The World Economic Forum (WEF) has named three African startups – Kenyan fintech companies BitPesa and CarePay, as well as Moroccan e-commerce startup WaystoCap, in its 2018 cohort of “Technology Pioneers”.
From Kenya are BitPesa a remittances platform and CarePay a healthcare savings and payments startup, and from Morocco, WaystoCap, an e-commerce startup.
The annual cohort of WEF Technology Pioneers are chosen for their design, development and deployment of potentially world-changing innovations and technologies.
Technology Pioneers come from all over the world. Among the nations to host Pioneers are Bangladesh, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Kenya and Morocco, as well as Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Israel, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the US.
Companies selected in the past include: Airbnb, Google, Kickstarter, Mozilla and Twitter.
According to a press release by WEF, the newly selected Technology Pioneers will meet at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2018 in Tianjin, People’s Republic of China, on 18-20 September.
Some of them will also participate in the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2019 in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, on 22-25 January. As leaders of innovation, they will be supported by the Forum’s new Centre of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and contribute to fostering the innovation ecosystem and delivering critical mass to solve global challenges.
