“A needed element to adapting to crisis situations like Covid-19 and enabling organisations to grow in adversity… is leadership. Without strong leadership there can be no change.” Benoit LeGrand, CEO ING Ventures
The Pepal team participated in the Roche Partnering for Innovation Summit organised by F.Hoffman-La Roche (Roche) on the 20th of June 2020. The Summit brought together different actors from the healthcare field to explore the importance of partnerships and innovation in the wider health ecosystem for better patient outcomes.
The NJIA programme, our long-standing leadership development programme with Roche, was featured during the summit’s first panel discussion as an exemplary collaboration between Roche and the health ecosystem. Alain Bindels, Head of Innovation Facilitation and Digitalisation at Roche, showcased a video about NJIA and asked the NJIA Project Manager, Stephanie Mitchell, to share programme impact. This was a proud moment for the team especially when Pepal Project Coordinator, Hezron Festo, appeared on screen!
The NJIA programme was selected to participate and compete in the Summit’s Brain Catalyst hackathon. Tasked with the challenge of adapting the NJIA leadership and innovation programme to digital platforms, we were partnered with our colleagues at Roche and representatives from Idea Foster and Inside Out Solutions. We had just four hours to prepare a 90 second pitch video on how we can create meaningful and engaging online co-creation programmes which support our government and NGO partners in India, Uganda and Tanzania. Chosen from over 800 applications, “NJIA – we go where leadership is needed most” was chosen as one of the top 5 winners of the hackathon!
Other highlights of the day included Pepal’s virtual booth and an important discussion by Andre Hoffman and Katell Le Goulven on the urgent need for sustainable and innovative leadership in the post- COVID-19 world.
Overall the day was a great success. We would like to thank those that organised and facilitated the Summit. We are looking forward to taking part in the Roche and Board of Innovation Entrepreneurship Accelerator this week to develop the Brain Catalyst solution further.