Microfinance International was awarded Legatum Fortune Technology Prize
December 2, 2008 (Washington, DC) Microfinance International Corporation (MFIC) was awarded the first Legatum Fortune Technology Prize yesterday for its application of innovative technology in building financial infrastructure for the poor worldwide. The highly prestigious award was established this year by Fortune and Legatum, a UAE-based international investment organization, to recognize individuals and organizations that demonstrate the impact of technology on intractable development issues. It is 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.
The selection was made by a panel of judges led by Iqbal Z. Quadir, Director of the Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship at MIT, on the basis that MFIC possesses "one of the most innovative business models." MFIC will share the $1 million Prize Fund with co-winner, Comat Technologies of India.
"We are honored that the technology, scalability and development impact of MFIC was recognized by the prominent judges," said Atsumasa Tochisako, President and CEO of MFIC. ARIAS, MFIC's money transfer solution, leverages the multi-billion dollar global remittance flow towards the economic development of immigrants' countries of origin. It offers parties as different as banks, retailers and mobile network operators, a capable one-stop solution to serve immigrants and thereby unites multiple entities to empower these underserved consumers -- who can then transform themselves into the driving force of economic development.
MFIC is a Washington DC-based company whose mission is to make affordable and professional financial services available to immigrants and their families. The company is supported by over 100 socially conscious individual and institutional investors, including FMO of the Netherlands, the Development Bank of Japan and Tokyo Fire and Marine.
The selection was made by a panel of judges led by Iqbal Z. Quadir, Director of the Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship at MIT, on the basis that MFIC possesses "one of the most innovative business models." MFIC will share the $1 million Prize Fund with co-winner, Comat Technologies of India.
"We are honored that the technology, scalability and development impact of MFIC was recognized by the prominent judges," said Atsumasa Tochisako, President and CEO of MFIC. ARIAS, MFIC's money transfer solution, leverages the multi-billion dollar global remittance flow towards the economic development of immigrants' countries of origin. It offers parties as different as banks, retailers and mobile network operators, a capable one-stop solution to serve immigrants and thereby unites multiple entities to empower these underserved consumers -- who can then transform themselves into the driving force of economic development.
MFIC is a Washington DC-based company whose mission is to make affordable and professional financial services available to immigrants and their families. The company is supported by over 100 socially conscious individual and institutional investors, including FMO of the Netherlands, the Development Bank of Japan and Tokyo Fire and Marine.