Earlier this month, Care Innovation Hub hosted 'The Challenge', a weekend 'hackathon' for the social care sector.
Entrepreneurs from various professions came together to understand the biggest problems affecting the sector and work with market experts to explore solutions together. Entrepreneurs found the 'range of entrepreneurs from different backgrounds and high-level senior executives in attendance inspiring'. All participants and mentors came away from the weekend feeling 'inspired and enthusiastic' to drive positive change within care.
Christine Asbury, CEO of WCS Care, says: “What an inspiring weekend - inspirational teams, challenging ideas and a group of founders determined to develop and draw out the skills and enthusiasm the sector has to draw on.”
The weekend kicked-off with Navin Mayani, CEO of Care Innovation Hub welcoming entrepreneurs and setting the tone for the weekend. “Each idea needs to act as an enabler for happiness in care. Does it increase the quality of life of vulnerable citizens who receive care services in the UK?” he said.
Ty Hassan, CEO and co-founder of Streamcare, who also attended last year’s event, said he was proud to share his experiences and transition from a layman knowing little about the sector to piloting his idea in care homes one year later.
Christine Asbury, CEO and Ed Russell, deputy CEO of WCS Care, spoke candidly about the sector. They offered entrepreneurs a new perspective that breaks away from the current stigma associated with care. Asbury and Russell emphasised how innovation can reduce loneliness and isolation among the ageing population, help solve recruitment and retention problems and improve overall wellbeing in individuals receiving care in the UK, despite the lack of funding available to the sector.
Entrepreneurs enjoyed getting to know founding partners, supporters and mentors during a 'speed dating' session. It was the perfect opportunity to learn more about each other and match entrepreneurs to their mentors.
All workshops were facilitated by CIH’s co-founders and founding partners. Alex Ramamurthy, founder and CEO of Mirthy, facilitated a creative 'ideas lab' session, encouraging entrepreneurs to brainstorm ideas, explore 'how might we’s' and start solidifying their ideas for the weekend.
Ash Goyal, project manager at Hallmark Care Homes provided business planning support to help entrepreneurs turn their ideas into a viable solution for the care sector. Ben Allen, founder and CEO of Oomph! Wellness, provided a clear outline to entrepreneurs on planning their pitches and delivering a robust business presentation.
Mark Laing, director of innovation at Home Instead and Christine Asbury delivered an engaging presentation on the impact of innovation on the ageing population from a domiciliary and residential perspective respectively. Ben Wilkins, founder and CEO of Good Boost brought entrepreneurs’ ideas to life through storyboarding, value propositions and prototyping. Navin closed the weekend with entrepreneurs delivering their final pitches to the entire group.
James Sage and Mei-Ling Huang, partners at Royds Withy King, provided legal and regulatory support to all entrepreneurs. James Sage of Royds Withy King comments: “The Challenge was expertly run by the Care Innovation Hub and proved to be a great success, enabling the entrepreneurs to develop and showcase their ideas to tackle the biggest issues facing the care sector and gain invaluable feedback and insight from sector leaders. It was also a huge amount of fun!”
Finalists have been announced and teams will present to a panel of judges and a group of C-level executives at the Department of Health and Social Care, hosted by Caroline Dinenage, Minister for Health and Social Care.
