The Second Japan-Africa Business Forum

Session 8

ICT and African Business, Creating ICT-Enabled Economies for
Better Growth
Dr. Kapil Kapoor
Director, Strategy and Operational Policies, African Development Bank

Mr. Kapoor welcomed everyone to the session on Information,
Communication and Technology. This is a very interesting and an exciting
sector, where a lot of changes are taking place on the continent the paceof which is really astounding. In the last decade, there has been atwenty-fold increase in broadband connections on the continent. Today,
there are 750 million subscribers for cellular telephones on the continent.
That is greater than European Union and the United States.
People are using telecommunications to leapfrog technology andaccelerate development in all sectors.
It is only happening intelecommunications or computers, but telecom is being used for crop
insurance and agriculture, health systems and telemedicine and financial
inclusion for transferring money.
Mr. Kapoor invited the panelists, who represent government agencies,
parastatals like Camtel, private sector companies, to talk about how they
see the telecom sector in Africa from their perspectives, which differs in
the case of each agency.
Kenji Kaneko
Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications
Director for International Policy Coordination, International Cooperation Division,
Global ICT Strategy Bureau

Mr. Kaneko stated that he was offering support to Japanese companies
overseas at the International Policy Coordination Bureau. The Ministry ofInternal Affairs and Communications is in-charge of ICT, but MLIT, METI
and other ministries have larger offices and more in their ministerial
portfolio.
MIAC has a smaller staff, and is engaged in bilateral,
multilateral, and global relationship in the ICT area. MIAC focuses on
Africa, Central Asia, Southwest Asia, China and South Korea.
The wide-ranging district regional coverage gives opportunities to contact
people of various countries and regions. After being appointed to hiscurrent position, Mr. Kaneko went to Rwanda, Africa, to attend theTransform Africa Summit hosted by African Foundation, where hewitnessed the strength and energy of Africa and the potential for future
growth and changes.
Mr. Kaneko stated that he was looking forward to learn more from otherpanelists’ feedbacks, which can then be reflected in the office’s
policymaking.
Satoshi Akita
CEO, Digital Grid Inc.

Mr. Akita stated that although the company’s name is Digital Grid, thebrand name is WASSHA. DGI does business in Tanzania and Senegal in
the off-grid areas where there is no power. Africa has lots of such regions.
In West Africa, it is called boutique or kiosks. There are lots of these in
the off-grid areas.
DGI partners with these shops to provide the necessary services to the
local people. More specifically, DGI works with the kiosk owners, who buy
power when they have extra money or funds. DGI installs solar panels.
The kiosk owners purchase the solar panels when they have extra money
and provide mobile telephone charging services or lighting services to the
local people.
The world market size for replacing kerosene lanterns, which are used asa source of light, with LED is approximately US $12 billion. WASSHA
plans to create electricity in off-grid areas by co-operating with kiosks,
which each town has. WASSHA provides all devices necessary for initialinstallation. The kiosk owner purchase electricity in advance throughmobile money and download electricity to the smartphone that acts as acontroller.
From here, the kiosk owner lends out devices such as LED lanterns andoffers charging services for USB devices. All transactions are remotely
monitored under WASSHA’s dashboard. Going forward, WASSHA plans to
expand their range of services to provide a whole new experience forpeople in off-grid areas and illuminate areas without electricity with thevision of bringing power to the people.
David Nkoto Emané
General Manager, Cameroon Telecommunications Corporation (Camtel)

Mr. David stated that ICT is a major leverage to promote growth,
including in Cameroon.
ICT is socially, economically and politicallyessential for African countries. Cameroon has spent nearly $1 billion torealize internet connection for the last 3 years.
There are several
infrastructure projects, particularly in backbone development.
All large cities of Cameroon are connected with 12,000 kilometersconnection. Cameroon operates at three locations. The most important
construction project is where Africa is connected with South America
across the Atlantic Ocean with 6000 kilometers connection. In Brazil,
from Kribi to Fortaleza connections need to improve. With improved
connection, availability and service quality will improve. Through such
efforts, development can be promoted to Cameroon, Chad and Central
Africa, although it is a challenge.
Through this forum, Camtel hopes to face important issues like Project
Finance.
Didier Nkurikiyimfura
Smart Africa, Head of Technology and Innovation, Secretariat

