A keynote delivered at Seamless East Africa - Virtual

1. Challenges and Opportunities in Africa
A case of a Digital Economy Blueprint
8 - 9 September 2020 Live Online Eventfor ECOWAS Countries

2. The global economy a year ago was projected to slow
down amid rising trade barriers, increasing geopolitical
tensions and policy uncertainty

3. The health crisis of Covid-19 took
the world by storm in 2020! with
countries world over are struggling to
stablise their economies

4. The impact of Covid-19 is likely to be
severe on all world economies, and it
will hit harder in many countries

5. No easy exist from current uncertain
economic situation

6. Covid-19 impact in Africa is going to be
significantly large, wiping out most of
the gains made in reaching SDG goals

7. International readings indicate a
decline in GDP per capita in all African
countries, and an economic
contraction exceeding half a trillion
dollar.

8. Best case scenario = 4 years;
Worst case scenario = 10 years,
to reach 2019 levels

9. Africa’s population is set to double in the next 30
years, with > 450 million in “working age” + another
400 million young population joining the workforce..
THE CHALLENGE IS HUGE

10. Urbanization in Africa is forecasted to
increase to around 58% in the coming
30 years; putting further stress on
already inadequate infrastructure

11. Price of powering a refrigerator for a year
as % of GDP per capita.. is more expensive
than the refrigerator!

12. Lots of resource crunch expected in African
countries in relation to food, water, power,
jobs, infrastructure, health, education, etc.

13. If current and future requirements are not
dealt with seriously, then issues may
accelerate into catastrophic consequences

14. Industries Without SmokeStacks (iWOSS);
a term that differentiates between
traditional and contemporary industries

15. iWOSS showcases that ICT offers enormous opportunities
by creating new industries like business services, tradable
services, transport and logistics services, that all together
can fuel and boost economic systems.

16. Global challenges need more
creativity and innovation if we
are serious to create impact!

17. The emergence of (iWOSS) industries will create
new jobs, lead to higher value-add per worker
and significantly contribute to overall GDP

18. iWOSS industries could contribute close to
$1 trillion to GDP in Africa by 2030

19. Needs for plan..
or otherwise opportunities
will remain theories.

20. The Arab Economic Unity Council initiative is
designed to support better comprehension
and prioritization of economic development
priorities in ECOWAS countries.

21. The proposed blueprint bases its plan on
the effective utilization of 4th industrial
revolution technologies to address
existing economic and social challenges

22. 7
Proposed Blueprint Architecture

23. Key recommendations included the need to establish
Digital Single Market in ECOWAS countries that
should accelerate the implementation of eTrade and
eCommerce programs in the region..

24. Another critical recommendation was of the need to
develop a regulatory framework to stand as an
enabler to attract investment into the region; that
should protect both consumers and investors.

25. Today’s challenges cannot be
addressed with classical approaches..
because they will just not work!

26. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajF-p2Gfc70

27. Email: alkhouriali@gmail.com
Slide Share: www.slideshare.net/alkhouri
Academia: http://independent.academia.edu/DrAliAlKhouri
@DrAliAlKhouri
Professor Dr. Ali M. Al-Khouri
Advisor, Government of Guinea
Advisor, Arab Economic Unity Council
Chairman, Arab Federation for Digital Economy
League of Arab States
www.arab-digital-economy.org