“For far too long, Africa has been wrongly viewed as a laggard. In reality, we have the potential to not only adapt but to lead in numerous fields.”
Former Ghanaian Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, mesmerized the audience at Harvard University’s 27th Annual Africa Business Conference on Saturday, February 15, 2025, with a lecture about Ghana’s journey in digitalization.
As the keynote speaker on the theme “Africa Beyond Borders: A Myth or a Mandate for Africa’s Progress,” Dr Bawumia was the toast of the audience for the period his lecture lasted.
“For far too long, Africa has been wrongly viewed as a laggard. In reality, we have the potential to not only adapt but to lead in numerous fields,” he told his audience.
Later, sharing his experience on his Facebook page, the former Vice President has this to say:
“I delivered the keynote address at the 2025 African Business Club Conference at Harvard University to share my thoughts on how Africa can leverage the digital revolution to unlock opportunities and tackle unemployment.
For far too long, Africa has always come across as a laggard. Meanwhile, we have enough potential to swim with the tide and even be ahead in many disciplines.
I underscored the fact that for us as a continent, the key lesson from our past experiences and those of others (developed and developing) is the awareness of the importance to recognise when something qualitatively new is going on, and for the will to face what’s new – to act boldly, decisively, yet cooperatively. Policy makers in Africa must act with a mindset of possibilities. We should embrace technology and not be intimidated by it.
Our focus should be on digital technology that can solve our problems. At this stage of our development, we are not looking to have driverless cars or humanoids, for example. We should aim at technology that can solve our problems in agriculture, health, education, access to credit, payment system efficiency, public service delivery, revenue mobilisation, and so on.
On the sidelines of the conference, I also had the distinguished honour to interact with Ghanaian students at Harvard and Massachusetts. It was a refreshing moment to listen to and share ideas with my brothers and sisters in academia.”
Story: Janet Ayethe