Mr. Didier stated that Smart Africa, which is a new initiative that started
just less than 4 years ago with several leaders working together, to unlock
the ICT sector’s potential with the aim to transform the continent andcreate jobs.
Africa has 54 countries. The African map has countries delineated by theirborders. Today, Africa is a market of over 1 billion people. When one
looks at individual countries, there are small, medium and large
economies. Although there is an attempt for original blocs like Eastern,Southern, Northern, Western, and Central Africa to work together, Smart
Africa vision actually leverages the entire continent’s potential totransform Africa into a single digital market.
This commitment was formulated 4 years ago in Kigali. In Rwanda,
President Paul Kagame hosted the seven Head of States, who decided towork together and renew focus on the ICT sector with bold strategies andpolicies. Everything starts with commitment from countries to transformthemselves, the economies and the societies.
They also decided to work with the private sector.
Traditionally,
governments have been quite aggressive but cannot spur the economic
development as it is driven by the private sector. They had a strong
commitment to work with the private sector, to put them first andcollaborate with them. The idea is to harmonize, where possible, legal
policy and regulatory frameworks to enhance the outlook of the African
market, but also aggregate the demand. With over 1 billion market size,
the ultimate goal is to attract large scale economic growth and job
creation in Africa.
This is a first of its kind commitment where the Heads of State,organizationalboards,privatesectorcompanies,
internationalorganizations, and the African Development Bank meet twice a year toassess the progress of the commitment made 4 years ago.
They think together to turn this dream into reality with the belief and trust
to do something long lasting for the continent. This is supported by
Steering Committee of ministers of ICT of respective countries. At theoperational level, the Secretariat is headed by Dr. Hamadoun Touré,
former Secretary General of ITO.
Although it started with 7 countries, today there are 22 countries. The
market of over 560 million people is led at the top level by respective
states. More and more countries are joining this alliance. Just over a
year, close to 15 private sector companies joined. Entrepreneurs andstartups have also joined.
With international organizations, African Development Bank, African Union,and founding members like ITU and NEPAD, the aim is to work at entry as
well as advanced level to join forces to turn this dream into a reality.
More and more academia is also being involved because one of theobjectives is to create the right skills for the 21st century.

In a nutshell, Africa has lots of opportunities of investment ininfrastructure, fiber optic, broadband, data centers, satellite, cybersecurity, smart cities and villages. This message needs to be conveyed at
the Japan-Africa Business Forum.
It means business beyond infrastructure, content and applications. The
Japanese companies need to be told that there is a renewed commitment
from the leaders to see this transformation and deliver a better future for
Africa. This is the relationship that is being strived to establish.
In a nutshell, Smart Africa represents the commitment of several
governments about transformation of Africa using technology.
Samir Lamrissi
Vice President of Strategy, HPS

Mr. Samir stated that HPS is a Morocco-based company and also an
example of an African company that developed an expertise in a field
where it was unusual to find an African company exporting such knowhow. HPS specialized in electronic payment transactions, providing banks
and financial institutions solutions with a possibility where the customer
can pay with cards, like Visa, Mastercard, American Express, China
UnionPay, and so on.
HPS started 22 years ago and Africa was its first market. HPS developed
a solution for this in Africa. It started in Morocco as the Moroccan market
was demanding. The Moroccan merchants wanted their banks to provide
the infrastructure to be able to pay with cards. HPS developed anexpertise with some partnerships in France, in Europe. After sometime,
HPS managed to provide a comprehensive product that was exported in
more than 85 countries in the world in the span of 22 years.
In the beginning, the solution could not be sold in Morocco as the
Moroccan people did not trust a Moroccan solution. Today, the expertiseis accepted and trusted by Japanese corporations, like the Shinsei Bankand Dai Nippon Printing, DNP.
Last month, HPS launched with DNP one of the first Apple Pay transactionin Japan. This is not known to the public because as it serves a very
specific niche. This shows that solutions can be developed in Africa andthe expertise can be exported. The Nippon Printing Company’s Chairman
said that it was the first time that the bank had bought a non-Japanesetechnology solution. It is an honor for HPS that Japan has trusted
Morocco. This example shows that a solution can be developed in Africa
and the talents can be exported abroad.
Today, HPS is not a very big company. It has 450 people and engineers
based in Casablanca, with offices in Dubai, Paris, Aix-en-Provence, andSingapore. To be where HPS is today was a challenge. When HPS started
as a business, they had to provide solutions to some African countries.
HPS is about in 40 countries in West Africa.

