Community Heroes - “Medtronic Labs” with Hal Beckham
Shownotes:
Noncommunicable diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases, cancers, and respiratory diseases, wreak havoc on individuals, families, and communities. Almost three fourths of deaths from noncommunicable diseases occur in low- and middle-income countries, yet only one percent of healthcare spending is put toward NCD care. All across the world, poor and vulnerable communities cannot access the quality care, technologies, and medicines they need. What does it take to break down these barriers that burden so many of our neighbors?
In this episode, Chris and Eddie are joined by Hal Beckham, Head of Finance at Medtronic LABS and Chief Financial Officer for Medtronic Philanthropy and Foundation. Medtronic LABS is a social business dedicated to expanding healthcare access to underserved communities and developing systems of care based on the unique contexts of countries such as Kenya, India, and Ghana. Beckham talks about the importance of corporate responsibility, his vocation and calling in the context of his career, and the impact of Medtronic’s programs and technology.
Series Info:
Sometimes we need to be reminded of the human hope in our communities and in our world. Shining a light on hope, truth, and goodness allows us to both receive and spread the good news that God is at work in our midst. In this series, we will highlight a set of individuals who are doing great work in our community. These passionate leaders strengthen mind, body, and spirit through their non-profit organizations that provide access and resources to those in need. We encourage you to share these episodes with a friend and spread the word about the opportunities these leaders offer!
Resources:
Learn more about Medtronic LABS here:
Read more about the impact of Medtronic LABS here:
Full Transcript:
Chris McAlilly 0:00
I'm Chris McAlilly.
Eddie Rester 0:01
And I'm Eddie Rester.
Chris McAlilly 0:02
Welcome to The Weight.
Eddie Rester 0:03
We're so thankful to have you today. We're talking to people right now who do interesting things, impacting and changing the world. And today, we have Hal Beckham. Hal Beckham is the Chief Financial Officer for Medtronic Philanthropy in Medtronic labs at Medtronic.
Chris McAlilly 0:21
You'll hear more about the mission of the organization and how it kind of got off the ground in the 1960s. But they're doing work in the global health space, and particularly in some kind of social enterprise globally to try to democratize health care.
Eddie Rester 0:37
They offer, if you're familiar with Medtronic, he'll talk a little bit about that in the podcast, but almost every medical device that you could need, whether it's spine stuff, hard stuff, whatever Medtronic is making and selling, and yet they've developed this side mission, philanthropy in healthcare offerings for folks in the developing world.
Chris McAlilly 1:01
Part of it is a particular technological platform. But it's also a way of kind of bringing together community partners, government partners, and pharmaceutical partners in unique ways in particular countries in Kenya or Ghana or India. And really, with the focus being to raise the possibility that people could live a healthy life and that healthy lives impact communities in particularly important ways.
Eddie Rester 1:34
This is one of those folks that I literally bumped into, when my daughter and her prom date were taking pictures, he walked up. And so we just got to talking, and I found out who he was. And it so fascinated me that this huge, global company with 100,000 employees around the world would have this segment of itself where it said, we're going to not just sell products, we're going to try to change, move things for people around the world.
Chris McAlilly 2:06
You know, I think that there's a larger conversation here about how large scale transformation happens. I think there's in the background of the conversation, questions of organization and corporate responsibility. But it also, on the other side, like if you've got real passion for issues, you know, that would lead you potentially in a nonprofit direction or NGO direction, I think this conversation is helpful, because it reminds you of the power that comes when a for-profit business gets there, puts their capital in the game and some of their strategic thinking and rigor in terms of the business side.
Chris McAlilly 2:51
And that's Hal's world. He's a finance guy at the end of the day, But he talks about kind of his own sense of vocation and calling and how he pivoted in this direction, in a way that I think is leading him to feel like he's making a real impact on the world.
Eddie Rester 3:05
And what I think sometimes the nonprofit world, the church world, misses is what they bring to the table, which is how do we measure success? How do we make sure we're having an impact? He's going to talk some about that in that podcast today as well.
Chris McAlilly 3:20
Yeah, sometimes Eddie, at the end of every day, I go home, and I mow the grass. And you know why?
Eddie Rester 3:26
You can see.
Chris McAlilly 3:27
You can see the impact.
