Posted by
Chris Luongo in
Drug counterfeiting is a significant public health threat in Africa and other developing countries. This is a big problem for drug companies — and an even bigger problem for patients, whose lives may depend on these medications.
But technology can be a powerful asset in the fight against counterfeiting. And the good news is Sproxil and IBM are showing the way.
Click on the image below to open the slideshow version.
Posted by
Guest in
By Ashifi Gogo
CEO, Sproxil
In the U.S., large scale drug counterfeiting is rare, but in some parts of the world, particularly in developing nations, it’s rampant. This makes fighting treatable diseases like malaria – which kills a million people every year — extremely difficult. According to the World Health Organization, about 200,000 of the world’s malaria deaths alone can be linked to ineffective treatment resulting from counterfeit anti-malarials.
Pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors globally are now experimenting with ways to combat counterfeiting by creating a smarter pharmaceutical supply. My company, Sproxil, provides a cloud-based service called Mobile Product Authentication™ (MPA) that allows consumers to use their mobile phones to determine if their medicine is genuine, at point of purchase, in a matter of seconds. Each package using the MPA service bears a label with a unique PIN as well as a text number. At the point of purchase, the consumer scratches the label to reveal the PIN code, then sends it to our authentication service via a free text message. Within seconds, a reply is sent back indicating whether the drug is genuine or counterfeit.
I’m proud that in January we reached a milestone within regions of Africa where consumers have used MPA technology one million times to verify their medication.
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What skills do leaders need to succeed in the global economy? Harvard Business School professor Linda A. Hill and leadership coach and writer Kent Lineback share their point of view as part of our Next Gen Leaders Series.
As globally-integrated firms like IBM are discovering, the roles of formal authority and hierarchy are declining in the workplace. What remains, however, is the core purpose they served – the need to influence others, to make a difference in other people’s actions and the thoughts and feelings that drive those actions.
Thus, the key challenge for IBM and others is this: if authority and hierarchy are waning, what are now the primary tools of influence available to those responsible for the performance of others? How, for example, can IBM’s Global Enablement Teams of senior leaders from mature economies best influence and develop the skills of local managers in emerging economies?
In this new world, we believe there are three key tools of influence, which we call the three imperatives of leadership:
Manage Yourself: Your ability to influence others begins with you and who you are as a person, and the most important feature here is whether people trust you. Are they confident you will do the right thing? Effective leaders now build relationships based on trust, not authority or social ties like friendship. And they do that by earning people’s confidence in their competence and character, the key components of trust. People trust someone who knows what to do and how to do it (competence) and who intends to do the right thing (character). Trust is the foundation of all influence other than coercion.
Posted by
Richard Silberman in
Another person for a smarter planet
Bill Reichert, managing director of Garage Technology Ventures
When venture capitalist Bill Reichert talks about his criteria for choosing tech start-ups to invest in, you may be surprised to find that ROI (return on investment) is but a small part of the conversation.
Instead, Reichert — who is managing director of Garage Technology Ventures, a leading early-stage venture capital firm in Palo Alto, California — points to other qualities that he considers essential to a start-up’s success.
By focusing more on an entrepreneur’s passion, vision and desire to do good in the world than on hard numbers and spreadsheets, Reichert and his peers represent a new paradigm for responsible investing.
“Perhaps the top indicator of success for an entrepreneurial team is that it’s motivated by some higher goal, beyond ROI,” Reichert said.
“ROI is key in every business plan, but what we look for from entrepreneurs is something that gives them a bigger goal than just being a little bit cheaper, a little bit faster, a little bit more economic for their potential customers,” he said.
That bigger purpose can be just about anything: helping people, building a sustainable business, cleaning the environment…you name it. “But whatever that motivation is, we know that’s what’s going to make for a successful company,” Reichert said.
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By Manoj Saxena
General manager, IBM Watson Solutions
When IBM’s Watson computer defeated two all-time champions of the Jeopardy! TV quiz show one year ago (Feb. 14-16), it was the culmination of an intensive four-year research effort by a team of IBM scientists. At the same time, it was the beginning of another quest—a campaign to turn the breakthrough technology into commercial offerings that have the potential to transform whole industries. (Suggestions? Tweet to #WhatShouldWatsonDoNext?)
I feel incredibly fortunate that I got the assignment of heading up the new business, called IBM Watson Solutions. That’s because I’m a serial entrepreneur at heart. Over the past 15 years, I started two software companies and later sold them—the second one to IBM. I stuck with Big Blue after the sale but dreamed of becoming an entrepreneur again some day. Now, my wish has come true—just not in the way I expected.
As general manager of IBM Watson Solutions, I’m running what is essentially a startup within IBM and, at the same time, my little company-within-a-company gets the benefit of IBM’s resources and patient investment philosophy.
IBM’s Dan Pelino describes how WellPoint is using Watson to help transform healthcare.
Today marks the culmination of the IBM SmartCamp global entrepreneur competition. Nine startups from around the globe have spent the past three days in San Francisco learning from venture capital and business leaders, honing their VC pitches, getting feedback from mentors and networking with one another. Today, at the Bently Reserve, they made their final pitches and listened to speeches by government and business leaders.
The winner is….
Profitero, from Ireland (by way of Ukraine and Belarus), is the winner of the IBM Global Enterpreneur of the Year award.
Congratulations Profitero!
The People’s Vote Award Winner is….
IDXP, from Brazil, won the popular vote with 845 votes of a total of 2537 votes cast. Profitero came in second, and C-B4 came in third.
Congrats IDXP!
Back in 1992, when I was the technology editor at the San Jose Mercury News, I wrote in a note attached to the annual Silicon Valley 100 report that Silicon Valley was “a state of mind” rather than a narrow geography. I was thinking that it was a San Francisco Bay Area thing rather than exclusively a Santa Clara Valley thing. Well, today, it’s a global thing.
That reality hit home with me today at the IBM SmartCamp Finals in San Francisco. The winners of nine regional contests conducted last year have gathered here to compete this week to be the global winner of the contest, which offers participants loads of advice from venture capital and business experts and a shot at media attention. These companies came from all over: India, Romania, Israel, Ireland, Spain, China, Brazil, and, yes, the United States–including an outfit, SecureWaters, from Soddy Daisy, Tennessee. Which helps prove my point. These days, a Silicon Valley experience can happen practically anywhere. (Oh, by the way. The “Irish” company is led by a guy from the Ukraine and two guys from Belarus.)
Some of last year's winners
The way IBM SmartCamp works is the startup entrepreneurs make their pitches to venture capitalists, get feedback on the pitches, get deep advice on their business plans, and pitch again. The best pitch wins.
Today, the entrepreneurs took turn giving their first round of pitches. So, lots of PowerPoint presentations. Some nervous CEOs. Others sounding calm and collected. Here’s Ronald Zhang, president of Palmap, a Shanghai startup focusing on collecting and integrating data for indoor mobility mapping apps–for use in shopping malls, airports, schools and the like. He spoke before making his pitch to the VCs.
