ICT innovations hold key to a better, thriving Africa

For most of us, 2020 has been a year of almost dramatic, almost traumatic change. As individuals, our lives have been transformed; as businesses, our operating models have been revolutionised; and as a society, we have been shaken to the core.

Fortunately, many of the technologies that have helped us through the worst of the pandemic hold the key to success and prosperity in the post-lockdown era. The new ways of interaction that emerged this year – characterised by remote work, distance education, remote healthcare, online shopping and mobile money – will define how society works in future.

Across the economy the pace of change is already enormous. Last week, when we launched a 5G lab at Wits University, vice-chancellor

Prof Adam Habib told us how Wits had moved completely online within three weeks during the pandemic – a process that was previously planned to take three years. The move online has happened across society – not only in education but in workplaces, in retail as well as in entertainment – and this move will be permanent. This explains why data traffic soared by more than 40%, while digital services boomed across Sub-Saharan Africa.

African governments have responded quickly to the demand, releasing temporary spectrums and making policy recommendations, as the president’s 4IR commission has done in SA.

Some of these policy moves – recently announced by minister of communications minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams – have included a commitment to invest in human capital and supporting data security to enable innovation.

Policy moves such as these are to be encouraged, as they open the door for ICT companies to make an ever greater contribution to social-economic development.

Government can further enable ICT-led development through policies to ensure rapid deployment of infrastructure, lower the cost of spectrum, and provide tax relief to make smartphones more affordable.

Another strategy for building a better Africa through ICT is to invest in digital skills. According to GSMA, only 28% of Africa’s 1.3billion citizens subscribe to the mobile internet, compared to the global average of 48%.

We need to invest more in digital skills for people, to digitally empower them, so that they can use digital technologies not only for consuming others’ ideas but also to develop their own.

At Huawei we aim to bring digital to every person, home and organisation for a fully connected, intelligent world. In SA, one way we’ve been doing this is by employing Huawei’s AI to help customers predict and manage networks, improving operations efficiency by more than 30%.

Huawei ICT Academies have been set up in more than 400 top universities in 17 African countries, producing more than 50,000 certified graduates.

Ours is just one component of what must be a society-wide movement to relaunch our society for the post-pandemic era of digital empowerment. It is our time to thrive, and requires all of us to put our shoulders to the wheel to build a better future for all people of Africa.