Do you have an idea that you think could change the world?  Are you looking for mentorship and cash to help you bring your innovation to developing countries?  Do you want to meet with other student social entrepreneurs and innovators from across the globe?

The TechCon 2014 Innovation Marketplace showcases the concepts, innovations, and research of young innovators focused on international development. The Innovation Marketplace will take place on Monday, November 10th on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, as an integral part of USAID's Higher Education Solutions Network (HESN) TechCon 2014 agenda.

Cash  and in-kind awards will be made to the top innovators and researchers. This is an excellent opportunity to get exposure for you and your idea, build support for your project, receive technical feedback, and to practice your pitching skills.
Projects can be submitted to one of three categories:

• Innovation- your device, approach, or system is ready to go in the field!
• Research- wow, what you have just figured out is incredibly interesting, important, and changes everything!
• Concept- you have the next great idea and have begun working on it!

All applications, including all supporting documents and links to required multimedia files, must be submitted to SEAD by 
Monday, September 22nd. The SEAD team will evaluate all applications for completion and merit. The top ranked applications will then be submitted to USAID for final review and selection of Innovation Marketplace participants. SEAD will have a limited number of travel grants available to participants. 

View the documents below for submission requirements and how sell your idea through multimedia:

Congratulations, SEAD Innovator Changamka!  Changamka was one of four finalists to win a Saving Lives at Birth Round 4 transition-to-scale grants for their work creating a health e-voucher program to reduce financial and informational barriers to care in rural Kenya.  Saving Lives at Birth: A Grand Challenge for Development partnership brings together organizations from across the globe to address the challenges women and children face in healthcare in developing nations.  We look forward to seeing the accomplishments Changamka will make with the grant!

To learn more about the grant and Saving Lives at Birth, read here.

What can African healthcare companies learn from India?  In Dinfin Mulupi's article on How We Made It in Africa, it turns out a lot.  Mulupi highlights SEAD innovator Vaatsalya as one of three companies in India that are making waves in global healthcare and that African innovators should take lessons from.

“This combination of targeting an under-served but large market focusing on common conditions, gives Vaatsalya a clear market niche and sufficient scale and focus to achieve cost savings – most of these are benefits from standardisation, flow and specialisation rather than economies of scale,” says KPMG.


Read the full article here.

Throughout the summer, SEAD interns will be sharing with us stories and experiences from their summer internships.  Today's post comes to us from Pablo Ramos who has been interning with salaUno in Mexico.  SalaUno operates a network of eye clinics in Mexico that aims to provide affordable, accessible, and high-quality eye care to low-income populations.  Pablo shares his observations on how salaUno's mission drives the entire company towards success.

I spent two months of my summer working at salaUno. The company is a fantastic Mexican startup, built by young, kind-hearted entrepreneurs who see beyond building a profitable business. The company’s core activities are focused on helping the underserved population in Mexico and the company’s mission of Eliminating Needless Blindness in Mexico is adhered to by everyone in the company. In fact it is part of the reason the company has been able to attract great talent from young individuals and external consultants. Witnessing this work culture had taught me three main lessons from salaUno.

Hard work will always be rewarding. For some time now, I have been looking for the perfect moment to launch my own company.  Now I realize there is no such thing as “the perfect moment”. I may come out of my MBA highly indebted, using that as an excuse to wait for better timing but later I may have kids and the same thing will happen. Working at salaUno made me realize that no matter what the circumstances are, with hard work and a good team everything is possible. After losing support from the federal government to subsidize cataract surgeries, salaUno lost a significant revenue stream that could have taken the business down. Nevertheless, hard work and perseverance made salaUno find new avenues to keep growing. I am certain these avenues will take salaUno beyond what they imagine.

Building a great team is of utmost importance. I was thrilled to see all the talent that salaUno has been able to attract due to its amazing mission. This mission allows salaUno to attract plenty of young, qualified individuals that are doing a great job and impacting the company’s future for the better. I also realized the value of a well-diversified top level management team. Both founders of salaUno have very similar careers and while they have been able to manage and grow the business for 3 years now, I believe they need to include someone with medical expertise in top-level management. Working in healthcare involves so many specific details that having this expertise will very helpful. As a business man, one can think a lot of things are possible but when dealing with people’s lives having this expertise at this level in the organization is imperative.

Businesses with a social mission are a reality.  This is the most important lesson that I got out of my experience. SalaUno reached breakeven after only two months of operations.  Today it is a company that employs over 80 people and impacts thousands of lives by providing accessible eye care to everyone. By aligning the company’s mission with its profitability, the company will make more money as long as they do more surgeries and impact more people. Aligning interests and incentives for employees is not a simple feat and I believe that it is a key feature of salaUno’s business model: increasing profitability and impacting more lives with growth hand-in-hand.

Overall, working with salaUno was a great experience. I was able to see firsthand how startups are run, all the challenges they face and how they need to be solve, but most importantly that being a successful social entrepreneur is possible!

Every summer, IPIHD selects an elite group of MBA students from the Fuqua School of Business to go into the field to work internships with their innovators.  This year we're excited to have four of their interns working with SEAD innovators over the summer.  Join us for a peek into the work the interns have been engaged in so far this summer.

