Grace Ashiru
The government of Zanzibar and Wasoko, an African e-commerce startup that uses cutting-edge technology to overhaul the unorganized retail supply chain, have officially opened the “Wasoko Innovation Hub.”.
The new Hub, located in Fumba Town, Zanzibar, will be home to over 500 forward-thinking engineers, product managers, UX designers, and researchers from Africa and worldwide. These individuals will concentrate on developing high-quality technological solutions that will power Africa’s e-commerce industry for many years.
The Wasoko Innovation Hub is the first private-public partnership between a tech startup in Africa and the government of Zanzibar. It is part of the island’s “Silicon Zanzibar” strategy, which aims to attract and settle tech firms from all over Africa.
Wasoko is the first “anchor” company for Silicon Zanzibar and a well-known private sector representative. It is joining the launch as well.
Daniel Yu, the founder, and CEO of Wasoko said this about the opening of the Innovation Hub: Wasoko, a technology firm with operations across the African continent, has been looking for a place where it can attract the brightest minds from across Africa and the rest of the world to create innovative new goods and services for its clientele.
Although we gave conventional places like Dubai and London some thought, in the end, we stayed strong in our belief that the development of technology for Africa should take place in Africa. The German engineering company CPS is in charge of redeveloping Fumba Town. The Wasoko Innovation Hub will be a part of this process.
Fumba Town is being developed south of the Abeid Amani Karume International Airport along a stretch of seaside shore approximately 1.5 kilometers long. There, hundreds of modern residences and businesses are now being constructed.
Since the company’s founding in 2016, Wasoko has fulfilled three million orders and distributed them to more than seventy-five thousand independent shops in Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, Côte d’Ivoire, and Senegal. Wasko is anticipated to attract over $15 million in investment over the next ten years, offering hundreds of Zanzibaris a wealth of employment and career opportunities.