HPS launched very structured and important projects in Africa. HPS faced
challenges in these countries as making a transaction with a card was noteasy. At the beginning, electronic payment transactions were done in an
offline mode with a printer at the ZipZap.
The challenge that HPS faced in Africa is that some places did not havegood telecommunications. Some possibility had to be found and created
for the merchant to be able to make offline and not online transaction.
These offline transactions are more complicated and need someintelligence sometimes in the terminal with a stop list.
HPS solution is very creative and innovative, whereas in countries like the
US or Europe with already existing good telecommunication, thetransactions were very simple with online payments being made on
terminals. The stop list and everything else is controlled online. HPS
solution was developed in a very creative, robust and mature way when it
was complicated to develop these solutions in Africa, in West Africa, withno infrastructure. This enabled HPS to develop an expertise that was thensold to US and Europe.
Today, HPS sells its solution to American Express, which is an Americancompany, in the Middle East. American Express is a leader in theelectronic payments and was looking for a single platform solution thatwould respond to all the value chain of transactions, from issuing andaccepting the card, from controlling the fraud, corporate and credit. They
could not find such a solution in the world. They looked at HPS solution,
which was not easily visible. They started using HPS solution and areproud to use the technology.
This shows that solutions can be developed in Africa and then be exported
all over the world, especially at a time where digital revolution is
impacting all the sectors.
Mr. Kapoor asked Mr. Kaneko to comment on Japanese perspective ofopportunities
forinvestment
fromdigitalsecuritytoothertelecommunication systems as Japan has a lot of experience in theseareas. How can the Government of Japan help promote such investmentsin Africa and how can it better support initiatives like Smart Africa?
Kenji Kaneko stated that it was difficult for him to say anything on behalfof the Japanese government. He introduced some initiatives under the
Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. MIAC is not specificallyfocusing on Africa to promote investment with dedicated plans. MIAC
through a program wants to contribute to the problem solving forsocioeconomic development.
A few examples: Firstly, in Rwanda, there is the ICT Factor International
Strategic Plan. In Rwanda, JICA is doing the Innovation Ecosystem
Project for industrial facilitation and human resources development byusing ICT. This initiative is taking place in Rwanda, with the possibility toexpand to other African countries. The MIAC is supporting this JICA-led
program.
In Botswana, the Japanese format has been introduced for terrestrial
digital broadcasting.
The use of ICT is being sought to boost bycollaborating with the local and central government and International
Telecommunications Union, ITU, and International Organization. The ITU,
with WHO’s support and under ICT’s front, worked together to jointly
develop responses to the Ebola hemorrhagic fever outbreak targeting
Western Africa.
Infrastructure development is not necessarily prioritized on least
expensive price. If it is expensive or if the quality is high, it will lead to
improved quality of life of people. Guidelines are being created for quality
ICT infrastructure.
The importance of making use of ICT is being
communicated and advocated.
Mr. Kapoor asked Mr. Satoshi, if ICT was a magic bullet as many people
looked at ICT solutions as a way to resolve issues in a lot of different
sectors?
Satoshi Akita stated that the ICT technology was important in doing
businesses in Africa or elsewhere in the world. For an entrepreneur doing
business, it is not so much about technology as about getting to know thecustomer. For example, ICT enables people to communicate with eachother using Skype in the off-grid areas.
People can chat, takephotographs and videos and share it with the engineers.
To understand a place well, one needs to get on the ground to actually
see how people lead their lives, the air they breathe, the atmosphere they
live in and how it smells and sounds. Otherwise, it is difficult to come up
with things and services that people need. Although ICT is an importantelement to realize these goals, it is dangerous to put ICT at the center ofthe business.
As a starting point, everything looks like a nail to a hammer. Technology
does not come first. People’s needs should be looked first. To cater tothese needs, the available technology, knowledge and know-how need to
fit in accordance with the needs.
Mr. Kapoor asked Mr. David to comment on how Cameroon was financing
the submarine cable being laid between Brazil and Cameroon as it waspretty expensive and how will the future developments in this area befinanced?
David Nkoto Emané stated that financing was becoming a very important
issue and there are many reasons for that. A digital divide exists between
developed and developing countries and it should be avoided as it could
lead to a more serious situation.
Particularly, a digital divide within one country can lead to serious
problems. In most African countries, many people live in the rural areas.

In Cameroon, 60% of the population lives in the rural areas and 40% in
the urban areas. Funding is not necessarily sufficient, as it is difficult toprovide funding to both urban and rural areas which leads to serious
problems.
Secondly, major telecommunication companies like Facebook, Google andAmazon benefit and earn profit using African telecommunication networks.
As these companies work from outside of Africa, they cannot be taxed.
The bilateral or multilateral relationships should be used throughdeveloped nations like Japan.
Through bilateral relations, bilateralrelationships should be availed. In Angola’s case, cables will be laid andeven if there are bilateral relations, it is possible to get funding by using
local commercial banks in some cases.
A mechanism needs to be thought of for large companies like Amazon
which will urge them to participate in the future infrastructuredevelopment. Telecommunications operators must invest in high-quality
infrastructure in the future to increase their profits.
Camtel worked together with the Cameroon government. For the cable tobe laid between Cameroon and Brazil, a business plan was made to getfinances. Technological issues were also handled. By working with Brazil,
it is possible to shorten the delay and access the United States with more
speed.
On the other hand, the African and the South American continents have
similar cultures and ecological systems. There are many commonalities
among these continents.
Through the submarine cable, the twocontinents can come closer and promote mutual development.
In terms of technology, the digital divide must be avoided within one
country. In Cameroon’s case, it is expensive to lay optical fibers in rural
areas. Satellites are used to carry out the ongoing projects. There aremany developments in this sector. In the 1990s, satellites were at aheight of 3600 kilometers, so there was a 500 millisecond delay, which
shortened the latency. Today, with the satellites being at 8000 kilometers,
there is 50 milliseconds latency. Technology has great advanced. The
quality of internet has advanced in Cameroon.
Around 3 billion people world over are still not yet connected to theinternet. Camtel wants to contribute for their connection and is going tostart a project in September. With low-cost communication satellites, therural areas can be connected to the internet.
In conclusion, to avoid a digital divide between developed and developing
countries, deepening of the digital divide should be avoided within acountry. To do this, funding is necessary. The rural areas were affectedby the lack of funding. Camtel hopes to follow the African Development
Bank and the large telecommunication operators having large revenue insupporting the development of the infrastructure.