Tim Morilla, a second year MBA, is working with salaUno in Mexico.  SalaUno operates a network of eye clinics in Mexico that aims to provide affordable, accessible, and high-quality eye care to low-income populations.   

Cristina Arellano, a second year MBA, is working with SughaVazhvu in India.  SughaVazhvu operates a system of Rural Micro Health Centers (RMHCs) that provide critical healthcare to impoverished, remote villages that traditionally have not had access to the healthcare they need.

Wonjae Lee, a recent Fuqua alumnus, is working with North Star Alliance in Kenya.  North Star Alliance converts shipping containers into Roadside Wellness Centers (RWCs) strategically placed alongside transport corridors to provide medical services to migrant populations such as truck drivers and sex workers.

John Emami, a recent Fuqua alumnus, is working with Jacaranda Health in Kenya. Jacaranda Health operates a system of affordable, comprehensive maternity clinics that provide maternity care for 1/5 the cost typically found in private hospitals in Kenya.

Jose Magaña Paredes, a second year MBA, is working with IPIHD innovator Medica Santa Carma in Mexico.  Medica Santa Carma provides affordable prevention and treatment of kidney disease to low-income populations in Mexico.

How about five reasons?  The International Partnership for Innovative Healthcare Delivery (IPIHD) put together a fantastic guide on why you should consider nominating your organization for IPIHD and SEAD.  We know that scaling the impact of your innovations is no walk in the park.  Why not tap into our resources to help make it happen?

Read the full article here.

"In November 2008, children in Nigeria taking a medicine called My Pikin Baby Teething Mixture began to die. The syrup was counterfeit, the standard glycerin replaced with cheaper diethylene glycol, which looks, smells and tastes the same. But diethylene glycol is an industrial solvent, which attacks the central nervous system, kidneys and liver. The medicine killed 84 children before it was pulled from pharmacy shelves."

Rarely do consumers in the United States have to give a thought to whether their medicine is counterfeit or real.  In the developing world, this issue is a real and present danger.  The New York Times published a great piece by Tina Rosenberg on how Sproxil is using readily-available technology to tackle the issue of pharmaceutical counterfeiting.

Read the full article here. 

Happy Monday!  Are you looking for a career that will give a venue for meaningful impact in global health and social entrepreneurship?  Our innovators are hiring!

Operation ASHA
Deputy Director, Partnership and Advocacy
Location: New Delhi, India
Experience Level: Minimum three years experience with a national level NGO or government in the area of health.
Operation ASHA India is seeking a highly motivated and committed Deputy Director of Partnerships and Government Relations to oversee the organization’s relations with government officers, senior management of other organizations and related NGO associations and industry partnerships. Learn more here.

Penda Health
Startup Business Analyst
Location: Nairobi, Kenya
We  are  searching  for  a  really  smart,  adaptable  and  ambitious  Business Analyst that will turn all our data into better decisions, improve our tech, help me fundraise and to get a wide variety of really important stuff done. This position offers: Work  directly  for  the  cofounders,  see  the  whole  company, learn really fast; Live in best city in the world; Build  the  model  to  transform healthcare in East Africa.  Learn more here.

North Star Alliance
Program Manager
Location: Nairobi, Kenya
Experience Level: 7 years’ experience in program management especially in a health organization.
The Programme Manager will work closely with the Regional Director to ensure that programmes run effectively and the target population receive maximum benefits.  Learn more here.

Jacaranda Health
Knowledge / Special Projects Manager
Location: Nairobi, Kenya
Experience Level: Demonstrated management consulting or project management experienceJacaranda Health is seeking a Knowledge / Special Projects Manager to join the management team to help us capture what we are learning and work with other players in the global health landscape to share and expand our influence. This should be someone who can roll up their sleeves and help work with our operations team to build systems and innovations as well as communicate them. We seek someone who is the consummate consultant and communicator, who wants to apply those talents to shape global health. Learn more here.

Swasth India
Medical Officer
Location: Mumbai, India
Experience Level: Minimum 1-3 years of clinical or public health experience.
Learn more here.

It's been a busy and exciting week for our innovators making headlines around the world.  Find the top three stories below!

WE CARE Solar 
Last week WE CARE Solar was featured in Elizabeth Gore's Huffington Post blog. She discusses the incredible impact that WE CARE's solar suitcase has had on improving outcomes for birthing mothers in a small Ugandan clinic.  "This suitcase has enabled health workers to increase the number of successful live births in the clinic at night to up to 60 a month. I bet you will never look at your suitcase the same!"

Read the entire story here.

Sproxil
In The Guardian, Sproxil CEO Ashifi Gogo was interviewed on their work and challenges offering brand protection services to pharmaceutical companies in emerging markets.  Gogo speaks to how winning the Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneur of the Year award has impacted their business and how they will continue to innovate and support brand protection around the globe.

Read the interview here.

ClickMedix
ClickMedix won a $100,000 grant through InvestMaryland this week.  InvestMaryland provides grants to startup companies that show great potential and have a focus on technology and biotechnology.  More details on the InvestMaryland initiative can be found here.

Read the full article here.

Recently Sproxil was honored at the World Economic Forum on Africa in Abuja, Nigeria, as one of seven Social Entrepreneurs of the Year.  Congratulations, Sproxil!  Learn more about the award and all of the winners here.