Think like a Start-Up

Episode 6: Think Like a Start-Up

Today’s episode is a bit of a treat. After Big Charities & AI, then Small Charities & AI, and Bias & AI, we now move on to Tech for Good in the commercial space.

Last week’s episode hit #3 in the Not-for-Profit category on Apple Podcast charts - so I’m glad to hear we’re finding good content, and great guests - but as always let me know if there is something you’d like that we haven’t featured yet. This week, I’m going to boldly predict, we’ll get the first episode that hits #1 in the NFP charts - it’s a brilliant case-study - so make sure you listen on single-speed (don’t be tempted to go for 1.5x or 2x… as one listener mentioned she’d done).

Today’s episode features:

Main Interview: Sanjay Lobo MBE- CEO & Founder, OnHand • the impact platform - twice named Great British Entrepreneur for good, MBE recipient for services to older adults during Covid-19, and featured on the BBC’s Dragon’s Den.

Host: Stuart McSkimming - Independent consultant and experienced CIO with over twenty years experience in the charity sector, working with Virtue Chain

Co-Host: Mary O’Callaghan - Director of Technology (Medical & Transformation) at the British Heart Foundation

Listen at https://virtuevirtuosity.com, search for ‘Virtue & Virtuosity’ on your podcast player, or scroll down to the bottom of this newsletter for links to the latest episode on your chosen player.

But first… AI & Technology News This Week

In case you missed Apple showing up on the AI scene there were some announcements around ChatGPT being embedded into Siri which sounds a smart (albeit slightly late) move given the overlapping demographics of ChatGPT usage and iPhone ownership.

For charities, the challenge here, is that as the tech progresses people will easily be able to ask devices for advice on things. Organisations need to find ways to partner with companies delivering growth in this area, whilst also finding ways to ensure the quality, and local context of any advice that is given in this way. All of this nicely links into the main interview, which discusses a more straightforward version of delivering a function often provided by charities, through digital technologies. As you listen to this podcast, consider the example of OnHand - and consider how AI on devices might turbo-charge digital solutions like this.

Virtue & Virtuosity Episode 6: Think like a start-up

We start with some discussion with today’s co-host Mary O’Callaghan from British Heart Foundation. She describes how BHF has funded early-stage research which looked at how AI might improve the accuracy of cardiac CT scans, which are used to detect blockages or narrowing in the arteries using AI. These can then be used to help clinicians make more informed decisions to predict future heart attacks. The outcomes of the research were published last year, and since then wider scale trials involving over 40,000 people across 8 UK hospitals have followed - you can geek-out on the full science behind it in the Lancet - or read the user-friendly version in The Guardian

The technology is currently being assessed by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) with a decision on it being used across the NHS expected within six months. This is a tangible example of how AI investment by a large charity could soon result in thousands of lives being saved. Have a look at this nice video that explains it all better than I can.

Sanjay Lobo MBE👫🌍 and OnHand

We then talk with Sanjay Lobo who talks about his organisation that provides Tech for Good in the commercial space. They operate an app that connects supporter to cause directly: rather than having a charity as a middle man, they use technology.

By keeping the idea simple, Sanjay explains how he has connected those who want to volunteer, with those who need help.

He lays down two challenges to the broader sector:

1. Can medium and large charities change their risk perspectives based on taking on learnings from the private sector over the past few years?

2. Can charities break their existing tech models? How can charities get better at digital innovation, and developing digital product-led approaches that deliver on some of their outcomes.

If I’ve whet your appetite with those headlines - I strongly recommend you take a listen!

Coming up next week

We again focus on social enterprise and talk with an organisation using a digital app, alongside training and a framework to enable better approaches to childcare in East Africa.

Feedback

I’m really keen on feedback - this podcast is for you - for the sector. We’ve had two episodes in a row where the guests have laid down challenges to the sector - if you want to send me feedback that I can feature, or are happy to be interviewed with further thoughts, I’d love to include them.

And don’t forget, drop me a line [email protected], if you’d like me to showcase anything you’re doing on AI in your charity, if you have a suggestion to include in the newsletter, or if you have a great story to tell in the podcast.

Guest Profile

OnHand is an impact platform, making it easy for employees to volunteer. With over 50,000 volunteers who completed over 1m actions in 2023, the platform has grown at a rapid pace since launch in 2019.

The platform lets users see who they can help in local communities with location-based matching technology, gives opportunities to help remotely, and offers a wide range of sustainability actions with tracked CO2e reporting. Set up in collaboration with some of the UK’s leading charities, the platform operates worldwide and supports a number of causes including elderly & isolated help, poverty, homelessness support, crisis response, environmental and climate action.

Founder and CEO, Sanjay Lobo, formerly served on the exec team at two unicorns, Lastminute.com (one of the UK’s first dotcom unicorns) and Vistaprint (Nasdaq listed, with 17m customers). In 2019, he founded OnHand with the aim of solving some of society’s biggest issues using technology. Since then he has been named Great British Entrepreneur for Good twice in 2020 and 2022 and was awarded an MBE in 2022 for OnHand’s services to older adults during Covid-19.

Podcast Links

Remember – follow on your favourite podcast platform, today, so that you don’t miss an episode.

https://virtuevirtuosity.com

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0G3vGA98kpk6biZqQVsSVL?si=005d3205859d4668

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/virtue-virtuosity/id1742994475

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(please ask if you think there is somewhere I else I should be publishing, and I’ll endeavour to add it!)