Gates Foundation, USAID offer cash for companies that help Haitians bank with cell phones

Gates Foundation, USAID offer prizes to help Haiti

SEATTLE — The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is using its financial clout to push the Haitian marketplace toward change by offering $10 million in prizes to the first companies to help Haitians send and receive money with their cell phones.

The project is different from the foundation’s more common approach. It usually asks for proposals, makes grants and then hopes for good results. This time, the foundation and its partner — the U.S. Agency for International Development — wants to see the results first and then hand out some cash.

In the past four years, the Gates Foundation has committed nearly $500 million toward helping the poor get mobile access to financial services, mostly in Africa. The foundation has also given $2 million toward relief efforts in Haiti.