Mr. Fayaz King

Building Resilient Digital Ecosystem in Africa through Sustainable Investments" aims to discuss the importance of sustainable investments in building a resilient digital ecosystem in Africa. This session will look at challenges faced by African countries in building a sustainable digital ecosystem and the need for private sector investment to help bridge the infrastructure gap. The panelist will look at emphasis and importance of building sustainable digital infrastructure that can withstand the challenges faced by African economies, including political instability, insufficient regulatory frameworks, and limited access to capital. The panelists also emphasized the need for sustainable investments that promote inclusive growth and support local innovation, the role of policymakers, investors, and private sector actors in fostering sustainable investments in Africa's digital ecosystem. Finally, the session concluded by highlighting the opportunities for sustainable investments in Africa's digital economy and the need for partnerships to accelerate growth in this area.

Africa’s population is currently around 1.4 billion and projected to reach 2.5 billion by 2050. Africa will comprise 26% of the world’s working age population, with an economy that is estimated to grow twice as rapidly as that of the developed world. There are ongoing efforts on the continent to transform Africa into a Single Digital Market (SDM). Africa’s SDM will be the world’s largest market and will build growth in an African Digital Economy. However, some key challenges remain to unlock the potential of Africa’s SDM such as lack of policies harmonization between African countries, limited capacity of national governance institutions and limited trust on both sides of a digital transaction nationally and across borders. This session looks at how Africa can enable its data flows with trust to safeguard the journey of Africa’s digital transformation into a single market while ensuring an efficient and effective e-governance implementation for the benefit of citizens.