Eddie Rester 3:29
You can see the impact.
Chris McAlilly 3:29
It's hard to see the impact sometimes in spiritual matters. But the church, I think, can learn a lot from the ambition and the drive and the innovation of a person like Hal and the Medtronic labs. I think it's helpful to develop entrepreneurial mindsets and...
Eddie Rester 3:51
In whatever field you're in.
Chris McAlilly 3:52
In whatever field you're in, and design thinking, building that into the way you think about your organization.
Eddie Rester 3:58
So thanks for listening. We're so glad you're with us. Share this episode. Like it. Do the thing where you do the star. I don't know what it's called.
Chris McAlilly 4:06
Oh, you always do this trail off thing.
Eddie Rester 4:08
I know.
Chris McAlilly 4:08
You can help us out.
Eddie Rester 4:10
You can help us out by--I'm repeating.
Chris McAlilly 4:12
Subscribing.
Eddie Rester 4:12
Subscribing.
Chris McAlilly 4:14
On Apple podcast.
Eddie Rester 4:15
Apple podcast, Spotify.
Chris McAlilly 4:16
Wherever you listen to your podcast. Write a review.
Eddie Rester 4:20
Write a review. That's the wording I always mess up on.
Chris McAlilly 4:23
More than anything, tust tell your mama and your daddy, tell your friends.
Eddie Rester 4:27
Listen to The Weight.
Chris McAlilly 4:27
Listen to The Weight. Everybody's doing it. Don't miss out.
Chris McAlilly 4:31
[INTRO] We started this podcast out of frustration with the tone of American Christianity.
Eddie Rester 4:38
There are some topics too heavy for sermons and sound bites.
Chris McAlilly 4:41
We wanted to create a space with a bit more recognition of the difficulty, nuance, and complexity of cultural issues.
Eddie Rester 4:49
If you've given up on the church, we want to give you a place to encounter a fresh perspective on the wisdom of the Christian tradition in our conversations about politics, race, sexuality, art, and mental health.
Chris McAlilly 5:01
If you're a Christian seeking a better way to talk about the important issues of the day with more humility, charity, and intellectual honesty that grapples with Scripture and the church's tradition in a way that doesn't dismiss people out of hand, you're in the right place.
Eddie Rester 5:16
Welcome to The Weight. [END INTRO]
Eddie Rester 5:19
Again, we're here today with Hal Beckham who works with Medtronics Foundation and Medtronics Labs. We're so thankful that you would take some time to be with us today.
Hal Beckham 5:29
Glad to be here. Excited for the opportunity to speak with you.
Eddie Rester 5:32
One of the things that I'm excited about is you're another Mississippi boy, raised in Clarksdale, Mississippi.
Hal Beckham 5:38
That's right, born and raised in Clarksdale. My father's family is from the little further south near Belzona. My mom was born and raised in Clarksdale. So.
Eddie Rester 5:50
Yeah, well, we want to get a little bit of kind of your history, before we dive into the work that Medtronics is doing around the world. Tell us, you've worked for Medtronics for 20 plus years if I'm remembering correctly. But originally, you worked for the actual Medtronics company, we'll talk about what that is, bigger part of Medtronics in just a minute, but you made a shift a few years ago, from Medtronics the business to Medtronics the foundation, so tell us about that shift for you.
Hal Beckham 6:27
Yeah, so I have been with Medtronics for 23 years. The first 20 years, I was with our spine business, which is headquartered in Memphis, and worked my way up through the ranks there doing all kinds of finance work. And the last four years in that role, I was actually the Vice President of Finance and the CFO for the spine business. And over the course of those years, I've always had a heart for community and community service. I've been involved in a number of boards and volunteer efforts around the community.
Hal Beckham 7:07
And it's one of those things where, you know, the company asked you every now and then what do you want to do next. And I was at a point in my career where I felt like I had accomplished a lot within the company itself. And I was very honest, and I just said, "I really want to do philanthropy next." And that might be within the walls of Medtronic, but it might be, you know, outside in the community. And it just so happens that our leadership of the company, they were really looking to really bring some strategic thinking and more business discipline and rigor into both our foundation and our social business, which is Medtronic Labs. So they asked me if I'd be willing to take on this role.
