Innovation Summit Africa 2018

<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><strong>Innovation Summit Africa<&sol;strong> will take place on March 6th 2018 in Nairobi&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">The rise of a &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;smart”&comma; connected Africa is allowing countries across the continent to leapfrog several stages of development in key areas such as banking and telecommunications and is reshaping business and society&period; Ericsson&comma; a technology company&comma; estimates that the number of mobile phones in Africa will rise to 930m by 2019—almost one per person—pushing internet penetration to 50&percnt; within a decade&period; This tech revolution&comma; along with an expanding labour force and large consumer market&comma; holds the promise of significantly accelerating growth for the continent&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Despite this&comma; growth in several African countries has slowed in recent years after more than a decade of solid expansion&period; Rickety infrastructure&comma; skills shortages&comma; weak governance and a reliance on commodities continue to plague the continent&comma; underscoring the need for economic diversification for sustained&comma; inclusive growth in areas such as agriculture&comma; manufacturing&comma; healthcare&comma; education and banking&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Africa undoubtedly offers potential&comma; but the question remains&colon; how will it be achieved&quest; Are African governments doing enough to improve infrastructure&comma; train their workforces&comma; modernize regulations and ensure inclusive growth&comma; to create a better business climate and boost trade&quest; How can companies innovate and capitalize on advances in technology to scale up their businesses across the continent&quest; Can Africa’s tech-driven start-ups become engines of future growth&quest; And will a connected Africa be better for business and improve lives for people overall&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">Register <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;eventsregistration&period;economist&period;com&sol;events&sol;innovation-summit-2018&sol;event-summary-6b62057c55894cb8ae21f4c79a4d33f2&period;aspx">Here<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;