Fostering North-South Partnership in Information and Communication Technologies Sector
NOVATECH 2008: The ICT Africa Marketplace

By Michael Tamru

The East African and Indian Ocean region continues to show rapid ICT sector growth. The ongoing fast development is to a large extent due to a general political determination to reduce the digital divide and continued Government commitment to provide an enabling environment for ICT investments. NOVATECH 2008, the ICT Africa marketplace, taking place in Addis Ababa from 13th - 15th February 2008, will play a crucial role in promoting and supporting the ICT sector in East Africa and Indian Ocean.

This meeting, is organised by PRO€INVEST, a programme of the European Commission (EC) and the group of ACP states (Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific), to strengthen the capacity of Intermediary Organisations in ACP States to promote investment and technology flows in their economies. The meeting is actively supported by the UNECA and the African Union as well as other Regional Economic Communities.

NOVATECH 2008, the ICT Africa marketplace, will include academic and research in ICT in Africa, Europe and third countries presented through a series of workshops, technical and policy sessions, and technical tutorials. The research track is organized in collaboration with the NEPAD Council with the objective of accelerating ICT development in Africa through awareness. Topics include, but not limited to fibre optic networks, next generation broadband networks, Internet exchange points, e-solutions and information storage.

The ICT sector of the East African region has experienced major changes throughout the last decade. These drastic changes include : the end of monopolies and privatisation of the main public operators, investment boom in mobile networks, introduction of new private operators and the emergence of new technologies particularly well suited for the African environment.

East Africa and the Indian Ocean have thus experienced a general development of infrastructures (VSAT, Optic cables, wireless and the future EASSy project) and an extension of networks as well as a modernisation of the communication equipment. This progress, coupled with political stability in the region and a development of rather progressive ICT legislations on a national as well as regional basis, should facilitate continued growth of the ICT sector in Eastern Africa and the Indian Ocean. In addition, ongoing developments in the region – such as rehabilitation of the general infrastructure in terms of electricity, airports, seaports and roads - might have a positive impact on the economy as a whole as well as provide important spin-off benefits for the ICT sector.

The demand for ICT tools is thus constantly growing and the East African market still offers several openings for supplying the market with new products. There are therefore multiple and lucrative investment opportunities in the different services of the ICT sector.

The software sector is also dynamic in Eastern Africa and the Indian Ocean, while a niche that is open for being developed is e-services; with many governments in the region stressing the importance of e-governance, several companies and sectors such as banking and tourism have also slowly begun showing interest for internet services. These positive factors certainly give the ICT sector a strategic role as a catalyst for development in Africa.

The economic situation is characterized by more and more African nations embarking on full-scale regulatory reform, allowing a higher and increasing level of investment in the ICT sector, which now exceeds €1 billion annually. This growth of investments in the ICT sector provides excellent prospects for profitable ratios, along the lines of those achieved by most operators in Africa, who have posted margins in excess of 15% since 2003.

In this context, Novatech will gather some 250 to 300 high level delegates originating from Europe and East Africa and Indian Ocean. In addition, up to 150 attendees from all over Africa and abroad will participate in the research track of the event. All the key players in the ICT sector will be present: private and public companies, policy decision-makers, professional associations, investment promotion agencies, cooperation agencies, European, international and regional financial institutions.

Dr Jabulani Dhliwayo, Vice president of NEPAD Council, believes that one challenge we face in Africa is the limited availability of ICT investment, mostly because businesses overseas are not aware of the investment opportunities in Africa. By bringing together African and European businesses, NOVATECH is exposing European companies to opportunities in Africa and encourage investment by those companies. NOVATECH activities have the capacity to create long-term partnerships between African and other ACP countries which will trigger ICT development in Africa.

According to Philippe Wacker, Executive Director of the Brussels based E-Accelerator, from a European perspective, the main issue is that markets in East Africa and the Indian Ocean are perceived as fringe markets or, at best, as niche markets. “Most European ICT companies have currently their eyes turned in the direction of China, India and South East Asia, where they perceive huge opportunities. It is therefore of the utmost importance to better identify and specify the “opportunity” in Africa and the Indian Ocean. What are the unique skills of potential partners from this region? What is the competitive advantage of working with Africa rather than India? What are the needs of potential partners and clients in this region (in qualitative as well as in quantitative terms)? What are the concrete market opportunities? Which schemes are available to facilitate, encourage and promote trade with this region?”

In order to ensure that NOVATECH 2008, The ICT Africa Marketplace, results in a real capacity building, key Intermediary Organisations and a dense network of local consultants have been trained in the selection of the best projects. These projects will be actively accompanied during and after the event.

Babs Adenaike, PRO€INVEST Programme Manager, says “We clearly expect that all the energy that was put in organizing this event will result in numerous projects and activities for the ACP Private Sector. And while our colleagues from CDE - the Center for the Development of Enterprise will be looking at helping Companies, the mandate of PRO€INVEST is clearly to support sustainable capacities of ACP intermediary organisations, thereby enhancing their members, to develop long term projects in the ICT sector. This assistance is being delivered through technical assistance that will reinforce their capacity to provide higher efficiency provide to their members - be it with organizing missions to facilitate contact with partners, market access or advocating for them in order to create an investment friendlier environment”.

ICT Focus Magazine, January - February 2008