Ecofiltro named among world’s top 50 enterprises

Ecofiltro, a Guatemalan company that produces an innovative, easy-to-use water purifier, has been named one the world’s Top 50 Small and Medium Enterprises by infoDev, an international association sponsored by the World Bank.

Based in La Antigua Guatemala, Ecofiltro, S.A., is a joint effort between Guatemalan scientist Fernando Mazariegos, who invented Ecofiltro in 1981, and entrepreneur Philip Wilson.

Ecofiltro has distributed more than 80,000 units in the last five years, benefiting more than 500,000 Guatemalans, especially in rural areas, and has significantly contributed to health improvement and gastrointestinal illness prevention.

Ecofiltro has also helped reduce the number of trees previously cut and burned as firewood to boil water in rural communities. Various models are available, starting at Q300 depending on size.

In 2003 and 2004, the World Bank awarded Ecofiltro with the Marketplace Award for its sustainability.

Most recently, infoDev, with funding from the government of Finland, held a competition to identify the world’s Top 50 Small and Medium Enterprises with the goal of broadening their international commercial connections. It received 750 applications from 65 countries. Through Ecofiltro, Guatemala was the only Central American country that made the Top 50 list.

Winners were invited to participate in the 4th Global Forum on Innovation and Technology Entrepreneurship in Helsinki, Finland, May 30-June 3.

More info: www.ecofiltro.com or www.infodev.org, or email info@ecofiltro.com