Hurray!!! AfICTA is 10…
It is with great joy, pride, and honor that we announce the 10th Anniversary Celebration of AfICTA - Africa ICT Alliance. AfICTA which is a concerned private sector led alliance with the vision to fulfill the promise of the digital age for everyone in Africa by connecting African ICT players for increased intra-African trade and collaboration, was founded in the year 2012 by six member nations (Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt, Kenya, Tunisia, and the Gambia) led by Dr. Jimson Olufuye, the founder, Past Chairman and the Chair of the Advisory Council.
The first decade has passed with huge achievements and some challenges but the hard work, steadfast dedication, and unwavering support of all our members both founding and emerging ensured the growth of AfICTA. Today, AfICTA has covered over 35 nations of Africa from the initial 6 pioneer members with about 300 registered ICT businesses (National Associations inclusive) across the continent.
In addition, AfICTA in line with its Constitution has witnessed 2 impactful successive leadership tenures from Dr. Jimson Olufuye, the founder of AfICTA and CEO of Kontemporary Konsulting (2012-2018), to Engr. Hossam Elgamal, CEO Iken (2018-2020) and former Egyptian Cabinet member; and now Mr. Thabo Mashegoane, former President, Institute of IT Professionals of South Africa (formerly the Computer Society of South Africa) since 2020.
The Chairman, Mr. Thabo Mashegoane in his congratulatory message appreciates all the stakeholders involved in AfICTA’s milestone of success. He says “AfICTA in its advocacy for prosperity and enabling environment for businesses in Africa has held nine consecutive Summits in different member nations and from the past experiences and outcomes of the summits, AfICTA continues to close the gap that exists between all sectors that are involved in shaping the Internet and delivering the information society to the realization of digital Africa through knowledge sharing, trade facilitation, and cross-African advocacy”. In more specific terms, AfICTA Summit promotes Public-Private Partnerships by enhancing links between businesses and governments across Africa.
In 2018, the strategy to further deepen engagement and fast-track the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 was conceived, and that birthed organizing quarterly regional focused eConferences and capacity development seminars, discussing pertinent topics to each region in Africa and working with governments and other involved stakeholders in achieving the recommendations thereof.
In the past 10 years, we’ve added our impactful voice to Internet Public Policy discussions at the United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development through its Working Groups on Internet Governance Forum and Enhanced Cooperation. We have similarly been active in promoting the United Nations Internet Governance Forum and the African Internet Governance Forum. AfICTA also pioneered business engagement at the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Business Constituency (BC). We have thus accomplished partnerships with a number of international bodies of like minds and we continue to build on such relationships. Some of the partners are the AU (African Union); ICANN-BC EU (European Union); UNECA (United Nation on Economic Commission for Africa), and ASOCIO (Asian-Oceania Computing Industry Organization)…, AfICTA has indeed been identified as the leading digital business voice on the continent.
In 2018, six (6) AfICTA ICT Business Experts from the 5 sub-regions of Africa represented the interest of African business during the AU Train the Trainers Workshop as part of the PRIDA (Policy and Regulation Initiative for Digital Africa) initiative. Very recently, AfICTA Chairman, Mr. Thabo Mashegoane represented African Private Sector at the AU-EU D4D (Digital for Development) Hub, just to mention a few. Reports are available on https://aficta.africa.
We would as well like to on behalf of the entire board members, appreciate the excellent support of our partners and sponsors among which are ICANN-BC, ACT (Association for Competitive Technology); African Union, ASOCIO (Asian-Oceanian Computing Industry Organization); NITDA (National Information Technology Development Agency, Nigeria); Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Galaxy Backbone Plc Nigeria, WITSA (World Information Technology and Services Alliance); A4AI (Alliance for Affordable Internet); ICC-BASIS (International Chamber of Commerce on Business Actions to Support the Information Society), and all our committed members notably Kontemporary Konsulting Ltd, the Computer Society of Kenya (CSK), the Egyptian ICT Organization (EITESAL), Institute of IT Professionals of South Africa (IITPSA). Others are MainOne Cable, Fintrak Software, Dot-Engee, DigiSphere Investment Ltd, Tech Law Development Services (TLDS), Whogohost, Qualisys, Bernsoft, ICONIS, Afenoid, Iken, Kemitel, Association for Competitive Technology (ACT), Diamond Security Consulting, Letago, Institute of Tomorrow, Kenya Wildlife Service, Data Analytics Privacy Technology Ltd (DAPT), Systech, Techlife, and ASAS Media.
We thank you all for your support, enthusiasm and involvement in Africa’s transformation as we look forward to another decade of bigger achievements together.
I am delighted to express my warmest greetings and congratulations to AflCTA (Africa ICT Alliance) on its magnificent Ten-year Corporate Anniversary!. There is no doubt that in a few years of its existence, AflCTA has made its presence an invaluable one in Africa through its role in promoting, strengthening, and enhancing the development of the continent in its plan toward digitalization. This feat isn’t surprising as the stakeholders and the leadership remain dedicated and passionate about the delivery of its vision which is to fulfill the promise of the digital age for everyone in Africa.
Wow! just like yesterday... AfICTA was birthed. I remember the Founding Chair sharing the vision and I tried to key into it visually which led to the current Logo of AfICTA and serving as the pioneer Programme Officer.
In the second decade of the 21st century, the role of Information technology & communication was on the rise to affect the lives of humans all over the earth. Africa due to the heritage of under-development was not responding to the ICT revolution. In 2012 EiTESAL communicated with a few other entities in Africa to start advocating the need for Africa to mobilize its resources to fill the technology gap.
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