Today we announced that Digicel, Haiti’s leading cell phone company, won a $2.5 million prize for helping to make mobile money a reality in Haiti. Digicel’s service, Tcho Tcho Mobile (which is slang for money in Creole), is offering Haitians an alternative to long and costly trips to pick up money sent by friends and family, waiting in long queues for salaries, or the insecurity of carrying cash. Haitians can now send, receive, and store money through their mobile phones without traveling to overcrowded banks or money transfer houses.

In a country where it takes four hours to do a four-minute bank transaction, how did this happen?

Part of the inspiration came from the incentive fund that the foundation and USAID launched in June—a $10 million fund designed to jump-start financial services by mobile phone and expedite the delivery of cash assistance by humanitarian agencies. There are several rounds of prizes, and today we announced the first.

Back in December, as the deadline for the first prize neared ($2.5 million for the “First to Market” Award), we wondered if any company would meet the criteria and claim the prize. Although three companies had entered the race and two had launched mobile money services, there were other strict criteria such as completing 10,000 mobile money transactions. This meant that companies had to invest in and introduce a new service and set up new locations to offer the service in an unbelievably challenging post-disaster environment. We knew the obstacles were many, but we were convinced that mobile money services were needed more than ever.

In a demonstration of entrepreneurial spirit, Digicel met the December deadline to claim the First to Market Award! The administrator of the incentive fund in Haiti, HIFIVE, now had to verify the 100,000 transactions and 100 agents (these are locations that have direct contact with the customers) to make sure that they met the incentive fund criteria. And this was no easy task. In the midst of mounting post-election violence, a growing gasoline shortage, and an ongoing cholera outbreak, verification teams visited agents, tested the service, talked to clients. After all this and a rigorous review of the data, the verification teams confirmed Digicel’s claim and declared them the winner of the First to Market Award.

This can have momentous consequence for the people of Haiti—they have access to transformative technology now, and companies are investing in financial services that will improve the lives of Haitians for the future. As the recovery effort continues and the project progresses, we are excited to see how mobile money services will change the lives of people who so desperately need access to cash and a safe place to store it.