Hal Beckham 7:54
And it's been a joy for the last three years. Obviously, we were not anticipating a global pandemic.
Eddie Rester 8:01
No.
Hal Beckham 8:01
It has affected both of those organizations very differently. On the foundation side, we've jumped in, and we've done our best to, you know, make a difference and to donate where we can. And on the lab side, it was pretty highly disruptive to our people on the ground overseas. But that's kind of how I got into the space and just thrilled to have the opportunity to work in this capacity for Medtronic.
Chris McAlilly 8:27
I wonder if you, I want to get into your current work, but I wonder if you could circle back and just talk about the big picture of what the the organization does. What is Medtronic and what's the scope of the business?
Hal Beckham 8:41
Yeah, so back in the 1960s, a gentleman in outside Minneapolis, Minnesota, in his garage, invented the pacemaker. He invented the world's first implantable pacemaker. And that's really what the birth of Medtronic was. Today, Medtronic is one of the largest companies in the world, with over $30 billion of annual revenue. And they are involved... They're the, you know, they're the world's largest medical device company, and really anything and everything you would receive or be treated with inside a hospital, Medtronic has something in this portfolio that would play in that space.
Hal Beckham 9:27
And Medtronic is also very mission-driven company. That founder 60 years ago, wrote a mission that we still live by today. So it's always been a very mission-minded company, but it's a global powerhouse with over 90,000 employees and operating in I believe over 150 countries. So it's, but you know, because of the mission, there's a real commitment to our world and the community we live in which is why they put so much behind these two organizations that I work with today.
Chris McAlilly 10:04
I was gonna ask, you said that your background is in finance, and in more of the business side. I wonder, I mean, you know, I think I talked to a lot of people at this time in their life, or particularly on the other side of the pandemic, who are making transitions in their work and trying to kind of navigate that shift, do I stay? Do I go? Do I do something different? Or whatever. How did you find finance? Was that, did you always know that you wanted to do some form of business?
Hal Beckham 10:35
Yeah, that's a great question. I have always liked math, and, you know, started out actually in pre-med, and realized pretty quickly that wasn't the path for me. So I gave accounting a shot and really liked it. And as I started out with one of the big accounting firms, like many people do, and after six years, moved into private industry, and I found it really rewarding to move from sort of the textbook accounting into more finance, where you're really running a real-world business and solving problems. And I have received, you know, as much joy in my career from really diving into operational problems and inefficiencies and sort of re-engineering things. I probably enjoyed that, as much or more, you know, than the numbers themselves. It's been really rewarding to be part of transforming businesses. And that's a lot of what I've with these two organizations I'm in now, as I've helped them sort of rethink the way they operate and improve some of their processes.
Eddie Rester 11:50
I was thinking earlier, prepping for this, that I shared with you when we met that my daughter has titanium rods in her back. And I'm pretty sure that's one of the pieces that Medtronic does. I mean, so many things that Medtronic touches. And as you shared with me when we first bumped into each other a little bit about Medtronic labs, which fascinated me that this large, global company would leverage itself in a way to really give itself away, to really do more than just sell products, but to change the lives of people all around the world. So could you share a little bit about that side of your work with Medtronic Labs and kind of how that came to be, and really what it does around the world?
Hal Beckham 12:40
Yeah, absolutely. So Medtronic is structured with a number of different business units that manufacture different therapies. And over the years, two of our business units really started these philanthropic endeavors of their own. So our Ear, Nose and Throat division, which is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, they came up with a very low-cost device that screens for hearing loss and hearing impairment, focused on India, really, because, you know, they were in that market and they saw the need of the underserved in that space. And just a little bit later, but similar path, our cardiac group undertook a project focused on hypertension in Ghana, and looking at how they could diagnose early on, you know what those diseases looked like.
Hal Beckham 13:38
About five or six years ago, the CEO of Medtronic at the time made the decision to really bring those two pilots together into create Medtronic Labs, and to fund it. He really just funded it, and we spent a few years tinkering with it and optimizing it getting the programs working. There were a lot of stops and starts. But we really have reached a point now where we feel like it's a viable solution. And one reason it really is important to Medtronic, you know, we make a point of counting how many lives Medtronic therapies are used in every year. And our most recent year that we reported, and that date is about a year old now, but it was 72 million people around the world received a Medtronic therapy,in the prior year.
