UNITED Launches Global Pandemic Response Initiative to Assist Underserved Communities in the US and in Africa

United Global Alliance (UNITED) announced the launch of PRISM, a global multi-sector collaborative initiative that addresses urgent needs created by the Covid-19 crisis among vulnerable communities in the US and Africa through the deployment of technology, healthcare and humanitarian solutions 

PRISM, which stands for Pandemic Response through Innovation and Scientific Methodology, is coordinated by American venture builder UNITED. The collaboration will include healthcare initiatives to accelerate Covid-19 testing capacities, scale relief assistance programs and support remote and vulnerable communities tackle the economic impact with mobile technology. 

PRISM’s healthcare components include a partnership with the California Health Medical Reserve Corps (CMRHC) to launch a mobile laboratory unit called TERA (Turnkey Emergency Relief Assistance) which aims at accelerating testing capacity. The lab also includes the Acu-Corona^TM 2.0 testing kit which UNITED is distributing through a partnership with Singapore’s Acumen Research Laboratories, deployed on CHMRC’s Screening-Sampling-Diagnostics platform.

At the humanitarian level, UNITED has partnered with the SDG Impact Fund, which also sponsors the UN SDG.org initiative, to launch an emergency response fund that will mobilize philanthropists, foundations, community leaders and impact investors to scale relief assistance programs in the US and in Africa. These programs include the distribution of food and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to highly impacted Black families and communities.

At the technology level, PRISM leverages UNITED’s expertise in digital innovation and telecom to support Africa’s most vulnerable communities. The group will deploy its proprietary last-mile connectivity solution to bring low-cost and free mobile internet access to remote areas, a mobile money service in partnership with telecom operators, and a national e-learning platform in partnership with ESTEL Business School. 

The announcement was made by Ali Diallo, co-founder and CEO of UNITED, and Todd Friedmann, General Partner at UNITED. “We are living in a unique time that requires an equally unique entrepreneurial mindset that borrows from the principles of venture builders. The world needs radical system change thinking and contrarian innovation to fuel a collective consciousness that brings together all stakeholders. This is why PRISM  is first and foremost an ecosystem of principled change agents who came together to lend their expertise to tackle the pandemic crisis.”, said Diallo.

Several high impact leaders have responded to UNITED’s call by joining PRISM as advisors including Michael Kleeman, of University of California, San Diego and National Chair of Strategy at the American Red Cross; Mei Lin Fung, Chair, and Dan Desmond, co-Founder at the California Health Medical Reserve Corps; Chris Lwanga, Sr Director of Software Partnerships at Microsoft; and Prof. Oumar Gaye, former Malaria Advisor at WHO and at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.  

UNITED is also collaborating with well-known futurist and technology leader Nova Spivack, the group’s founding Advisor and a former mentor of Diallo, to address significant supply chain gaps created by the crisis. 

Disclosure: This article includes a client of an Espacio portfolio company