Martin was born in London, England, and grew up in Ithaca, N.Y., where his father was a physics professor at Cornell University. Martin received his B.S. in mechanical engineering from Cornell in 1979, an M.S. in mechanical engineering from Stanford University in 1980, and a Ph.D. from Stanford in theoretical and applied mechanics in 1985. In 1985-86 Martin was a Fulbright Scholar in Kenya, where he studied the connection between technology and development. He then joined ActionAid-Kenya, a British nonprofit, where he established a large rural water program, developed and promoted low-cost farming and building equipment, and co-established and ran the Appropriate Technology Unit.

 

Martin left ActionAid in 1991 and co-founded KickStart (formerly ApproTEC) with Nick Moon. In order to raise the initial funds to run KickStart, they implemented a large project for UNHCR installing appropriate low-cost pit latrines in Somali refugee camps. KickStart's Domed Concrete Pit Latrine Slabs have become the standard in refugee camps in East Africa, where more than 90,000 slabs have now been installed.

 

KickStart develops and promotes low-cost capital equipment that is purchased by poor entrepreneurs who use it to start highly profitable businesses. To date, more than 42,000 new micro-enterprises have been started in East Africa using KickStart equipment, and 800 more are started each month. Together they generate over $42 million per year in new profits and wages, and their revenues are equivalent to over 0.5 percent of Kenya's GDP, and 0.25 percent of Tanzania's GDP.

 

Martin's work with KickStart has been recognized internationally. Notable awards and accolades have included:

 

- Tech Museum Award for Technologies Benefiting

   Humanity, 2002

- UN AGFUND Prize for Pioneering Development Projects,

   2003

- Beacon Prize for Creative Giving in Social Enterprise,

   2003

- Gleitsman Award for Commitment & Leadership in

   Initiating Social Change

- Schwab Foundation "Social Entrepreneur of the Year

   2003" Award

- Time magazine "2003 European Hero," April 2003

- Newsweek magazine citation for "Inventions that Will

   Change the World," June 2003

- Profiled in "The New Heroes," a PBS documentary funded

   by the Skoll Foundation, 2005

- Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, 2005

- Social Capitalist Award from Fast Company and Monitor

   Group, 2005 and 2006

 

In 2001 Martin returned to the U.S. as CEO of KickStart International, based in San Francisco, to oversee the fundraising and growth of KickStart's efforts to bring an end to extreme poverty.