Essay Example on Koe Koe Tech: Transforming Myanmar Through Digital Health

Introduction

Koe Koe Tech is an Information Technology social enterprise founded by Mr. Michael Lwin and Dr. Yarzar Min Htoo in the year 2012. It is Myanmar operated and owned dominant software Development Company that strives to improve Myanmar citizens' living standards through the digital transition. The main objectives of Koe Koe Tech are primarily around maternal health, enhancing health indicators, and elevating access to health information to the public through mobile health systems such as the maymay app. Solving societal health problems through its tailored software and Smartphone apps enabling women, children, and the general public to keep health and nutrition guidelines is its main social enterprise.

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Amid this COVID-19 pandemic which is a global crisis, Koe Koe Tech Company has partnered with ACTED which is an NGO organization to respond to new demands and needs of the most vulnerable people in the society due to measures that the government has taken to contain the spread of the infection (Bigot, 2019). The case study will focus on the impact Koe Koe Tech Company is intending to generate to the public as they respond to COVID-19 infection. The study will also look at the company's business model and the potential strengths or weaknesses associated with such a model. Every business must have its legal structures that support and have an impact on its entire operation. Therefore, the paper will also look at Koe Koe Tech Company's legal structure and its impacts. Other main focal points of the paper will include the organization's financing, market analysis and strategies, and its broader context map.

Impact Overview

ACTED is a non-governmental organization that provides livelihood aid to vulnerable populations and refugees from rural settings through different professional training programs. Having its influence in Myanmar State among other states, the organization provides some of the very innovative combinations of social cohesion strategies that focus on uniting societies from diverse ethnic influence towards a common objective of providing food security and boosting the economy.

Koe Koe Tech Company has partnered with ACTED amid the COVID -19 outbreak that has seen the lives of so many vulnerable people globally change drastically (Lwin, 2019). Koe Koe Tech Company intends to provide IT services in partnership with ACTED to positively impact the lives of vulnerable communities during this dire global situation.

There are various responses towards COVID-19 that were carried out by ACTED in partnership with Koe Koe Tech social enterprise. In response to proposal one, they proposed to carry out risk communication and providing sanitation and hygiene kits to safeguard the vulnerable families against COVID-19 infection (Bauchner & Sharfstein, 2020). By carrying out proper education through the use of viable education channels, they would provide the most relevant and leading information regarding the infection. Through the maymay mobile application developed by Koe Koe Tech Company, ACTED will share approved information about COVID-19 infection (Bigot, 2019). Maymay app will also be used to provide information on proper hygiene and sanitation practices, viable prevention guidelines, rectifying online misinformation on COVID-19. Through the modified version of the maymay mobile application developed by Koe Koe Tech Company, all the health information will be provided in local dialects to ensure that the information reaches everyone (Lwin, 2019).

Koe Koe Tech will provide a digital platform where ACTED will leverage as they create a rapid response mechanism to provide cash and or food support to the most vulnerable population and households. As a result, the company will help in ensuring that those households suffering severe food shortage get access to important nutritional supplements and dietary needs. The digital platforms in the modified version of maymay mobile application will enable communities to self identify and report serious food insecurity cases (Lwin, 2019). Consequently, by reporting and self-identification through the app, feedback from the rapid response mechanism will be triggered to provide a support package according to the risks stated by the specific households in the platform.

Koe Koe Tech social enterprise will also integrate a referral mechanism within the digital platform to assist in real-time planning of all emergency reliefs. The effective coordination among the involved humanitarian actors and successful relief efforts will be as a result of the availability of useful data collected through the digital platform. Moreover, the platform will give an avenue for the World Health Organization (WHO) to regularly and directly distribute justified risk information to the most endangered communities (Bigot, 2019). Such information will be translated into various local languages. The ability of the platform to support local languages enables the communities to comfortably report emergencies and be connected to the suitable services while at the same time getting viable information on COVID-19 response and mitigation courses of actions taken.

So many preventive courses of action taken by the government of Myanmar and other states have led to a great negative economical impact forcing so many businesses to shut down. Thus, so many families working in such enterprises are becoming unable to meet their fundamental needs. Additionally, the production of essential supplies such as soap, masks, sanitizers, protective gear for care-givers, nurses, hospitals, and the public has reduced while demand has skyrocketed (Bigot, 2019). To address this crucial supply gap, the two organizations have partnered to provide grants and necessary materials to local micro-enterprises to encourage local manufacturing of such essentials supplies throughout the country. Koe Koe Tech particularly will create a mapping platform that will be used to identify the location of such households and local micro-enterprises to enable the procurement of their COVID-19 protective manufactured essential products. Therefore, Koe Koe Tech also plays a significant role in saving the lives of the most vulnerable through technological exploitation ensuring the timely and fast connection of local producers and the hospitals and the vulnerable community at large (Lwin, 2019).

