Chris Moehle, an entrepreneur from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has been the managing director of The Robotics Hub since 2015. In this role, Chris Moehle raises funds for ventures that create innovative inventions. The Robotics Hub partners with organizations such as the Mohammad Bin Rashid Initiative for Global Prosperity, which supports innovation with social impact.
The Mohammad Bin Rashid Initiative gave the start-up Poket the 2020 Global Prosperity Award for establishing a platform that helps business people in emerging companies access funding. Entrepreneurs can use the online platform to launch their ventures.
According to The Mohammad Bin Rashid Initiative website, many merchants in emerging countries work in an informal market, selling their goods and services in urban and emerging urban centers. In Nigeria, for example, 90 percent of the retail companies operate in an informal economy.
Many of these economies are cash-based, undocumented, and unmapped, making the collection of data difficult. Poket’s solution is to create a platform for crowdsourcing with a digital platform that relies on Android phones.
Through Poket, local merchants can share data with partners and learn insights into the economy. By tracking performance, these merchants become part of the formal economy and provide insights into rural supply chains.
