We spoke to the purpose-driven social impact leaders of our partner companies during the COVID-19 pandemic to find out the challenges they faced, how they resolved to overcome them, and their thoughts on accelerating Shared Impact.
In this series, we will continue the session with Cameron Van Breda, Co-founder, and CEO of Hollo.
Hollo is a Smart AI-Powered Preventative platform that aims at improving the mental health of individuals by integrating detecting symptoms, lifestyle tracking, facilitating self-help and professional therapeutic services via its app.
The pandemic has caused many unprecedented challenges for social impact organizations. What are the unique challenges faced by Hollo, and how are you trying to overcome them? What are the major lessons you have learnt that would go into building resilience in your organization, and/or further your impact going forward?
Hollo has a unique position as a technology-based company, so thankfully we were not too adversely affected by COVID-19. Most of our staff worked remotely when it was required to do so, and being agile in the way we work allowed us to continue in product development.
However, one way that we were affected is that we were not able to conduct the corporate meetings as we had wanted to in the past. We ended up having to do a lot of video meetings, which removed the authentic experience of interacting that we enjoyed and used to our advantage when meeting people in person.
A blessing in disguise was that we were able to have back-to-back meetings with different clients/partners that would typically require us to travel across Hong Kong, losing precious hours that could have been used somewhere else.
One of our unique experiences was having our first hires during COVID-19. Over the summer of 2020, we had hired and onboarded three new interns to work with us on marketing and psychological research. However, as we had little experience in creating a corporate culture of our own and were faced with the difficulty of transitioning to online working spaces, we didn’t feel like we had connected well with our interns over the summer as much as we would have liked. This taught us the importance of communication and alignment of vision, as well as engaging our staff outside the context of work to truly build up proper relationships.
What kind of support do you think is needed in Hong Kong for social impact organizations like yours, in good times and bad?
We believe a lot of social impacts organizations are looking for funding and for support in transitioning their businesses to become more digitally friendly within the “new normal”. We believe that as more and more corporations and consumers/general public become more socially aware, the support in volunteer numbers, corporate opportunities, and marketing support can really boost the impact that these organizations can create.
What is the system change that Hollo seeks?
We seek to change the way that mental health is treated in society, and to help eradicate the stigma that surrounds it, and to provide the professional help that can support those suffering from it.
Lastly, where do you see Hollo five years from now?
We see ourselves building more and more comprehensive technology that supports detecting, treating, and supporting mental health practices. From live, real-time analysis and support during online counseling sessions, to preventative and actionable data insights that allow practitioners to prevent more serious mental health cases from developing into life-threatening situations.
We hope that one day we can support all the different types of mental illnesses that exist in the world. With a focus on education, supporting the youth, and impact space through our company, we hope to re-invest the impact that we bring to the community through different means.
