Africans need to work together to achieve digital transformation

Africa must look inward to solve its own digital problems, and the continent needs to move fast, leapfrogging towards innovation so that it can surpass the West.

These were the sentiments shared by Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa, during his keynote address at the sixth annual Transform Africa Summit, held in Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, this week.

"The modernization of Africa requires investment in science and technology," he said.

Echoing Mnangagwa's sentiments, Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera added that Africa's progression had been hampered in many ways.

African heads of state urged governments on the continent to collaborate on digital transformation. (Source: Transform Africa Summit)

"Africa will never catch up to the West if we keep using the same old ways. For us to be on par with other continents, we need to take a shortcut, and that shortcut is technology," Chakwera said.

"We must work together, so that Africa becomes a single digital economy. We need to rise together, and we need to rise now," he said.

Technology to bridge the digital divide

Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema explained that transforming Africa into a single digital market is imperative and will aid in alleviating the digital divide on the continent.

"We cannot avoid the digitization that is happening around us, we cannot just only give digital transformation lip service; we must invest in its infrastructure," Hichilema said.

He believes that the digitalization of everything will also eliminate bureaucracy in government departments.

"Bureaucracy slows down the process of everything. The slower the process, the more expensive it is, and the more expensive, the more corrupt. Digitization will end bureaucracy in Africa," Hichilema said.

King Mswati III of Eswatini highlighted that digital transformation should be a collective endeavor, while Rwanda's President Paul Kagame, who also chairs the Smart Africa Board Meeting, emphasized that for Africa to be transformed digitally, industries also must be digitized.

"Digitization needs to apply in all industries and that can happen if we reduce trading barriers in Africa," Kagame said.

The Transform Africa Summit is happening under the theme, "Connect, Transform and Innovate," and is taking place for the first time outside of Rwanda. Specifically, the summit is focusing on regulation and policy, digital infrastructure financing, capacity building and skills development, and digital continental trade.

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*Top image includes, from left, Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera, Rwanda President Paul Kagame, Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa, Zambia President Hakainde Hichilema and King Mswati III of Eswatini. (Source: Transform Africa Summit).