A team of employees has been working on the nonprofit Grameen Foundation’s Mobile Technology for Community Health (MOTECH) initiative, a life-saving technology platform designed to reduce high infant and mother mortality rates in developing nations by disseminating information about health services to expectant mothers via their mobile phones, and encouraging demand for vital services during women’s pregnancy and baby’s first year of life.
When the developer was struggling to accurately assign a value to the platform – a stumbling block in taking the product to market – J.P. Morgan stepped in. Employees are volunteering their time to work with the MOTECH team to assess pricing options for the platform, create a methodology to assign user costs, and produce an inclusive plan that will inform the team’s business model for cloud computing. The project is just one of many volunteer efforts employees are participating in through J.P. Morgan’s Bankers without Borders skills-based program.
Not unlike typical private sector firms, microfinance institutions (MFIs) and organizations serving the poor and underserved must ensure they have robust operational and technology infrastructures, navigate regulatory frameworks, and access relevant industry information. Bankers without Borders addresses this by bridging the gap between business professionals who wish to contribute their skills and organizations with great potential that need a little extra help.
Since 2008, J.P. Morgan employees have donated their time and business skills to social enterprises around the world, supporting economic development remotely or on the ground in Colombia, Ghana, India, Peru, and South Africa, among others.
Earlier this year, J.P. Morgan renewed its commitment to the Grameen Foundation’s Bankers Without Borders initiative with a $1.5 million grant and the support of a global talent base of more than 700 employees who have registered to volunteer with the program.
