South Africa has been elected to chair a committee of five African countries that will discuss ways that Africans can be part of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
The committee will look into how Africa can integrate Information, Communication and Technology industries in its policies to accelerate economic growth.
South Africa’s Deputy Minister for Telecommunications Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams spoke on the sidelines of the 5th African Telecommunications Union conference in Kenya.
Across Africa, the mobile phone is king. From the palm of your hands, you can communicate, pay your bills and even access your bank account or better still, the mobile phone now rivals the bank.
The World Bank estimates that 60% of the continent’s population have access to a mobile phone and that 5.4% of Africa’s GDP is generated by the mobile technologies.
To leverage on these opportunities, African ICT ministers and experts have been meeting in Nairobi.
During the forum, Kenya challenged the continent to speak with one voice on global ICT decision making summits.
Deputy Minister Ndabeni-Abrahams says Africans must also focus on policies that will allow new technologies to grow and drive economic growth.
