Africa must lead its digital future with purpose

AS POLITICAL, financial and social leaders met this week in Abidjan for the Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank (AfDB), the continent stands at a crucial turning point.

- MEHDI JOMAA and OBIAGELI ‘OBY’ EZEKWESILI

Digitalisation can be the engine of inclusive and resilient development, but only if approached with local leadership and strategic vision.

The questions being asked at this year’s meeting - how to mobilise African capital, how to foster transformative partnerships and how to accelerate the shift to greener, more inclusive economies - are not rhetorical. They are urgent.

Africa is not short on potential. On the contrary, it is home to 18% of the world’s population, yet holds less than 1% of global data centre capacity. It is a hyper-connected continent - over 600 million Africans use mobile phones today - but smartphone penetration and effective connectivity remain low.

Technology, alongside young people and women, stands out as one of the three defining forces that can enable Africa not only to transform itself but to win the 21st century.

This potential is already materialising. Since the early 2000s, following deep telecommunications sector reforms carried out across much of the continent, African youth have deployed technology as a powerful enabler of exponential progress. Today, some of the continent's largest and fastest-growing companies are in the tech sector, including several unicorns — firms valued at over $1 billion (R17.9bn). Mobile money innovations like M-PESA have become globally replicable models. In contrast to Africa's historical exclusion from the Agri-cultural and Industrial revolutions, the digital revolution marks a pivotal moment - Africa is no longer catching up, it is helping lead a new economic era on its own terms.