Hal Beckham 14:35
But when you look at the map of the world, there's 7 billion people in the world and there's only about a billion of them that live in what I would call the developed world, like us in America. And, you know, the sad thing is that even though Medtronic reached 72 million people, probably 80% of those lives that we touched were in what we call rich countries. And we realized, you know, there's 5 billion people on the planet who live on anywhere between two dollars and thirty two dollars per day, who can't afford many of our Medtronic therapies. And so what we're trying to do is democratize healthcare. We're trying to make, at a minimum, access to health care available for all.
Hal Beckham 15:28
And so what we have chosen in Medtronic Labs to focus most of our efforts on are non-communicable diseases, starting with hypertension and diabetes. And, you know, sadly, they're, you know, probably 20% of the world population has one of these conditions, but most of the people that have one of these conditions don't realize that they have it, because they've never been screened, and they've never been tested. So we're trying to reach as many people as we can and screen them to not only diagnose the condition but to manage their care and bring them to wellness. And so that's kind of how we got into that space.
Eddie Rester 16:12
I think it's interesting that y'all have chosen the non-communicable diseases, because a lot of times, you know, the big efforts are pushed out, No More Malaria, focusing on communicable diseases. But I think I was reading either on your website or your year-end report, that non communicable diseases kill more people than communicable diseases in an average year. Did I read that correctly?
Hal Beckham 16:37
That's correct. And that's a pretty recent phenomenon. I think it's been within the last decade, that non-communicable diseases outpaced infectious diseases. And the estimates are today that two-thirds of the deaths in the world, particularly in these underserved markets, are due to NCDs. But there's also a statistic that says that only 1% of spending on global health is focused on NCDs. So while the need is tremendous, the world's money is still going more toward the communicable diseases. So that's one reason we've chosen that area.
Chris McAlilly 17:24
I think one of the things that interesting to me, in these kinds of conversations, over the last decade or so, is just to see different kinds of organizations that are focused on different, massive problems. And you can imagine, faith-based organizations and nonprofits operating in different dimensions and trying to improve global health. You can see, you know, governmental organizations that are working, and then there's a for-profit business component, as well. I guess, as you assess different strategies for attack, you know, engaging in large scale problems, what do you see? I mean, clearly you've talked a little bit about the way in which the move into the philanthropic side of Medtronic was to add some strategic intensity and rigor to the more philanthropic side of the work. Just talk a little bit about what you see in terms of different engagements and initiatives.
Hal Beckham 18:35
Yeah, well, I think, you know, clearly, corporations probably have more profits to share, given the fact that, you know, they are for-profit companies. And there's been a huge focus in recent years on ESG, sort of, you know, sustainable investments and being a good citizen, whether that's taking care of the planet, or, you know, taking care of your community. So I think, you know, it's always been important for companies to have a philanthropic focus, but there's really, in my mind, a greater sense today of corporate responsibility than there has been in recent years.
Hal Beckham 19:25
And so I think, you know, from a corporate standpoint, we're seeing a lot more of that. You've got things like the Business Roundtable, where CEOs are getting together and talking about how can we make a difference. And you've seen a lot of that in the social justice issues within the past 18 months or so. But it extends beyond that. There's the climate change discussions. And so, I think in years past, a lot of times corporations might have sat on the sidelines to some extent, certainly more than they're doing today. But I think now they do feel a greater sense of corporate responsibility to step forward and be part of it. And I do think they, you know, have the resources to do that. Whereas, you know, nonprofits have always had a passion for the impact, but typically it's the resources where they are more constrained and not having the capital or the fundraising efforts to be able to do as much as they would like.
Eddie Rester 20:36
One of the things I think that Medtronic Labs brings to the table is y'all have a strong sense of measurables, you know, what you're looking for, the benchmarks that you're aiming for. Share a little bit, and it may be helpful to talk generally, or you may even want to talk about some of your specific projects in different places. But what are some of the measurables that are important for y'all to track? And what are some of those long-term goals you have?
