HEARX: “BREAKING THE BARRIERS IN HEARING LOSS DETECTION”

With already seven start-ups under his belt, Nic Klopper is always looking for new opportunities. He is without a doubt a true entrepreneur at heart. When he was asked to lead the effort to commercialize hearX Group’s intellectual property, he didn’t hesitate to take on the challenge. His hard work has paid off, as hearX’s technological solution for hearing screenings has become a leader in the industry.

“What I really liked about hearX from the beginning was the true disruptiveness and social impact of it. Its aim to make hearing solutions accessible for everybody was something I admired. However, hearing test equipment has always been expensive.  It was our aim to revolutionize this.”

THE SOLUTION

“Our solution consists of commercially available hardware like a smartphone, headphones, and customised software. The new solution reduced costs by approximately 80 per cent making it accessible to a wider audience. Our unique product allows people with minimal training to conduct screenings in resource constrained environments. 

Of course there were challenges along the way. We had to secure funding and find top talent to develop the product. But the biggest challenge was ensuring our technology met the difficult regulatory compliance and requirements.”

JOURNEY AS AN ENTREPRENEUR

“Although I consider myself a true entrepreneur at heart, there is no one in the family who shared the same path. There were no footsteps to follow. Both of my parents have an academic background and I do think this contributed to me developing the mind and skills of an entrepreneur.

For me being an entrepreneur is more than a job – it’s a lifestyle. To succeed you need to know your product and your customers better than anyone else and have a burning desire to succeed. If you have those skills, it doesn’t really matter which industry you are in. I

Like we always say: “If you are not embarrassed by your first product, you launched it too late.”

ACHIEVEMENTS

“Our biggest achievement thus far has been to successfully screen more than 70,000 people from more than 25 countries for potential hearing loss. Furthermore, the hearX Group has experienced immense success in terms of awards and accolades, one of the highlights of 2017 is our selection as a finalist for the Accelerate2030 program. Our growth has been astronomical: Double digit numbers per month.”

This article is one in a series presenting finalists from previous editions of the Accelerate2030 global scaling program. The third edition of the program in currently in the national scale-readiness phase and the international finalists will be selected at the end of August. The international finalists will be present at the Impact Hub Geneva and the SwissSustainable Finance week from the 4th until the 11th of October.

The article was originally published 5/10/2017 on the blog of Impact Hub Geneva and is written by Marlou Dahmen.

https://geneva.impacthub.net/hearx-breaking-the-barriers-in-hearing-loss-detection/