CEO of match21 Invited to Speak to World Bank on Initiative Using Technology for Peace; Global Volunteer Network, Powered by match21, Proposed to Help Bridge the Digital Divide.

Business & Technology Editors

PRAGUE, Czech Republic--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 25, 2000

Daniel Lubetzky, CEO of match21(TM) (www.match21.com), a New York City-based technology company that turns Web portals into customized digital marketplaces, and hosts PartnerWork(TM), the most advanced business-to-business global marketplace on the Web, was selected to speak Monday at the World Bank's "After the Guns Go Silent" roundtable on the Global Volunteer Network (GVN) on occasion of the 2000 annual meetings.

Conceived by Lubetzky, the GVN is an online initiative designed to connect volunteers worldwide with not-for-profit organizations and individuals seeking unpaid assistance. match21's proprietary networking technology will allow the GVN to offer a global online platform through which volunteers and relief organizations can discover one another using highly specified searches. According to their focus, each member of the Network will be able to customize different search parameters, categories and templates. Individuals and organizations will be able to efficiently exchange requests, ideas and information in an aggregated setting and will be able to communicate with each other in real-time through both the Internet and WAP/SMS-enabled devices.

The GVN is now an official initiative of the Global Leaders of Tomorrow, a collaborative leadership program founded by the World Economic Forum and is spearheaded by the Business of Cooperation task force, which Lubetzky chairs.

[pilcrow (paragraph sign)] "The Global Volunteer Network is a paradigm for combining technology and business to turn the digital divide into a digital dividend," said Mr. Lubetzky. "By combining the power of the Internet with the passion of young business people, the GVN taps into the large reservoir of goodwill by millions of employees that want to contribute to making this a better world. By using match21's cutting edge technology, the GVN will provide a liquid, balanced platform that unifies volunteers and those in need of their assistance under a single umbrella and enables them to communicate via the Internet. No single network currently offers these types of advanced connectivity and interactive, real-time communication tools that the GVN will provide its users."

In addition to the Global Volunteer Network initiative, in 1994 Mr. Lubetzky founded PeaceWorks, a company whose mission is to promote peace among former adversaries through economic cooperation. PeaceWorks has established commercial enterprises in regions of conflict across the globe. These troubled areas include South Africa, Guatemala and the Middle East, through which divided communities (such as Israelis and Palestinians) work together in joint capacities, as catalysts for peace.

About match21(TM)

match21(TM) is the company that provides Web portals with the back-end technology to transform their communities into online marketplaces, matching buyers and sellers of products and services. By implementing this proprietary technology, portals can become part of match21's global online marketplace, PartnerWork. This larger network is the aggregate of all the portals empowered by the match21 technology. The benefit is a marketplace for buyers and sellers that goes far beyond the limited community of a single portal and provides end-users with the most dynamic way to buy and sell products and services on the Web.