In 2018, with the support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), LeFil conducted a study of the positive externalities of Mamotest, an Argentinian social enterprise that provides breast cancer screenings. The study quantified the full impact generated by the company for its patients and society at large. LeFil estimated the total amount of benefits to be US$6.2 million per year, or roughly US$1 million per clinic.

Since then, LeFil’s study has benefited Mamotest in multiple ways. First of all, understanding the real impact of their solution, in concrete numbers, was a validation of their model and a source of inspiration and motivation for the team. More importantly perhaps, this gave them a lot of credibility in the media, in negotiating with governments or investment funds, or when talking with international agencies and funders. Concretely, Mamotest was able to sell its solution to three Argentinian provinces (Corrientes, Misiones and La Rioja), where they have been engaged to build or manage the provincial tele-mammography services, for a total of 11 centers and a potential reach of 80,000 women per year. The total contract value is over 2 million USD per year – making LeFil’s study, which only costed Mamotest a few thousand dollars, well worth the investment!

The experience of Mamotest confirms the crucial role of high-quality, data-led analysis. A comprehensive assessment and quantification of social impact can differentiate a social enterprise and unlock significant expansion opportunities.