It's all systems go for Connected Africa Summit, 2024

ICT and Digital Economy CS Eliud Owalo has confirmed that all necessary arrangements have been finalised ahead of the Connected Africa Summit 2024. 

The continental ICT event will take place from April 22-25, at Uhuru Gardens in Nairobi. 

Speaking Monday at the National Monument and Museum where he inspected the grounds, CS Owalo said they are committed to ensuring the summit delivers its goal in advancing Africa as the next digital frontier. 

“The event is going to be a major platform which will able Africa think as one family from a global ICT sector” he said. 

“There are lots of emerging issues in our areas of operations such as AI, Machine Learning, IoT, and Big Data and this summit gives us an advantage of what we need to do in terms of policy to remain relevant.” 

Owalo added that they envisage that at the tail end of the summit, Africa shall have come up with a continental tech road map that can guide in strengthening policies, laws and regulations while breaking geographical barriers.  

“We have assessed where we shall have tents mounted, we have assessed where exhibition and plenary sessions will be and we are here with all partners and sponsors,” he said. 

“We have invited heads of state, global technological companies, diplomats and tech thought leaders so that we think together as one Africa family within the technological space.” 

The CS was accompanied by ICT and Digital Economy PS John Tanui, , CEO, ICT Authority CEO Stanley Kamanguya and Data Commissioner Immaculate Kassait among other governmental representatives, summit sponsors and partners. 

They include GIZ-Team Europe, Safaricom, Huawei Technologies, Dell Technologies Inc., Cisco, AWS, KCB, Oracle, Soliton Telmec, KEPSA, HP, Liquid Intelligent Technologies, Nokia, NiaFibre, Fortinet, Airtel, Kaspersky, Sybl, Teltonika Networks and A-Z Technologies. 

Over 30 governmental and privare-sector led institutions drawn from Africa, America, Asia and Europe are also expected to showcase advancements in technological innovation.

On his part, PS Tanui who spoke at an earlier media briefing highlighted government’s commitment through partnerships with media and other organizations in ensuring the event is successful.  

“We have made a lot of progress as a country and we would like to share this with other countries and also learn from them,” he said. 

“We also believe this is another opportunity for media to engage more stakeholders and we invite all stakeholders to be with us. The media can help us in telling the great stories in the continent and we shall be working closely with media, ICT Authority and other agencies.”  

Tanui added that conversations will revolve around connectivity and making use of the platform to bring Africa together to charter a way to move ahead in line with the emerging technologies.  

The ICT Authority noted that the diverse representation of investors and institutions will advance Africa’s digital space through valuable connections and strategic investments that can be leveraged to support Africa’s youthful and innovative population.  

ICT Authority CEO Stanley Kamanguya, said the summit is important in incubating ideas and urged innovators and institutions to take part in leapfrogging Africa’s innovation to greater heights.  

“We have learnt a lot of lessons from previous Connected Summit editions and have seen several fundamental initiatives which have been born out of this event,” he said.  

“We also all know the Huduma Centre and eCitizen ideas were born from Connected and we continue to encourage the youth to come and showcase their innovative ideas. The summit nurtures innovative ideas and partnerships that leverage technology to advance Africa's development agenda,” Kamanguya added.

The summit, CS Owalo noted, will also be supported by government agencies and regulatory bodies who will also participate as exhibitors, highlighting the collaborative efforts between the public and private sectors to advance connectivity initiatives.  

“The partners and sponsors will get an opportunity to scale investment in Africa’s digital economy by connecting with thought leaders and policymakers who will put in place the policies that will be needed to accelerate both infrastructure development and investment in the digital economy as envisioned in the African Union’s Agenda 2063,” he added.  

The Summit aims to act as a platform where African leaders can position the African tech agenda in readiness for the UN Summit of the Future to be held in September 2024 and deter mine their role in green technology and governance of generative AI for African realities.