Hal Beckham 21:08
Yeah, so I'll use the example of our program in Kenya, where we are treating hypertension and diabetes. And I'll just give you some context, because I was over in Kenya a couple of years ago and visited a clinic in rural Kenya. And this is basically a go down a dirt road, and it's a cinderblock building. And it's basically a government-owned health clinic, and there's many of these throughout the countryside. But it's where people go when they're sick, and when they need help with their conditions. And so when you get to this clinic, there is a room with a librarian-type person in there. And the room is full to the ceiling of paper, medical records. And many people may not be old enough to remember this. But if you ever went to school, before the days of computers or tablets, you took your exams in something called a blue book. And you would fill all that out.
Hal Beckham 22:14
So that's what it looks like. You would get to the clinic, and you'd give them your name. And they would go pull your medical record off the shelf, and it would have handwritten records of your entire health history. And you would take it to the doctor, and the doctor would treat you and add more information to that record, and you would take it back to the librarian and leave it there. And so if you ever needed, your health records or any data to speak to your health history, it's in a room down a dirt road in a cinderblock building in Kenya.
Hal Beckham 22:51
And so what our system is doing, we have a cloud-based technology that--and we use iPad-type tablets--and we basically, as people come into the clinics, we monitor their vital signs, check their blood pressure, their blood sugar, take other measurements, and we enter it into our system, and it immediately goes to the cloud. And we're able to manage their health electronically. And we do that over time so that we can track trends. We also are able to manage their medications. We're able to give them educational information, lifestyle management, because, you know, believe it or not, even though these people are very poor, almost all of them have a cell phone and can get text messages, and many of them now have smartphones.
Hal Beckham 23:51
So we now have data for our patient that tracks their progress. And what we're also doing is we're aggregating that data and looking at trends so that we can track the improvement. And we're using that to demonstrate the value of preventative care to governments and other payers to let them know. It's a bit of a foreign concept sometimes for people to think well, why would I pay for preventative care when I've got so many other pressing needs in my country? But we're trying to show them that it is far better to monitor someone's blood pressure and manage it than to take the chance of that person having a stroke. Not just from a cost standpoint, but from a quality of life standpoint. So we're very focused on metrics and measurement. We've spent a significant amount of money building this IT system and this platform and you know, it's something that is kind of at the forefront, the foundation of all of our work.
Eddie Rester 25:06
You talk about preventative care. And I think I was reading a story in your year-end report about a woman who'd lost her sight because of diabetes, and just the impact that had on the family, you know. If someone loses eyesight because of diabetes, they can't work. If they can't work, that impacts their kids. If their kids can't get to school, that impacts their future. And so the notion of preventative care, rather than coming around when something goes very wrong, it actually, you know, impacts, it ripples out for generations. And as you talk about just the basics of screenings, you begin to change outcomes, not just for a person, but for families and communities as well. And that's pretty significant. I'm assuming y'all are beginning to gather lots of stories about that.
Hal Beckham 26:04
We are. I mean, there's certainly many individual examples where that's happening, but we are starting to see communities really valuing the programs and the technology. I mentioned Kenya. It's kind of where we have our largest foothold now. And, you know, we actually started a pilot in that market that was funded with private dollars through a partnership that we had with Novartis. But the government recognized the significance of it, and so they've actually hired us and are paying us to sort of extend that program to other parts of the country. So that's really rewarding, when people see the value in the work that you're doing. And you're able to just extend the programs even further based on that appreciation.
Chris McAlilly 27:04
Now, I think that's really, really helpful to think about, and maybe even to dig into a little bit more. I mean, the scope of the work that you guys are doing is international. And then in various countries, how do you think about, you mentioned that you kind of start started with a pilot project and then were able to kind of expand that. I wonder if you could just maybe go a little bit deeper into some of the, I mean, it's really R&D work and its experimental work of how best to democratize healthcare in particular places. I'm sure the dynamics are different in different countries and with different strategic partners. Could you just maybe walk through how you guys think about that process step to step?
Hal Beckham 27:49
Absolutely. And I'll say it's been an evolution, so lots of stops starts and iterations over the last few years. But one of the things that we do with our program that we feel is very unique and we're passionate about is everything we design is very community-centric. There are a lot of people that can check your blood pressure and tell you that you have hypertension. But we try to design our programs with the community in mind, and really follow that patient all the way through.
