人物介绍： Hubert Danso, one of IBM's partners in the Global Innovation Outlook and Vice Chairman of NEPAD's business group is also Managing Editor of Africa Investor. Hubert speaks about the role of public and private partnerships to enable economic growth in Africa.
同步文字内容：
HERMES: Hello, and welcome to The Global Innovation
Outlook Podcast Series, where IBM demonstrates the
innovative value of collaboration. Verna Grayce Hamman is
in Dakar Senegal and with one of our GIO Deep Divers.
HAMMAN: We're here in Dakar, Senegal, with Hubert
Danso, Vice Chairman of NEPAD's business group and also
Managing Editor of Africa Investor. Welcome, Hubert.
DANSO: Thank you.
HAMMAN: As one of IBM's partners in the Global
Innovation Outlook, could you speak about the role of public
and private partnerships to enable economic growth in
Africa?
DANSO: Since the emergence of Kofi Annan's initiative
to support public and private sector development worldwide,
we've seen a real uptake from African policy makers and
African business leaders and companies operating in Africa
to really work together to stimulate the creation of greater
employment and a better understanding of shared resources
and knowledge pursuant to development goals.
HAMMAN: As someone who advises the investment community
both within Africa and internationally, can you share with
us some of your observations on the opportunities you see
around enabling as well as expanding financial services and
the financial sector in general?
DANSO: I think one of the challenges but also one of
the opportunities is the fact that certain sectors within
the continent are under developed, and there is a willing to
transform and leapfrog to make development really work
economically.
So if you look at the financial services, one of the biggest
issues is how to engage and work with the unbanked masses.
And you're seeing new innovation from the financial services
sector, a number of the financial institutions, as well as
the mobile and cellular telephone companies to create
products and services for this massive market.
HAMMAN: Along lines of strategies for the private
sector to effectively transform thinking and potentially
impact policy that will enable opportunities for economic
growth, how could the private sector think about their
strategies for that?
DANSO: I think in many respects the private sector
know exactly what resources they can bring. And we've been
at pains to point out to governments yes, the private sector
are obviously good partners and long-term investors, but
they also have a wealth of knowledge and expertise which is
probably in many respects more valuable than that
investment, because the investment is there but the know-how
and the partnership required to really unlock it and in a
sustainable way create employment needs to be further
developed.
And I think organizations like the NEPAD business group that
creates specific sectoral opportunities, so if you're from
the IT sector, you can come into a group that brings
together the thought leaders that really want to help the
NEPAD program, the ICT program, one of their very specific
and priority initiatives. And it works right across.
There's financial services, there's capital flows, amongst
others.
HAMMAN: One of the unique characteristics of the
African continent is in a sense its lack of entrenched
infrastructure, and that possibly makes it an open proving
ground for new technologies and industries.
Do you see that as a potential opportunity for companies to
come in and do innovation that is appropriate for the
African market but also can be exported to other markets?
DANSO: Absolutely. I think one of the key issues
there is the under regulation and it’s really creating a
sort of open playing field for responsible corporate
partners to use the continent as a test case for innovative
adaptable technologies that are capable of helping Africa
leapfrog some of the development challenges particularly in
the area of mobile telephony, we're seeing climate change
initiatives so the Clean Development Mechanism -- the CDM --
technology to really help capture the emissions and help
Africa trade emission carbon credits is a huge opportunity.
HAMMAN: And these seem like areas where Africa as a
continent could really develop a unique economic expertise
and competence that would allow it to compete in a global
economy.
DANSO: Precisely that. And that's why we encourage
initiatives like the IBM Global Innovation Outlook, because
this is where you capture those ideas. This is where
companies, stakeholders within the IBM ecosystem really feel
comfortable enough to share, you're meeting the [UN]
Millennium Development Goal number eight, that's a fantastic
contribution towards this space. And we look forward to
bringing some of this thinking and taking it forward within
the NEPAD Business Group.
HAMMAN: And one final question. As you look across the
private sector industries in Africa, do you think of any
ways that the private sector can identify, you know, the
silos that inhibit them to work more efficiently, and think
about new models of shared risk across potential industry
silos?
DANSO: I think there are definitely silos, but there
are definitely examples of where companies have broken
outside of their own sort of IP constraints, their own
capacity to be able to share what is perceived to be
competitive information.
You can look to a number of the national and industry
specific sectoral organizations, identify some of the non
contentious, non competitive issues, and really make a good
contribution towards the continent's development in your
sector. And I think that's a good starting point, because
there's a test case.
And then bring that thinking into the continent, and then
vice versa. There are lots of interesting perspectives that
are being developed within Africa that again could
contribute towards the global environment.
HAMMAN: Hubert, thank you for time today, and thank you
for being such a great partner.
DANSO: We look forward to working with you. Cheers.
发表于 2007-10-2 00:42
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