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Nqobile Bhebhe in Victoria Falls

AFRICA must leverage its huge population dividend to advance digitalisation and boost Intra-African trade, a vital component for economic growth, Smart Africa director general and chief executive officer, Mr Lacina Koné, said yesterday.

He said a wide range of international organisations and partners such as the Africa Union, the World Bank, the United Nations, the International Telecommunications Union and Smart Africa are positioned to support the development of digitalisation in Africa, but African integration remains so far limited.

Speaking at the official opening ceremony of the 6th edition of the Transform Africa Summit here, Mr Kone chronicled the progress made by Smart Africa from an original seven member states in 2013 to 36.

The summit also makes the 10th anniversary of Smart Africa Alliance and is Africa’s leading annual forum, bringing together global and regional leaders, as well as digital experts to collaborate on new ways of shaping, accelerating and sustaining Africa’s on-going digital revolution. It is being held under the theme: “Connect, Innovate and Transform.”

“Intra-African exports are merely 16,6 percent of total exports, compared with 68,1 percent in European Union, 59,4 percent in Asia and 55,0 percent in America.

“Additionally, Africa is the continent with the lowest internet penetration rate at 39 percent of the population, compared to a global average of nearly 60 percent.

“What’s good about a digital market size of 1,4 billion people, if half of this market does not have access to the internet? It becomes a digital market of 700 million people,” he said.

The AfCFTA is envisaged to be the largest free trade area since the formation of the World Trade Organisation given Africa’s current population of 1,2 billion people, which is expected to grow to 2,5 billion by 2050.

Mr Kone said the continent needs to redesign its selves for the new challenges and opportunities that Africa faces.

“This is not the Africa we want. To build the Africa we dream of, we need to move faster, and the 4th industrial revolution allows us to accelerate. To leapfrog is not enough, we need to cheetah leap,” he noted.

“The Africa we want is a connected, innovative and transformed continent. The theme of this Transform Africa Summit 2023 translates the roadmap of Africa’s digital revolution to reach our shared vision to accelerate the creation of a single digital market by 2030.

“Now we must redesign ourselves for the new challenges and opportunities that Africa faces,” said Mr Koné.

He said the organisation has grown in leaps and bounds in the last 10 years from a modest capital of US$600 000 to US$23 million taping in from 1,1 billion people from 37 member states.

Mr Kone paid tribute to President Mnangagwa for his personal sponsorship of the organisation of the Transform Africa Summit 2023 and the celebration of the 10-year anniversary of the Smart Africa Alliance as a major milestone for an institution.

“Our celebration is not so much a festivity, but an august occasion to pause and look back at this ten (10) year journey. A moment to look ahead at the mountains we must still climb,” he said.

“So today we express our deepest appreciation to the founding fathers. The Smart Africa Alliance was launched during the first Transform Africa Summit in October 2013 by seven Heads of State, with a mandate to drive Africa’s socio-economic development by leveraging the transformative power of digital transformation.

“It was a very modest beginning, with 3 staff members, and a capital of US$600  000. A modest but important beginning. A seed was planted 10 years ago, a seed to transform Africa into the continent we all want.

“So, as we look back as to whether we have been true and faithful to the dreams of our founding fathers, we can say with pride that we have played our part.”

Mr Kone said the 10-year journey has been marked by strong and meaningful multi-stakeholders’ collaboration and partnerships through practical projects and initiatives, with one shared vision: “Accelerating the creation of a single digital market by 2030”.

By working and collaborating together, we have grown from seven member states in 2013, into an Alliance of 36 member states representing a population of more than 1,1 billion people and we are still growing, he said.

“From three staff members with a capital of 600 000 dollars in 2013, the Secretariat of the Smart Africa Alliance has grown to more than 50 staff members and a capital of 23 million US Dollars,” said Mr Kone.

“The partners of the Alliance has grown over the years from all continents. We worked and aligned interventions with more than 100 partners including development agencies and funding organisations such as BMZ/GIZ, EU, World Bank, NORAD, African Development Bank and BADEA.”

Zambia President Hakainde Hichilema said the continent cannot avoid digitalisation from our households and workspaces but there is great need to invest more and its not a debatable matter.

“We need to also use digitalisation in our movement of goods across our borders.

“We should have none border posts unlike one-stop border posts,” he said.

“There is no need to stop trucks destined for Zimbabwe or Malawi at border posts and that can be achieved through technology.”