Kelechi Okereke is working on his MBA degree from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business. He has worked for the investment banking division of Citigroup for six years and interned for a summer with the Dubai investment group Abraaj. Before he got his start with Citigroup, he managed to earn a job in the Nigerian Stock Exchange, one of the largest such exchanges on the continent of Africa. Okereke has developed an interest in emerging markets and developing economies, such as the one where his parents come from — Nigeria. Okereke is keeping his eye on these three companies based throughout Africa this year:
- Vula Mobile. Based in South Africa, Vula Mobile connects health workers in remote areas with specialists based in hospitals with a mobile app. Kelechi Okereke sees the development of healthcare and communication applications like this as the future of economic development throughout Africa.
- CladLight. This Kenyan startup is improving the technology for motorcycle safety. CladLight’s leaders invented a jacket for motorcyclists equipped with signal transmitters on its back, signaling which way a driver intends to turn.
- SafeMotos. Kelechi Okereke is encouraged by the development of apps like SafeMotos, a Rwandan company similar to Uber, only it punishes bad drivers by tracking their behavior and register data and pushing them to the edges of the service system.