The Action Plan

OXFO Covid-19 Action Plan

We started planning the Oxford Foundry Covid-19 Action Plan as soon as Covid-19 hit. The Action Plan was launched in April 2020 and focused on two critical elements. 1. Rapidly scaling ventures in

our portfolio who were responding directly to Covid-19

We dramatically increased support, scaled our networks and brought together a grant fund to support the ventures in our portfolio directly helping the pandemic - nearly 50%. Through the generosity of the Foundry’s network of entrepreneurs and business leaders, we aimed to provide the crucial runway and resources the ventures needed to achieve maximum impact, as quickly as possible. 2. Rapidly building, scaling

and implementing new solutions to challenges arising as a result of the pandemic, in order to build resilience for the future

We developed and launched the OXFO Covid-19 Rapid Solutions Builder programme, a programme to empower Oxford’s talented entrepreneurial students and alumni to build practical solutions to the secondary and tertiary problems that the crisis has brought to the surface –challenges such as food scarcity, supply chain breakdown, coping with mass bereavement and trauma, and the remote delivery of education. The OXFO Covid-19 Action Plan covered four critical impact streams: as the elderly and disabled. It also

Healthcare, Education, Inclusive Social Engagement & Mobility, and Operations, Logistics and Supply Chains.

Healthcare

As cases of Covid-19 rose in the Spring of 2020, our aim was to focus on using innovation and entrepreneurship as a means of access to food, pharmacy and grocery

creating resilience in local, national and global healthcare systems to address the disruption caused by the virus; to provide training and mental health support for frontline medical professionals; to ensure healthcare equity and accessibility for vulnerable and marginalised groups; and to use new technologies to build better healthcare systems for the future.

Education

With the pandemic causing schools, universities and other learning establishments around the world to close, millions of students and educators at every level had to adapt to online learning almost overnight, and parents and carers were faced with the challenges of home schooling their children while Inclusive Social Engagement & Mobility

The pandemic severely limited the possibility of face-to-face social interactions, which was potentially devastating for vulnerable groups such continues to have a strong impact on livelihoods and local economies, with many jobs set to be lost and not replaced in the post-pandemic era.

Operations, Logistics & Supply Chains

The pandemic caused large-scale disruption to national food production and distribution systems, and highlighted the need for stronger and more resilient global supply chains. Protecting one another through social distancing, and ensuring that the elderly and vulnerable have priority continuing to work themselves.

delivery services was also identified as a paramount need.

OXFO team (top left to bottom right, Alex Feyler, Katy Clapham, Sophie Gammage, Jonny Thomson, Kate Nilsson, Amy Lothian, Rose Talbot, Ana Bakshi, Dan James)