Data is big business, very big business and everyone is vying to get a piece of the pie. That is the main focus of this year’s Transform Africa Summit (TAS) taking place in Kigali. All the African tech gurus and stakeholders in the tech industry are in town fully armed with their tech jargon and aspirations are high on the possibilities lying out there. The summit comes at a time when crypto-currencies and cybercrimes are the rage; criminal minds are causing security and financial agencies sleepless nights as cyber robbers seem to always be a step ahead. It is also taking place at a time when the opportunity of technology is spreading across the globe. African countries have at times been slow to join the digital revolution yet it holds the key to fulfilling the sustainable development goals. Africa cannot afford to take that route and it is meetings like the Transform Africa Summit and the Smart Africa initiatives that open doors and show them that it is actually possible to succeed in the digital word; we simply have to decide to take the first step. One area that seems to be a reason for concern is integration; it seems to be progressing at a snail’s pace. Some African countries prefer to trade with countries outside the region, and that has been their economical undoing. Inter Africa trade stands 18 percent compared to say Europe’s 70 percent, so seamless communications and easy exchange of data should be the next frontier to conquer. The deliberations at the summit should yield results that not only increase the bottom line for businesses but also transform the lives of the African people.
