Mr. Ebenezer Asante, MTN Group Senior Vice President Markets;
a A prominent telecommunications executive has called on African governments to enable them to leverage technology to improve cross-border trade and ease of doing business in West Africa.
At the recent Africa Prosperity Dialogue event in Accra, Ghana, MTN Group's senior vice president of markets, Ebenezer Asante, urged industry and government officials to stop what he called “tyranny” and close borders. He appealed for support for cross-border trade. of sovereignty. ”
Mr. Asante praised Ghana's move to offer visa-free travel to Africans, but lamented the difficulties Africans experience when making cross-border payments and transactions.
He said: “To enable adequate trade and ease of doing business across West Africa, the tyranny of sovereignty must end. Technology continues to transform the way we trade, and we We need to take advantage of the tremendous opportunities that technology brings to trade in the world.”
Mr. Asante added that border closures are an impediment to progress as they prevent the facilitation of seamless trade.
“African countries must open their borders to each other to enable trade between the continents,” he said.
Mr. Nompilo Molafo, Chief Sustainability and Corporate Officer, MTN Group, and Mr. Sellom Adadeboh, CEO, MTN Ghana, participated in the Africa Prosperity Dialogue panel discussion “Key enablers for the success of the single market. Participated in “Factors – Infrastructure, Innovation and Technology Utilization”.
Adadeboh said: “It is not enough to invest in infrastructure without investing in the skills needed. Africa has the largest youth population in the world. We must harness the power of young people by transforming our current education systems into a more digital framework. No need.”
Mr. Morafo emphasized the importance of companies having discussions with parliamentarians to promote Africa's development.
She said: “What we hope is that at the end of these conversations there will be policies and frameworks in place to implement the great ideas we discussed.”
