drug commercialization would cross with “international development” – but through reading, listening and discussing, I have learned humans, wherever they may live have the same aspirations – to be healthy, to be safe, to be loved and to achieve their potential and purpose. A researcher in Kigali has the same dreams and fears as myself in Cambridge. Dignity runs a common thread through humanity and thanks for letting me contribute in a small way.

Thanks Acumen Fund! Even though I cannot be in NYC this weekend, I look forward to joining you for your 20th birthday bash!

To everyone in NYC right now: Acumen Staff, Acumen portfolio companies, investors, supporters, advocates, volunteers, chapters – have a great time – Happy Birthday!

Building for Habitat for Humanity!

I’ve been thinking about blogging about this subject for a long time, since when I first met Mary Lea, a grandmother on a volunteer trip 4 years ago this month. Coming out of university and writing the most difficult exam I had ever written in my life (UFE qualifying exam for Chartered Accountants in Canada – 13 hours over 3 days) I decided to volunteer abroad, outside of my home country for the very first time. I signed up for a Habitat for Humanity build in their Global Village program to Chile. Habitat for Humanity builds on all continents in the world and is a nonprofit housing charity. Its goal is to eliminate poverty housing and to make decent shelter a matter of conscience and action. Habitat for Humanity invites volunteers of all backgrounds, races, religions to build houses together in partnership with families in need.

There were a few reasons why I wanted to volunteer for Habitat and build social housing in Chile. First, it allowed me to step out of the examination hall and head straight to the airport to fly away to a new land where nobody knew of the UFE exam. I did not want to talk about the exam, think about the exam or face other writers and talk about how hard it was and how low the annual pass rate is. Second, it allowed me to visit a whole new continent – South America! And thirdly, I wanted to be surrounded by people who couldn’t care less about my exam and pass or fail, it would not change their perception of me or the work that I did. At the end of the day, an exam is just an exam – but a Habitat build is an experience – and life is better lived through memories of good work than exams

Prior to signing up to do a Habitat build abroad, I had volunteered a few times in Canada through corporate “volunteer days” at work. It was great fun! we got to build in Canada with local families and sometimes even coworkers.  Build sites would be full of volunteers from all backgrounds (usually not construction…) and be supervised by patient foremen and professional builders. But the global village build was even better than I imagined! Not only did we build all day for 3 weeks with the same group of people, we ate breakfast,lunch and dinner together – as well as bunked together in the local village: Casablanca, Chile.

Our group in Chile was split into 3 different build sites – with about 4-5 people in each. And it was in my work group that I was paired with my “Build Buddy” – Grandmother Mary Lea. And oh wow, could she build like a pro! She had volunteered continuously with Habitat for Humanity in the United States and had also done a few abroad trips – she was a veteran! First thing she did was to teach me how to hammer! (yes, being a life-long city girl, hammering did not come as a natural skill…) 4-inch nails were no match for Mary Lea, she could pound them with one hit! (truthfully, it took me about 3-4 hits and at the same time.. and trying constantly not to hit myself!) It was extremely useful to have a veteran on the small build site because the Foreman supervisor only spoke Spanish! Miming action is a lot easier when you at least have a clue of the basics. Again, thank goodness for Mary Lea’s common sense and practical building know-how.  During these build days Mary Lea would talk a lot about her grandchildren and share photos… she always thought of them. Her husband was also on the same Chile team with us (but at another build site) – and when the whole team gathered for dinner at night, she would help get some ice and help him ease his joints. They are an extraordinary couple. Prior to retirement, they were high school teachers to inner-city Chicago schools and in retirement, they are helping build communities around the world!

In my early-20s I never thought much about the future, what having family would be like or what activities to do in retirement days! Having completed undergraduate studies at a business school, “skills development” was pretty career focused and not so much in family skills. But ever since meeting Mary Lea I knew I wanted to be like her (and hammer like her!). She was such an inspiration! The way she lived her life and continues to contribute to an ever-changing globalised world.

So today, on your birthday Mary Lea – I want to pay tribute to you in this blog! I currently do not have a photo of our Chile build (didn’t have a digital camera back then), but I hope his photo from Habitat Malaysia will do.

I have also  come across a few more inspirational grandmothers lately:

- My supervisor, Elizabeth is a grandmother of two, and I can see the change in her – she is visibly glowing. I will always remember her quote, when I asked her “How are you?” after her second grandchild and she said “I am really happy. When you pick the baby up in your arms, it’s unbelievable, it’s like their yours all over again”.

- I sat next to Marnie at a formal dinner recently – a former french teacher and a grandmother filled with an adventurous spirit and a love for India.

- Italian “Nan” who at age 90 works a blackberry and blackberry messenger like a 15 year-old teenager and uploads photos and emails with her grandson continuously. brilliant!

To #grandmothers worldwide: Thank YOU for your wisdom, love and inspiration. You’ve seen it all…!

At the October 12, 2010 UK Secretary of State Andrew Mitchell announced that UK Department for International Development / UKaid will work together with the private sector on international development. He set out a vision “for a world where development is embedded through inclusive economic growth, where wealth creation is the route out of poverty and where the private sector is the catalyst.” A copy of his speech can be found in PDF Here.

