BRIDGE-U: Liberia Project
Sponsored by the USAID, the Research for Development Impact in Liberia Health Sector under the USAID BRIDGE-U: Liberia project through Yale University, aims to support health innovation and entrepreneurship programs at the University of Liberia College of Health Sciences (ULCHS). The project also supports the establishment of the Center for Teaching, Learning & Innovation (CTLI) as a research hub at the ULCHS. According to the project stakeholders, social entrepreneurship is an additional key pathway for research outputs to be utilized for impact and capacitate Liberian entrepreneurs to accept, adapt, and commercialize research outputs from University of Liberia College of Health Sciences (ULCHS) and higher education institutions, as well as impart skills required to incorporate academic research outputs into existing businesses or create new sustainable businesses.
iLab Liberia as lead for the innovation activity, collaborated with an Innovation team consisting of the Consortia for Improving Medicine with Innovation & Technology from Harvard University in the United States of America and faculties from the University of Liberia College of Health Sciences to design and implement Health Entrepreneur Advancement Leveraging Research (HEALR) program at the CTLI. As a flagship program, the HEALR program is a 3 to 10-month class teaching practical entrepreneurship skills resulting in a customized business plan for healthcare business. Held at ULCHS, the HEALR program produced the first Cohort of 24 inspiring entrepreneurs who received certificates for completing an Ideation module, covering topics on Entrepreneur Mindset, Types of Entrepreneurs, Mission and Strategy Statements Development, Business Model and Value Proposition, Introduction to Product and Service, Financial Planning and Information Communication Technology for Entrepreneurs.
