Higher Education Solutions Network – Mid-Year Report (FY 2016)

SEAD provided targeted support to the innovators through virtual support, in-person meetings, events, and other means. The accelerator transitioned 11 cohort 1 SEs to an "alumni" role, where they continued to have access to limited resources and served as mentors to the remaining SEAD SEs. SEAD planned and implemented the 4th Annual SEAD Summit, engaging innovators from 21 SE organizations, including representatives from cohort 1 serving as mentors. The entrepreneurs themselves organized and led 15 peer-learning sessions during the Summit. SEAD, with partner Investors' Circle (IC), provided tiered levels of support to SEAD innovators to prepare them for capital-raising and investment. IC continued growing the field of impact investors interested in global health deals through meetings and a field visit with 6 investors to Kenya. SEAD continued data collection for the program evaluation, including an informative focus group with SEAD entrepreneurs at the SEAD Summit. The SEAD entrepreneurs themselves organized and led 15 peer-learning sessions during the Summit. SEAD has continued to engage students in meaningful experiences with SEAD innovators and in understanding and experiencing the innovative solutions to global health challenges. SEAD's reach extends far beyond the 25 organizations that are part of the core SEAD program. The accelerator will commit additional effort to turning its learnings into tools, publications, and other publications to inform audiences in the innovation ecosystem. SEAD will request a no-cost extension to evaluate the impact of the SEAD program with a more complete set of data from all 3 SEAD innovator cohorts. SEAD has also released the East Africa Healthcare Innovation Landscape report, highlighting key takeaways in the East Africa Healthcare Innovation Primer at the Sankalp East Africa conference. The Duke Global Health Institute's (DGHI) Evidence Lab continued collaborative work with SEAD to develop tools to support lean impact assessments, piloting the tools with SEAD entrepreneurs during the reporting period. SEAD has also provided ongoing support in the SEAD challenge areas to the 25 SEAD social ventures. The accelerator has also supported SEAD SEs to deliver peer-learning sessions during the March SEAD Summit. Investors' Circle brought six investors on an eight-day trip to Nairobi and Kisumu, Kenya in February/March 2016 to conduct site visits and meet with innovators. Investors' Circle welcomed 10 investor members with an interest in global health investing into the IC network during the reporting period. SEAD has also developed a new strategy for the 2016 Global Health Advisory Board, expanding the GHAB roster to 24 experts and practitioners. The GHAB strategy is to engage GHAB members in high-level networking and thought leadership, and organize and disseminate the GHAB's work to a broader audience of capital interested in global health investing.