The World Economic Forum (WEF) on the Middle East and North Africa is scheduled to take place in Jordan this weekend from May 19-21. The event among other things will gather 100 powerful Arab start-ups that are shaping our world, changing the way we work, and driving economies forward. The gathering in question, a result of a partnership between the WEF and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), will be attended by African delegates from various Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt start-ups over and above their counterparts from Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the UAE and Yemen. 

As Al Arabiya English writes on its website: "A vast majority of the 100 start-ups are building their business model, products and services on new technologies like artificial intelligence, blockchain, and satellite technology – pioneering a generational transformation in the Mena region – while at the same time serving basic needs such as transportation, communication or payment processing. With the help of these companies, it is possible to order food home-cooked by refugees, teach children to code, get medical support online, make payments securely, or chat with bots in Arabic." 

The African start-ups that will attend the WEF on the Middle East and North Africa include:

• Fawry (Egypt), a pioneering Electronic Payment Network, offering financial services to consumers and businesses through more than 65 thousand locations and a variety of channels
• Paymob (Egypt), a start-up that wants to create a cashless society by converting cash into electronic money
• KarmSolar (Egypt), a solar technology and integration company that delivers innovative solar solutions to the agricultural, industrial, tourism and business sectors.
• Education Media Company (Morocco), which develops educational websites for Moroccan secondary and post-secondary schools students to facilitate their transition from high school to college.
• IRIS Technologies (Tunisia), which offers high-tech solutions for a better honey's productivity with higher quality and a precision beekeeping.
• NextProtein (Tunisia), which produces insect-based protein for animal feedstocks in a quest to accelerate sustainable agriculture and tackle resource scarcity.

Click here for the entire list.