We looked at Riders for Health last year and were taken with their undeniable coolness as well as the focus and completeness of their operational model. Check out this discussion and related links. Since then, a new study and articles have come out: here’s Fueling Growth by Sonali Rammohan in Stanford Social Innovation Review, Summer 2010:

Riders for Health had won international acclaim for its novel approach to maintaining health transport vehicles in sub-Saharan Africa. Yet the organization was having trouble scaling its services at its first site: Gambia. Here is how the organization won both government support and private funding for its latest innovation.

Another related piece summarizing the work appears in Stanford Business Magazine Online is entitled Can Oil Filters Improve Health Care? For more depth, the full 40-page supply chain management case on the Gambian fleet-leasing model is here and there’s also a recent BBC video documentary taking a look at the business model.

Now, here’s a question we came up with: what are the incentives for each party–the Gambian government, Riders for Health–to share the benefits and savings? How do you create smart and flexible arrangements, including business contracts, that ensure that the benefits are spread in a way that best furthers development and health care access? Who benefits from the money saved?