The African ICT industry is determined to enable the continent to meet the social and economic growth challenges of the 21st Century and has formed the Africa ICT Alliance (AfICTA) as the vehicle to bring stakeholders together to achieve the mutual goals of the region through effective cooperation, advocacy and leadership.

The founding countries of the Alliance are Nigeria, The Gambia, Egypt, Kenya, Tunisia and South Africa. They are all members of the World Information Technology & Services Alliance (WITSA), which harnesses the resources of the ICT sector in over 80 countries around the world to play the same enabling role in the global environment.

Dr Jimson Olufuye , WITSA Vice Chairman for Africa and former President of the Information Technology Industry Association of Nigeria (ITAN), is the initial Chairman of AfICTA and states that the Alliance’s goals are to support effective local and continental advocacy, improve digital literacy, partner with the African Union and related agencies to achieve Information Society targets, engage African ICT professionals and experts in global ICT governance dialogues and enhance Africa’s competitiveness in the sector. Dr Olufuye summarises the AfICTA mission as, “AfICTA will encourage multi-stakeholder dialogue fostering accelerated and ICT enabled development in Africa and the use of cutting-edge innovative technologies including mobile, computing and satellite technologies to achieve an Information Society in Africa.”

As an organisation for the African ICT industry, AfICTA welcomes ICT Associations, multi-national corporations, organisations and institutions in the ICT sector in Africa as members. The Alliance will offer its members business matchmaking, trade, regional conferences, exhibitions and forums, together with access to WITSA’s global events and representation at other international gatherings such as WSIS, ITU, ICANN and ICC. Through networking and relationships, AfICTA will collaborate with a wide variety of stakeholders to advance its development agenda and build capacity.

Dr Olufuye encourages all ICT sector players across Africa who are interested in joining the Alliance to visit the web and register. Representing economies in AfICTA are Mr Adrian Schofield & Roger Latchman from South Africa; Dr Waudo Siganga – Kenya; Engr Tarek Abdel Monem Taha – Egypt; Mr Faouzi Zaghbib – Tunisia; Mr Pocelet Ileleji – The Gambia; and Engr Lanre Ajayi, Engr Titi Omoettu, Prof. Adenike Osofisan, Engr Tola Sogbesan and Jimson Olufuye – Nigeria.