“There ought to be a way to use interactive media, especially the Internet…to report in real time allegations of corruption.” These were the words of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during a plenary Q&A session at the 8^th Annual Forum on the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). Secretary Clinton called on youth and civil society to leverage new technologies to combat corruption through increased transparency.

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As I flew into Jomo Kenyatta Airport in Nairobi, Kenya exactly two years ago, I had no idea the life-changing experiences that lay before me. I had studied the economic development of sub-Saharan Africa in great detail. Over the course of the following months, I lived it – and in no way did it resemble anything I knew prior.

My experience in Kenya was much unlike that of the many American tourists that find themselves in four-star air-conditioned tents while on safari. Rather, I was immersed in the local hustle and bustle of the dusty Nairobi city center. When I wasn’t in the office of the local e-commerce company I was working for, I was out exploring the country. I visited health clinics, children’s homes, Kibira schools, and rural villages. My feet were well traveled and had the sandal-tan-lines to prove it.

Corruption was, and still is, a well known problem in Kenya. There are two types of corruption anywhere you go in the world: that driven by desperation and that inspired by greed. Both have the same negative social impact, but each requires a unique approach toward amelioration. Chai, the Swahili word for tea, is commonly used as a term meaning a bribe. Police officers, during Kenya’s early years, were so underpaid that they would literally ask for tea, a staple source of sustenance, as what today we refer to as a bribe. This is corruption driven by desperation, and it still exists worldwide today.

Addressing need-based corruption requires raising living standards, lifting people out of extreme poverty, increasing wages and salaries relative to the cost of living, and so on. History has shown us that the best long-term and sustainable strategy for this in the developing world is attracting foreign direct investment (FDI). Filling the short-term transition period is often the generosity and assistance provided by donors worldwide and the admirable work being done by the non-profit sector.

However, when a country like Kenya is in need of outside assistance and investment, and the conscience of the developed world is prepared to deliver at almost all costs, it is the greed-based corruption of the gatekeepers that then stands in the way. Such corruption dramatically decreases the effectiveness of outside help designed to assist during the transition period. And it dramatically decreases the attractiveness of the foreign direct investment coming into the country to spur and sustain economic growth.

When left unchecked, the problem perpetuates itself. Donors send computers or toys to a children’s home where administrators turn the items around for profit and pocket the money. A multi-million dollar infrastructure project must be repeated only a few months later because the project manager sold necessary parts on the black market and covered it up.

Meanwhile, honest and hardworking organizations and businesses are being held back from achieving their full potential. The mere perception and stigma of corruption that hovers over the country like a rain crowd keeps donors, investors, and prospective clients from feeling safe or comfortable enough to put their money in Kenya.

I mentioned I was working for an e-commerce company at the time. It was my first introduction to “social enterprise”. These guys had created a way to leverage e-commerce and gift vouchers to revolutionize the way Kenyans abroad remit back to their loved ones. Through this website, you could pay school fees and electricity bills directly, deliver pre-paid phone minutes to a specific phone, send gift-vouchers for groceries or books; heck, you could even purchase and have delivered a goat. This company had found a solution for the challenge faced by many developing nations: how to target and harness the power of incoming remittances.

After my first week in Nairobi visiting local non-profits, I knew that what they needed were not $20 donation checks, per se, but real tangible supplies. Using our preexisting business plan, the company I was working for could easily create a new medium whereby anybody in the world could donate a physical object (or package of objects) and know exactly where their donation went! And that’s exactly what we did.

The challenge we faced, though, was that which I have already mentioned: a lack of transparency under the raincloud of perceived corruption. How can somebody tell apart our honest hard-working company from a fraudulent company in the same region. How can donors and investors follow through to make sure the computer or sewing machine actually made it to the school, and remains at the school four months later?

This is the social challenge that transformed itself into a business opportunity – today, International Transparency Solutions, LLC. Just as VeriSign built confidence around the infrastructural security of e-commerce in the 1990s, Transparency Solutions seeks to build confidence around honest businesses and organizations in the developing world.

By establishing a network of Transparency Professionals on-the-ground in countries around the world, we will be able to collect and deliver to donors and investors the intelligence and oversight capabilities that allow them to invest more responsibly, effectively, and with increased confidence.

For investment-seeking institutions that meet our designated standards of transparency and accountability, we will be able to offer a “Certification of Anti-Corruption” seal that can go on their website and solicitation materials. This will dramatically increase their ability to be recognized for their due diligence and stand above the stigma of corruption.

Through these services, we hope to see a shift in the cost-benefit analysis that individuals and organizations make when considering corruption. We provide the information and the tools investors and donors need to make the most optimal decisions for them – putting their money into transparent and accountable institutions. By incentivizing these characteristics, the opportunity cost of corruption rises. As the reward on greed-based corruption declines, investments and donations rise with increased transparency, and need-based corruption can be something of the past.

Through the very technologies that Secretary Clinton mentioned last week, we CAN work together toward growth and opportunity. We CAN address the social challenges that stand in our way. And we WILL.

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International Transparency Solutions is currently putting together seed funding and lining up pilot-clients to conduct a pilot of their services this Fall in Nairobi, Kenya. For more information visit http://www.transparencysolutions.org

Author Bio: Marco Puccia is Founder and CEO of International Transparency Solutions, an early-stage social enterprise designed to connect investors and donors with the developing world. He also blogs about the interrelationship between business and international development at http://www.marcopuccia.com.