LONDON, June 9, 2016:
The Financial Times and IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, today announced the winners of the 2016 FT/IFC Transformational Business Awards.
This year’s programme marked 11 years of collaboration between FT and IFC on global awards initiatives that highlight ground-breaking, commercially viable solutions to today’s development challenges. For 2016, special attention was given to products and services that address challenges around climate change, especially in rapidly growing urban areas. The awards also highlighted the role of the private sector in achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A total of 155 entries were received from 219 organisations involving projects in 92 countries.
The awards were presented at a special dinner in London attended by around 250 senior decision-makers in business, finance and development. The event followed a half-day Transformational Business Conference organised by the Financial Times and IFC.
Microvast, a power solutions provider for electric vehicles, received a special award for Excellence in Transformational Business.
The winners and highly commended are:
Achievement in Low-Carbon Urban Transformation
· Winner:Microvast
· Highly Commended: Lumos and Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC)
Excellence in City-Led Transformation
· Winner:New Taipei City Government
· Highly Commended: Harare City Council
Achievement in Transformational Technology
· Winner: Piramal Foundation
· Highly Commended: what3words
Achievement in Transformational Finance
· Winner: NatureVest, The Nature Conservancy and JPMorgan Chase & Co
Achievement in Sustainable Development: Sustainable Agriculture
· Winner: Farmerline
· Highly Commended: Honey Care Africa
Achievement in Sustainable Development: Maternal and Infant Health
· Winner: Kwara State Health Insurance Program
Special Award: Excellence in Transformational Business
· Winner: Microvast
“This year’s winners and specially commended organisations have made ground-breaking progress on solutions to some of the biggest challenges affecting sustainable development. The judges were delighted with the strength of all the short-listed entries and the innovation that is being generated across key areas, including finance, energy, agriculture and health,” said John Thornhill, innovation editor of the Financial Times and co-chair of the awards judging panel.
"The awards signal to the market where we see the greatest potential for the private sector to bring sustainable solutions to climate change and other challenges
,”
said Nena Stoiljkovic, vice president, Global Client Services, IFC, and co-chair of the judging awards judging panel. “Large companies and start-ups alike are coming up with innovative business models for equitable social and economic development.”
The judging panel consisted of:
· John Thornhill, innovation editor, Financial Times (co-chair)
· Nena Stoiljkovic, vice president, Global Client Services, IFC (co-chair)
· Samir Abhyankar, partner, TPG Growth
· Billy Cobbett, director, Cities Alliance
· Mary-Ellen Iskenderian, president and CEO, Women’s World Banking
· Chris Locke, founder, Caribou Digital
· Kanini Mutooni, director for investment, East Africa Trade & Investment Hub
· Nick Robins, co-director, Inquiry into the Design of a Sustainable Financial System, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
· Henrik Skovby, executive chairman, Dalberg Group
PwC was technical advisor for the programme, and Cities Alliance was knowledge partner.
The programme was supported by SilverStreet Capital and Omidyar Network.
For more details on the FT/IFC Transformational Business Conference and Awards, please visit
live.ft.com/transformationalbusiness
, where you will also find photographs of both events.
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For further information, please contact:
Sin Yee Hon, FT: sinyee.hon@ft.com
Nadezda Nikiforova, IFC: nnikiforova@ifc.org
About the Financial Times:
The Financial Times, one of the world’s leading business news organisations, is recognised internationally for its authority, integrity and accuracy. Providing essential news, comment, data and analysis for the global business community, the FT has a combined paid print and digital circulation of 780,000. Mobile is an increasingly important channel for the FT, driving almost half of total traffic.
About IFC:
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. Working with more than 2,000 businesses worldwide, we use our capital, expertise, and influence, to create opportunity where it’s needed most. In FY15, our long-term investments in developing countries rose to nearly $18 billion, helping the private sector play an essential role in the global effort to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity. For more information, visit
www.ifc.org
