‘The old Africa does not exist anymore’
From dependency to digital sovereignty: Africa is redefining its place in the global technology order. Lacina Koné, Director General and CEO of Smart Africa, and Anna Sophie Herken, GIZ Managing Director, speak with us about why Europe and Africa must act together and why both continents have more to gain than they realise.
is the Director General and CEO of Smart Africa, a pan-African intergovernmental alliance driving the continent’s digital transformation. He has led the organisation since 2019 and previously served as digital advisor to the President of Côte d’Ivoire. He holds degrees from George Washington University, Brunel University, and Ajman University in the UAE.
Digital sovereignty has been an issue for some years now. Has it become more pressing lately?
Koné: We are in the age of artificial intelligence, AI, and data has become one of the most strategic commodities of our time. If you do not have meaningful control over your data, your development trajectory is not truly your own. For African governments, businesses and citizens, that is not an abstract vulnerability; it is a present-day constraint. And in a world of deepening geopolitical uncertainty, dependency on a small number of external actors for critical digital infrastructure is a risk no serious country can afford to ignore.
Herken: I fully agree. Digital infrastructure, data and AI systems are increasingly controlled by only a few global actors. That creates dependencies for governments, businesses and citizens everywhere in the world. And this is not just an abstract idea but a question of who really holds the power in digital societies. It is, in fact, a highly political and not a technical topic.
At the same time, the issue is rapidly moving into the mainstream of public debate on both continents – because people sense that this is not a niche topic for tech insiders, but something that touches the everyday life of each of us – no matter whether we live in Berlin or Lagos.
‘People sense that this is not a niche topic for tech insiders, but something that touches the everyday life of each of us – no matter whether we live in Berlin or Lagos.’
people will be covered by Smart Africa’s planned digital single market.
What could be done to overcome these risks?
Koné: At Smart Africa, we are working toward a Single African Digital Market by 2030. This is not a slogan; it is an operational agenda. No single African country can achieve meaningful digital sovereignty on its own. Our markets are individually too small and the cost of building frontier infrastructure too high. But collectively, across more than forty member states representing over 1.1 billion people, the equation changes entirely.
We are building shared infrastructure, developing African data spaces and cloud ecosystems, and establishing common rules and standards. We have already launched a cross-border digital identity pilot between Rwanda, Ghana and Benin. Eighteen more countries are in the process of joining.
Herken: And Europe is an active partner in that effort. We face the same challenges and therefore have to collaborate strategically in building digital systems together. Europe has only four of the top 50 tech companies; less than one per cent of the world’s computing power is located in Africa. Through the EU’s AI Factories initiative, African partners can access European high-performance computing under clear, transparent conditions, while simultaneously supporting the rollout of data centres within Africa itself. That is what genuine co-investment looks like.
The continent has become a focal point, particularly for Chinese and US tech companies. China is building 5G networks, while the USA lays subsea cables like 2Africa. Europe wants to be more of a partner. How do you balance all that out?
Koné: Smart Africa’s position is clear: we welcome partnership. What we insist on is that partnership means exactly that, co-creation, co-investment, shared governance. Not one party setting conditions for the other. I sometimes describe it as two rivers merging; each brings its own current, and the resulting flow is stronger for both. Africa is not looking for a single patron. We are building a diversified ecosystem of strategic relationships, and we are doing so on our own terms.
Herken: From GIZ’s perspective, Europe’s distinctiveness in this space lies in what we bring to the table beyond financing: a genuine commitment to human-centered development, open technologies, and partnerships that do not create dependency. Projects like FAIR Forward have demonstrated over several years that supporting open data and open-source language models gives African innovators real choices, whether to build on proprietary platforms or on open foundations that serve their specific needs. We are now scaling that approach across GIZ and our broader partnerships.
Can you give us a sense of what African digital innovation actually looks like on the ground?
Koné: One of my favorite examples is Amini AI, a start-up founded in Nairobi. They have built an application that integrates soil data and satellite imagery to support agricultural decision-making. Farmers can assess water availability, anticipate climate-related risks, and optimise their yields. This is the kind of innovation that speaks directly to Africa’s real-world challenges. Digital transformation in Africa is not about convenience; it is about solving problems that matter to people’s lives. That is the context in which African entrepreneurs are building, and it is generating solutions the world has not seen before.
Herken: That is precisely why GIZ invests in the foundational building blocks, open datasets, locally relevant language models, and digital public infrastructure, that start-ups like Amini AI can build upon. The goal is genuine agency: the freedom to innovate on your own terms, without being locked into commercial dependencies that become prohibitively expensive over time.
is serving on the GIZ Management Board since 2023. A German-Swedish lawyer, she previously held senior roles at Allianz Asset Management, the World Bank, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Digital transformation in Africa and Europe is among her central areas of focus. She holds degrees from Cambridge University, Washington College of Law, the University of Bordeaux and the FU Berlin.
