Serving Changemakers,
boosting technology, business & social innovations
Who We Are
Swiss & South Consulting is led and managed by Bertand Klaiber, who can also call on an extensive network of partners, consultants, and suppliers to carry out complex tasks and missions.
ABOUT THE FOUNDER AND CEO
Engineering
& Marketing
(B2B, B2C)
Bertrand graduated in electrical engineering at EPFL in 1994 and completed an MBA with honors at HEC Lausanne in 2004.
He worked for several international companies, namely Motorola Semiconductors, Logitech and LEM, assuming increasing levels of responsibility from product management to worldwide strategic marketing.
Power Supply
& Cleantech
During 6 years Bertrand successfully developped and managed the Industrial Automation & Energy business at LEM - including a whole new range of products and services, communication & sales channels, and P&L for markets such as energy efficiency, renewable energies, UPS, and smart grid. This extensive experience allowed him later at EPFL to led the development the University Research Center on Energy for Health Care in Yaoundé, Cameroon. This center aims at fostering technology development and entrepreneurship to strengthen primary healthcare in southern countries with reliable and sustainable electricity supply and appropriate equipment.
Global Health
& Medtech
In 2010 Bertrand co-created the EssentialMed foundation whose mission consists in providing access to appropriate medical technologies to address inequalities in health care across the globe. He was part of the team that initiated the GlobalDiagnostiX project, which arose from the observation that most health workers in the Global South must deal – often heroically – with the lack of reliable medical equipment in their hospitals. This project aimed to develop a new X-ray imaging system specifically for these contexts. From 2012 to 2015, Bertrand contributed to raise CHF 5 million to finance the research project and led the development of the technology at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) with a consortium of a dozen leading medical and engineering institutes and industrial partners.
In 2012 he co-created the EssentialTech program at EPFL whose mission is to harness science and technology to drive sustainable development, humanitarian action and peace.
Social
Entrepreneurship
As an impact entrepreneur, Bertrand has been a pioneer in Switzerland in adopting business approaches to address social and environmental issues. Convinced that both high profitability and large social impact could be achieved simultaneously, he developed an original business model and founded the company Pristem in 2015 as a spin-off from EPFL, with the goal to industrialize and deploy a new teleradiology technology.
Fundraising
& Leadership
After making a business plan, Bertrand raised CHF 14 million to finance the medical product industrialization phase that has been successfully achieved. As the CEO of Pristem, he hired, led, and inspired a team of 20 high-skilled employees with various expertise and backgrounds. He developed the company strategy, budget, tactical planning, structure, and culture. He oversaw and regularly reported to the Board of Directors and investors achievement of key milestones, Quality and Regulatory objectives, and Social and Environmental impact assessment (based on B-Corp metrics).
Multicultural Marketing &
User-centered Design
Born in South-Africa and raised in South-East Asia and Switzerland, Bertrand has always had an important exposure to different cultures across the world. He travelled a lot during his career, meeting different stakeholders, customers, and users to understand their needs and expectations and provide sound requirements to R&D teams who could develop outstanding competitive advantages. In his different product marketing and business development roles, he always adopted an agile and user-centered design approach to ensure that the products and services design would be uniquely adapted to the future customers’ needs and users’ contexts. He has also been in charge of the marketing for different companies and solutions, including the development of go-to-market strategies, brand development, communication activities and pricing definition.
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
Medical technology innovation for a sustainable impact in Low- and Middle-Income countries: a holistic approach
(2020, July 4)
Author(s): Makohliso, S., Klaiber, B., Sahli, R., Tapouh, J. R. M., Amvene, S. N., Stoll, B., & Schönenberger, K.
Read on: https://engrxiv.org/index.php/engrxiv/preprint/view/1090
Sustainable Access to Energy in the Global South: Essential Technologies and Implementation Approaches
Hostettler Silvia, Gadgil Ashok, Hazboun Eileen, ed. (2015). Klaiber Bertrand, co-author.
Springer: Paris, Heidelberg, New York, Dordrecht, London
Abstract: Holistic and Systemic Approaches to Implement Energy Access Solutions in the Global South
Access to Modern Energy Services for Health Facilities in Resource-Constrained Settings - A Review of Status, Significance, Challenges and Measurement
World Health Organization & World Bank. (2014). ISBN 9789241507646
Power backup systems for district hospitals in Cameroon: an example of the comprehensive approach developed at the CURES research center on energy for healthcare
Crettenand Nicolas, Ngounou Guy Merlin, Klaiber Bertrand, SchönenbergerKlaus. Powergen Africa Conference 2014, 17-19 March 2014, Cape Town, South Africa