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Digitalisation

Institut Ivoirien de Technologie ©Thomas Diego Badia-Lakali prod, 2022

Digitization and professional integration: achieving digital integration in Côte d’Ivoire

Institut Ivoirien de Technologie ©Thomas Diego Badia-Lakali prod, 2022

The rise of digital technology has revolutionized the way we live, communicate, learn and, of course, work. This transformation is especially significant in Africa, where young people face both unique…

To understand these dynamics and the potential implications of digital technology, we met with key players in the African education ecosystem in Côte d’Ivoire. A series of testimonials attesting to the growing importance of digital technology in education, and the need to support this movement.

” From helpful to necessary, from necessary to indispensable “

In just a few years, and even more since Covid came on the scene, digital has gone from helpful to necessary, and from necessary to indispensable. Professional integration, access to information, interaction, or simply adapting to contemporary demands mean that the adoption of a digital component in almost all training courses has become absolutely essential.  Today, digital technology enables young people to find their place in this fast-changing world, by facilitating rapid access to information and making learning easier.

– Dia Jean-Fabrice – Head of Studies at the Institut Ivoirien of Technologie[1]

” Training the trainers ”

The determination of the continent’s young people to embrace digital technology is obvious. But we still need to find a way to better equip them. Firstly, digital equipment and materials are still difficult to access for most people. Secondly, it is essential to invest in the training of trainers, to ensure that digital skills are properly passed on to young people, and to promote their successful integration into an increasingly digitalized world. Finally, we need to multiply the opportunities for young people to apply the skills they have acquired through internships or work-study schemes.

– Jean-Delmas Ehui – CEO of ICT4Dev [2]

” A public policy focused on digital technology “

In addition to the difficulties involved in acquiring the necessary equipment and making training programs accessible, one of the barriers to digital development is the delay in implementing public policies in favor of digital, the lack of training for trainers, as well as the absence of incentives for companies to take on young people for practical placements.

Changes are needed to provide equitable access to digital resources and train players in education and industry: Fund the purchase of equipment and adequate infrastructure for institutions; encourage collaborations between educational institutions and digital sector companies to facilitate internships and practical learning opportunities; develop advantageous tax policies for companies investing in training young people and developing digital skills ; set up continuing education programs for teachers and professionals, to stay up to date with the latest technological and pedagogical advances.

– Jocelyne Mireille Desquith – Assistant to the General Coordinator of the Government Social Program

” Sharing ideas and gaining visibility ”

Digital is revolutionizing professional career management by offering a range of tools and resources that can be accessed at any time and from any location… as long as your area is covered by the internet network.

Beyond this aspect, digital offers young people a platform to make their voices heard and influence social change. Through social media, young people can share their opinions, experiences and demands with a global audience, helping them to broaden their impact and mobilize support for their causes, or echo the ideas they share.

– Achille Koukou – Managing Director of Tg Master University [3]

Digitalization offers immense potential for integrating young people into the African job market. However, concerted efforts are needed to overcome the obstacles and fully exploit these opportunities, in order to create a prosperous and inclusive future for all Africans. By implementing these measures, Africa can realize its full potential in the digital age, and provide its young people with the tools they need to succeed in an ever-changing world.

[1] Bilingual French-English institute of higher education dedicated to information and communication technologies, biotechnologies and business management. Read more

[2] A startup specializing in the development and integration of digital and technological solutions for the agricultural sector. Read more

[3] School of excellence preparing for a double Bachelor’s degree (French and Ivorian) in Digital Management and Business Management. Read more

By : Awu Morgane

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Testimonials

FinTech for Africa’s SMEs – An interview with Omar Cissé of InTouch Group

A report from the Central Bank of West African States shows that the bank account penetration rate in Sub-Saharan Africa increased from 19% to 21.8% between 2020 and 2021. This…

A report from the Central Bank of West African States shows that the bank account penetration rate in Sub-Saharan Africa increased from 19% to 21.8% between 2020 and 2021. This has been a steady and sustained trend over the last ten years, but it still places the countries of the UEMOA zone among those with the lowest bank account coverage in the world.

