by Diana Yang - Events -

PRESS RELEASE: Legatum FORTUNE Technology Prize Awarded to Comat Technologies

Source: Legatum.

Original press release here.

Washington, December 1 —The Legatum FORTUNE Technology Prize was awarded to both Comat Technologies Pvt Ltd and Microfinance International, announced at the Fortune 500 Forum gala dinner at the U.S. State Department. The total purse of USD 1 million will be shared between the two companies.

Announced in July 2008, the Legatum FORTUNE Technology Prize honors individuals and organizations whose application of technology solutions has demonstrably improved the quality of life of impoverished populations. It was founded upon the conviction that sustainable, scalable, technology-driven business enterprises offer the most effective means to promote prosperity and bring people out of poverty.

Comat Technologies is a social enterprise that provides easy access to essential information, such as citizen records and entitlement benefits, and to skills training and educational services in rural India. Microfinance International provides innovative payment solutions that serve the unbanked by linking financial institutions, remittance senders and recipients.

Commenting upon the winners, Mark Stoleson, Legatum’s president, said, “Each of the finalists is proof that business can do well by doing good. Both Comat and Microfinance International demonstrate how technology is a driver of increased economic prosperity and has the proven capability to improve lives in developing countries. The entrepreneurial flair and drive of both companies made them stand out amongst a very strong field.”

Nominations for the prize were solicited from a network of experts with experience in technology and development issues, and organizations were evaluated by a board of senior editors and writers from FORTUNE, chaired by assistant managing editor, Stephanie Mehta. The resulting short list of finalists presented their projects to a board of internationally-known judges, chaired by Iqbal Z. Quadir, Head of MIT’s Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship. The panel also included Anne-Marie
Slaughter, Dean of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University; Peter Bloom, Managing Director, Atlantic Capital; Rubens Gama, Minister Counselor for Commercial Affairs and Technology at the Brazillian Embassy; and Judy Wakhungu, Executive Director of the African Center for Technological Studies in Nairobi, Kenya.

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