Mr. Kapoor asked Mr. Didier how the Smart Africa platform can solve thechallenge of creating jobs for young people coming to the continent andhow can investment be attracted using this platform.
Didier Nkurikiyimfura stated that Africa is truly one of the most youthfulcontinents. The average age of the population in the Republic of Niger is
15 years old. This is a continent with a very strong and young population
with a lot of potential.
Today, one of the main challenges that many leaders face is how to create
jobs and prevent young people from crossing the Mediterranean. Most of
the elected leaders promise to create jobs. ICT is one potential sector
where jobs can be created, but it is difficult to lock innovation.
The human brain is the only natural resource, which is evenly distributed
to everyone. People’s dreams cannot be locked as they want a better
future.
Smart Africa’s ultimate goal is to create jobs, give newopportunities by supporting and creating the right framework, the rightenvironment to support the creation of ecosystems that will unlock thepotential of the youth.
This is what the leaders and the Heads of State are trying to achieve inthe different initiatives or areas of investment.
Investment ininfrastructure creates employment for people from digging the ground totechnology transfer on the engineering side. Other subsidiary businesses
will be created around selling the broadband to the people, just likepeople on the street selling scratch cards or broadbands in the shops.
This is an example on telecommunication.
Regardless of the sector, be it smart energy or something else, companies
like WASSHA are working with a lot of companies that work as distributors
or resellers. There are a lot of opportunities. The key message is a lot
cooperation effort is being done with many countries, including Japan.
This work of going together with the government and supporting thegovernment in reducing poverty is highly appreciated. Wealth creationand partnership, which can be done together, are being talked about
rather than poverty reduction.
People from government, private sector and different organizations should
join hands and create the environment for adequate for job creation.
Africa is among the few places in the world where one can still get a highreturn of investment. Africa is a market of 1 billion people. In Africa, thedevice market alone is close to over $100 billion, and this does not include
other sectors. Over 750 million people own a mobile device today andevery 1 or 2 years they have to renew or buy a new device because thedevice is either obsolete or broken.
This initiative will definitely create opportunities, jobs, and also unlock
innovation, because mobility has opened new avenues for innovation,
especially from the youth.

Mr. Kapoor invited Mr. Samir to comment on whether digitalization will
result in job creation or job loss. He reflected on a speech of an IndianTransport Minister, who said that they would not allow driverless vehicles
in India as it would lead to loss of 2.2 million jobs. On one hand, salaries
are high in the west, so automation can bring in a lot of savings. In thedeveloping world, salaries are not that high and automation can actually
result in job loss. There is a lot of debate on how this digital revolution
can contribute towards development on the continent.
Samir Lamrissi stated that the world is going through a digital revolution
and it is a very special moment. This digital revolution has eliminated all
the frontiers. With the ICT, one can do a transaction, communicate with
Skype, and use all these new tools without any problem. This is changing
behaviors and business models. Some companies are threatened bynewcomers, like Airbnb, which is the biggest hotel provider in the worldthat does not own a single room, or Uber, which is the biggest car rental
in the world but does not own a single car.
Just by having some value-added services, one can really do things thatare very interesting. These things are going to be changing. New
businesses will be created by this digital revolution. Africa’s demography
can be also an important opportunity. In 2030, Africa will have more than
1 billion mobile users. From this perspective, the digitalization will reachall people. HPS is ready also to help in the area of payment so that
financial inclusion will help everyone’s inclusion in the society.
In this perspective, all the governments in Africa should integrate in theirdevelopment strategies to realize the digital revolution concept.
Education and training is also vital for this digital revolution. Very
importantly, the average population represented by a very high consumer
number will boost the growth of different economies but really put training
and education at the heart of the government’s strategies. As a wise manonce said, if there is someone who needs help, do not give him fish, butteach him how to fish and to make sushis also.
Dr. Kapil Kapoor summed up the talks by saying that there are manydifferent schools of thought. Clearly, ICT is an opportunity and if not
managed well can become a threat. Training should be at the heart ofwhat governments do, particularly in Africa, where the population is young
people, who are seeking jobs and entering into a brave new and adifferent world.
He opened up the floor for Q&A with the thought: Is ICT an opportunity
or a challenge.
Estifanos Afeworki, Ambassador of Eritrea, stated that Africa’s biggest
challenge is interconnectivity, which has been a problem for a long time.
Japan has at times played a role to mitigate this problem. To make atelephone call from Eritrea to Nigeria, it has to pass through the British
Telecom.