This low rate deprives a large part of the population of basic financial services and limits their participation in the formal economy. Today, this lag is largely offset by the massive adoption of new financial technologies (FinTech) on the continent, notably mobile banking, even more so since the Covid period.

On the same subject : African SMEs have potential to be at the forefront of tomorrow’s digital world

Entreprenante Afrique talked to Omar Cissé, founder of InTouch, a pan-African fintech launched in 2014 offering a pan-African, tailor-made digital solution for secure payment management, providing users with a single platform for administering almost all payment methods present in the countries where InTouch is deployed.

Omar Cissé shares his thoughts on the trajectory of InTouch since its creation, the factors behind its success, and what FinTech brings to the African economic landscape and to entrepreneurs in particular.

Entreprenante Afrique : In less than ten years, InTouch has made its mark on the African FinTech landscape. Is InTouch today a unicorn?

Omar Cissé : We hope to be by 2027. Since 2022, we have maintained positive EBITDA, marking a significant milestone towards profitability. We are intensifying our efforts to expand our business further.

189 million transactions, amounting to a total transaction volume of €2,730 million.

The initial version of InTouch was launched in 2015, and by 2017, we had facilitated approximately 5 million transactions. However, the pivotal moment came with the onset of the Covid-19 crisis. When sanitary measures were implemented, businesses of all sizes sought to transition to digital payment methods. Since then, this trend has only gained momentum. In 2024, we processed 189 million transactions, amounting to a total transaction volume of €2,730 million.

Now, InTouch operates in 16 countries, with plans to expand to 25 by 2025. We accommodate nearly 300 different payment methods and operate through 48,000 TouchPoints across our operational countries.

Entreprenante Afrique : How do you explain this rapid growth?

In addition to external factors such as Covid and technological development, the human factor stands out as a pivotal factor. What began with a team of four in 2015 has now expanded to include 400 professionals, encompassing developers, sales representatives, and a diverse array of roles. These team members are distributed across the regions where InTouch operates, organized into hubs – such as Côte d’Ivoire for West Africa, Kenya for East Africa, Cameroon for Central Africa, and Egypt for North Africa. This approach enables us to deliver customized services and foster closer relationships with our clients.

The second factor contributing to our success is our shareholders and strategic partners, including the TotalEnergies group, CFAO, and Worldline, who have played a pivotal role in our advancement through technology transfer.

a solution for efficiently managing a large volume of small transactions across various channels, all within a unified platform.

The third factor is our access to financial resources. Since our inception, we have raised between 7 to 9 million euros every two years. The fintech sector is one of the most attractive investment segments within the African technology landscape.

The final key factor driving our growth is the trust we have established with our customers and investors since the inception of InTouch.

What sets InTouch apart is our ability to provide customers at any stage of development—whether start-ups, SMEs, or large corporations—with a solution for efficiently managing a large volume of small transactions across various channels, all within a unified platform. This simplifies the monitoring and reporting of financial operations.

Entreprenante Afrique : To what extent is FinTech, and InTouch Group in particular, changing the African economic landscape? Are you in competition with the traditional financial sector ?

Omar Cissé :

We do not view ourselves as competitors to banks or microfinance institutions. Instead, we position ourselves as technical partners, digitizing financial relationships. InTouch addresses the gap left by the slow adoption of banking services, such as providing small traders access to nano-credits at very affordable rates through a dedicated platform. While still a pilot project, our partnerships with microfinance institutions enable these operations, as InTouch is not a financial institution in the traditional sense.

the rise of FinTech carries in its wake the promise of financial inclusion for the greatest number

Small companies have been our primary focus since inception. Our customer base includes 16,000 small traders in Senegal and 34,000 across our portfolio. Prior to InTouch, my experience with companies through CTIC Dakar and Teranga Capital revealed that payment management is a significant challenge for entrepreneurs, especially in Africa. Offering these companies the ability to accept various payment methods is truly transformative. It encompasses secure payment handling, precise invoicing, and a tracking system that boosts productivity. This leads to clearer financial insights and analysis for entrepreneurs.

