The Togolese capital hosted the new edition of the Africa Financial Industry Summit (AFIS) on November 15 and 16, 2023, at the Hôtel 2-Février, Lomé. An unmissable event in African finance, AFIS has reached a new milestone this year by bringing together nearly 1,000 participants and leading players from 55 African countries to help shape a competitive, innovative, efficient, and competitive Pan-African financial industry. sustainable.
Bankers, insurers, and other key players in African finance gathered this year under the theme: “Building a world-class African financial industry: a $1.5 trillion opportunity.” Industry sources added that Huawei’s participation, as the main partner of this third edition, reflects its commitment to fostering dialogue at the highest level and strengthening financial inclusion on the continent through digital transformation.
A delegation of Huawei representatives took part in this 3rd edition of the Africa Financial Industry Summit, among them, Jean SUN, Vice President Business, Huawei Northern Africa, El Mehdi EL JAIR, regional CTO for Enterprise financial services, Huawei Northern Africa, and Christophe GRENIER, regional CTO for storage, Huawei Northern Africa. During these two days, they were able to share their points of view and expertise on the opportunities offered by digital technologies to stimulate the emergence of an agile banking and financial ecosystem, particularly in terms of Mobile Money and Open Finance.
On the sidelines of the event, Huawei organized a side event on Wednesday, November 15, on the theme: “Accelerating smart finance in Africa – Creating value, together.”
Recalling the importance of developing all scenarios of intelligent finance to create reliable and attractive business opportunities in Africa, Jean SUN , Vice President Enterprise, Huawei Northern Africa, recalled: “ We are resolutely and firmly committed towards Africa. Our objective is to collaborate closely with all local stakeholders and financial institutions in order to develop a robust and innovative financial ecosystem. To do this, we are banking on digital infrastructures such as the cloud or artificial intelligence, which are an essential foundation for building smarter financial solutions and services.
In his speech, El Mehdi EL JAIR, Regional CTO for Enterprise Financial Services, Huawei Northern Africa, highlighted the continent’s leading role in the digital finance sector. “ Africa, with its 2,500 FinTech players, stands out as the continent with the highest concentration of these innovative companies in the world,” he underlined.
Highlighting the advantages of digitalization in this industry, Stéphane KOUAME, Executive Product Manager, Huawei Côte d’Ivoire, discussed the concrete benefits of Huawei’s technological innovations, particularly in the smart networks sector.
However, the challenges to be overcome for the successful digitalization of African finance are still numerous, as recalled by Christophe GRENIER, regional CTO for storage, Huawei Northern Africa: “Currently, there is a cyberattack every 11 seconds in the world. representing a major challenge for the financial sector in a context of accelerated digitalization, especially in Africa where FinTechs are booming .” Faced with these challenges, Huawei is positioning itself as a key player. “ Our goal is to contribute to building a secure and reliable financial sector. » he continued.
As Gwendoline ABUNAW, General Director of Ecobank Cameroon, rightly pointed out during her speech at the side event, “Telecommunications players should not be considered as competitors, but as partners, because we need them to go faster.
Industry sources added that Huawei thus reaffirms its position as an essential strategic partner, focusing not only on the development of innovative solutions and infrastructure but also on supporting Africa towards financial stability essential for successful and sustainable integration into the global economy.
To gain more information about Huawei, please visit these links:
Huawei Doubles Down Its Aid For Europe’s Sustainable Digital Transition
UNIDO and Huawei launch AIM Global at World AI Conference in Shanghai
Huawei Cloud launches cloud native core banking solution
Huawei to boost digital inclusion through DigiTruck project in Uganda
