People in rural India can now use their phones to access clean water, tuition support

Akanksha Hazari's road to becoming one of India's most promising tech entrepreneurs was an unconventional one. After graduating from Princeton University in 2005, she dreamed of climbing the diplomatic ranks and worked as a project manager for the Aspen Institute, attempting to end the longstanding Israeli-Palestinian conflict by creating joint business ventures in hopes they would facilitate peace. At the time, Hazari believed she'd spend her career in the policy world — but life had other plans for her.

In 2009, she volunteered with TechnoServe, an organization that uses business solutions to fight poverty. While serving as a consultant in several rural villages across India, she noticed that residents didn't have access to basic services such as clean water — but they did have access to mobile phones. In fact, upwards of 80% of Indian households at the bottom of the economic ladder own a mobile phone. Read more...