Most of African countries’ interconnectivity is through Europe at present.
Several attempts have already been made in this regard. The Pan-African
Telecommunication – PANAFTEL – microwave links connects all Africancountries from Alexandria to the Cape of Good Hope. In the 1960s,
African leaders put this project in place. Japan had played a big role atthat time.
Investment was made.
There was some success ofestablishing connectivity in Africa.
The second phase was the satellite connection project, which is RASCOM,
which did not succeed. The 90s’ project about highways was the ICT
which is the information age. The 90s’ Lucent Technologies and others
proposed the Africa One connection, which interconnects every Africancountry through the loop going around Africa, connected through thesubmarine links.
These projects have not succeeded which led to failure to integrate of the
2 billion people market. The biggest challenge now is to interconnect theregional countries or the localities in Africa.
The Ministry of Communication is a very important component. The issue
of interconnectivity through satellite, submarine, microwave links or otherfactors is a big challenge in Africa for any kind of technology cycle thatneeds to be introduced. Segmenting the African continent into different
components will not solve the problem as it will not be sustainable in theregion.
Henry Mussa, former Minister of Labor for Malawi, stated that 3 weeks ago
at the International Labor Organization Convention in Geneva, he
attended a forum on digital skills which targeted to create 5 million jobs indigital skills by 2030. What is lacking now is to join the campaign and link
Africa with the advanced countries like Japan and others that are highly
conversant in these technologies. This opportunity needs to be embraced
sooner rather than later.
Courage Kamusoko, from Asia Air Survey, stated that one of the biggest
challenges in most African countries is the lack of geospatial data or lackof digital maps for planning purposes. Smart Initiative Africa talks about
smart cities. Without detailed maps, one cannot actually plan for smart
cities. Is there any provision to include geospatial data in some of these
initiatives?
In this regard, JICA has done a lot of work by supporting some African
governments in providing funding for detailed mapping. To continue
doing this, there needs to be support from private sectors and otherstakeholders. Is there any input in this regard?
Female Participant, from Zambia, stated that there was a comment madeby an entrepreneur from Japan which was very important in regards to
the ICTs, which themselves should not be the driver, but an enabler.
They must always enable whatever needs or demands need to be met,
because this is how more challenges and problems will be found in trying
to move the digitalization forward.

Secondly, going forward, one of the challenges related to ICTs is theinfrastructure cost, which is very high right now. How can the cost of ICT
infrastructure be brought down, whether in a soft or a hard way, because
this is very critical going forward as it needs to be ensured that Africa ispart of the digitalization.
Robert Ford, Vice President – ICT Chamber, Rwanda, stated that it was
nice to get in a discussion, which talks about a continent that has
immense potential through its youth but fails to address the issue ofdifferent countries on the continent not putting enough effort to create the
ICT ecosystem that helps innovation to take root. When one talks about
Africa, one talks about the youth. But little is being done to create anenvironment or an ecosystem where knowledge labs and fab labs can
exist and tap the youth talent.
What can be done to have an integrated structure through which different
African countries, and probably Smart Africa, will come to that and answer
that as they have a more continental approach to address some of theseissues. What system or structure is in place to make sure that Africancountries tap the talent by creating the necessary ecosystem to have theyoung talents come through onboard and innovate?
Secondly, the issue of infrastructure can be easily addressed if regional
blocs, African countries address the shared infrastructure strategy, which
has been working very well in East Africa, through different frameworks
like the Northern Corridor Integration Projects or like the ONA or One
Network Area framework where different countries like Kenya, Uganda,
Rwanda, and Republic of South Sudan have created a One Network Area
where citizens can move from one country to another without going
through roaming charges. This infrastructure sharing could bring thecosts down and make the communication on ICT easily accessible.
Mr. Yamanaka, Professor at Kobe University, stated that for the last 7
years, he had been involved with ICT development in Africa. He hastalked to Japanese companies on many occasions about ICT opportunities
in Africa. Large companies do not have a particular image about ICT in
Africa. Some view Africa as an area of conflicts. Others think aboutelephants and giraffes, when they think about Africa. Some say that Asiaor perhaps India can understand it better.
The concept of Africa is gradually changing through such forums. Having
said so, Japanese companies cannot imagine about ICT opportunities inAfrica. In particular, Mr. Akita and Mr. Kaneko are in the position toprovide the right message to the Japanese public on how to resolve thisproblem and promote the right image about Africa in Japan. What can bedone to help the Japanese companies understand about the innovation
and ICT opportunities that exist in Africa?
Dr. Kapil Kapoor stated that Mr. Akita, who was an entrepreneur doing
business, could answer the question of how the perception of Japanesebusinesses to do business across the continent can be changed.

