In December 2007, the MIT Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship and Canada’s International Development Research Centre provided seed grants for teams of MIT students pursuing promising enterprise solutions to development challenges in low-income countries. Grantees selected through the competitive review process range in industry and geographical focus. Teams used these grants to fund market research, project scoping, and pilot studies during the 2008 Independent Activities Period (IAP). Many of the grantee teams successfully competed in the 2008 MIT $100k Business Plan Competition.

The 2008 MIT Legatum / IDRC seed grant recipients are listed below:

• Appropria MedSolutions: South Asian medical incubator business
• Assured Labor: Brazilian employer-labor matching service
• ChiVE China Ventures in Energy: Surveying Chinese energy ventures
• ClickDiagnostics: Diagnostics via mobile-phone cameras (South Asia)
• Developing World Prosthetics: Indian prosthetics innovations
• Essential Manpower: Effort to end labor exploitation of workers
• Household Water Treatment and Safe Storage: Water filtration research in Ghana
• Katalitica: Supports rural economic growth in Latin America.
• Pure Home Water: Ghana water system market studies
• RemesaTel: Mexican mobile phone remittance market
• Rice-to-Riches: West African rice mill village ventures
• Selsabila: Sudanese irrigation systems
• Silkmotel: Motel chain in Central Asia
• SPARK!: Egyptian leadership development program
• SurePay: Nigerian secure payments systems
• TeguToyworks: Honduran wooden toys venture
• ThinkHealth: Indian indoor pollution reduction system
• uBox: Indian patient health informatics systems
• Village Drug Store: West African village pharmacy network
• Village Entrepreneurship Center: Entrepreneurship training in rural Bangladesh
• World Venture Networks: SME micro-venture funds

Information on the next round of seed grant funding opportunities will be posted on the Legatum Center website during the 2008-2009 Academic Year.