About the award

The Swiss Re Foundation 2021 Entrepreneurs for Resilience Award (E4RA) applications are now open. This award honors entrepreneurial initiatives adopting innovative approaches to building resilient societies and fulfilling the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Moreover, the 2021 Resilience Award emphasizes innovative solutions that further financial access to healthcare in low-income communities. More specifically, the organizer invites innovative, market-based solutions that increase the household resources available for healthcare and/or mitigate health shocks that lead to poverty or economic vulnerability following a disease or an accident.

Details of the award

Application deadline: 8 November 2020 (11:49 ECT)

Organizer: Swiss Re Foundation

Number of finalists: 3

Selection of top 12 candidates: 6 December 2020

Oral interviews: 7 December – 31 January 2021

Selection of top 6 candidates: 14 February 2021

Announcement of winners: May 2021

What is the rationale behind this award?

Despite the real progress in improving global health and decreasing mortality, according to the World Bank, around 400 million people still don’t have access to essential healthcare services. Given this, the Swiss Re Foundation intends to improve access to health, especially to life-saving healthcare in low-income and low-middle-income countries, and to make basic healthcare more accessible to 1 million people by 2021.

Benefits

• A total cash prize of USD 700,000 is divided amongst the winner (which receives up to USD 350 000) and two runners-up paid over 1-3 years from the foundation.
• Depending upon the nature, range, and needs of the enterprise, non-financial support from Swiss Re employees, such as coaching and technical guidance.
• Three finalists are invited to pitch their projects and/or solutions face-to-face to an award jury consisting of senior Swiss Re experts, academic representatives, and selected Swiss Re clients.
• The Award program also invites Swiss Re employees worldwide to choose their favorite enterprise from the three finalists. The finalist with the most votes receives the “Employee Award” and a special prize.
• The same enterprise may win both the Employee Award and the Resilience Award in a given year.

Eligibility criteria

• Applicants are enterprises, ventures, or entrepreneurial organizations that have innovative solutions.
• For those ventures with the financial solution being part of a more comprehensive approach, they are eligible for this award if the financial solution is both a) at the core of the broader approach used and b) innovative or unique somehow.

Selection criteria

Applications should meet the above-explained scope and the following criteria to win consideration:

1. Level of Maturity
2. Innovation Focus
3. Mission & Purpose
4. Target Group
5. Geography
6. Legality

How to apply?

To apply for the 2021 Entrepreneurs for Resilience Award, complete and submit the questionnaire. Only applications completed in English and submitted by the deadline will be considered.

Apply now

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

Read more about this award program in the official link.