Catalysts Are Leading the Way Out of the Pandemic

In Uganda, Shamim Nabuuma Kaliisa is using drones and artificial intelligence to screen women in remote villages for cervical and breast cancer. Nabuuma Kaliisa’s mission is rooted in personal tragedy: her own mother died of cancer that hadn’t been diagnosed early enough, and she herself is a breast cancer survivor.

Kaliisa is one of 31 extraordinary individuals selected by the Bloomberg New Economy to be part of an inaugural group of “Catalysts.”

Among them are scientists, researchers, entrepreneurs and policymakers. Some, like Nabuuma Kaliisa, operate small startups. Others, like Anthony Tan, co-founder of Singapore-based Grab, run businesses worth billions of dollars. A common thread is that they are all addressing the greatest challenges of our time—among them climate change, food security and inequality, including chronic health disparities.