The next obvious question is How? Development is complex, and building inclusive economic growth is not easy as we see the ever-widening gap between the rich and the poor in many fast-developing economies.

January 2, 2011 announcement of the DFID private sector department open for development & business.

We had the pleasure to host the Head of the new DFID Private Sector Department. Mr. Gavin McGilivray in Cambridge last night October 13, 2011 to explain to us the answer to that exact question, How? and to talk us through the DFID private sector strategy. (the link will take you to the PDF strategy report). He spoke as part of the Gates Scholar Society Distinguished Lecture Series.

Gavin covered 9 themes of the strategy in 30 minutes with 30 minutes of Q&A. Summary of main points under HOW DFID plans to work with the private sector:

- recognition that working in partnership is key

- getting more private sector DNA into DFID: to listen to business and to recruit business-minds

- importance of evidence : emphasis on transparency and documenting results

- value for money

- measuring impact of DFID work

And the two core principles driving the approach:

1) Dedication to poverty reduction: UK International Development Act stipulates by law, all activities conducted must aim to reduce poverty

2) UK aid is untied: DFID aid is tied to poverty reduction only, not to promoting UK trade or other commercial or political ends

Perhaps it is my conviction that business can be an innovator and a catalyst in social change that led me to enter the lecture with an existing bias. However, I exited the lecture wondering about the entrepreneurs in developing countries whom I have met: poverty is not a conducive environment for business, for all the entrepreneurs’ passion and convictions, any progress in lowering barriers and risks for small businesses can be welcomed.  Traditionally, barriers have decreased with the passage of time of slow-changing government policies or in areas of interested by multi-nationals only. So what if now small, medium-enterprise (SME) barriers are lowered by “non-traditional” aid programs? Lower-away!

When I was a teenager, I remember reading a phrase from a magazine: “Life is better lived Together” – I am not quite sure what the advertisement was for – but I remember pausing to think. Then I started noticing that prizes and competitions usually had prizes in pairs :  a pair of tickets for a concert, a free get-away for two, a family pack of treats for four, etc.

I’ve thought of this phrase more often as I’ve grown older – and it has changed the way I gift. For birthdays, anniversaries and special occasions – I have been gifting friends and family more “experiences” rather than “products” and in most of these experience-type gifts, it sure is better when shared!

But today, on Canadian Thanksgiving 2011 I think this phrase also means something more.  It doesn’t just apply to the special days and experiences, it applies to the everyday.  Good, bad, the beautiful and the ugly – everyday is an experience better lived when shared. #giving #thanks – #everyday.

Two years ago in 2009, I travelled to Rwanda for a health project, and on my last day visited the local university in the capital, Kigali – and proposed the idea of a business plan competition for students to apply their “entrepreneurship theory” learned in class to the real world. Two years on in 2011, I travelled to Rwanda with 4 other brilliant folks to run a week-long entrepreneurship training conference called Rwanda Entrepreneurship Week (REW) and to follow up on the business plan competition, and on my last day, visited the same hospital where I volunteered in 2009.

What came about after a simple presentation in a classroom in 2009 – I co-founded a business plan competition along the lines of the famous MIT 100k challenge and Cambridge University Entrepreneurs developed at Kigali Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) called the African Innovation Prize.

The Africa Innovation Prize has been successfully running for 2 years at KIST with over 100+ student team entries. There have been 6 honourable mention prizes awarded for “Best Idea under 200 words” and 2 grand prize seed awards given for student ventures.

2010: Rwanda Environmental Design and Implementation Limited (REDI) with Mr. Bertin Harerimana and Mr. Jean-Baptiste Dushimiyimana to make a decompostable toilet for rural villages. [side note: Bertin and Jean-Baptiste were students in that first KIST class I presented to in 2009 asking them if they thought business plan competitions were a good idea - It was really nice to see them in person again!]

2011:  HP&A Eden Flowers Ltd by Mr. Patrice Habinshuti and Mrs. Marie Louise Uwimbabazi. The goal of the business is to create a horticultural business. The business will be focused on production and supply of horticultural items (products department) and providing assistance to agricultural cooperatives and farmers in training and advisory programs (services department – and opportunity to hire KIST students!).  The Eden flower project will meet the needs of a growing Kigali city, providing construction and cleaning companies with needed flowers, ornamental plants and trees.

Our team travelled to Rwanda this summer to run Rwanda Entrepreneurship Week – a week long entrepreneurship training and education conference for 150+ Rwandan university students.  It was an experience that was both inspiring and humbling. After nine months of hard work planning for REW: brainstorming, organizing, fundraising, pulling together curriculum and workshop leads, planning logistics – it all came together within this one week July 25-30, 2011.

Prior to getting to Kigali, we had over 200+ students register online for the conference through our facebook and website – but we were not sure how many students were actually going to come on the first day – because we had advertised to universities across the country. And then exactly at noon, they came… students from 5 different educational institutions, some travelling two hours by bus, some rushing from their university across town to get there for our conference… Amazing! I was overwhelmed by their enthusiasm, spirit and eagerness to learn. I was also extremely touched by their gratitude and understanding. And so as the room began to fill, our team tried to source chairs from all over the building to squeeze into the conference room. What we had-thought was a week-long conference for 100 ended up having 150+ students every day!

