GITEX AFRICA Agenda Shines Light On Africa’s Innovation Challenges

GITEX AFRICA 2023’s agenda centres on key topics that aim to shed light on some of the critical challenges facing Africa’s innovative ecosystem. Professionals drawn from both the government and private sector will share their insights through keynote speeches, fireside chats and panel discussions on different topics including regulation, cybersecurity, venture capital (VC) funding, and the digital economy among others. These topics cover issues that play a significant role in promoting innovation in Africa.

Cybersecurity features prominently on the GITEX AFRICA agenda. A major concern in Africa currently owing to limited resources, lack of expertise, a lack of security culture, and third-party dependencies, the conversations will feature keynote addresses and panel discussions. The reality of cyber threats in Africa, policy to support cybersecurity measures, countering cybersecurity, mitigating cyber risk in telecommunications, securing nations, and transforming the role of the CISOs are earmarked for insights. The presence of so many governments will undoubtedly earmark regulation insights. As it is, African start-ups face complex and inconsistent regulations, lengthy bureaucratic processes, limited supportive policies, and inadequate intellectual property protection. These regulatory challenges pose obstacles to innovation within the continent. Just to highlight one of the panel discussions, experts will examine how local governments continue to shape a more supportive legislative framework to catalyse growth in Africa. A session that will aptly offer advice to delegates on strategies for navigating through difficult legal and regulatory environments and the ideal stable regulations for scaling.

Under VC funding, the agenda features some of the challenges facing Africa’s start-ups such as strategies for attracting funding, valuations, and developing governance structures. Why Are Top Global VCs Piling Into African Start-ups, a fireside chat, will address questions like:

• What is Africa doing to attract foreign commercial capital?

• What is missing to fulfill investor confidence in the continent?

• How are we treating due diligence vs market opportunity?

Notably, African start-ups may face a decline in VC funding due to global economic events. Reports indicate a 57.2 per cent decline in funding raised by African start-ups in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the same period in 2022, attributed to economic recession, investor caution, and limited viable business models.

On the agenda is the state of play in Africa’s digital economy today expected to top $712 billion by 2050. African governments have opportunities to enhance access to digital technologies, platforms, and services, further scaling the technology and innovation ecosystem. To realise this projection, governments across the continent are working to enable access to digital-first government, healthcare and education and develop digital skills through capacity-building initiatives. Prepare for a panel examining how the adoption of new systems and technologies is performing in Africa, what challenges are being seen in the current economic climate and the concrete steps needed for a wide-scale digital transformation in Africa.