Kusi Ideas Festival: Panellists call for policy initiatives to help Africans dominate tech space

Panelists for Day Two of the ongoing Kusi Ideas Festival have called on various governments to implement policy initiatives that will drive young Africans to dominate the African technological space.

Speaking on the topic, “Technology, Innovation and Powering New African Possibilities,” Herman Kojo Chinery-Hesse, a technology entrepreneur said the time for Africans to take charge of their own technology industry is now.
He said, “our public policy must be geared to create dominance for Africans for Africa tech space over the next few years. And our youth are ready, the environment is ready, we have intellect now.”

“COVID-19 has come to push forward a lot of our plans, So, this is a unique time in history where we can actually take charge of the technology that we consume; and own and tax it ourselves and develop our countries and improve our geopolitical situation, it’s a great opportunity,” he stated.

Also on the panel, Kenya’s Anne Waiguru Egh, Governor of the Kirinyaga County government urged the media in Africa to help put a spotlight and properly disseminate conversations around African innovation and technology.

“My call to action will be a request to the media to put a little bit focus on innovations and technology and the conversations that we’re having here and how you relate them to, for example, ensure that our young people get information that is packed in a way that they can process and influence them to use innovation and technology that they can contribute to development,” she added.

The Kusi Ideas Festival’s two-day conference is under the theme “How Africa Transforms after the Virus”, and will touch on a number of sub-themes including; taking forward the lessons learnt from leading during the pandemic, new opportunities for accelerating Pan-African trade, opening borders, and building back tourism and more.