Bright Simons ranked world’s 47th greatest leader
Bright Simons has co-authored research at IMANI Ghana.
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He is the President of the mPedigree Network, a self-described 'social enterprise' noted for its work to expose makers and distributors of counterfeit medicines, and for creating a software program called Goldkeys that enables the verification of certain products in some countries.
He was ranked among leaders like Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos – No.1; German Chancellor Angela Merkel – No.2; Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Burmese politicians Aung San Suu Kyi – No.3 and Pope Francis – No.4.
A citation in Fortune read: "Counterfeit drugs are rife in Africa—one estimate pegs the chances of purchasing one at 30%, and in 2013 more than 120,000 African children died because of poor-quality anti¬malarials. Simons, a 34-year-old entrepreneur from Ghana, offered a boldly simple solution: Africans could check the authenticity of medications by sending mPedigree a text message with the special 12-digit code marked on their drug packet. Now mPedigree has its labels on more than 500 million packets, with clients including giants AstraZeneca and Sanofi. The company is currently active in 12 countries in the developing world."
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Others who made the list include Apple chief Tim Cook, Stephen Curry, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, John Oliver and Paul Ryan.
Simons writes for the Huffington Post, Digital and the Royal African Society's online magazine, African Arguments. He is a regular contributor to the BBC's Business Daily programs.
Simons has co-authored research at IMANI Ghana.
Recognition
In 2012, The Diplomatic Courier and Young Professionals in Foreign Policy named Simons one of the Top 99 under 33 Innovators for his work with mPedigree.
MIT Technology Review included Simons in a list, released August 21, 2013, of the top 35 innovators under 35. He was included on the list for his work in telecommunications.
In 2009, Simons was a TED Fellow. The World Economic Forum recognized Simons in 2012 as a Young Global Leader and The mPedigree Network as a technology pioneer.
The International Foundation for Africa Innovation gave Simons a lifetime achievement award for his contribution to innovation in Africa on August 7, 2013.
The Salzburg Global Seminar named Bright Simons a Fellow in 2011. He credits his Salzburg engagement as helping accelerate movement of the mPedigree Network from Africa to India and China.
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