COMMENT
Africa is ripe
with opportunity
and innovation
Cisco’s SVP and Chief Strategy Officer, Hilton Romanski, talks about the
opportunities digitalisation brings to Africa.
A
ccording to Hilton Romanski,
Cisco’s Chief Strategy Officer:
“Technology is an enabler of
freedom and presents unimaginable
opportunities for Africa.”
Speaking at Cisco Connect South Africa
(sponsored by Intel), he addressed
some of the top leaders in Africa’s
ICT industry. His remarks reinforced
the company’s commitment to the
continent, emphasising that it has all
the resources, talent and technology to
be a global leader in digital innovation
and transformation.
“Technology presents many
opportunities and challenges for
Africa as the fastest urbanising region
in the world,” said Romanski. “Cisco
recognises the pipeline of African talent
and we are deeply involved in enabling
the widespread emergence of tech
ecosystems across the continent.”
Centre of the world
According to the United Nations, within
the next 20 years Africa’s working age
population is expected to be over one
billion, larger than China’s or India’s.
While only 2% of the African economy
is currently composed of Internet-
related services, this figure is expected
to grow to 7% or $315 billion by 2025.
With the Cisco Networking Academy
– an IT skills and career building
programme for learning institutions
and individuals worldwide – Cisco is
enabling African workers to be valued
contributors to the digital economy.
Through its products and services,
the company is also equipping and
advising companies, cities, provinces
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INTELLIGENTCIO
Hilton Romanski, SVP and
Chief Strategy Officer, Cisco
and nations to build, secure and
improve digital technologies to drive
economic growth and efficiencies.
“Africa is geographically in the centre
of the world, between the East and
West, and an emerging powerhouse
of the Global South,” added Romanski.
“Technology holds the chance for Africa
to build more open societies and for
some countries to leapfrog others.”
Shared opportunities and
responsibilities
It is expected that as globalisation
continues, more ideas will be
exchanged, collaboration will increase,
and open development will flourish.
Romanski highlighted Cisco Spark
Board, recently launched in South
Africa, as an example of how global
collaboration is becoming easier,
increasing the freedom to share, learn,
teach and work in more places.
“Technology plays a key role in powering
openness and collaboration so that
ideas traverse not just countries,
but continents. Digitalisation is
revamping the delivery of education,
health and other public services, and
transforming lives in the process,”
observed Romanski. “We are living
in an age in which unprecedented
digital transformation is occurring
in business, economies and political
systems. The significance of this is
that the policies a country chooses
to pursue in the next decade will
determine the extent to which their
economies will develop, compete and
integrate within the global economy.”
Supporting ICT
entrepreneurs and SMMEs
According to Romanski, South
Africa’s ICT sector has a
responsibility to support young
entrepreneurs and SMMEs in general.
One element of Cisco’s focus on
innovation in the country has
been through co-development. For
example, the Tshimologong Precinct
at the University of Witwatersrand
– a vibrant start-up incubator in
Johannesburg’s inner city – last year
saw the company invest R12 million
as one of the technology partners
aiming to turn Braamfontein into a
digital hub.
Apart from enabling entrepreneurs
to build businesses that will shape
the world, Cisco sees continued
digitalisation as opportunities to:
• Improve the country’s
competitiveness on the global stage
• Allow governments to extend the
reach and impact of public services
• Provide more accessibility and
opportunities for education and
technology-based careers
www.intelligentcio.com