Kagame pushes for strong collaboration to support Africa’s digital transformation

By Placide Ngirinshuti.

The power of collaboration among the private sector, government and strategic philanthropy is key towards a global strong momentum to support Africa’s digital transformation, President Paul Kagame has said.

His Excellency President of the Republic of Rwanda, Paul Kagame was addressing the senior officials including policy makers and business leaders in mobile telecom industry as well as the members of the diplomatic corps gathering for the opening ceremony of the Mobile World Congress (MWC, Kigali-2023).

He commends the Global System for Mobile communications Association (GSMA)for the important work they are doing to unlock the full potential of mobile connectivity and their meaningful contribution to Africa’s development.

President Paul Kagame embarked on the pandemic that has accelerated the transition to a new era of the technology-led development where many innovators got inspired.

“Our young talented entrepreneurs are driving this change and we continue to support them. For example, financial technology is starting to make a big difference in every day lives of our citizens, a potential of digital health technology to transform our health systems is also very clear. That means that we have to address the gaps in the access and connectivity with a sense of urgency.” H.E Paul Kagame noted.

“But we still have a long way to go”

While too many Africans remain offline, the continent has the fastest growing mobile penetration rate globally, the situation that pushes for further actions to bridge existing gaps.

“But we still have a long way to go, yet, we already have the means to address the problems we are dealing with today. Regional integration powered by faster and more reliable broadband is a big part of it. The African Union and Smart Africa are our key institutions leading this, and Africa enjoys strong support rom many partners. We can get more results faster by working together.” Kagame said.

He commended Airtel-Rwanda for bringing the cost of 4G data within the reach of nearly every Rwandan, with the new initiative announced on October 16, 2023 dubbed: ‘ConnectRwanda2.0’ campaign’ to offer 4G smartphones to the public at a low cost of Rwf20,000.

President Kagame also thanks the Philanthropic support and other partners’ interventions to enable Rwandans acquire new smart phones for under $20 in order to take advantage of the offer.

Government’s role

“Government’s role was to maintain an enabling environment and playing field, this shows the power of collaboration among the private sector, government and strategic philanthropy. At the same time, we must continue to prioritize digital skills and literacy.  Globally, we are also seeing a strong momentum to support Africa’s digital transformation.” President Kagame said.

The MWC Kigali-2023 has attracted over 2500 participants from all over the continent, including Eight (8) ministers from Central African Republic, Djibouti, Egypt, Gabon, Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda and Zambia as well as the six (6) mobile network operators on facilitating partnerships for Africa’s progress among others.

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