Male Participant, Daura Abulama, of ABE Initiative from Nigeria, statedthat he wanted to ask a question on infrastructure to a government official
on the panel. He said that he was aware India took some time to brandits country as a one-stop shop for information technology by putting inplace a structure to change their youths in the field of information
technology. Today, if the world talks about IT, they talk about India.
In Africa, a lot of young graduates struggle in the field of information
technology. Being a player in the information technology field, paperless
software was developed in Abuja Clinics for the international development
agencies that have been to Nigeria. In Abuja Clinics, a doctor consultation
is done without any paper. A system administrator and a system analyst
developed the software program, which is NHIS compliant, and works
perfectly.
In Africa, most countries do not have laws to facilitate ICTs. Investment
for the broadbands is not there, as the cost of running ICT facilities is very
expensive in Africa. Maybe the Japanese government or industry needs tocome and invest in infrastructure by using the local materials and local
people in Africa. This will reduce prices of things because this is what
China is doing.
Yongama Majibi, from the Republic of South Africa, asked on theaccessibility and affordability of ICT and how can the government createthat environment. The public-private partnership sector needs to get into
this space and develop telecommunication networks to make this data
more affordable and accessible for the poorest of people in the rural areas,in times of smartphones and smart cities.
Dr. Kapil Kapoor invited the panelists to answer the questions.
Kenji Kaneko commented on the infrastructure cost. There are differences
between countries and even within the same country, difference between
cities and rural areas.
Everyone knows about ICT’s potential. Rather than speaking in general,
each stakeholder should think what could be done in a specific area ofAfrica. The most important major principle is investment promotion fromprivate sector will reduce poverty and may uplift the quality of people’slife.
In that context, infrastructure cost is an issue. In Africa, integration isprogressing. One general macro idea is to embed ICT into infrastructuredevelopment right from the planning stage, region by region, along with
infrastructure development.
In terms of infrastructure development, human resources development isimportant. One of Japan’s strengths is its ability to contribute to humanresources development. The Ministry in collaboration with JICA and otherorganizations will require a longer-time horizon to launch one or two
initiatives to foster human resources.

Japanese companies wanting to enter Africa have little understanding ofvarious African regions.
An event on ICT-Focused Infrastructure
Development is being planned in coordination with the relevant
stakeholders and the African Development Bank in Tokyo around fall of
this year. By next year, there is a plan to send a Japanese businessdelegation to Africa.
Importantly, Africa should not be viewed as one area but one with wider
diversity on the same continent. The mission is to communicate thisdifference.
Satoshi Akita stated that when it comes to tie-ups, Japanese businesses
are either slow to respond or give a cold shoulder. It is hard to change
people. When people are not interested, it is difficult to bring them toAfrica. People, who are interested in doing business in Africa, will do it
anyway. Such people are wanted as much as possible. Companies thatfeel that they were late in realizing Africa’s potential and do not want tocatch up now should be left alone.
Secondly, cost is indeed an issue, especially in examples where hardware
is being manufactured in China and software is being partially developedon Vietnamese offshore. The Japan-Africa Business Forum is not justbetween Japan and Africa, but most importantly, the business shouldcater to user needs.
It is not necessary to keep it between the two countries. Manufacturing ischeaper in China. The quality of some products is better in China than inJapan, so it would be best to manufacture in China.
Softwaredevelopment need not necessarily be done in Japan, and countries
engaging in offshore development like Vietnam or Rwanda can beleveraged.
Technology seeds are not only born in Japan but also in places like Silicon
Valley and Europe. The different technologies with the distinctive featuresof different countries can be used to solve problems related to social
issues in Africa or cater to different needs in Africa. The biggest challenge
is to mix these to turn them into business.
David Nkoto Emané stated that connectivity in Africa is a question. Someinitiatives are conducted at the sub-regional level. In Western Africa,
efforts are being taken to harmonize the centralized regulations. The
network is integrated. The management rules should also be harmonized
to the regulations. The African Development Bank is supporting a projectin Central Africa to connect different countries with the same network.
With regards to the development of younger generations, althoughtalented, some are not able to express themselves. In Cameroon’s case,the following is being done. With one tool or one system, like theTechnopolis, which is based in Europe, which is training and maintenancecenter with researchers, everything needs to be integrated into one
location in Africa because all the goods to be consumed in Africa aremanufactured in Europe, but Africa’s ecosystem is different from that ofEurope.
Africa needs a lab, which at that location would have seeds, incubators
and a million people who would get support from the incubators. The
young people will start up companies in the future. Infrastructure is not
the only problem in Africa, the issue of contents is another major issue as
it is sometimes difficult to acquire information about Africa.
There is a shortage of infrastructure in cases where there is lack ofinterest in the subject on the government side. Africa will grow rapidly if
it is provided with proper content. In this regard, experience of younger
generation is important.
In Cameroon schools, from young ages there is ICT education provided.
In the private as well as the government sector, there are people incharge of ICT. There are schools teaching ICT. With Africa’s educationlevel, the Japanese people will be satisfied with the level of education,although the infrastructure requires proper maintenance. There should be
people, who are skilled to carry out the maintenance or else the service
level will deteriorate.
Japan has expanded the possibility where Japanese people are helping todevelop Africa’s younger generation.
Didier Nkurikiyimfura stated Africa is quite unique because of its massive
land size. A lot of efforts have already been made in installing submarine
cable around the continent. Some countries have national backbones thathave been put in place and also private investment.
But one looks at the opportunities, they are actually very big, because a
lot of parts in the cities are still not connected. There are countries, whichstill solely rely on satellite for internet connectivity by paying $2500 per
megabit. Rwanda, 10 years ago, put the national backbone connected tothe submarine cable. The price went from $2500 to less than $100 per
megabit. This is the kind of the opportunity that exists and the Japanesecompanies should take a note of this.
Chinese companies like Huawei, China Mobile, and a lot of othercompanies are coming to put this infrastructure. Korea Telecom, which isa Korean company, also exists in this area. Although there are someefforts, they are not really substantial yet. Hopefully, Japan would notmiss the train to see these opportunities being taken away by othercountries. Smart Africa calls upon its friends from the private sector inJapan to come and invest in Africa as there is an interest for partnershipin Africa.
This is indeed very important and part of the big agenda, because without
this it is difficult to actually make proper planning.
Creating an ecosystem takes a lot of time and effort. Although the focus
is on the youth, to create the innovation and innovation ecosystem takes

