01 Aug What is the Digital Economy for Africa Initiative?

A detailed plan – the Digital Economy for Africa Initiative aims to ensure that every individual within the African continent will be digitally enabled by 2030.

DE4A, or Digital Economy for Africa is an ongoing initiative that aims to meet the demands of the African economy, combating the ‘digital divide’ and increased cyber risks that come with a turbulent cyber economy.

In 2017, only 22% of citizens had access to the Internet. The majority of citizens have no access to digital IDs or transaction accounts, meaning a complete lack of access to e-commerce.

Africa needs to be empowered, the goal of the Digital Economy for Africa Initiative is “to ensure that every individual, business, and government in Africa will be digitally enabled by 2030 in support of the African Union ‘Digital Transformational Strategy for Africa.'”

How will we get there?

The World Bank Group, alongside members of the DE4A initiative, is committed to supporting policy reforms to enable young people in Africa in learning how to use computing technology and invest their time in cyber sectors.

This commitment has been accompanied by a call for African countries to increase their spending on the digital economy and to prioritize critical reforms.

The importance of the digital is continually stressed to African individuals and businesses, as new paths are being slowly opened. However, more needs to be done to ensure those individuals have adequate access to the digital transformation that has recently begun taking place across the region.