Listening to Africa: Microsoft Forms 4Afrika Advisory Council

By Mteto Nyati, MD of Microsoft South Africa and Vice Chair of the 4Afrika Advisory Council 

Last Friday in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, I was honored to take on an additional role and responsibility as vice-chair of our new 4Afrika Advisory Council, led by His Excellency, Benjamin Mkapa of Tanzania. The first meeting of our Council brought together 10 prominent business and thought leaders from across Africa who have all accepted to help us shape our strategy around the Microsoft 4Afrika Initiative.

At Microsoft, we strongly believe in the collective wisdom of a group and the value of outside perspective, which is why we invited these distinguished influencers to establish the Council. The mission: to ensure that the Microsoft 4Afrika Initiative always remains relevant for Africans and does in fact help the continent become and remain globally competitive for the benefit of the African people. The Council will meet in-person twice yearly in different locations and hold regional meetings at other times throughout the year.  

It was important to us that our Council truly represent the diversity of Africa – geographic, age, gender and a broad range of industries which stand to benefit from technology. It is that very diversity that is so core to Africa’s allure and potential.

Council members therefore include the likes of Senegalese Mariam Jamme, CEO of SpotOne Global Solutions and co-founder of Africa Gathering, the first global platform bringing together entrepreneurs and others to share ideas about development in Africa. We also have technology innovator, development activist and World Economic Forum member, Bright Simons, who as President of the mPedigree Network invented a system that empowers consumers to instantly verify whether their medicines are safe and not counterfeit. For the full list of the Council members, see bottom of the blog or Click here.

With such a diverse and distinguished group, the conversation at our first meeting was lively and insightful. Topics ranged from how to spur local innovation, to economic growth and urban development. Leading the agenda was the topic of how to fuel the potential of Africa’s youth. The continent is home to the top ten youngest populations in the world, and according to the World Bank, there are 200 million people aged between 15 and 24 years on the continent, comprising more than 20% of the total population. An even bigger challenge is that youth make up 37% percent of the working-age population, but 60% of the total unemployed.

In the coming weeks, we will also add four African youth leaders to the Council because we want to make certain that we are really listening to and understanding the needs and wishes of this critical demographic. We look forward to introducing those new Council members soon, and to working together as a full Council to continually push forward the agenda of the 4Afrika Initiative to accelerate economic development and improve African competitiveness.     

4Afrika Council Members

Chairperson - H.E. Benjamin Mkapa

Vice-Chair - Mteto Nyati

Secretary - Louis Otieno

Benjamin Mophatlane

Bright Simons

Fernando de Sousa, General Manager 4Afrika

Florence Iwegbue

Hanan Abdelmeguid

Juliana Rotich

Luís Lélis

Marieme Jamme

Monica Musonda

Phuti Mahanyele

Richard Attias

Ali Faramawy, Convener, 4Afrika Inaugural Meeting, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Middle East & Africa.