Meeting in the frame of the European Development Days 2018 in Brussels, Abdou Samb, President of FRS Consulting and expert at the European Commission for questions related in particular to the innovation, delivers his point of view on the upheavals brought by the digital the continent in this exclusive interview granted to Financial Afrik
Interview by Szymon Jagiello, Financial Afrik’s European Affairs Correspondent
How would you characterize the African business community in the digital world?
First of all, let me mention the new paradigm that is gradually taking hold in Africa and that is tending to completely change African society and therefore entrepreneurship. Indeed, we have gone from an era marked by a very strong expectation to the political world to a new cycle in which the initiatives emanate more widely from civil society including the diaspora. It’s a total reversal of practices! This is reflected in particular among young people who appropriate this development by defining themselves today as Africans, without specific reference to their nationality of origin. However, when we talk about African entrepreneurship, we necessarily talk about African youth, which only evokes one adjective: uninhibited. Like the entrepreneurial dynamic experienced in North America, Europe and Asia, the African environment is extremely dynamic, creative, disruptive and even daring. This youth will stop at nothing. It is driven by the sole desire to bring state-of-the-art solutions to everyday and sometimes secular issues in all areas. By adopting this brand new state of mind, it transforms at an unexpected speed, the whole of society, and this to the views of the whole world, often stunned to use new technologies or applications created and already in use in Africa.
What concrete example on the ground best illustrates your remarks?
To concretely measure the answer that could be given to your question, go to the Lagos CChub. It brings together some fifty young entrepreneurs all with tremendous enthusiasm and determination to share together the advances of new technologies to provide creative solutions to the social challenges facing Nigeria. This platform has managed to bring together start-ups, scientists, investors, public authorities, … it’s a whole ecosystem that is dynamic. His aura has far exceeded the African continent. Consider that even Marc Zuckerberg of Facebook wanted to meet them in August 2016. It is this creativity, this will of co-construction based on digital that builds every day a new entrepreneurial world in Africa, totally uninhibited!
When we take a little look at the situation and as your example points out, we have the impression that English-speaking Africa is more advanced and that companies from these regions, like Kenyan M-Pesa , have greater ease of internationalization compared to the French-speaking world. Why ?
It’s a state of affairs. The entrepreneurial dynamic of English-speaking countries is more international. Is it due to the international character of the English language? One can legitimately ask the question when one looks at Rwandan or Cape Verde, who have each adopted English as an official language to the detriment of French and Portuguese. But, to limit itself to this observation is to believe that the situation is fixed. But a wind of change is blowing across Africa today. Indeed, this new generation of private entrepreneurs, breaking with the past, is aware that Africa itself holds within it, the wealth needed to hoist the continent to the world, which will soon be his. It is no coincidence that international meetings bringing together digital players are constantly increasing in the largest French-speaking and English-speaking capitals. Senegal is particularly dynamic in hosting and organizing Tech Meetings and iConferences. This helps to increase the number of executives who are successful in raising funds in Europe or the United States. As you note, I’m pretty confident. If nuances remain between these two Africas, they are gradually trying to fade. A dynamic is actually installed.
As a whole, Africa surprises many people with its ability to adopt new digital technologies. What can Europe learn from the African experience?
What fundamentally characterizes the African vision is that the entrepreneur conceives his innovation by asking himself two questions with creative values: first, what can I bring to improve, simplify the daily life, and then how a population mostly unenthusiastic to new technologies could adopt my innovation as quickly as possible. By guiding the design of the innovation project, the product to its market, and to its target audience, the entrepreneur increases the chances of success by providing a solution that is truly adapted to the needs encountered and by providing, moreover, a use of the most easy. This is the case of AC Group in Rwanda, which offers practical and secure payment solutions for public transport and Intouch in Senegal that transforms access to digital services. Each of them is concerned with creating products that are simple, intuitive, inexpensive and easy to adopt for a mass market. It is by spreading this state of mind that the African experience can help European entrepreneurship. Indeed, in Europe, it is not uncommon to meet leaders of start-ups who have developed an application or other digital support with many ambitions, but which address a niche market too limited, or which present technical or budgetary constraints that compromise its use. You see, again, it is the uninhibited character that is to be adopted!
Speaking of Europe, the Brussels institutions have recently adopted a new strategy, the Digital4Development, which identifies Africa as a priority area for cooperation through digital technology. How does it differ from previous development policies and adapt to the African context?
One could indeed wonder what this new strategy brings compared to the previous ones. But is this the real issue? From my point of view, the priority is for the European institutions to completely change their outlook on Africa and their mindset in the African market so as not to duplicate the Asian case. Africa is a market, a very large market with exceptional demography in its number but also in its constitution with a young population and strong growth. Addressing the African subject by so-called development aid policies is today a heresy. The new paradigm of the Europe-Africa economic relationship must be cooperation. Indeed, Africa today has real arguments in terms of agility, adaptability and speed to tackle an equal partnership with Europe. Vice President of the European Commission Andrus Ansip has understood Africa well. I would even say that his ministerial experience in Estonia, a country entirely dedicated to digital, gave him an intellectual proximity to apprehend the positive upheavals induced by digital. It is with this conviction that the Digital4Development strategy has identified Africa as Europe’s key partner for digital cooperation. Now, beyond words, we must enter the concrete actions and launch a dialogue “on an equal footing” together to build a new era. Whatever the case may be, Africa continues on its path.
Does the mentioned program take into consideration cooperation with the Smart Africa Alliance, a network that aims to bring the private sector and African governments closer to the development of the Internet in Africa?
Smart Africa represents one of the most beautiful initiatives to establish a stronger African integration, especially in the digital world. It has a number of qualities to be a key interlocutor in the cooperation dialogue with Europe. However, it seems to me that the African Union should naturally take on this role. This of course means strengthening the political and economic weight of this organization. The challenge is to know if the African states have the will and if Europe is ready to leave the bilateral and therefore individual relations, to enter a more federal inspired relationship European Commission-African Union Commission . It is only in this context that Europe could support Africa in the implementation of effective and sustainable corporate and innovation financing policies, like the Framework Program for Research & Development. Development), which has just unveiled the main lines of the 9th program, Horizon Europe, launched in 2021. It should also offer more opportunities to support African projects. In addition, each country could set up financing tools for the economy, like the PIA (Invest in the Future Program) in France.
Finally, several EU member states, including France, which has just announced the launch of digital4Africa, have recently adopted development strategies giving a prominent place to digital for Africa. This situation gives the feeling that this area is the only growth engine on the continent. Do not you fear that we may see a devaluation of other sectors in the eyes of investors and foreign partners?
The temptation to think so might indeed be strong. On the other hand this question has the merit of putting the good look on the digital, which is not a vertical subject but rather transversal, in the sense that it is addressed to all the sectors. You will have noticed today we are talking about Agritech, Healthtech, Medtech, Environmentech, or even Fintech. We realize that by promoting digital, we drive all sectors through a disruptive approach, which completely boosts the economy. Digital brings us today into the world of tomorrow. Public and private investors have understood this well by multiplying meeting and pitching opportunities with African start-ups, incubators, hubs and incubators to identify and support the most ambitious projects. Encouraging the participation or financial support of digital companies means developing all of the sectors of the future that are transforming the economy and therefore our daily lives. This is certainly a path that the political world would be well advised to explore. And if that was the one allowing the emergence of Africa as a world leader?
Interviewed by Szymon Jagiello
