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| *Middle is Austin Okere, founding CEO, CWG at Digital Horizons |
Founding chief executive officer, Computer
Warehouse Group (CWG), Mr. Austin Okere, was one of the speakers at the just
concluded Digital Horizons put together by Economist Group in Stockholm, Sweden.
Okere, who was recently named the Entrepreneur in
Residence (EIR) at the Columbia Business School, New York, in his thought provoking
paper focused on the consequences of the digital revolution from an African
perspective.
DigitalSENSE Business News gathered that he also drew attention to the shifting opportunities
from the erstwhile prosperous Northern hemisphere countries such as Greece,
Spain, Italy, United Kingdom (UK) and North America to Southern Hemisphere
regions such as Sub-Saharan Africa, China, India, Brazil and Australia.
He brought to the fore the fact that returns on
foreign direct investments (FDI) into Sub–Saharan Africa are among the highest
in the world due to the opportunities for growth and investment.
This, he said, has brought about large and youthful
population, projected to expand consumer expenditure to $1tr by 2020, coupled
with the ample natural resources in the region.
He stressed that even though digitalisation had already
transformed lives, a new wave of innovation is coming that will reshape the way
we live, work and consume, redefining social systems, industrial
competitiveness and pushing the boundaries of what we thought possible.
Okere also warned that Africa youthful population
could either bring a democratic dividend or become a source of social unrest
depending on how much policy and execution is exerted towards channelling the energies
of the populace into productive entrepreneurship.
He dismiss
the prejudices held against Sub-Saharan Africa such as being unprofitable, too complex
and risky and difficult to tap into, even as he cited examples of successful
companies and how
they have shattered these preconceived misconceptions, dealt with obstacles and
created inventive business models, and taken advantage of technology to leapfrog
what could in the past have been considered significant barriers.
He
pointed at companies such as African telecoms giant MTN, the Dangote
Manufacturing conglomerate and his own Computer Warehouse Group, rapidly
growing to become foremost Pan African Powerhouses.
The conference was preceded on the eve by a grand
reception hosted by Margareta Bjork, President of the Stockholm City Council at
the magnificent Golden Hall, the historic venue where Nobel laureates gather
every December to receive their prices.
The main conference which was held at the Royal
Institute of Technology (KTH), one of Scandinavia's oldest and largest
institutions of higher education founded in 1827, was chaired by Jan
Piotrowski, Online Science and Technology editor at the Economist.
The event was attended by Carl Bildt, former Prime
Minister of Sweden, who provided insights on governments’ perspectives on wide a
range of issues from cyber security to job creation.
Other speakers included NicklasLundblad, Director
of Policy at Google, Ulf Ewaldsson, Chief Technology Officer at Ericsson, Scott
Kirtkpatrick, head of the School of Computer Science and Engineering at The
Hebrew university of Jerusalem and PekkaMattila, Managing Director of Aalto
University Executive Education.
Correspondent/DigitalSENSE Business News
... Making SENSE of digital revolution!
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