Thirty-four year old Ghanaian mobile health entrepreneur, Ashifi Gogo, has been featured in this year’s Fortune “40 under 40″ list, an annual ranking of the most influential young people in the world of business.
Ashifi Gogo, ranked 38th, co-founded Sproxil in 2009 to fight the scourge of counterfeit pharmaceuticals in Africa. “His authentication technology – which relies on basic mobile phones and text messaging – has since been used to verify the source of more than 19 million products. And it’s now being deployed by a number of big brands (think Novartis and Cipla) in six countries – from Nigeria to Pakistan – to find fakes of all kinds: drugs, but also auto parts,underwear and health and beauty products. America’s highest office holders are among Gogo’s fans: Bill Clinton called his company “a remarkable achievement”; in 2013, the Obama administration recognized him as an “Immigrant Innovator” and a “Champion of Change” Fortune said.
This year’s report featured stars in tech, health care, autos, finance, food, real estate, comedy, and even ultimate fighting. The list was topped by Adam Neuman, co-founder and CEO, WeWork, followed by Tesla’s JB Straubel and Ryan Graves, SVP of global operations, Uber, at the second and third positions, respectively. According to Fortune, the one thing these ‘mavericks’ have in common is that, “they make their own rules”.
