Summary
African countries have strong unmet ICT needs for education, energy, finance, health, industry, transportation and other domains. Some of these sectors serve domestic needs; others serve exports. Countries on the continent have an extraordinary opportunity to evolve/build and implement an ICT strategy to serve these needs. For instance, financial innovation continues to reshape and improve finance by cutting costs and expanding access to financial services. The traditional digital path for many developed economies and regions has been to use legacy software platforms and engage large programming teams for software development. In addition to affordability limitations, this approach creates an unhealthy and unsustainable long-term dependency on the software platforms and the global commercial-corporate interests that promote them. Technology remains key in boosting Africa’s intra-regional trade and fostering regional integration.