Moses Kwesi Baiden Jnr., CEO and Founding father of Margins ID Group talking on the launch of the 2025 CEO Summit in Accra
The deepening commerce tensions throughout the globe, symbolised by escalating tariff wars and rising protectionism, ought to function a stark wake-up name for Africa.
As nations flip inward and nationalism resurfaces with renewed power, the phantasm of a borderless international financial system is quick unravelling.
On this fractured international order, Africa should recognise the pressing have to safe its technological sovereignty—not tomorrow, however now.
On the launch of the 2025 CEO Summit in Accra, Moses Kwesi Baiden Jnr., CEO and Founding father of Margins ID Group, sounded a clarion name to enterprise leaders, policymakers, and entrepreneurs: Africa should construct and personal its expertise.
Talking below the summit’s theme, “Main Ghana’s Financial Reset: Remodeling Enterprise and Governance for a Sustainable Futuristic Economic system,” Baiden urged the non-public sector to take the reins of innovation and lead Africa’s journey into the digital age by itself phrases.
Mr Baiden’s message was clear: Africa should not stay on the periphery of world transformation. It should construct its personal digital future—an Africa the place knowledge is sovereign, programs are safe, and innovation is homegrown. The time for constructing is now.
As a result of on this planet that’s coming, you both construct—or you might be constructed.
The dangers of technological dependence
In keeping with Mr Baiden, latest disruptions in entry to cloud-based instruments, mental platforms, and digital storage programs have laid naked a obtrusive vulnerability. Most of the digital platforms African corporations rely upon are managed by international entities with their very own geopolitical and business pursuits.
As international tensions escalate, so too does the chance of sudden and arbitrary disconnections—from instruments important for day by day operations to complete troves of mental capital. “Think about a future the place your company reminiscence, your knowledge, your id can disappear in a single day—not on account of your failure, however due to selections made midway the world over,” Baiden warned. This state of affairs, as soon as far-fetched, now feels dangerously believable.
This rising dependence on international expertise—whether or not in cloud providers, social platforms, or monetary applied sciences—presents an existential risk to the continent’s future. Mr Baiden cautioned that with out decisive motion, Africa may change into a digital colony, depending on programs it doesn’t management, certain by guidelines it didn’t write, and weak to disruptions it can not predict or forestall.
Take part or perish
We’re within the throes of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, a seismic shift pushed by synthetic intelligence, automation, knowledge analytics, and digital connectivity.
Whereas many countries are racing to harness these adjustments for aggressive benefit, Africa dangers being left behind—or worse, being outlined by others inside this new international order.
Mr Baiden emphasised that Africa should have interaction intentionally and boldly with these forces. “The long run belongs to those that create it,” he declared. “Allow us to not wait to be invited to the desk. Allow us to set the desk. Allow us to form the longer term,” he added.
This implies designing programs which can be clear, moral, accountable, and anchored within the values of governance, productiveness, and inclusion, he harassed.
The Margins ID Group CEO identified that it requires the non-public sector to steer—not simply with capital, however with braveness and imaginative and prescient. And it calls for that African establishments foster the form of homegrown innovation able to scaling and competing globally.
Reimagining the position of enterprise and governance
The problem earlier than Africa isn’t just technological—it is usually institutional.
To construct and personal its expertise, the continent should recalibrate the way it governs, the way it educates, and the way it companions throughout the private and non-private divide.
Mr Baiden referred to as on CEOs and enterprise leaders to change into a power for good, not simply by pressuring governments, however by pushing themselves to reimagine manufacturing programs, reform governance frameworks, and champion long-term, values-driven transformation.
“The long run calls for governance, compliance, transparency, and effectiveness. These values have to be embedded within the DNA of each private and non-private establishments if Africa is to rise within the digital period,” he mentioned.
The Strategic Crucial for Sovereignty
Sovereignty within the twenty first century is not going to be outlined merely by borders or assets, however by code, knowledge, algorithms, and programs.
Digital sovereignty isn’t just about independence—it’s about self-determination. It’s about making certain that African voices should not solely current however central in shaping the programs that outline international productiveness and innovation.
Mr Baiden urged African governments to take critically the design of nationwide platforms and infrastructures that shield citizen knowledge, encourage innovation, and permit native entrepreneurs to flourish. However he was unequivocal that the non-public sector can not afford to be passive.
“This community of CEOs should lead with intention. We can’t be spectators in a future designed by others. If we don’t act now, we threat turning into casualties of it,” he warned.
Africa’s future have to be constructed, not imported
As nations retreat behind commerce partitions and realign their priorities, Africa should resist the temptation to attend for handouts or coverage shifts from international energy centres.
The continent’s future will probably be decided by the establishments it builds, the expertise it nurtures, and the applied sciences it owns.
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