Unreasonable Impact Squared Report
Through these 8 collaborations, the Unreasonable Impact Squared Initiative has…
REACHED 54 COUNTRIES
IMPACTED 142K+ LIVES
CREATED 347 JOBS
ENABLED 12K+ PEOPLE TO GAIN ACCESS TO ENERGY
REACHED 4.2K HOUSEHOLDS WITH COVID-19 PREVENTION PRODUCTS
Building a post-pandemic world that’s stronger, healthier and more resilient is going to take innovation, entrepreneurship, and most importantly collaboration. Impact Squared was launched to catalyze the power of the Unreasonable community to tackle systemic issues exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. It is an extension of Unreasonable Impact, a multi-year partnership between Barclays and Unreasonable, supporting growth-stage entrepreneurs across the world who are solving the world’s most pressing issues. Through Impact Squared, entrepreneurs were encouraged to work together. Eight collaborations were identified across a broad range of ventures. From pandemic relief and fostering inclusive workforces to enhancing healthcare access and addressing climate change, this collective of entrepreneurs received grants to drive real impact. So far, 54 regions including the UK, US and India have benefited from new jobs and vital improvements in healthcare, solar power and sustainability.
Meet the ventures
The case studies in this report provide a sample of the solutions and innovation that these companies bring to their local communities and the world. Contact us to learn more.
The India Rural Access Coalition: Improving Healthcare Frontier Markets Consulting, Vitargent and EduBridge formed a coalition to build healthcare resilience in rural communities, distributing COVID-19 prevention products and boosting local vaccination efforts. To date, more than 32,000 people have benefited from this outreach program, including the training of 17 master trainers, and 132 rural entrepreneurs were given access to enhanced training with EduBridge. The Impact Squared grant has helped accelerate the efforts of the coalition. This grant will continue to help the coalition widen and deepen its community outreach, strengthening community relations and create long-standing impact.
Protecting COVID-19 Vaccines This collaboration is working to create a safer, less wasteful end-to-end vaccine temperature management system. Combining SureChill’s refrigeration technology with new indicators by Mimica, which are calibrated to COVID-19 vaccines, their project provides assurance to healthcare providers during the final delivery miles of vaccines in hard-to-reach locations around the world. The grant has given Mimica the opportunity to research how its existing technology can be applied to improve the vaccine cold chain, and specifically explore the issues related to COVID-19 vaccines, as well as other vaccines that also experience temperature-management issues.
Supplanting Petrochemical, Single-Use Plastics with CarbonNegative, MarineFriendly Products With COVID-19 leading to an increase in singleuse petrochemical products, this collaboration is working together to produce cutlery made from recycled CO2 emissions that are also biodegradable. The grant has enabled this collaboration to kick off its development project and partnership using Kiverdi‘s technology to capture carbon dioxide and produce products like Preserve cutlery.
Bringing Energy to Africa This initiative aims to bring clean, solar energy to 120,000 people across sub-Saharan Africa. The program has already delivered 2,200 solar home systems to the Democratic Republic of Congo, helping more than 12,000 people gain access to energy. The grant has allowed this partnership to scale beyond its core products (hardware and PAYG software) into products that will help accelerate the growth of its distributors, therefore increasing its collective impact. Biolite and Angaza anticipate that they can help more than 50,000 people gain their first access to energy over the next two to three years.
Helping Working Mothers Reach Their Potential Three “mom-led” companies - Kuli Kuli Inc, Sylvatex, and Uncommon Cacao - collaborated on a campaign to help working mothers reach their potential and urge employers to adopt more family-friendly policies. Founders Lisa Curtis, Emily Stone and Virginia Irwin Klausmeier worked with researchers from four universities to survey over 1,000 working mothers. The survey revealed that one in four working moms had no time for self-care practices such as walking or exercise, and half survived on less than six hours of sleep. The grant enabled each member of this partnership to gain valuable campaign and media experience, as well as connected them to a broader network of mom-owned businesses. They have already formed partnerships with parenting groups and 29 femalefounded brands who are donating prizes for the SuperMoms.
Diverting Diapers from Landfills Focusing on childcare centers as parents return to work, Mobi-Air and MAEKO have partnered to work on technologies that will divert diapers from landfills, and instead, separate the plastics for recycling and convert organic waste into compost. This grant has allowed these ventures to explore research & development opportunities and the feasibility of Mobi-Air using Maeko machines to test and develop a new diaper recycling system.
Bridging the Digital Divide This collaboration will deploy 100 BuffaloGrid hubs, which are solar power charging stations that will also be used to deliver free training and public health information. This partnership will provide a unique delivery system of localized learning to help develop market-driven skills for families and micro-entrepreneurs, plus, connect last-mile frontline health workers with rural communities. Without the grant, BuffaloGrid and Ubongo would not have had the funding to produce the hubs that will be deployed in East Africa serving tens of thousands of users.
Everyday Products Made from Air Not Oil This collaboration will transform CO2 emissions into polypropylene, one of the key plastics used in the medical field for syringes, intravenous solution bags, pipettes, and more. As COVID-19 vaccines and boosters remain a critical part of recovering from the pandemic, the aim is to make the use of medical supplies part of the solution to another great challenge facing us: climate change. The grant made it possible to develop a pathway for both ventures to integrate their technologies in a new way, opening new discussions with potential industrial customers. LanzaTech has successfully converted Twelve’s CO2-based feedstock into the raw materials for polypropylene. This collaboration has strengthened Twelve and LanzaTech’s relationship - they are now jointly applying for opportunities to scale up their integrated technology.