Mr Lucas Oluoch, Principal ICT Officer at the Kenya Wildlife Service; Ms Rachael Shitanda, AfICTA Deputy Chair and Vice Chair for East Africa; Ms Arinola Akinyemi, AfICTA Vice Chair for West Africa and CEO of DigiSphere Investment Limited; Mr Abimbola Abioye, CEO of Fintrak Software and President of ISPON; and Dr Robinson Tombari Sibe, CEO of Digital Footprints Nig. Ltd have been named the 2025 Africa ICT Champions.core

Their recognition was officially revealed after the election conducted by the AfICTA Nominating Committee and decided by votes from members in good standing, was finalised. The announcement was made during the Awards Presentation Session, which served as the closing highlight of the 13th AfICTA Summit held from November 12-13, 2025 and led by AfICTA Chair, Ms Ulandi Exner.

Additional awardees include recipients of the 2025 Africa ICT Personality Award: Mr Chris Uwaje, Former President of the Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON); and Dr Adebunmi Akinbo, Founder of DNS Africa Media and Communications.

Ms Jaqueline Madara Dondo, ICT Director at Machakos University, Kenya, earned the CIO Award, while the Africa Innovation Award was presented to Mr Godwin Okwara, Technical/IT Engineer based in the United States. The Africa Community Development Award went to Mr Hanniel Hamisu Jafaru, Executive Director of HTC Academy and a Cybersecurity & AI Governance expert.

These awardees represent distinguished professionals whose contributions continue to shape and elevate Africa’s digital ecosystem. AfICTA further acknowledges the broader community of exceptional leaders across the continent whose work continues to drive progress and strengthen Africa’s ICT landscape.

This year’s AfICTA Summit was themed “Accelerating Africa’s Digital Future: Innovation, Inclusion, and Economic Growth.” The two-day event brought together industry experts, policymakers, and stakeholders to engage on pressing issues such as digital infrastructure, emerging technologies, cybersecurity, skills development, and inclusive digital growth. Discussions centred on strengthening collaboration to accelerate Africa’s digital transformation.

The Africa Information & Communication Technologies Alliance (AfICTA) is a private-sector–driven coalition of ICT associations, multinational companies, enterprises, and professionals across the continent. AfICTA’s vision is to enable every African to benefit from the digital age. Its mission is to promote multi-stakeholder engagement and drive ICT-enabled development using innovative tools from mobile technologies to computing and satellite systems to advance Africa toward a thriving information society.

Profiles of both recent and past awardees are available here 

The Africa Information and Communication Technologies Alliance (AfICTA) is pleased to announce its 13th AfICTA Summit, which will hold virtually from November 11th to 13th, 2025. This year’s Summit will focus on the theme “Accelerating Africa's Digital Future: Innovation, Inclusion, and Economic Growth.”

Since its inception, the AfICTA Summit has grown into a premier platform that brings together stakeholders from across Africa and beyond to discuss critical issues shaping the continent’s digital landscape. The inaugural edition was held in Lagos in 2013, followed by Cairo in 2014, Johannesburg in 2015, Windhoek in 2016, and Abuja in 2017. Subsequent editions were hosted in Nairobi in 2018, Abuja again in 2019, while the Secretariat hosted the eighth to twelfth editions virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Africa’s digital future holds immense potential for driving economic growth, fostering innovation, and promoting social inclusion. By harnessing the power of digital technologies, African countries can leapfrog traditional development pathways, enhance competitiveness, and create new opportunities in entrepreneurship, education, agriculture, healthcare, and financial inclusion. Digital innovation can also help bridge the gap between rural and urban areas, ensuring that the benefits of the digital agenda are shared more equitably across the continent,” said Ms. Ulandi Exner, Chair of AfICTA.

To realize this vision, it is crucial to empower underserved and underrepresented communities, including youth, women, and persons with disabilities, through targeted digital literacy initiatives, inclusive policy design, and grassroots engagement. With Africa’s youthful population being one of its greatest assets, equipping them with digital tools for innovation, entrepreneurship, and civic participation will ensure the sustainability and inclusiveness of Africa’s digital transformation.

