Swiss Re Foundation announces Entrepreneurs for Resilience Programme

Their Entrepreneurs for Resilience programme identifies and fosters social enterprises that take innovative approaches to building a more resilient world in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Focus Areas

• In the 2026 edition of Entrepreneurs for Resilience, they focus on enterprises with solutions that improve primary healthcare access and quality for low-income people in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) through innovative hybrid delivery models.

Scope

• Given mounting threats to societal resilience and obstacles to significant progress toward universal health coverage by 2030 – a key Sustainable Development Goal – in 2024 they decided that a stronger form of partnership is needed to spur, guide and support initiatives that improve primary healthcare access and quality for lowincome households in LMICs.
• In the 2026 edition of Entrepreneurs for Resilience, they are again joining forces with partners that share the goal of supporting social entrepreneurs in the healthcare space, this time not only the Digital Connected Care Coalition (DCCC) and the UBS Optimus Foundation but also DCCC member Sanofi’s Global Health Unit’s Impact Fund and the Philips Foundation, pooling their experiences, networks and funding for more impact.
• They invite applications from social enterprises that aim to improve low-income people’s access to quality primary healthcare in LMICs through “brick-and-click” delivery models. In this context, brick refers to a (fixed or mobile) point of care staffed by a health worker – to build the human connection and trust – and click refers to a digital tool that supports physical delivery of care.
• Digital health solutions have contributed crucially to increasing the quality, standardising the delivery and lowering the costs of primary healthcare, especially for low-income and rural populations. It has proved difficult, however, to bring about changes in health-related behaviour and healthcare delivery by digital means alone.
• Reflecting this insight, the 2026 edition aims to help scale hybrid care delivery models that:
  • Combine “brick” and “click” elements in innovative ways to facilitate the delivery of quality primary healthcare to low-income people
  • Possibly offer a financing solution, such as savings accounts, smart payment functionalities or microinsurance, to make healthcare more affordable (note: while enterprises that integrate a financing solution are preferred, others will also be considered)
  • Have linkages to or potential to be embedded in government efforts and strategy as well as in existing public health systems or digital infrastructure

Benefits

• Benefits of Entrepreneurs for Resilience participation include:
  • Funding
    • CHF 300 000 in grants, to be split equally among the top 6–8 candidates selected from the applicant pool (ie CHF 37500–50000 for each candidate) after completion of due diligence visits
    • CHF 800000 in grants, recoverable grants and/or forgivable loans, to be split among the 3–4 finalists (with the top-ranked finalist receiving up to CHF 350000) and paid in instalments over two years
    • Potential eligibility for follow-on funding from the UBS Optimus Foundation, Philips Foundation or Sanofi’s Global Health Unit’s Impact Fund
  • Technical assistance
    • For the top 6–8 candidates, five days of technical assistance in the areas of impact measurement and financial management, delivered over five months (in parallel with final due diligence) by LeFil Consulting representatives and other experts
    • For the 3–4 finalists, 15 days of a structured technical assistance curriculum – covering topics such as impact measurement, financial management, fundraising, last-mile marketing and sales and gender inclusion – and delivered over two years by LeFil Consulting representatives and other experts.
    • Finalists will also benefit from access to expertise in areas such as healthcare service provision, integration of digital solutions into physical operations, patient healthcare financing (with an emphasis on microinsurance) and risk management and pricing of financial products. This expertise will come from employees of Swiss Re and/or of organisations participating in DCCC, including AXA, PharmAccess and Philips.
  • Networks and exposure
    • Opportunity for the 3–4 finalists to win the People’s Choice Award, selected by a public online vote; the winner will be invited to connect with potential investors at an event hosted by Sankalp Forum, one of the world’s largest platforms for impact enterprises
    • Access to a network of like-minded peers to share knowledge and experiences on topics relevant to inclusive healthcare organizations
    • Enhanced visibility within the broader healthcare and investment communities

Eligibility Criteria

• They encourage social enterprises that fall within the scope outlined above and that meet the following criteria to apply.
  • Mission and purpose
    • Applicants must demonstrate high levels of social impact and ideally be able to reliably measure the benefits they create for their target groups (eg improved health indicators, lower out-of-pocket expenses).
  • Target group
    • Low-income populations must constitute at least 50% of applicants’ customer base. Applicants should have a deep understanding of the specific circumstances of the people they serve. Priority will be given to enterprises that are gender-inclusive, that is, that strive to reduce gender inequalities.
  • Geography
    • Applicants must operate in countries that are defined by the World Bank as low income or lower middle income.
  • Legal structure
    • Applicants must be formally registered organisations, established no later than 2022. Both for-profit and not-for-profit entities that fulfil the revenue model criteria (see below) are eligible.
  • Revenue model
    • Applicants must have a market-based revenue model. While grant funding may account for up to 50% of their revenue, they must demonstrate an ability to grow and scale through earned revenue.
  • Size
    • Applicants must serve at least 20 000 people and have the potential to reach at least 100 000 people in the next two years.
  • Organisation
    • Applicants must have a solid management team in which responsibilities are well defined and distributed and a diverse, well-structured workforce. Preference will be given to enterprises with at least one female founder or at least 30% women in the management team.
  • Legal compliance
    • Applicants must comply with the legal framework of the country or countries in which they operate and be allowed to receive funding from a Swiss nongovernmental organisation such as the Swiss Re Foundation.

For more information, visit Swiss Re Foundation.