Hal Beckham 28:24
And I'll give you an example. I mentioned Kenya where we're doing hypertension, diabetes screening, and I mentioned this rural clinic where you go down a dirt road. And so in that model, the people walk to the clinic, and we work with an existing health clinic to implement our model. As we started thinking about how do we take that model to India, we realized that that was not going to work, because there is so much traffic and congestion in India, that we were like, people don't have the ability or the way to get to a clinic. So we actually designed a program specific for India that is circle based. And so if you think about groups that may be--a good analogy, you know, in the US might be like a book club or some sort of a group that meets on a regular basis. And so what we did is we found these circles of friends who already had a schedule and cadence at a meeting location. And we said, can we bring a nurse or a doctor to your meeting? And so we would do that. We would screen them and diagnose them and enroll them.
Hal Beckham 29:45
And the great part about that is they already had a support network. And they already had, it fit with their lives. And so rather than trying to force fit our model, we met them where they were. It's further evolved since COVID, because now we're having zoom meetings and virtual meetings, and connecting people over social media and WhatsApp, chat groups and things like that.
Hal Beckham 30:12
So one thing we do is we design with that in mind. The other thing we're doing is we're trying to get really creative about how we finance these programs, because we certainly have our model that we can sell to people. And we do try to sell our services at a breakeven. But a lot of times the barrier to our ability to expand is finding someone that's willing to pay us. And as I mentioned, eventually, governments and others recognize the value. But upfront, it's kind of hard to do that. So we're starting some conversations where we're starting to sort of convene different players and bring people to the table. It's almost like a matchmaking game where we come forward, and we say, we have this IT platform, this technology. We have training material. You have the clinics and the buildings. And we find, you know, a pharmaceutical company that has some drugs they are willing to kick in. And we sort of bring all these players together and say, you know, "What will you pitch in? Here's what we'll pitch in." And you're able to all sort of donate your in-kind services and make it go further.
Hal Beckham 31:31
So we believe by evolving sort of into that type of model, we're probably going to reach five to ten times more people than we would have, trying to find everyone that can pay us. So we try to get really creative on both how we design our programs and also how we collaborate with others to have the greatest reach.
Chris McAlilly 31:59
What I hear in that is, I mean, you mentioned that Medtronics, across the entire scope of the business and kind of its history, has been very mission-focused. And if your mission is to, you know, have a world where everybody, regardless of their circumstance, or station in life, can live a healthy life, then the barrier... Yeah, you start to get creative about how you overcome certain barriers, and, you know, if the barrier is price and cost you kind of move in different directions. I think that's really interesting. I wonder, I mean, what I hear in kind of your explanation is something that has cropped up in in various conversations that I've seen in social entrepreneurship and social innovation and design thinking, for folks who are not as familiar with those mindsets or those frameworks, could you maybe talk a little bit about kind of the philosophy behind that design approach?
Hal Beckham 32:56
Yeah, so you know, I didn't start with this, but Medtronic Labs were actually structured as a public benefit corporation. Sometimes people call them B Corps. And so we're not a philanthropy. We're not a nonprofit. We're actually what's called a social business. And we are interested in covering our own costs. We don't want to be a drag on Medtronic. But we also, our number one goal is the impact that we have. And so we are sort of equally yoked. We want to go as far as we can and impact as much as we can, but sort of be self-sustaining and be able to pay our own bills. And so that means that when we do design these programs, we're not looking to maximize profits, but we're trying not to give everything away and be pure philanthropy, either. So we try to balance that.
Hal Beckham 34:03
And there's many companies doing that same type of thing. Social entrepreneurship is really where you are trying to have a viable business model that makes sense, that can cover its own costs, but that social conscience, and that impact is at the forefront. And so you kind of design around that primary goal, if you will.
Eddie Rester 34:33
So as you think forward, and I know the pandemic has changed some things--I want to talk about that in just a second. But when you look ahead to 2025 or to 2030, how will y'all know that you have been successful? What's the outcome, the metric, maybe, that you're looking for by the time you get halfway through this decade or to the end of this decade?
Hal Beckham 35:02
I think, you know, as I mentioned earlier, we clearly are tracking the patients that we touch. And so we track not only the people that we screen, but we track the people that we sign up who are positive with these conditions, and we track their results. So clearly, we're tracking, are people staying in the program? Are they getting healthier, and having a better quality of life? But I think another sign of success for us will be on the public side, and how much we get sort of the public health space to step up and take some of these programs over.