This year’s Summit will place special emphasis on inclusive growth, ensuring that Africa’s digital economy works for everyone especially women, youth, and marginalized communities. It will examine critical areas such as digital infrastructure for a connected Africa, emerging technologies and artificial intelligence for development, cybersecurity and digital trust, digital literacy and lifelong learning, policy harmonization for robust digital governance, and entrepreneurship through skills and innovation. It will also highlight the importance of multi-stakeholder cooperation as a key driver of digital growth across the continent.

The expected outcomes of the Summit include the identification of strategies for improving digital infrastructure through multi-stakeholder cooperation; the development of frameworks to harness emerging technologies for sustainable development; the establishment of best practices for cybersecurity and data protection; and the advancement of digital literacy and gender equity to bridge the divide between rural and urban areas. The Summit will also focus on policy recommendations for harmonized digital governance, strategies to support startups and entrepreneurs, and the strengthening of partnerships among governments, the private sector, civil society, and other key stakeholders to facilitate digital growth and development in Africa.

The AfICTA Summit provides a unique platform for policymakers, industry leaders, academia, civil society, and innovators to shape the future of Africa’s digital transformation. Interested participants are encouraged to visit https://aficta.africa/summits/summit-2025 for more information on participation.

About AfICTA
The Africa Information and Communication Technologies Alliance (AfICTA) is a private sector-led alliance of ICT organizations, companies, associations, and individuals committed to advancing the development of ICTs in Africa through advocacy, collaboration, and capacity building.

The Africa Information & Communication Technologies Alliance (AfICTA joins the world in marking World Identity Day by calling for stronger efforts to advance sovereign and interoperable digital identity systems across Africa.

At the 20th Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Norway earlier this year, AfICTA highlighted that digital identity is foundational for inclusion and development. Without recognized identities, millions of Africans remain digitally invisible and excluded from essential services such as healthcare, education, banking, and mobility. Early enrollment, like Nigeria’s issuance of National Identification Numbers (NIN) at birth, demonstrates how robust citizen registries can be established to drive long-term inclusion.

For Africa’s digital future to thrive, interoperability is critical. Seamless cross-border verification of identities will be essential to realizing the promise of the digital age and fulfilling the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) initiative, enabling the free movement of people, goods, and services. Successful models already exist, including Nigeria’s integrated NIN ecosystem, Benin’s interoperable biometric ID card, and Rwanda’s impressive achievement of enrolling 95% of their adults, all of which provide lessons for regional and continental scaling. However, interoperability will not happen by chance; it requires deliberate political will, policy alignment, and multi-stakeholder collaboration.

Speaking on the occasion, Ms. Ulandi Exner, Chair of AfICTA, stated: “Digital identity is more than a technological tool, it is a pathway to economic empowerment and digital sovereignty. By working together through multi-stakeholder initiatives, Africa can build identity systems that are secure, interoperable, and inclusive, unlocking the continent’s full potential in the digital economy.”

At the same time, digital identity must protect national sovereignty. Strong data protection laws, trust frameworks, and resilient cybersecurity infrastructure are needed to safeguard privacy and maintain trust. Countries must tailor their approaches to their level of readiness, ensuring no one is left behind. Platforms such as ECOWAS, the African Union, Africa ICT Alliance and Smart Africa are vital in aligning regional efforts.

In addition, interoperability is vital, but not inevitable. It will require deliberate effort, aligned policies, and sustained collaboration across governments, the private sector, civil society, and technical communities. Only then can we create digital identity systems that enable inclusion while protecting sovereignty and ensuring resilience.”

Looking forward, AfICTA calls for pragmatic regional pilots to test cross-border interoperability and provide actionable lessons for wider adoption. Governments must also align policies with international standards while respecting sovereignty, and invest in cryptographic infrastructure and open standards to secure and scale identity systems. A public-private and whole-of-society approach is equally important, citizens need to understand the value of digital identity and see it linked to real benefits such as healthcare access, student transport discounts, and mobile banking opportunities.

About AfICTA
The Africa Information & Communication Technologies Alliance (AfICTA) is a private sector-led alliance committed to advancing ICT development and digital transformation across Africa through advocacy, capacity building, and multi-stakeholder engagement with the vision to fulfil the promise of the digital age for everyone in Africa.