Nigeria’s Okere @ Economist Conference, Wants Proper Channeling on Africa’s Energy

Mr. Austin Okere, founder and CEO of the Computer Warehouse Group (CWG), and entrepreneur in residence (EIR) has cautioned that Africa’s youthful population could either bring a democratic dividend or become a source of social unrest depending on how much policy and execution is exerted towards channeling the energies of the populace into productive entrepreneurship.

Speaking at Columbia Business School, New York, stressed that though digitalisation had already transformed our lives, a new wave of innovation is coming that will reshape the way we live, work and consume, redefining social systems, industrial competitiveness and pushing the boundaries of what we thought possible.

In a thought provoking paper at the event for thought leaders in Stockholm, organised by the Economist Group, tagged “Digital Horizons” recently against the backdrop of the world’s largest social networking company, Facebook, commissioning a 28,000 sq. m Data Centre in the Northern part of Sweden.

Over 150 leading innovators, researchers, entrepreneurs, futurists and policy makers gathered to discuss the digital future, a one-day summit where conventional thinking was challenged, critical visions, tools and insights were shared and fresh ideas generated around people, prosperity and power, he dispelled the erstwhile prejudices held against Sub-Saharan Africa such as being unprofitable, too complex and risky and difficult to tap into; citing examples of successful companies and how they have shattered these preconceived misconceptions, dealt with obstacles and created inventive business models, and taken advantage of technology to leapfrog what could in the past have been considered significant barriers.

Okere’s paper focused on the consequences of the digital revolution from an African perspective, drawing attention to the shifting opportunities from the erstwhile prosperous Northern hemisphere countries such as Greece, Spain, Italy, U.K. and North America to Southern Hemisphere regions such as Sub-Saharan Africa, China, India, Brazil and Australia.

He drew attention to the fact that returns on foreign direct investments (FDI) into Sub–Saharan Africa are among the highest in the world due to the opportunities for growth and investment, and also as a result of the large and youthful population, projected to expand consumer expenditure to $1tr by 2020, coupled with the ample natural resources in the region.

He pointed at companies such as African telecoms giant MTN, the Dangote Manufacturing conglomerate and his own Computer Warehouse Group, rapidly growing to become foremost Pan African Powerhouses.

The conference was preceded on the eve by a grand reception hosted by Margareta Bjork, President of the Stockholm City Council at the magnificent Golden Hall, the historic venue where Nobel laureates gather every December to receive their prices.

The main conference which was held at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), one of Scandinavia’s oldest and largest institutions of higher education founded in 1827, was chaired by Jan Piotrowski, Online Science and Technology editor at the Economist. 
The event was attended by Carl Bildt, former Prime Minister of Sweden, who provided insights on governments’ perspectives on wide a range of issues from cyber security to job creation.

Other speakers included NicklasLundblad, Director of Policy at Google, Ulf Ewaldsson, Chief Technology Officer at Ericsson, Scott Kirtkpatrick, head of the School of Computer Science and Engineering at The Hebrew university of Jerusalem and PekkaMattila, Managing Director of Aalto University Executive Education.

It will be recalled that Okere was a also speaker at the Nigeria Summit 2013 on enabling and implementing transformation, organised by the Economist Group onMarch 19- 20 in Lagos.