Keep pulling the thread on Didier Nkurikiyimfura.
The mission of the organization Smart Africa is to create a single digital market across the African continent by removing regulatory and policy barriers.
Ethiopia recently launched a major dam where more than half of its generated power capacity is intended for export to other African countries.
Smart Africa has recently created an AI Council for Africa, which includes representatives from the public sector, private sector, big tech, and large telecom companies like Orange.
Africa's population is projected to grow from 1.4 billion people today to 2.5 billion people by 2050.
African nations view Artificial Intelligence as a significant opportunity to accelerate their digital transformation.
A structural disadvantage for Africa is its fragmentation into over 50 countries, each with its own laws and regulations based on geographical borders, which creates friction for businesses to scale.
Smart Africa is working to harmonize data protection regulations across its member countries to create a more seamless business environment.
Access to reliable energy is a significant challenge for some economies in Africa.
Africa has abundant renewable energy potential, particularly from solar, sufficient to not only meet its own needs but also for export.
Smart Africa is an organization that unites over 40 African countries at the head-of-state level to coordinate on technology and digital policy.
Didier Nkurikiyimfura predicts that within the next 12 months, some African countries will appoint ministers with specific responsibility for the digital economy and AI, similar to the model used by the UAE.
Developing more AI compute capacity is a key area for potential collaboration between Africa and India.