So if it's a great idea, and Worldcoin is a US company, why did they not start in the US? Why instead did they go to some of the least wealthy parts of Africa

So if it's a great idea, and Worldcoin is a US company, why did they not start in the US? Why instead did they go to some of the least wealthy parts of Africa and ask people to give them their biometrics for sometimes as much as one month's salary? To seed their database? It doesn't really pass the smell test.