‘Digital transformation in Africa is not about convenience; it is about solving problems that matter to people’s lives. That is the context in which African entrepreneurs are building, and it is generating solutions the world has not seen before.’
How realistic is a single digital market for Africa until 2030?
Koné: Entirely realistic. What it means in practice is that citizens and businesses can operate digitally across borders, that a digital identity issued in one country is recognised and accepted in another, that data can be exchanged securely between national systems, and that regional markets function as an integrated whole. We have already demonstrated this is technically and politically achievable with our pilot between Rwanda, Ghana and Benin. The momentum is building.
That’s three countries out of more than 50 …
Koné: Eighteen more countries are in the process of joining. What you will see is that regions within Africa will move forward: the East African Community, the Economic Community of West African States. We will then bring these together. This process is moving faster than most people expect.
Herken: The European experience is instructive here. The eIDAS 2 Regulation was in negotiation for years, then adopted in 2024. By the end of 2026, every EU member state must offer its citizens a cross-border digital identity wallet. Shortly after, accepting that wallet becomes mandatory in key sectors such as banking and telecommunications. Once the foundations are in place, integration accelerates faster than people expect.
We are also working to connect the two continents’ systems: supporting the African Union in implementing its Data Policy Framework, and working with Kenya toward a potential EU data adequacy decision, so that data can flow freely and securely between our regions.
Digital Identity
A digital identity lets people prove who they are without paper or plastic – securely and recognised by governments, banks and businesses. It is far more than a username or password: it determines whether someone can open a bank account, sign a contract, register a company, or access public services without standing in line or carrying stacks of paperwork.
Its real power unfolds across borders. When digital identities are recognised between countries, people can travel, work, study and do business throughout an entire region – seamlessly and without bureaucratic hurdles. That is why digital identity has become a geopolitical question: whoever sets the standards and runs the infrastructure shapes how people and economies connect. For Europe and Africa alike, building trusted, interoperable digital identity systems is a cornerstone of sovereignty and regional integration – from the EU’s digital identity wallet to Smart Africa’s work on cross-border digital ID.
of Africa’s population is under 25.
In Europe the prevailing image of Africa is still of poor villages without access to the internet. How come?
Koné: These realities exist; I do not minimise them. But as the dominant lens through which Europe views Africa, this image is significantly outdated.
Digital transformation on the continent is accelerating. According to the GSMA’s latest data, 3G still accounts for the majority of mobile connections across Sub-Saharan Africa, while 4G made up 31 per cent of all mobile connections in 2023 and is forecast to reach 50 per cent by 2030. Yet a significant coverage gap remains, with 13 per cent of the population still unreached, and a 60 per cent usage gap affecting those who live within coverage areas but face barriers such as unaffordable devices and limited digital skills.
The challenge today is not access alone; it is affordability and meaningful adoption. Africa has the world’s youngest population, 60 per cent under the age of 25, and that demographic dividend, combined with the freedom to build without legacy constraints, is generating an innovation culture that deserves serious attention from Europe’s business and policy communities. The old Africa does not exist anymore.
Herken: I can speak from direct experience. On every visit I make across the continent, what strikes me most is not the infrastructure gap; it is the mindset. A remarkable openness to building things differently. And Europe should pay attention, because there is much we can learn. Many African countries are moving directly to e-governance solutions, bypassing the costly legacy systems that constrain Europe’s own digital transformation. This is a partnership between equals, not a donor-recipient relationship.
Yet more than 40 per cent of Africans do not have access to electricity. How does that go together?
Koné: The digital transition and the energy transition must move together. There is no meaningful digital sovereignty without reliable, affordable energy, and as AI infrastructure becomes more energy-intensive, that link only grows stronger. At Smart Africa, we view these as a twin transition, not sequential priorities. Both must advance in parallel.
Herken: That is also reflected in GIZ’s broader engagement on the continent. Alongside our digital programmes, we are actively supporting energy access and the renewable energy transition in Africa. The potential for solar and other renewables, including in rural areas, is enormous. And the two transitions reinforce each other: better energy access enables digital infrastructure; digital tools help optimise energy systems and extend their reach.
What strikes me most is a remarkable openness to building things differently. And Europe should pay attention, because there is much we can learn.
Does that mean Africa can benefit particularly from the digital transformation?
Herken: I would push back gently on the framing. Africa is not a beneficiary here; it is a driver and a partner on an equal level. The entrepreneurial energy, the demographic profile, the freedom to leapfrog entire generations of outdated systems … All of this positions Africa as a force shaping the future of digital development globally. The more important question, perhaps, is whether Europe is prepared to learn from what is being built here. And whether our two continents can build together what neither can build alone.
Koné: I am convinced this is a defining moment, for Africa and for the relationship between our two continents. We have the talent, the urgency, and increasingly the institutional architecture to move at scale. Africa can compress decades of transformation into years, in e-governance, in fintech, in health systems, in agriculture. What we are building is not a replica of models developed elsewhere. It is something new. And the world should be watching.