different components that need to come together. In this regard, theyneed to be brought together in co-working spaces, where they can shareideas and have access to specific services that are given to startups.
Companies that do not have the right financial ability can establish
themselves with basic services like legal advice, marketing, support, small
trainings that can help them to go to the next level.
Funding is very important at the various levels of the company right fromseed stage to series A, B and also the angel investment before.
Intellectual protection and property protection is a big challenge in Africa.
In this regard, there are a lot of ideas and innovation, but the moment it
actually starts to get out, there are people who get it.
There are a lot of examples, like the M-Pesa, which is a tremendous
success, but there has been a lot of discussion about the intellectual
property because it was not benefiting the person who actually invented it.
This is an example of an idea that was invented in Kenya, but thecompany reaping benefits out of it is a company in the UK.
Although there are a lot of different components, the ultimate reason forbeing here is to say that something needs to be worked on together witha wide range of stakeholders.
He invited people wanting to get more information about what ishappening in Africa, in additional sessions on Rwanda, Smart Africa and aregional session for East Africa.
Samir Lamrissi stated that he wanted to effectively talk about the ICT
problem and the digital revolution. Africa is a big continent and a lot ofcountries are doing some initiatives. If all these initiatives and countries
could cooperate or build some partnership, it would be really good.
African has some political and some economical bodies that are existing.
It would be good to have some ICT or a think-tank or some council built
by African countries that would bring some ideas. Some countries could
capitalize on what is being done in other countries, because somecountries like Kenya have interesting projects like M-Pesa and Safaricomin which they are the leader. It could not be replicated in other countries
as the specificities of each country differ and it cannot just be a copypaste experience. This helps in capitalizing and economizing and avoiding
wastage of money. A lot of initiatives are launched without looking at
what has been done in other countries.
This forum has a lot of Head of States, governors, and ministers thatwould be very interested in what is being done in Africa. It would be goodto have a link of a council that would give ideas, recommendations, andtrends. This will help save a lot of time of people.
Ecosystem and fab labs are something new. In this regard, HPS has done
what is called the hackathon, which is an event of 48 hours. It gathered
100 young people from universities and companies. During the 48 hours,
they thought about creating an idea, a product, and an application. At theend of it, the three best ideas were rewarded. HPS has also contributed
some funds towards this reward. The African Development Bank can also
help link these partnerships. The African Bank can help by putting a little
bit of oil on these procedures. This topic cannot only create infrastructure,
but also help the younger generation to come up bright ideas that could
help.
Dr. Kapil Kapoor thanked the panelists and concluded the session.
Closing Session

Dr. Jennifer Blanke
Vice President
In-Charge of Agriculture, Human and Social Development
African Development Bank

Ms. Blanke announced the new Human Resources Development Programby the African Development Bank. With the fund provided to trust fundfrom the Japanese government to the African Development Bank, theJoint Japan-Africa Sustainable Development Scholarship Program,
JJASDSP, will be launched.
She thanked everyone for being in Tokyo for the exciting Japan-Africa
Summit. She thanked the Government of Japan for its commitments tospecifically enhance higher education, which underpins everything else
because if people are not well trained, then it is hard to imagine that theywould be able to help the continent to develop. The government’s efforts
have promoted knowledge creation and exchange in sharing between
Africa and Asia and support of Africa’s sustainable development.
It is a great honor to discuss a new initiative called the Joint Japan-Africa
Sustainable Development Scholarship Program, JJASDSP, which is reallycapacity building for African youth in the area of energy sector to light up
and power Africa. For this to happen, well-trained young Africans andAfricans, in general, will be required.
The JJASDSP, funded by the Government of Japan, will support African
youth with higher education programs, which will be mostly provided inJapanese universities, particularly in the energy sector. Following thecompletion of their study in Japan, African scholars will return to theirhome countries as future leaders of Africa’s industrialization process tolight up and power the region through their active contribution.
Today, Africa has nearly 722 million children and young people
representing 60% of its total population. The number of young people isexpected to grow to about 1 billion by 2015. This will unleash a powerfuldemographic dividend. If built on well-educated skills and a productive
workforce, Africa would become a town pool ready to reap huge economic
benefits and benefit the world. For this to happen, it will be critical toinvest in education, improve labor productivity and job creation.

