Last night, I had the honor of announcing Johnson & Johnson Impact Ventures (J&J Impact Ventures), a new impact investment initiative within the Johnson & Johnson Foundation.
Our company donates approximately $1.6 billion globally each year, and all of us at Johnson & Johnson are proud of the impact that funding enables. However, this $15 million initiative provides us with the opportunity to not only support a number of worthy causes, but to also help increase public awareness about a highly innovative way to further our charitable purpose, embodying Our Credo values.
While impact investing isn’t new, the Global Impact Investing Network estimates that only 6% of the $500 billion impact investing market is allocated to the health sector. Clearly, impact investing in health merits more attention, and we at Johnson & Johnson want to focus on those areas where our voice, our expertise and our resources can make a positive difference.
Impact investing can play an integral role in multiplying our impact by investing in social enterprises under the newly-created Johnson & Johnson Center for Health Worker Innovation, which doubles down on our belief that testing, evolving and scaling the best ideas in support of nurses, midwives and community health workers is essential to expanding access and delivery of quality and affordable care. Early results indicate we can help fill a gap in health-focused impact investing by fostering a better understanding of this complex space.
Recognizing the severe shortage of health workers in many communities around the world, investments will target innovation—including digital health platforms and AI-enabled technologies—that support the access and delivery of quality and affordable care. As part of our investment philosophy, we also believe in championing women-led health ventures and local entrepreneurs to improve resource allocation for initiatives that are often overlooked.
To date, we have committed $6 million to eight impact investments, starting first with existing partners and focusing on Kenya as a pilot country that will serve as a blueprint for future markets. We aim to have a global portfolio of up to fifteen investments over the next two years.
I am thrilled to highlight some of our current investments:
- Jacaranda Maternity, a maternity hospital focused on providing affordable, patient-centered care to urban mothers in Kenya.
- Flare, the Kenya-based emergency response technology platform, often referred to as the “uber of ambulances,” which connects the largest network of first responders and has reduced emergency response time from an average of 162 minutes to 20 minutes.
- WaterEquity works with local microfinance institutions to install clean water filters into homes across Southeast Asia and is expected to provide 4.5 million people with water access in seven years.
- TNH Health, an AI-enabled public telehealth platform in Brazil to monitor health and build resilience, has reached over 300,000 people and identified 240,000 health risks.
At Johnson & Johnson, we recognize that alone we cannot solve the complex public health challenges that exist, but we know that companies like ours can play a critical role. While the challenges of advancing human health are great, the rewards of the work being performed by these entrepreneurs – with the help of impact investing – are even greater.
It is my hope that the launch of Johnson & Johnson Impact Ventures will help galvanize further private funding towards bridging the health gap, improving communities globally and ultimately making the world a healthier place.