Hal Beckham 35:49
So some of these programs that I've mentioned, in Kenya, for example, you know, it would be our goal, five to ten years from now that the nation of Kenya has a screening protocol for all its citizens. And that's part of the public health infrastructure that they fund every year in their nation's budget. And that's just a foregone conclusion that that's available to every citizen.
Hal Beckham 36:20
We're willing to sort of, you know, get that started and help subsidize it to start with and bring in these other partners. But I think for us, an ultimate sign of success would be that it's a sort of a guaranteed right of being a citizen in many of these countries.
Eddie Rester 36:40
And that it becomes sustainable beyond just y'all's work, just what y'all have put into it, that it lives beyond you. Yeah. As you talk about all the partnerships that y'all have engaged in, whether it's with drug companies, government agencies, has there ever been a moment where somebody said, "Nah. We don't want to play. We're not interested in that." Or is everybody you've approached to have these conversations with, do they, do you find that most other companies and organizations get on board pretty quickly?
Hal Beckham 37:14
Let's say that everyone acknowledges the burden of NCDs, and they acknowledge the disparities that exist around the world. So no one has questioned the need or the ability to make a difference. I would say, by and large, everyone wants to be part of this. The exception might be, you know, if we're dealing with a private foundation, and they have a stated purpose that, you know, "our focus is on maternal health," for example, or malaria. And so, you know, if they have a certain area of specialty or focus, you know, they would say, we acknowledge the need, but this is kind of outside our wheelhouse or our focus, but I'm not aware of anyone that, you know, has disputed the need or the opportunity.
Hal Beckham 38:11
I think, what I have seen is that it's incredibly time consuming to sort of thread this needle, you know, particularly on the partnerships, because it's a little bit like matchmaking. You know, our organization, we've probably had, you know, 200 different Zoom calls with people of interest, companies of interest. And, you know, sometimes you get a bite, and sometimes you don't. There's always interest, but it's just getting everyone aligned in a way that works, based on people's time horizon, their available resources, and that sort of thing. And making sure you're aligned with the ministries of health. As I mentioned a moment ago, the ultimate goal is to have the governments involved. In many cases, they're not involved on the initial program, but you certainly want their commitment, that if all of us step forward and do this, you're going to be part of it in the end and be willing to carry it forward.
Chris McAlilly 39:23
I guess the scope seems so grand, I wonder how do you spend like a Tuesday? You know, I mean, what does a Tuesday look like for you?
Hal Beckham 39:35
Um, it depends. You know, it can vary, obviously, most days. We are on a lot of calls with partners trying to negotiate these arrangements and these deals. We have a lot of conversations with Medtronic, obviously, making sure that our senior leaders at the company. understand what we're doing and where we're going. It changes very quickly It's a very dynamic world that we live in. And obviously, there's running the team. We have a team now of about 120 people, 113 of those people live in India and Africa. So there's only seven of us in the United States. So lots of early morning and late night phone calls with the teams. But it's very exciting.
Eddie Rester 40:34
When you set your, one of the things, you--I just want to interrupt--the only seven people in the United States and 113 dispersed in the areas where the need is, and where y'all are actually on the ground. To me that says so much about what y'all are doing, and just the vision that you have, that it's not staying, you know, US-centric. You understand that in order to do the best work, you have to have the best people there and not here.
Hal Beckham 41:04
Definitely. We certainly want to build up capabilities and infrastructure in the regions where we operate. I will say that we believe there is an application for this technology and this platform in the United States, and we're doing a couple of pilots in the US because, as you know, there's a lot of hypertension and diabetes in the US and we have our own health disparities across the nation. And so there certainly is what we believe to be a potential for us to do this in the US as well. But yeah, we're clearly focused on being, having most of our resources, being, you know, people that are patient facing.
Eddie Rester 41:55
Yeah, I think about even Mississippi, I think we were either leading the nation or close to leading the nation in both of those two things, hypertension and diabetes. So maybe we can bring y'all to Mississippi, down the river a little bit.
Hal Beckham 42:10
Yeah, I would love that.
