Launched in 2018, Digital Africa is an initiative created to support digital innovation in Africa. Designed as a label dedicated to supporting startups on the continent, Digital Africa is the result of the French government's financial commitment to the development of African ecosystems. At the third edition of the VivaTech trade show, Emmanuel Macron announced a €65 million commitment through a specific instrument deployed by the French Development Agency via the Digital Africa platform to support startup projects.
Since its creation, the project has been supported by a dozen African and French organizations, led by major players in the digital and tech sectors such as Rebecca Enonchong and Karim Sy, founder of Jokkolabs.
However, the project's ambitions have gradually given way to differences of opinion and governance issues.
As director, Karim Sy had the ambition to digitize the continent, connect and interconnect African governments to accelerate sustainable socio-economic development on the continent, introducing Africa to an inclusive economy based on digital technology and ICT. However, he announced his resignation in June 2020. His successor, Kizito Okechukwu, also left the project last April. In an interview with Digital Business Africa, the Nigerian entrepreneur denounced a lack of transparency, decision-making power, and the "failure to apply the principles of good governance in the management of the association."
Following an extraordinary general meeting of the Digital Africa association on May 7, African members AfriLabs and JokkoLabs withdrew from the board of directors.
In an official statement, the AFD said it wished to "open a transitional period of three to five months to reform the association" and proceeded to elect a new board of directors.
The association's employees, for their part, published an open letter
giving their version of events, reaffirming their desire to "continue working together according to clear and transparent rules, with inclusivity and agility, to meet the expectations of the continent's tech entrepreneurs."