Transform Africa Summit Seeks to Connect, Innovate and Transform

The 6th annual Transform Africa Summit (#TAS) took place in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, from 26 to 28 April 2023. The aim of TAS is to promote and accelerate the Digital Revolution in Africa. The theme of the conference is to “Connect, Innovate and Transform” the African continent with an emphasis on #digitalization and #connectivity.

The previous five editions all took place in Rwanda and the event experienced a break due to the COVID. For the 6th edition of TAS which celebrating its 10th year in 2023, some 3,000 delegates from 100 countries attended including several head of states and organizations involved in #ICT.

Five African heads of state attended the opening ceremony including President Emmerson Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe, President Hakainde Hichilema of Zambia, President Lazarus Chakwera of Malawi, King Mswati III of Eswatini, and President Paul Kagame of Rwanda,

In particular, the Smart Africa Digitalization Acceleration Program (#SADAP) aims to support African countries on their national digital transformation journey to enhance digital inclusion and reap socio-economic benefits.

One of the fast growing areas in Africa is Mobile Money. In 2022, sub-saharan Africa had 760 million registered subscribers .However, the penetration rate of mobile services across Africa is still relatively low at 40%, which is to say that the glass is not even half-full and has a lot of growth potential.

As the first country to host TAS outside Rwanda, Zimbabwe won the bid the host the meeting by laying emphasis on Agritech. Due to the war in Ukraine, prices of food and fertilizers have skyrocketed and some countries are even experiencing shortage. Through the application of technologies such as drones, AI and satellite imaging in agriprocessing, it is hoped that Africa can move closer to #FoodSecurity.