Armed with new research from the International Center for Research on Women, the ICRW, ExxonMobil, and Ashoka Changemakers are launching a new economic development challenge that they believe will be transformative in improving the lives of women and their families in developing countries. The World Bank calls the "business case for expanding women's economic opportunities...nothing more than smart economics."

The purpose of the challenge is to stimulate innovation, entrepreneurship, and non-traditional partnerships among for-profits, nonprofits, and local groups, to develop new technologies that will rapidly advance economic opportunities for women, their families and communities.

ICRW brings the expertise, ExxonMobil brings the human and financial capital, and Changemakers brings the tool--the business competition and the community of problem-solvers. "We use competitions to source powerful new ideas--sometimes from unlikely places," according to Charlie Brown, Executive Director of Ashoka's Changemakers.

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