BitPesa Chief Executive Officer and Founder Elizabeth Rossiello has been chosen by the World Economic Forum as the second chairperson of the Global Blockchain Council.
BitPesa is a digital foreign exchange platform and treasury solution that leverages blockchain settlement to significantly lower the cost and increase the speed of business payments to and from frontier markets.
Launched in Nairobi, BitPesa now has offices in Lagos, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, and Dakar.
According to BusinessWire, Rossiello will work with industry advisors to prepare the first agenda and main priorities of the council in advance of the official start of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2019 to be held in San Francisco this May.
The Global Blockchain Council is comprised of 30 executive members who include ministers and heads of regulatory agencies, chief executive officers, and leading technical and civil society experts.
The Council was formed to give balanced and holistic advisory to the projects in the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Network (C4IR).
The World Economic Forum is now able to tap into the resources and expertise of a larger network.
“We chose Elizabeth Rossiello as one of the co-chairs for this committee, not only for her diverse background in this space, from technical expertise as well as regulatory, but also for her ability to bring together members of this often-fragmented ecosystem,” said Sheila Warren, Head of Blockchain at the World Economic Forum, according to BusinessWire.
“We are very excited for the cross-pollination and results such a meticulously selected council will bring.”
The World Economic Forum in 2017 created two new Centers based in San Francisco focused on the Fourth Industrial Revolution and Cybersecurity.
Inside the first Center, The Global Council on Blockchain is one of six councils chaired by industry experts.
The aim is to help shape the global technology policy and corporate governance agenda by providing a unique place in the international system where policy dialogue, practical learning and international agenda setting can take place across stakeholders and regions on an ongoing basis.
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“2019 will be a critical year for the blockchain industry, so I am very excited to be selected to co-chair this council, said Elizabeth Rossiello, according to BusinessWire.
“The World Economic Forum has always been instrumental in multi-stakeholder engagement, which is important for blockchain, especially in regards to regulation and policy. We have made some progress in education, consumer adoption and pilot use cases that have proven scale. The creation and implementation of policy has been fragmented globally and is still underway trailing the innovation in the space. A council like this, with experts from all sides of the industry, is a strong advocacy tool for ensuring innovation can continue alongside policy that supports its continued progress,” she stated.
After this initial meeting of the leaders of the Council at Davos, the full council will convene in San Francisco in Q2 of this year, where they will initiate their work advising the World Economic Forum.
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