From Unicorns to Zebras — Shivom working on innovations for a better world.
At Shivom we have a goal: making the world a better place; even if we can only play a small part. Our focus is to revolutionize healthcare and to empower people to gain greater control over decisions and actions affecting their health. To further stimulate such positive developments for the greater good, Shivom attended a workshop in The Hague called ‘From Unicorns to Zebras. How can we stimulate sustainable business models?’, organized by the European Commission’s DG for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs and the Impact City of The Hague.
The meeting aimed to explore together how we can stimulate the growth of businesses that aim ‘to do business and do good’ and define which challenges can be tackled not only on a local and national level but also on a global level. Despite being in its early stage, we see a growing number of entrepreneurs working on innovations for a better world, and more investors moving into the impact investment field. Shivom was represented by Dr. Axel Schumacher, CEO of Shivom, who worked with other participants on what they considered opportunities and challenges for ‘zebras’ (a working name for companies that want to scale and do good) both financially as well as in terms of impact.
“Doing good in this world, and being kind, honest and responsible is essential to revolutionize our species status quo in the world, and to close the chasm between the world we need and the world that exists. It is the right thing to do. Together with other entrepreneurs, we aim at using technology to democratize healthcare, balance profit and purpose, sharing power and resources, preventing bad actions, and to empower people to manage and improve their health,” Dr. Axel Schumacher, Co-Founder & CEO of Shivom.
Some challenges identified where to start looking for the right type of funding. Impact investing is an immature market and perhaps too much modeled on mainstream VC practices. Instead, investors should look more at long-term investments, not quick returns, so-called redemption structures where investors buy shares and hold them until the company is profitable enough. A related challenge is how to put a ‘monetary value’ on ‘values’ that such companies exercise on all levels of their operations — from products or services offered through their value chains to reducing negative spillovers from their activities. Companies that create a more just and responsible society will help the communities they serve.
“This is a remarkable change and paradigm shift and it shows how tech has been a catalyst for change not only to deliver more pizza but also to create humanitarian impact.” Mariken Gaanderse, Impact City of The Hague.
At Shivom we are proud to be part of this growing community of new entrepreneurs stepping on the stage who are truly aware of what they want to create and how they want to make a difference. We know it is possible to be profitable and at the same time improve the healthcare sector for the greater good, making it more sustainable to not only be dependent on subsidies or charity. We can do both.
The workshop’s outcome will feed into the EU Commission’s Start-up and Scale-up initiative and continued during the SME Assembly in Austria later this year.
