Company honored for work in bringing innovative, biometric solutions for banking to the unbanked in sub-Saharan Africa
Quincy, MA — May 10, 2018 – Veridium, a leader in strong authentication solutions using biometrics instead of passwords and tokens, announced that it has been named a finalist in Fast Company’s 2018 World Changing Ideas Awards for its mobile contactless fingerprint technology bringing banking to the unbanked populations in sub-Saharan Africa. The award honors businesses, policies, projects and concepts that offer innovative solutions to the issues facing humanity.
Veridium partnered with Wala, a South African-based, blockchain-powered financial services platform, on a pilot program to demonstrate a new digital banking model that can bring accessible, zero-fee banking to the nearly 3.5 billion people excluded worldwide. Since Veridium’s 4 Fingers TouchlessID is compatible with Android phone models up to ten years old, the technology has the promise to bring banking to developing countries as a method for verifying identity in order to enroll and access financial and government services. The pilot program in Uganda was funded from the Digital Financial Services (DFS) Innovation Lab, supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
“We are thrilled that our achievements have been recognized by Fast Company,” said Lori Cohen, Chief Marketing Officer, Veridium. “We are committed to working with companies, such as Wala, to help bring our technology to the developing world to help the billions of adults that do not have bank accounts and do not have any access to formal financial services.”
The competition included 12 different categories with nearly 1400 entries. Each category was judged by a jury of social entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, thinkers and designers, alongside a Fast Company editor. Veridium was selected as one of 240 finalists.
Veridium will be highlighted alongside other award finalists in the May issue of the print magazine.
About Veridium
Veridium is a leader in the development of “strong authentication” solutions using biometrics instead of traditional passwords, PINs, and tokens. Powered by an unmatched legacy of IP and R&D, our software increases security, improves convenience, and reduces fraud at a lower total cost of ownership than traditional multi factor authentication (MFA) solutions. Veridium has offices in the U.S., U.K., and Romania. For additional information, please visit www.veridiumID.com.
About the World Changing Ideas Awards: World Changing Ideas is one of Fast Company’s major annual awards programs and is focused on social good, seeking to elevate finished products and brave concepts that make the world better. A panel of judges from across sectors choose winners and finalists based on feasibility and the potential for impact. With a goal of awarding ingenuity and fostering innovation, Fast Company draws attention to ideas with great potential and helps them expand their reach to inspire more people to start work on solving the problems that affect us all.