We are proud to announce that today Hydrogen has been named to the Fast Company World Changing Ideas list in the “Developing World Technology” category. This is such a great honor for the company, and truly shows our global reach and potential impact on the financially underserved.
About the Award
Hydrogen was named to the honorable mention list in the category, beating out hundreds of other entrants.
Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas awards honor products, concepts, companies, policies, and designs that are pursuing innovation for the good of society and the planet. The contest, now in its third year, has honored everything from large companies’ sustainability initiatives to clever consumer products to groundbreaking government policies. There are many problems in the world, and we are interested in innovative ideas that solve any of them…Entries will be judged on impact, design, scalability, and ingenuity.
Developing world technology winners are defined by Fast Company as the following:
Products designed specifically for the developing world, both ones intended for the bottom of the pyramid and those intended to help create leapfrog innovation.
Why the Developing World is Important to Hydrogen
As we pointed out in the first month Hydrogen started operating, there are billions of unbanked people around the globe, and technologies like the Hydro blockchain and our Atom/Molecule API platforms can disrupt the status quo.
Hydrogen, along with Web 2.0 innovators such as Stripe, Square, and Paypal, have the opportunity to expand financial inclusion to billions.
How? Think of how complex it is for an entrepreneur in Indonesia, or Bolivia, or Ghana, to offer a new savings application. They will need all of the following:
- Cloud infrastructure
- Back office connectivity
- Security infrastructure
- Mobile infrastructure
- Deep product expertise
- Bank account and personal finance data
- Payment connectivity
- Crypto wallet integrations
- Identity verification technology
- UX libraries
…and so much more. Hydrogen deploys U.S. based infrastructure to these markets instantly, in the cloud, and at a fraction of the cost it would take to build it from scratch.
Just think for a minute about the implications of that. Millions of entrepreneurs can now start financial technology companies, and incumbent firms no longer have excuses not to offer new technologies to the emerging middle classes of their respective countries.
Not only is this Fintech in a Box, you can think of it as FINANCIAL INCLUSION IN A BOX as well.
My Travels
I am blessed that my family traveled thousands of miles to America over 100 years ago, in search of new economic opportunities. Three generations later, I have the means to start a company that can now empower those that are now just starting this journey of upward economic mobility.
My travels the last 10 years have taken me to all corners of the globe — from the favelas of Brazil, to the back roads of India, and the street markets of Southeast Asia, and beyond. I have seen so much ingenuity, innovation, and potential in every economy I have visited. It is up to entrepreneurs like us to provide these economies with the tools they need to be successful.
As the Fast Company editors say —
Our goal with these awards is to bring attention to ideas with great potential, and help them expand their reach and serve as inspiration for others.
We hope this award will inspire other U.S. based entrepreneurs to expand the reach of their offerings. Think outside of our borders. Yes, we have financial challenges in the U.S. that can be solved by fintech, but there is a whole world out there in need of these solutions too.
