Savemom: The Smart Wearable Solution for Maternal Health Care

In January 2020, two social entrepreneurs were looking back at the first five years of operation of their venture JioVio Healthcare. The entrpreneurs had designed, developed, and implemented their cloud-based Internet of Things software Savemom. Using feedback from key stakeholders, Savemom assisted in the early detection of preventable complications during pregnancy and safe delivery, especially for expectant mothers in rural India, with a goal to reduce India’s maternal mortality ratio (MMR). Using an iterative process, Senthilkumar collaborated with various stakeholders in central and southern parts of rural India to enhance and implement the Savemom software. To achieve the socially-conscious goal behind the Savemom software, the team developed a wearable device for use by each expectant mother, as well as a medical measurement device and an online platform for healthcare providers to access the health information of patients. After several iterations of prototypes based on process outcomes and feedback from stakeholders, the Savemom software, devices, and process seemed to have achieved its ultimate goal. But when one of the entrepreneurs visited doctors to get their feedback, they expressed great dissatisfaction with the vast amount of patient information to check each day on the portal, which was increasing their workload almost ten times. The two social entrepreneurs had to find a way to address the genuine issues the doctors had raised.

This case is suitable for use in graduate-level management programs. It can be useful in courses such as social marketing, design thinking and innovation, social innovation, social entrepreneurship, customer centricity, and strategic management. The case is also suitable for familiarization of participants to relevant problems in a social setting with their cultural nuances. Ideally, students should have some knowledge of the design thinking process to begin the case analysis. However, the case allows participants to unravel the design thinking process step by step. After working through the case and assignment questions, students will be able to<ul><li>understand the unstructured nature of social issues and the challenges faced in social entrepreneurship;</li><li>follow the design thinking process from gathering key insights to implementing a solution; </li><li>appreciate the importance and complexities of gathering information from various stakeholders; and</li><li>understand the importance of prototype iterations based on a constant feedback loop.</li></ul>

• social entrepreneurship
• design thinking
• India
• maternal healthcare
• prototype
• smart wearable