The 10th annual Africa Fintech Summit was held on November 2-3 at the Ciela Resort in Lusaka, Zambia.
In his opening remarks, Zambia's minister of communications and technology Dr Felix Mutati stated that the summit being held in Zambia afforded the local ecosystem to connect with foreign innovators and investors for collaboration and funding opportunities respectively. Mutati also added that fintech would enable the country to deliver on its digital transformation mandate and also create employment opportunities.
Regarding Zambia's digital transformation progress, Mutati shared that the country's ICT sector was growing at an average of 14% annually and to continue this growth, the government would open a smartphone factory by June 2024. This is to reduce smartphone costs in the country and bring more people into fintech services. The government would also build over 100 "Community Digital Centres" across less accessible areas in the country.
"Africa will progress if we embrace technology. There are no shortcuts to harvesting digital dividends. It takes patience and perseverance to progress," concluded Mutati.