The maiden edition of the Africa Digital Forum (ADF), organised by AIDEC Consultancies International Limited is primed for tomorrow, 25 August 2021, at the prestigious Best Western Premier Hotel, Airport Residential, in Accra.

Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretary-General, Wamlele Mene and Minister of Communication and Digitalisation, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful; who will deliver the keynote address, will grace the occasion as guests of honor, with ‘Africa’s father of the internet’ - Prof. Nii Narku Quaynor, as Chairman.

Dubbed the Accra Edition and with the theme: ‘The Digital Challenge: Africa’s Opportunity Under AfCFTA’, the Forum will bring together key stakeholders in policy, regulation, industry, and academia converge to deliberate on the necessity, challenges, and opportunities of digitalisation in fulfilling the potential presented by the continent-wide free trade area.

The Forum will also review policy directions that can bring about an economic turnaround, project timelines for these policy directions to begin to yield visible results, and advice on how Ghana, and other countries under AfCFTA, can avoid policy pitfalls that adversely affect impact the economy.

Offering further insights into the rationale for the Forum and its expected outcomes, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of AIDEC Consultancies International Limited, Mr. Ambrose Yennah stated that Accra was chosen as the destination for the maiden edition as it currently serves as home to the AfCFTA Secretariat.

“This gathering of regulators, academics and businesspeople; from Club 100 companies to budding Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), and even Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) will ensure that the most pertinent issues confronting all stakeholders would be discussed and solutions proffered,” he explained.

Continuing, he said: “We are quite concerned about applying digitalization to ensure that goods and services meet the prerequisite standards, particularly for the anglophone and francophone markets – which represent the biggest on the continent – as well as other markets.”

On a similar tangent, the Chairman of the Board at AIDEC Consultancies International Limited, Prof. Robert Yennah stated that the Forum would serve as a platform for regulators to sensitize players in their respective spaces on the matters of policy. It will also provide indigenous institutions that focus on digital solutions for businesses, a ready platform to showcase their products and services.

“We have been able to pool together some of the best indigenous human resources in the area of ICT, who can provide solutions to big multinational corporations, as well as small businesses who are struggling to be part of the digital world.”

The maiden edition of the Africa Digital Forum (ADF), which will be streamed across all major platforms, will have in attendance stakeholders in the manufacturing, financial, fintech, and real estate sectors, as well as start-ups, entrepreneurs and retail investors.