NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Early responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have focused on describing the clinical course of the disease and treating the sick. As the pandemic evolves, the availability of robust epidemiological and clinical data is critical to inform future decision-making and allocate health resources appropriately.

In this upcoming webinar, SurveyCTO will turn things over to Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah Hospital, which has the unique position of treating everyone who has tested positive for COVID-19 in Kuwait. They’ll share valuable lessons from their efforts to determine infection risk factors and outcomes, which include using SurveyCTO to conduct a retrospective study of patient data from electronic medical records and a series of follow-up phone surveys on discharged patients. Join us to learn how to design and conduct studies and phone surveys on COVID-19 health outcomes.

A member of our expert support team will moderate a 20-minute presentation given by leadership from Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah Hospital and then open the discussion to any of your questions. If you miss the live webinar, you can watch the recording that we’ll post in our video library.

What you’ll learn

The efforts of Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah Hospital represent one of the first large retrospective cohort studies to summarize demographic characteristics, clinical characteristics, and outcomes of consecutive COVID-19 patients in a single country. Based on their experience, you’ll learn broader approaches and best practices related to the following:

• Collecting epidemiological and clinical data related to the incidence of COVID-19.
• Deploying phone surveys to capture COVID-19-related data, such as the recurrence of symptoms, transmission, and self-isolation precautions.
• Protecting the safety of team members and training them on new digital methods of data collection.

Read this research paper published in The Lancet to learn more about the study. To learn more about conducting phone surveys, or computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI), explore the CATI starter kit, which offers an automated and scalable approach to using SurveyCTO as a CATI solution.

Time: 9:00 AM EDT / 1:00 PM UTC

#GMIS2020 is set to virtually gather, for the very first time, a cross-section of thought-leaders from public and private sectors, academia, and NGOs, developing and developed countries, to discuss, debate, and shape the future of manufacturing.

Building on the theme of #GMIS2020 – Glocalisation: Towards Sustainable and Inclusive Global Value Chains – which was originally scheduled to take place alongside Hannover Messe in April 2020, we have formulated a fresh, forward-looking agenda for the #GMIS2020 Virtual Summit that will frame discussions within the context of the current landscape, exploring the longer-term implications on the manufacturing sector in light of the disruption caused to the global economy, while shedding light on possible technological solutions driven by the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Central to discussions at #GMIS2020 will be the exploration of how the disruption will lead to the transformation of global value chains (GVCs), a phenomenon that will have lasting implications on the manufacturing and production ecosystem.

To use public funds more effectively and mobilize private investment to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has become a key concern of many development agencies and donor organizations. While the idea to create blended finance models is compelling, one specific approach holds particular promise: empowering high-impact enterprises with market-based solutions to scale and deliver positive impact in a sustainable way – a bottom-up approach.

This actionable, practice-driven program is specifically designed for providers of public or philanthropic funding, who strive to maximize the impact of their grants or investments and want to be on top of the most innovative solutions and trends.It includes outstanding lecturers, features inspiring live cases and received exceptional feedbacks in several program runs since inception in 2018. The three-day program will provide valuable insights on strategies and instruments to “leverage” own resources by blending it with private investment for small and growing businesses in developing and emerging countries. It will also shed light on the whole spectrum of finance for impact and international development.

A specific focus will be on catalytic financing tools that are able to attract additional capital for high-impact enterprises. The program is organized by the Initiative for Blended Finance at the University of Zurich, with program partners Roots of Impact, University of Zurich Center for Sustainable Finance and Private Wealth, and Convergence.

This is a chance to hear more about ‘Finding the sweet spot: Identifying affordable quality solar products for the last mile’, a report which brings together the GDC’s findings from six months of research on the quality of best-selling non-quality-verified (non-QV) off-grid solar products in Kenya.

In this webinar we will share our key findings, followed by a panel discussion (panellists to be announced soon), bringing together key players in the solar sector to discuss the implications of these findings, and open up to a Q&A with all webinar attendees.

Time: 1 pm in London

Welcome to EVPA’s 16th Annual Conference which has been transformed into an online event taking place between 21 – 24 September, 2020. This year’s event will be dedicated towards ‘Building Alliances for Impact’ together with participants from across the world.

The Annual Conference remains the leading interactive event for foundations and impact funds. Practitioners from Europe and across the world will co-create content, engage in networking and participate in meaningful discussions about the future of investing for impact, learn through workshops and most importantly, connect with peers.

The event will provide delegates with the opportunity to:

• Network and collaborate with 700+ world class practitioners and experts in the field from 50+ countries
• Discover new global trends on investing for impact and deepen your knowledge to support social change
• Share your expertise and lessons learnt with your peers.

This is a unique opportunity to explore concrete ways of closer cooperation with affiliate #Investing4Impact networks and stakeholders and to deep dive into topics like ‘just transition’, climate change and socially sustainable development.

