Toronto – Building on the success of its first weeks in operation, the non-for-profit platform CovidPPEHelp which connects customers who require Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) with suppliers who can provide it, is moving on to its next goal to provide PPE at cost or for free to charitable organizations.
Created in April by professors in the operations management and statistics area at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, CovidPPEHelp is estimated to have facilitated over 1300 transactions for over 8 million PPE items such as surgical masks, gowns, and gloves. Registered users include over 600 customers and over 200 suppliers from more than 200 cities in Canada. By enabling PPE to reach end users, the CovidPPEHelp platform helps protect the lives of Canadians and improve the safety of social and business interactions during the COVID‐19 pandemic. The main feature of the platform is full visibility and transparency.
CovidPPEHelp now aims to help the many charitable organizations that are seeking to procure PPE through the platform. Several suppliers listed on the platform, have agreed to provide PPE at cost for charitable organizations.
Charitable organizations may register as a customer on the platform and list their current PPE needs. Individual or firms may register as donors and designate their gift to a specific charity or to the general cause.
CovidPPEHelp is online at www.CovidPPEHelp.ca, for suppliers, customers, and donors to register and upload their information. The platform development was the brainchild of Rotman School faculty members Philipp Afèche, Opher Baron, Ming Hu, and Dmitry Krass. The platform was created and launched with the help of Avirton Inc., Matthew Crack, a web designer and is supported by a team of PhD and Master’s students, and other volunteers, led by Val Kobylianskii, Rotman MBA’03.
Reflecting the success of the platform, the province of Ontario’s Ontario Together initiative has listed
www.CovidPPEHelp.ca as a place to buy and sell PPE.
Tax-deductible donations to support CovidPPEHelp.ca are also accepted through the Rotman School of Management.
The Rotman School of Management is part of the University of Toronto, a global centre of research and teaching excellence at the heart of Canada’s commercial capital. Rotman is a catalyst for transformative learning, insights and public engagement, bringing together diverse views and initiatives around a defining purpose: to create value for business and society. For more information, visit www.rotman.utoronto.ca.
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For more information:
Ken McGuffin
Manager, Media Relations
Rotman School of Management
University of Toronto
mcguffin@rotman.utoronto.ca