Mental illness is affecting an increasing number of people around the world, but the availability of professionals to help them is not growing at nearly the same rate, and the results can be devastating. Neuroscientist Megan Lam, who is a 2021 Gen.T honouree, was only too aware of this, having lost two family members to suicide, and sought to do something about it through her company Neurum Health. Its Neurum app provides users, which now number two million, with access to personalised self-care programmes developed using AI, as well as mental health screening and tailored lifestyle recommendations to improve mental well-being, not to mention direct connections to the most suitable human care

Mental health in South Korea desperately needs addressing. The nation has the world’s highest suicide rate and 2.5 million people suffer from mental illness, with only 3,000 psychiatrists to help them. And that’s only if those who are afflicted are willing to seek treatment—and can afford it, as mental illness is not only a taboo topic but professional help can be prohibitively expensive. Access to mental health care is something that Woori Moon is trying to provide to as many as possible through her company 40FY. Its app, Mindling offers personalised mental health advice and guidance to users anywhere, anytime using a combination of AI and biological data.

School of Concepts was first established to provide access to quality English language education, fundamental to literacy and learning, to every child regardless of socioeconomic background or learning needs and particularly to non-native English speakers of which there are many in Singapore. Founded by Mint Lim, who is the first woman impact entrepreneur from Singapore to be recognised by the Cartier Women’s Initiative, the educational institution has since adapted its proprietary VAK (visual/auditory/kinesthetic) approach to educational programmes in financial literacy, Chinese literacy and STEM subjects. Lim is now looking to expand to Malaysia and Indonesia and also make further use of technology to allow for learning without teachers, thereby offering even greater access to quality education.

Saving lives from cancer is the mission of Dimple Parmar’s healthtech platform ZenOnco, which works with oncologists, hospitals and diagnostic laboratories to offer more accessible end-to-end care to cancer patients. From medical care to complementary treatments such as anti-cancer diets and emotional counselling, the platform wants to improve quality of life by making cancer more manageable to patients, caregivers and survivors whatever their socioeconomic background.

Did you know that fewer than two percent of Indonesia’s garment and textile workers, of which there are 5.2 million, earn a living wage? Denica Riadini-Flesch, who is 2020 Gen.T honouree, is the founder and CEO of Sukkhacitta, an ethical fashion brand that ensures workers across its supply chain, from the local artisans who make its handcrafted clothing to the smallholder farmers growing its cotton, are not only paid a living wage, but have access to other opportunities, ranging from free business education, to interest-free loans and grants to start their own businesses. Sukkhacitta is also committed to protecting the planet, avoiding the use of toxic chemicals, plastic and unnatural dyes, and upcycling offcuts.

A molecular biologist by training and the co-founder and CEO of Helex, Poulami Chaudhuri is focused on addressing the precision and safety of gene editing in order to accelerate drug development for genetic diseases. Using proprietary technology, Helex’s intelligent platform eschews the trial-and-error methods typically used in gene therapy development in favour of AI-based models to enable precise editing for optimal outcomes.

As the founder and CEO of Serein, Ishani Roy is pioneering a data-driven approach to diversity and inclusion—not only with regard to gender, but also sexual orientation, age and ethnicity—by providing companies with the latest research in a range of disciplines to develop strategies and policies to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace, create safer and more equitable professional environments, and drive sustainable positive organisational change. From its beginnings in India, Serein now works in more than 15 countries including Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, the UK and the US.

In China, 72 million people are hearing impaired, including the founder of Voibook Technology, Chengchuan Shi. Knowing how such an impairment can affect every aspect of life, Shi developed Voibook to allow hard-of-hearing people to communicate more easily by using AI to convert speech to text in real time, allowing users to “see the voice”. The app also provides a teaching system that addresses some of the limitations of Chinese Sign Language, enhancing teacher efficiency and allowing the hard of hearing to achieve better academic performance and thereby improved professional prospects. Voibook currently boasts more than one million users in China, and Shi hopes to take it global to improve the lives of even more hearing-impaired individuals.

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