Africa’s Digital Transformation
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A look at how innovations in information and communications technology are transforming Africa.
Africa is not only building new roads and airports but also getting wired up for a vast expansion of digital services. Innovations in information and communications technology (ICT) are helping to fill in the gaps when it comes to things like banking and education and are the engine behind creative new businesses throughout Africa. This episode features stories from the tech campus Seme City in Benin, coders like Betelhem Dessie, and start-ups like Poa Internet.
In the second half of the show, co-host Carol Pineau leads a roundtable discussion with Paula Ingabire, Rwanda’s minister of ICT and innovation; Brian Herlihy, the founder of SEACOM; and Omosalewa Adeyemi, the global head of expansion and partnerships at Flutterwave.
About Africa Forward: Season 1: Africa boasts more than 50 countries, 1.3-billion people, and an emerging middle class bigger than the entire population of the United States. So what’s the glue that will hold it all together? Infrastructure. In each episode this season we do a deep dive into projects that offer the greatest hope for transformational change. Infrastructure can seem impersonal, just a pile of concrete, steel or cables, but delve into it and you soon see, it has the power to transform lives. Twenty years ago, cell phone towers sprung up throughout Africa, and a mobile network came to life. Within 10 years, a Kenyan company developed a way to transfer money via mobile phones. It revolutionized banking throughout the world. That’s what infrastructure can do. Africa Forward tells the story of Africa’s economic aspirations through the dreams of people across the continent. Throughout this season we hear analysis from some of Africa’s top leaders in business and government who are building a future where Africa can proudly stand on its own. See All Episodes
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More Africa Forward: Season 1 episodes:
Financing Africa’s Future
A look at infrastructure financing in Africa.
Powering Change
A look into how energy projects in Africa are creating opportunities across the continent.
Paving the Way
A look into transformative impact of trade and transportation infrastructure in Africa.
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