The Washington Global Health Fund awarded two grants to two Washington-based companies making an impact across the “bottom billion” around the world.
$120,000 was granted to BURN Design Lab, the non-profit sibling of BURN Manufacturing, one of the Fledge “fledglings” from this summer. According to Peter Scott, founder of BURN, this funding will permit BURN Design Lab to develop an even lower-cost charcoal stove, making fuel efficient stoves available over the next 10 years to 5 million more people at the bottom of the bottom of the pyramid in East Africa. This on top of their existing “tank” design.
$50,000 was granted to PRONTO International, for use in production of their PRONTOPack™, an kit for conducting high-fidelity, low-cost simulation and team trainings for obstetric and neonatal emergencies. PRONTO International today trains OBY teams in the developing world, and the PRONTOPack will allow that training to continue after the PRONTO team comes back home, plus for clinics around the world which do not have the funds today for an in-person visit by a team like PRONTO.
Members of the WGHF board, with backgrounds in global health, biotech and academia, selected this round of grantees based on the criteria that the organization has a global health device ready for commercialization and it will create jobs in Washington state. And while this is a grant, not an investment, the viability of these businesses was very much taken into account in choosing BURN and PRONTO as grantees.
The Washington Global Health Fund, established in 2010 by the Washington State legislature, provides grants to encourage the commercialization of global health technologies and create jobs in Washington state. In its first 2 years, WGHF awarded $640,000 for the creation of 22 new jobs and 60,000 devices that will directly benefit more than 34,000 people. Grantees leveraged the funding provided and secured an additional $678,000 for their projects. Learn more, www.wghfund.org