In broader terms, the rise of FinTech carries in its wake the promise of financial inclusion for the greatest number, the democratization of basic financial services: banking services, payment systems, credit, savings, insurance, etc.

By : Omar Cissé

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Insights Perspectives

African SMEs have potential to be at the forefront of tomorrow’s digital world

For over 15 years I’ve been helping companies on the continent with their digital strategies, and I firmly believe in the potential of African SMEs to be at the…

For over 15 years I’ve been helping companies on the continent with their digital strategies, and I firmly believe in the potential of African SMEs to be at the cutting edge of tomorrow’s digital world.

And here is why

First, because there is a technology gap

When it comes to digital in Africa, the reality today is that usage is still limited. Only 36% of the African population was connected in January 2023. Technological progress is held back by structural constraints (lack of infrastructure, poor Internet connectivity, weak electricity networks), as well as societal issues (limited purchasing power, populations far removed from the written word, etc.).

But this technological gap is, in many ways, an opportunity.

In fact, we’re seeing that the latest adopters tend to go straight to the most advanced uses. Newcomers to the Internet, for example, will immediately start using artificial intelligence – already via voice recognition on their smartphones – and this will seem normal to them.

This is what we call the Frogleap: a jump that enables African companies to go straight from the craft to the Web 4.0 industry!

Secondly, because these companies operate in difficult environments

Political, economic, social, regulatory, environmental: the context is often difficult for African companies – more difficult than elsewhere.

Here again, it’s an opportunity! Because innovation is born of constraint.

After all, why change something that works? Yes, we could do better, but by nature nobody likes change…

This is the main reason why transformation projects in French companies, for example, come up against so many obstacles.

We all know how difficult it is to change established habits. But when faced with a problem or a stumbling block, we’ll do anything to find a solution.

The most obvious example is mobile money, which accounts for over 36 billion transactions in sub-Saharan Africa – compared with just 300 million in Europe and Central Asia (source: GSMA 2021).

Why are these uses struggling to take off in Europe and Central Asia? Because the market is already equipped with bankcards, and while mobile payment brings a plus, it doesn’t respond to a real need.

It’s interesting to see here how these innovations impact the way we measure a country’s level of development – with mobile money, for example, the rate of bank penetration is no longer necessarily as representative …

Finally, African SMEs are often young structures with limited resources.

Surprising as it may seem, this can also be an opportunity for digital.

Indeed, digitalization is no longer so much a question of budget, but more a question of culture.

The rise of “no-code” has democratized access to digitalization for businesses.

Applications such as Notion have enabled companies like Sayna, in Madagascar, to digitize their entire processes without the need for special technical expertise or large budgets.

Social media make it easy to reach a local and international audience.

What’s more, it’s easier for younger and smaller structures to take advantage of digital.

More agile than large groups with established practices, they can evolve their tools and practices to implement new, more appropriate working methods.

This ability to adapt is a real strength in a context of great uncertainty, particularly when it comes to energy and climate issues.

So many reasons for African SMEs to confidently embrace a digital transformation that can be a real lever for development.

However, it’s important to keep in mind:

The human element: Digital must not replace, but rather “augment” the human element. Digital should not be designed for digital’s sake, but to add value. This means improving, simplifying, and streamlining relationships that are first and foremost human, whether within companies or with their customers and partners. In this respect, it’s interesting to see the growing importance of conversational uses in digital interfaces, which are those closest to human interaction (e.g. WhatsApp or ChatGPT).

African specificities: On the one hand, it’s a question of ensuring a better representation of the continent’s realities in the various digital tools. Indeed, the realities proposed online in Google results, on social media, or in image or text productions generated by Artificial Intelligences mirror the content available online – content that is above all American, Asian, European… The aim is to encourage the production of African content so that the continent’s specificities are also taken into account in the future.

On the other hand, while the main digital players today are American or Chinese, we need to ensure that digitalization does not create over-dependent relationships for individual countries. An issue that Africa shares with many other geographies!

By : Marie-Alice Boyé

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