Will Tanner is building a web hub for those who care for the mentally distressed. Billie Quinlan wants to make women happier with a digital sex guru. Rajshekar Patil is devising tools to help children moderate screen time. Rachel Thomas aims to change how people think using online modules.

In a speed-pitching session (like Dragon’s Den on fast-forward with better coffee and fewer self-interested billionaires) these and 20 similar propositions are rattled out by teams of two or three people who met only weeks ago.

Other ideas include proposals for improving maternal mental health, revamping social care and getting people active, as well as various “digital assistants” to help prevent burnout, manage money or plan retirement.

The proponents are an ultra-qualified class of 2018 – 55 people from 19 countries, doctors, data scientists, software developers and serial entrepreneurs who have been selected for an intense six-month programme under the aegis of Zinc, a business incubator with a social mission.

The aim is ambitious: to rethink the world’s approach to mental health treatment.

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And how it needs rethinking. Mental illness has emerged as a ubiquitous, universal scourge in recent years. No country or social group is immune. Nowhere has got to grips with how to treat the millions who fall ill every year. Health systems are stretched to helplessness. Mental health is still a poor relation of physical health. Pills are a scattergun approach. Therapy is costly, woefully inaccessible, even in rich countries.

In short, this is a crisis that is ripe for innovation. That’s where Zinc comes in. “We believe that too many important social problems are left to governments and charities to fix, and too many of them don’t get fixed,” says Paul Kirby, who founded Zinc last year with venture capitalist Saul Klein and marketing strategist Ella Goldner.

“Solutions often rely on individuals, families, local communities, employers and other having the motivation, opportunities and capabilities to change things for themselves,” Kirby added.

One thing people who suddenly succumb to mental illness often complain about is not just the lack of clinical help but the paucity of information on what is available – locally, nationally, publicly, privately.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Will Tanner and business partner Ben Grace Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian

Jim Woods reckons the answer is a proper platform for services – a sort of “moneysupermarket.com for mental health” as he puts it. The bewildered sufferer will get guidance on treatments, counsellors, self-help communities, apps, peer support and literature.

“We want to build a whole new global system for mental health. A platform with answers for people rich and poor,” says Woods, an entrepreneur and former CEO of the Yo! group. The aim is to offer prevention as well as cure, and Woods expects businesses to sign up to the platform because of the growing interest in preventing staff becoming sick.

“The NHS can only do reactive, fixing illnesses,” Woods says. “Prevention is the cheapest way.”

Others are more interested in the physical manifestations of mental unease. Take IBS, or irritable bowel syndrome. Gastro specialists admit there are few treatments for sufferers. Some doctors believe it is caused principally by a surfeit of stress.

“IBS is all about stress, and with technology we can deliver tools that can alleviate symptoms,” says Jossy Onwade, a 27-year-old Nigerian doctor, who left his home and family and came to London for the first time to take on the challenge.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Jossy Onwade and partner Elena Mustatea Photograph: Mark Rice-Oxley/The Guardian

Indeed, many of the participants have left homes, jobs, spouses, children behind to pursue their ambitions. Aziz Lalljee left his wife in America for six months to try to realise his plan for “a new model of domiciliary social care that dignifies the carer and delights the receiver”.

“I’m here for as long as it takes for this to succeed,” he promises.

Of course, not all the ideas will get off the ground. Some do not seem terribly original: you wonder, for example, whether a world that already has a proliferation of mental health apps such as headspace and woebot needs any more or whether shattered minds in need of rest really need more digital stimulus.

The fact that these are businesses could also prove controversial: some will fail; some may make profits – from the mental discomfort of others.

Entrepreneur and investor Tuvi Orbach is already mentoring several groups with a view to buying stakes. “I will invest in a few of these companies because I believe they will be successful,” he says.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest A pitching session at Zinc Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian

Zinc aims to run 15 such programmes over the next five years, hoping to create as many as 200 new businesses to tackle pressing social issues in the developed world. It is currently raising money to support its programmes. “We are relying on a lot of goodwill,” says Kirby.

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