All this will be made possible through an innovative mixture of well-known keynote speakers, parallel workshops, interactive design sprints, intimate roundabouts and fun networking spaces.

Join us and be part of this unique EVPA gathering!

Need more convincing? Here is a short video about our 2019 conference!

Mondato Summit Africa was created in 2014 to offer clarity amid a chaotic and constantly changing industry. It is an exclusive executive event focused on thought leadership in the emerging Digital Finance and FinTech space. With a content-rich, interactive format, Mondato Summits squarely aim at driving the DFC space forward and its stakeholders to engage in it more successfully.

Mondato Summit Africa offers a venue for industry leaders to learn from experts and peers in an intimate setting. Mondato lends its expertise with specialized content and adroit facilitation to encourage substantive conversations and collaborative problem solving. The intensity and interactivity of the proceedings foster the formation of natural, foundational relationships between participants.

NextBillion readers can get a 15% discount – just use the code NEXTBILLION when registering.

NOTE: The Mondato Summit Africa was rescheduled to Sept. 23-24.

Created in 2014, Mondato Summit Africa was created to offer clarity in the chaotic and constantly changing digital finance and FinTech industry. It is an executive thought leadership event with a content-rich, interactive format aimed at driving the space forward through dialogue, partnerships and knowledge.

Pillars for the digitization of economies are being put into place across Sub-Saharan Africa. Still very much a mobile-first region, the continent is positioned as a leader in financial inclusion initiatives, with several markets on the forefront of establishing use cases for adoption of digital finance. But there is growing concern, and some empirical evidence, that though populations are becoming more ‘digitally included’, their lives are not necessarily improving financially. By some accounts, the fintech industry is expected to increase Sub-Saharan Africa’s GDP by upwards of $150 billion by 2022. In order to achieve this, however, the focus may need to become more tailored to a range of user segments, such as urban and rural areas, SME and micro businesses, to women and migrants.

Fundamental questions exist: How best to identify and develop viable use cases, which will be deemed by the target segment to deliver appreciable? Are partnership models for fintech too flimsy or complex; and what might new alliances look like? How can progress and impact of these services be measured and optimized? Our host market, Mozambique, has a growing fintech sector, though its digital financial services ecosystem is still in the early stages of development.

Held in partnership with Financial Sector Deepening Mozambique (FSDMoç) and ARECOM, the seventh annual Mondato Summit Africa, the region’s premier digital finance thought leadership event, will showcase new and exciting use cases across sectors, and address the need to innovate and collaborate in order to drive the next wave of financial.

NextBillion readers can get a 15% discount with the code NEXTBILLION.

About the Fred Morgan Kirby Prize for Scaling Social Impact

The Fred Morgan Kirby Prize for Scaling Social Impact (F. M. Kirby Impact Prize) is an annual global prize of $100,000 USD in unrestricted funds that amplifies and accelerates the work of enterprises working to scale their impact on social or environmental problems around the world.

Eligibility Requirements

The F. M. Kirby Impact Prize is open to all impact enterprises, working anywhere in the world, that meet the following criteria:

• Any nonprofit or for-profit social enterprise working anywhere in the world
• Enterprise has strong evidence of impact over at least 3 years and has a plan for how to use the prize to scale that impact in the next 3-5 years
• The enterprise has a robust non-discrimination policy that protects against discrimination on the basis of race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, age, and disability
• Has exemplary leadership that aligns with the core values of Fred Morgan Kirby, including integrity, resourcefulness, resilience, meaningful collaboration and diversity

How to Apply

1. Complete our eligibility questionnaire.
2. Create an account to apply.
3. Watch our short video to learn how to articulate your strategy to investors and create a strong application.
4. Submit your application by September 30, 2020.

Deadlines

Please note that this is the award’s pilot year. These dates may be subject to change:

• August 10, 2020 – Application Portal Opens
• September 30, 2020 at 11:59PM EST – Application Deadline; There are no exceptions to this deadline.
• October 1, 2020 – October 30, 2020 – Application Review; Selection committee comprised of CASE faculty, staff and selected advisors.
• November 10, 2020 – November 24, 2020 – Semi-finalist virtual interviews
• December 21, 2020 – F. M. Kirby Impact Prize winner notified
• February 24, 2021 – F. M. Kirby Impact Prize winner publicly announced at the Fuqua Sustainable Business & Social Impact Conference

Virtual Information Sessions

Please click on the links below to register for the virtual information sessions. Upon registration, you will receive an email with login information for the webinar.

• Friday, August 14, 2020 12pm EST: The Basics of the Kirby Impact Prize
• Thursday, August 27, 2020 11:30pm EST: How to Talk About Your Scaling Plan
• Friday, September 11, 2020 12pm EST: How to Talk About Your Impact to Date
• Tuesday, September 22, 2020 6pm EST: F. M. Kirby and Leadership