Benjamin Wachenje
Title: Co-founder and CEO, WhatsApp, now owned by Facebook
Born: February 24, 1976, Kyiv, Ukraine (then USSR)
Education: San Jose State University
Early Marker: Worked for Ernst & Young testing IT systems for security flaws.
Big Idea: Whats App is a cross-platform instant messaging subscription service for smartphones able to send video, audio and photos as well as text at rates cheaper than telcos charge for SMS. Facebook sees its potential use as part of a suite of basic free data-based services on which premium data services can piggyback.
Wave of the Future: Peer-to-peer networking, M-economy