Over the past 15 years, Africa has made significant progress in expanding
education opportunities, which is evident in the numbers. The continent
has halved the number of primary school children out of school. The
number has also significantly increased in roman, secondary and higher
education, particularly secondary but also tertiary.
While the number of students in technical and vocational educational
training for on-the-job necessities has increased by about 24% since 2000,
the adult literacy rate has significantly increased by about 8 percentage
points. Gender equity in access to education has also increased, as it isimportant for inclusive growth.
Despite these gains, Africa still lags in many ways. For the most part, theeducation systems are preparing young people for the jobs of yesterday
rather than for the jobs of tomorrow. This is not only Africa’s problem but
is something that countries around the world like the United States,
Canada, Europe and many others are facing. Therefore, Japanese support
to higher education enhancement in the framework of this scholarship is
critical.
Today, the world is entering the age of the fourth industrial revolution.
Focus has shifted towards digitization, material sciences, biotechnology,
artificial intelligence and robotics among others.
Future work
environments will integrate people and machines and not people andpeople.
Skills in the energy sector, sciences and engineering,mathematics, and computer sciences will become the drivers of the jobsof tomorrow.
The current state of education in Africa, especially at the higher educationlevel, is insufficient to meet the future challenges of African development.
The African education needs to be fundamentally transformed to provide a
central place to science, technology, innovation and research. These areareas of major focus for AfDB and why those scholarships supported by
Japan are so critical.
AfDB would like to express sincere gratitude to the Government of Japanfor the support it provides to African higher education and to the
Sustainable Development Scholarship Program, the JJASDSP.
The
initiative will be fully operational as of April of2018, allowing promising
students to study in Japan and also supporting Japanese technical experts
from the energy sector to visit Africa. Partnering with Japan is a key toaddressing major bottlenecks being faced by higher education for morerobust and sustainable development in Africa and this an excellent
example of why.
Closing Remarks

Charles Boamah
Senior Vice President, African Development BankMr. Boamah thanked all the participants at the forum.
Insightfulcomments and questions by speakers, moderators and panelists haveenriched the discussions.
He expressed his gratitude for coordination, co-organization and support
towards the African Diplomatic Corps, JICA, JETRO, UNIDO and the Asia
Representation Office of African Development Bank led by Tadashi
Yokoyama and colleagues.
He thanked the interpreters for doing a fabulous job in making people
understand each other and facilitating the conversations.
Yesterday and today, key personalities from the public and private sectors
in Japan and many African countries and other countries spoke and shared
their ideas and insights. Japanese and African businesses got to knoweach other better. This has led to a greater appreciation that indeed theopportunities that exist far outweigh the perceived risks for doing business
in Africa.
Hopefully, this will carry forward in the form of increased business volume.
The word business in the Japan-Africa Business Forum is not by accident
as there is a big focus on it that states that Africa is open for business.
The role of the private sector has been highlighted which was also clear
during the TICAD VI discussions. It is very central of the High Fives
agenda of the Africa Development Bank and needs to be carried forward.
Even though this is the closing session, this by no means is over. This
afternoon, there will be five African regional thematic sessions on the
promotion of SMEs, business-to-business partnerships where thediscussions will continue. There are many other seminar discussions
taking place this afternoon which would be just as enriching as well, so it
would be worthwhile to participate in those sessions.
On behalf of President Adesina and President of the African Development
Bank, Mr. Boamah thanked everyone for making the Second Japan-Africa
Business Forum a success.
His Excellency

Estifanos Afeworki Haile
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Embassy of the State of Eritrea
Dean – African Diplomatic Corps in Japan

Mr. Estifanos, in his capacity as the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps and theAmbassador of the State of Eritrea to Japan, expressed his heartfelt
gratitude to all the distinguished guests and participants, who attended
the Second Africa-Japan Business Forum 2017.
He took the opportunity to congratulate the ADCs, Trade and Investment
Committee and the External Representative Office for Asia, African
Development Bank, Chairperson, His Excellency, Mr. Vahekeni,

Ambassador of the Republic of Angola, and the Head, Yokohama, themoderators, distinguished keynote speakers, panelists, and all theparticipants who contributed effectively and made this event a success.
He specially thanked the government and business community of Japan.
He congratulated the ADC, the African Development Bank, Tokyo, for theirwonderful arrangements and preparations for the success of this forum.
Of course, the vibrant vibration in the conference, where everyone wasgiven the opportunity to convey constructive viewpoints representing themutual business strategic needs, priorities, interests of Japan and Africancountries, especially at this point of time was a very historic moment.
This forum has been a great opportunity to enhance everyone’s
knowledge about business and also tap opportunities in Africa and Japan,
as already covered in the forum.
He took this opportunity to convey special thanks to JICA, JETRO, and all
the supporting organizations, like the Ministry of Finance, Ministry ofForeign Affairs, Ministry of Economy, Trade Industry, Ministry ofAgriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries, Keidanren, Keizai Daikoukai, JOGMEC,
JBIC, World Bank Group, the Africa Society of Japan, UNIDO Office, Tokyo,
UNDP World Bank, Association of African Economy and Development ofJapan, Alliance Forum Foundation, Africa Business Promotion Support
Network for contributing to the successful conduct of this forum.
Finally, he thanked all the personnel, who worked behind the scenes forthe success of the Second Japan-Africa Business Forum and wished every
participant a very bon voyage to their destination. The African Diplomatic
Corps in Tokyo and the African Development Bank shall work hand inhand in their continued engagements to empower Africa and Japan withbusiness opportunities.