Jane Chen is the co-founder of Embrace. She is a TED speaker and a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum. She has been selected for Forbes' Impact 30, and is a recipient of the Economist Innovation Award and Fast Company Innovation Award. Jane has also been recognized as Social Entrepreneur of the Year by the World Economic Forum. Jane received her MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business, and her Masters in Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School of Government. She received her BA from Pomona College.
Russ Alan Prince: Embrace Global is doing some incredible work for a great cause. Tell us about yourself, how you founded Embrace and what your organization’s goals are.
Jane Chen: I’m the co-founder of Embrace Global. Embrace was the result of an assignment during my first year as a student at Stanford University. In my “Design for Extreme Affordability” class, my team, which was comprised of engineering and business students, was challenged to develop a baby incubator that costs less than 1% of the cost of a traditional incubator. In order to truly understand the need, we did on-the-ground research by visiting the places where this device would be used—especially in developing countries. We traveled to several villages in South India, where we found mothers living in devastating conditions. In one instance, a new mother had given birth over four hours away from the nearest hospital and couldn’t access an incubator. As a result, her baby tragically died. Unfortunately, this is far from an isolated incident; such tragedies are all too common in countries where proper resources and medical technologies are lacking. In fact, every ten seconds, another baby dies somewhere in the world. 3 million babies die in the first 28 days of their life every year. Our goal at Embrace is to lower that statistic by distributing our innovative baby incubators globally so every baby has a chance to survive.
Prince: These incubators are utilizing some impressive technology. What makes them different and how do they work?
Chen: When we arrived in India, we realized our incubator needed to be not only cost-effective, but also portable and simple. We needed to find a way to make it work without constant electricity.
The product we created looks nothing like a traditional incubator. Instead, it looks like a small sleeping bag for a baby. The material is waterproof and easily sterilized so it can be used again and again.
The genius of this device lies in a pouch that sits in the back of the sleeping bag, which holds a wax-like substance. The melting point of the wax is human body temperature—98 degrees Fahrenheit. When the substance is melted, it will maintain the exact same temperature for up to eight hours at a time, after which, you can simply reheat the pouch and place it back in the pocket. This creates a warm, stable, microenvironment for the newborn, which can often mean the difference between life and death. To date, this technology has helped save nearly 350,000 babies around the world.
Prince: How has the situation in Ukraine impacted your cause and what are you doing to help? Why is your mission more important now than ever?
Chen: Every day, 1,000 babies are born in Ukraine. Since the beginning of the war, Ukraine’s rate of premature births has more than doubled due to increased stress on expectant mothers. Many women must now give birth in bomb shelters or devastated areas without access to baby incubators. We are mobilizing to help meet the needs of these Ukrainian mothers and their babies. We have already donated 150 incubators to UNICEF in Ukraine, but the need is much greater. Our goal is to raise $700,000 to provide Ukraine with 3,000 additional incubators, which would save the lives of thousands of babies.
Prince: How can people get involved?
Chen: The easiest way for people to get involved is to check our website embraceglobal.org and our GoFundMe campaign for Ukraine. In addition to financial support, we invite anyone who is touched by our mission to help spread the word by sharing about us on social media. We cannot thank you enough!
RUSS ALAN PRINCE is the Executive Director of Private Wealth magazine (pw-mag.com) and Chief Content Officer for High-Net-Worth Genius (hnwgenius.com). He consults with family offices, the wealthy, fast-tracking entrepreneurs, and select professionals.