Eddie Rester 42:12
What about the pandemic? How did that disrupt you? How did y'all continue working through that? I know particularly in India, when we met up and talked a few months ago, the pandemic was raging in India, and really, a lot of things were happening there that really disrupted what y'all were up to. How are y'all managing through this season?
Hal Beckham 42:36
Yeah, I will have to say I'm very proud of the team. Even though a lot of the day-to-day has changed dramatically, we really haven't missed a beat. Well, we have but we've taken advantage of the time. I would say a at a global level, we've done a lot of work to support and optimize the organization to prepare us for the opportunities ahead. I mentioned, you know, all these partnership conversations that we're having. So we took the year to really stabilize our organization, launch new training, new policies, procedures, really steady the foundation, if you will.
Hal Beckham 43:25
At the same time, we had those many phone calls that I talked about where we were getting to know people in this space and talking with potential funders. So we started kind of building out our network and learning a lot about the space. But for the people on the ground, they obviously had to adjust and adapt what they were doing. You know, there was periods where people were quarantined. But I mentioned we switched to Zoom calls and social media touchpoints, doing things more virtually. One of the things that did have to change was a lot of the times the way that we have identified patients is we would have these large screening camps, where we might actually go to a church on a Sunday afternoon after the conclusion of services and we might test all the congregants there before they went home. Obviously, with no public gatherings, we couldn't have any of these large meetings and groups of people.
Hal Beckham 44:35
But we adopted and adapted our programs to fit, and so we actually had our best year ever. Our year ends in April, so for the year ended April of 21, we had our best year ever despite being in the middle of a pandemic. So we did have to adapt for sure, but we tried to maximize the downtime and, you know, build a platform for the future.
Chris McAlilly 45:07
What do you worry about? What are you hopeful for? What keeps you motivated in the work?
Hal Beckham 45:12
Gosh, what keeps you motivated is the need. When you just look at the numbers and the population of the world, and when you've been over there and seen some of these situations firsthand, it changes your life. So that keeps you motivated and committed. For me, probably my worry, and maybe this is being the finance guy, it's just there are so many opportunities. I'm worried that we, you know, I don't want us to go too fast. I don't want us to drop any balls along the way.
Hal Beckham 45:51
So, I mean, we've got a list right now of 18 different countries that we could go to tomorrow. And a lot of patients have very, you know, a lot of numbers on the board. But, you know, it won't all happen overnight, because we have to negotiate with these partners. But we want to do everything right. We want to make sure that the patient always comes first. And so that's probably what worries me is just prioritizing the most important needs and, you know, keeping everything else on the list, but pacing ourselves.
Eddie Rester 46:34
As you think about other companies, corporations, or maybe businessmen or women who are listening today, and maybe they're thinking "well, maybe my company or maybe my group could could step into this arena or that arena," what encouragement would you offer to them from your own experience?
Hal Beckham 46:55
I would encourage them to think outside the box. You know, there are, so this, you mentioned social enterprises a moment ago and there's a whole space that has evolved in the last decade or two. It's called impact investing. And it's around, you know, really being creative with how you spend your philanthropic capital. Traditionally, you know, people just wrote checks and hoped for the best. And so there's some really sophisticated models out there. There are some brilliant people, you know, in this space that we have met and talk to.
Hal Beckham 47:42
I would just would encourage people to, you know, look at the opportunity and the space and try things that haven't been done before. There's a lot of creative things being done in the impact investing space. And there's a lot of capital that is available. There are a lot of people interested in making a difference in the world, so if you think you have a need that you've identified, be creative in how you think about solving it.
Chris McAlilly 48:22
Well, Hal, thanks so much for taking the time to be with us today. You're doing some great work. We're grateful to hear a little bit about it.
Hal Beckham 48:29
Yeah, thank you so much for the opportunity. It's been a pleasure and privilege.
Eddie Rester 48:33
[OUTRO] Thank you for listening to this episode of The Weight.
Chris McAlilly 48:39
If you like what you heard today, feel free to share the podcast with other people that are in your network. Leave us a review. That's always really helpful. Subscribe, and you can follow us on our social media channels.
Eddie Rester 48:51
If you have any suggestions or guests you'd like us to interview or anything you'd like to share with us, you can send us an email at info@theweightpodcast.com. [END OUTRO]