Jimson Olufuye
Your Excellences, distinguished guests, members, friends and colleagues, ladies and gentlemen. I would like to welcome you to the 2ndAfICTA Summit taking place here in the cradle of civilization, Cairo under the auspices of His Excellency Eng. Atef Helmy, the Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Arab Republic of Egypt.
I have had the opportunity to read a lot about the land of Egypt, watched documentaries and reviewed articles about Egypt on the Internet; and I'm in awe of the Egyptian heritage. As such, I am proud to be associated with the governmegnt and the people of Egypt.
When the idea of establishing a private sector-led African ICT industry organisation was conceived in January2012 (as there was none then), I was delighted that EITESAL –Egypt Information Technology, Electronics and Software Alliance (which by the way is one of the best organised private sector-led ICT industry organisation in Africa),was one of the first to respond positively to the establishment of AfICTA on May 1, 2012; and their strong collaboration and teamwork have been sustained leading to the milestone we're recording today.
Egypt's strong support and engagement has enabled the alliance to grow from 6 founding members of Egypt, South Africa, Kenya, the Gambia, Tunisia and Nigeria to close to 20 members today including Rwanda, Ethiopia, Somalia, Burundi, Niger, Namibia, Sudan, Libya, Cote D'voire, Benin, Togo, Uganda, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, Morocco, Cameroon and ... The list continues to grow. In this regard, I would like to thank ... Eng MonamTaha (1st Egyptian representative on the board of AfICTA), Dr Shedeed, EITESAL CEO and Eng Hossam Elgamal, Egypt's current representative on the board of AfICTA and Chair of Summit 2014 Organising Committee. I'm glad to note that Eng Hossam, who spoke for the global business at the just concluded IGF 2014 in Istanbul is doing African private sector proud in the United Nations Secretary General Multi-Stakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) on the Internet Governance Forum.
Being a nation of the past and of the future, I'm delighted that Egypt is hosting AfICTA Summit 2014 with the theme "Fostering a Smart Africa". As it is already well known, the 21st Century belongs to Africa, the 2nd largest continent in the world with more than 1.1 billion people. Based on ITU statistics, close to 30% African are on the Internet. Internet penetration is growing at 45%, we are close to 100% teledensity and over $100b infrastructure projects (in the area of broadband, electricity, and transportation) are currently on going across Africa. Africa is growing and it MUST continue to grow smart to boost intra-African trade which is currently below 8%.It is for this imperative reason for change that I commend H. E. President Paul Kagame of Rwanda for hosting the Transform Africa conferences and for championing the "Smart Africa" project for which the pivot is empowering the private sector to lead. In the same token and within a very short period of time, it is noteworthy that H. E. President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is also fostering a smart Africa as exemplified by H. E. Eng. Atef Helmy the Minister of Communication and Information Technology. From the records apparent to many, H. E. President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria has also used ICT to transform Nigeria with its recent GDP surge to becoming the number 1 economy in Africa @ US$520billion. Indeed, many of our Presidents and ICT Ministers in Africa are working smart hence the array of national presence we see today.
I believe the momentum should be sustained across Africa, hence AfICTA's commitment to effective collaboration among all stakeholders; governments, the civil societies, academia, technical community, business, Inter-governmental organizations. We have thus signed MOU with the Information Technology Industry Agency of Egypt (ITIDA), the sponsor of this event, and collaborating with the Internet Corporation for Assign Names and Numbers (ICANN) with whom we have partnered to organise the Domain Name System Workshop; and partnered with the Alliance for Affordable Internet for All (A4IA) to promote the need for Internet access affordability for our people. Africa cannot operate in isolation, therefore in the spirit of collaboration; AfICTA will be signing an MOU shortly with our counterpart in Asia, the Asia – Oceania Computing Industry Organisation (ASOCIO) represented here today by Mr Stan Singh.
Over the course of the year, we've played significant role in the global stage by enabling African private sector voices to be heard at the Netmundial in Brazil, International Chamber of Commerce Business Action In Support of the Information Society (ICC BASIS), ICANN, UN Commission of Science & Technology for Development (CSTD) and its Working Group on Enhanced Cooperation, and at the UN SG Multi-Stakeholder Advisory Group among others; and we would continue to leap forward knowing fully well that, that is the right thing to do.
At this 2nd Summit, we shall be looking at policy frameworks, initiatives, solutions, case studies and practices that are successful and effective with the view of replicating them across Africa. The mobile money phenomenon in Kenya (mpesa) is being replicated across Africa and has morphed into a robust e-Payment system in Nigeria thereby boosting commerce and productivity. The deliberate policy of enhancing business in Rwanda has catapulted it to the top ladder in the World Bank Doing Business ranking in Africa. The application of ICTs in Agriculture is making Nigerian farmers smarter by the day not least the decreasing fortune of illegal drug traders with ICT enabled drug authentication system. The list goes on...
As part of our broad strategy to increase intra-African trade (currently less than 8%), business match-making is a major feature of this year's Summit and it would continue as a permanent benefit of AfICTA membership.
I'm delighted that this Summit is happening in conjunction with the Cairo ICT Exhibitions where the very latest products of innovation in ICTs will be on display to advance uptakes in cloud computing, datafication, internet of things, broadband, mobile apps among others. Please avail yourself of what Cairo ICT Show offers.
As I conclude this message, I would like to reflect on the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) 2015 target review and congratulate the United Nations and its WSIS coordinating body, the CSTD; and also not forgetting UNCTAD, ITU, UNESCO, UNECA and AU for their catalytic role towards the "smart" Africa that we want. The existing inclusive multi stakeholder strategy that is delivering result should be sustained for a post 2015 development Agenda. The CSTD WG on Enhanced Cooperation in which I'm privileged to serve is one multi-stakeholder grouping reflecting the need for continuous cooperation and collaboration among stakeholders on policy matter pertaining to the governance of the Internet. AfICTA and her members are poised to engage for the long haul towards the "smart" Africa vision.
I would like to thank H. E. President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the Minister of C & IT, Eng. Atef Helmy, the Director of Int'l Relations, Nermine El Saadany (my friend with whom we worked at the CSTD Working Group on IGF improvement); the CEO of ITIDA, Hussein Mohamed El-Gueretly and his management, the board and management of ETEISAL for hosting Africa. My appreciation goes to the Business Constituency of ICANN, ICANN, NITDA and all our sponsors for your support. I would like to thank my Vice-Chair, Mr Adrian Schofield for his strong support and all the members of board members of AfICTA noting the exceptional commitment of Eng Hossam El-Gamal. With Africa together, we shall realise our full potentials for a "smart" Africa we very much desire. Thank you and enjoy the Summit.
