Amitabha Sadangi was born in a village in the state of Orissa, India. He holds a law degree and a post-graduate degree in Labour and Social Welfare. While working for Oxfam, Amitabha focused many of his ideas around market-based programmes for poverty alleviation. He is the co-Founder of a for-profit company, Global Easy Water Products, which allows private investment in the spread and replication of its irrigation technologies. He and IDEI have received several awards, including the Tech Museum BD Biosciences Economic Development Award (2010), the Zayed Future Energy Prize (2010), and the Ashden Outstanding Achievement Award (2009).