Due to lock down measures taken by the government to contain the spread of the COVID-19 infection, so many families will be unable to sustain their usual household consumptions. As a result, ACTED will donate unconditional cash aid to almost 2000 households who are seriously affected by the lockdown measures (Bigot, 2019). To ensure the success of this program, the two organizations will identify beneficiaries by using the vulnerability data collected on modified maymay mobile application of Koe Koe Tech during self-reporting. All approved cash transfers will be digitally managed through maymay mobile applications developed, modified, and powered by Koe Koe Tech. Through the mobile application, all the selected recipients will access maymay Chabot through their Smartphone and will be able to open bank accounts and mobile money accounts with different banks and mobile money service providers to facilitate easy dissemination of cash (Lwin, 2019).

The digital platform provided in maymay mobile application will also enable the beneficiaries to access digital life and health insurance products, in addition to microfinance and small and medium enterprises loans to boost their businesses amid this tough economical time. Both ACTED and Koe Koe Tech will be able to analyze data collected through the mobile application how beneficiaries use the cash support. The analysis will enable them to identify priorities and the valued needs of different households under lockdown. Therefore, this will give room for real-time study for better coordination in case lockdown measures are extended.

Koe Koe Tech's Business Model

Koe Koe Tech is an Information Technology social enterprise that looks at solving societal health problems through its tailored software and Smartphone mobile applications. Minimizing both child and maternal mortality rates, increasing access to viable health information through their health information systems which result in positive social impacts for various communities in Myanmar are some of the major focal points of Koe Koe Tech. To fully realize this objective, the company has adopted the Profit-Purpose Alignment (PPA) model as its social enterprise business model.

Profit-Purpose Alignment (PPA) model enables the company to generate profit and achieve its purpose as well due direct extant link between financial benefits and the purpose produced by the organization (Lee, 2015). The potential benefit of this business model is that most people and organizations will want to use their products and partner with them respectively to ensure the provision of the most fundamental services through the exploitation of technology. The more Koe Koe Tech will do well by providing innovative solutions through their digital platforms intended to improve the life of the most vulnerable in society, the more financial gain they will make.

Koe Koe Tech's Legal Structure

Every business must have proper legal structures to establish legal recognition for its activities. The type of legal business structure enables smooth running and successful business, provides suitable approaches of dealing with possible personal and tax liabilities, and it also very crucial in determining types of all legal documentation business owners need to have (Grelecki & Willey, 2017). Besides, the type of legal business structure also dictates various types of investments and grants an organization may receive. Koe Koe Tech is a community interest-based company, limited by shares, making it take the legal structure of Limited Liability Company established particularly to benefit the vulnerable community. Koe Koe Tech's business legal structure contains clauses that safeguard its social objective of assisting the community. This type of legal structure allows Koe Koe Tech company to attract and be recognized by other organizations, apply for different grants and investments otherwise they could not if they were carrying out their activities as a standard company or as a charity (Pathak & Muralidharan, 2019).

Financing

Since Koe Koe Tech is a Limited Liability Company with community interest, it qualifies to some of the grants and investment opportunities that they could not qualify for if they could be running as a charity or as a standard organization. The company has so far obtained funds from and collaborated with some of the international development agencies such as Australian Aid, Frontier Innovators Foundations, Grand Challenges Canada (GCC), USAID, and Innovation Xchange to look for business opportunities and to finance solutions to serious health challenges faced by Myanmar citizens. Other ways Koe Koe Tech can raise capital to facilitate its growth and development is through using pooling funds techniques, accessing loan guarantees, from social investors, crowdfunding, and utilizing government and social Donor Capital (Castellas et., al, 2018). Obtaining capital from these other sources and reinvesting their profits, the organization will continue improving the lives of the vulnerable and increase community resilience at large.

Koe Koe Tech's Market Analysis

The company's key market comprises Myanmar citizens who come from modest social-economic backgrounds. The composition of the key market includes breastfeeding mothers, expectant mothers, and parents with infants. Additionally, the organization also provides other services and health information such as information on...