More details about the student entrepreneurship conference and the program of events can be found on the AIP blog – but what you can’t see neatly laid out on the program is the teamwork demonstrated by Sarah, Alex, Baillie, Jackie, Julia.  We are a diverse team, and we knew that from the beginning, each with a different major at Cambridge, each with different interests, side-rants and passions. However, what united us was this love for entrepreneurship and the belief that if we acted in the spirit of opening opportunities, good karma would follow.  Man, this team knew how to execute: Planning a conference for 150 people in a country 5000 miles away without stepping foot on the ground until 4 days before the start of the conference – Everyone pulled through, Rwanda Entrepreneurship Week 2011 added wood (+skills!) to the already burning fires within entrepreneurial students… wohoo!

REW 2011 @ KIST, Kigali Rwanda- Murakoze!

And a sneak peak into Plans for 2012…

a) Taking African Innovation Prize nationwide across 3 national Universities in Rwanda: Kigali Institute of Science & Technology, National University of Rwanda, School of Finance & Banking

b) Exploring opportunities to establish African InnovationPrize business plan competitions in partnership with universities in Sierra Leone

c) Out of REW 2011 was born a Kigali-based Student Entrepreneurship Club – promotion of year-round Entrepreneurship activities aligned with academic curriculum

*Premise: The lifetime risk of dying in pregnancy and childbirth in Africa is 1 in 22, while it is 1 in 120 in Asia and 1 in 7,300 in developed countries.

The White Ribbon Alliance is an international coalition which pushes for change to make childbirth safe for women and newborns. It has 15 national alliance organizations and is a growing global movement in 152 countries, amplifying the voices of women in areas where they have been traditionally ignored. Join in your country!

Women Deliver works globally to generate political commitment and financial investment for fulfilling MDG 5.  This organization further pushes the agenda in that investment in women pays in spades for global development and economic opportunity for all.  If the World Bank asserts investment in girls’ education is the best buy against poverty, then let’s ensure women live.

Muskoka Initiative – Launched at the June 2010 Canada-hosted G8 Summit, the new partnership focuses on maternal, newborn and child health. The initiative mobilized $7.3 billion commitment from 2010-2015 for MDG5.

Now, after clicking and learning about the first two advocacy organizations and then learning the shift in political will from the G8 summit  - wonder what action can individuals/organizations take?

Check out Maternova – a global portal that showcases tools and ideas that save mothers and newborns. Why I like this organization: – it recognizes the problem of the status quo, it tracks innovations, packs and sells low-cost tools for front line health works and also maps maternal health facilities. It “maximizes resources and empowers efforts” for all stakeholders in MDG5.

For interested scientists and technology innovation fans: check out Maternova’s database of health innovations (adaptable for variety of contexts/environments).

For social enterprise fans, love that this entrepreneurial organization is backed by social venture capital!

- Social Venture Partners Rhode Island

-S.E.VEN Fund

& Foundation funding from MacArthur Foundation

Public-private mix of funding and two streams of revenue-generating income makes me think Maternova can genuinely scale and be sustainable in the efforts of MDG 5.  Nice example of business model innovation. Kudos.

Please add any other MDG5 Advocacy campaigns/organizations as a link below and any individuals/organizations with a proactive and innovative response to help progress maternal health.

JFL, NEW YORK CITY – I will be covering this year’s Global Business Coalition’s 10th year anniversary conference from New York City June 1-2, 2011 as a Global Health Ambassador (GHAs). Follow our team’s work on twitter @GBCNews.

One of the conference sessions focuses on companies from the innovative developing countries and the heavy hitters of the emerging markets: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. These companies may not be household names, but I wanted to introduce them here to encourage discussion and be a primer before the session.

The panel will be moderated by Deloitte Consulting.

CapitalBio Corporation: a life sciences company headquartered in Beijing, China. It leads and commercializes innovative products for clinical diagnostics, food-safety testing and other life-science applications.

Avantha Group: is a $4 billion leading Indian business conglomerate with diverse business lines in 10 countries and 20,000 + employees. Avantha’s head of CSR will discuss partnerships to promote social development.

The Russian Managers Association – is a Russian NGO/business union that provides help to the Russian business community to integrate into the international economy and promotes dialogue between government and businesses and advocates for Russian businesses in Russia and abroad.

DNA Genotek – is a company that optimizes ease of collection of high-quality biological samples required for diagnostic testing.  DNA Genotek products are marketed worldwide and support thousands of customers as they achieve breakthroughs in genomic research, in diagnostics laboratories, in the pharmaceutical industry and in personal genomics.

Reading the brief background introductions of the speakers and company websites – am thinking the topic of partnerships will be up for discussion. International partnerships at home and abroad… Can developing countries build innovation systems for health? For further reading, this Science 2005 article illustrates the scientific and moral imperative for innovative developing countries to act (Morel, 2005).

Leave comments/questions below and for live coverage of GBC Impact 2011: follow me on twitter @juliafanli