Lacina Koné, CEO of development group Smart Africa, believes Africa can be a major player in the global digital economy. In an exclusive interview, he discusses three factors that will shape Africa’s digital future.
In April this year, Smart Africa, a consortium of African states and organisations dedicated to the acceleration of access to information and communication technologies (ICT) on the continent and to a thriving digital economy, held its Transform Africa Summit in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. This was the first time the Summit was held outside of Kigali, which is where Smart Africa is headquartered.
For Lacina Koné, CEO of Smart Africa, the Summit was a success. Attended by five heads of state alongside ministers from 44 countries and over 4000 delegates from 91 countries around the world, it also saw the consummation of several significant deals for the continent’s digital future. For Koné, the Summit was an opportunity to confirm the organisation’s strategy and once again put to the fore some of the key agenda points that need to be addressed if the continent is not to be left behind by the digital revolution.
Three factors that will shape Africa’s digital future
From where he sits, Koné sees three important factors that will shape Africa’s digital future.
1. Abundance of youth talent
One of these factors is the continent’s abundance of talented youth. “Africa is the youngest continent in the world and with the current improvement in education quality in conjunction with digital skills, Africa may become the continent with the most ingenious workforce,” he says.
French 
English