The 2nd Blockchain conference was held in Kampala, Uganda and it brought together over 3000 people comprising of the public and private sector, experts and leaders from global technology companies, entrepreneurs, innovators, students, youth and government representatives including the President of Sierra Leone, HE Julius Maasa Bio to discuss and exchange ideas on the 4th Industrial Revolution
The two-day conference ran from 3rd July to 4th July and was themed ‘’Africa 4.0: Preparing Africa for the 4th Industrial Revolution’’, was mainly focused on discussions around what opportunities the 4IR presents, what threats it poses and what Africa must do to leverage it for development.
We had a wonderful 2 days of learning, sharing, building, connecting and growing at the 2nd Africa Blockchain conference held in Kampala Serena hotel and here are the main takeaways from the event.
The 4th Industrial Revolution is here now
Digital technology provides global opportunities and Africa has to position itself well enough to be able to exploit the opportunities that come along with it. On the first day of the event, the State Finance Minister David Bahati made a notable remark by saying “So many Ugandans have not yet embraced the industrial revolution but internet in Uganda is no longer a luxury but a necessity. Even when Africa missed out on the first, second and third industrial revolution technologies, the 4th industrial revolution is here and Africa should take the opportunity for the development of the continent as a whole.
The statement resonated with me for the all day and made me draw a conclusion that we are already living in the 4th industrial revolution era and when the continent harness the power of the data age well enough we can as well skip over out of date tech and evolved into leading the new areas. Some have already started embracing the concept of Africa 4.0 and organizing events like this one step in getting the like-minded individuals to discuss the deliverables and what to be implemented.
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Traditional Banks have to reinvent strategy to stay relevant in the future digital economy
One of the most interesting sessions ever during the conference was “ Future of Fintech, Payments and Digital financial services.” and was moderated by Rashmi Pillai( Director FSD, Uganda) and panel included Keval Bid(ED, StanChart Uganda) and Dr. Tumubweinee( Director of Supervision, BOU) among other panelists and the discussion revolved around the peer to peer payment systems and the future of traditional banking.
FSD Uganda shared some interesting data about mobile payment and showed the stats of Last year where Alibaba and WeChat together processed $15 Trillions in mobile payments, 55% of which came from Alibaba alone and pointed out the fight is no longer about David vs Goliath but Goliath versus Goliath and the tech Goliath’s can adapt to change faster than the traditional banks, hence the need to reinvent strategy to avoid being custodians of deposits in the future.
The ED of StanChart also added about the effort the bank is undertaking to remain relevant by piloting some solutions in Asia and the rest of the continent which has the background to blockchain technology e.q. The key Repo and collateral trends across the Asia Pacific among other projects they’re working on. Director of Supervision of Bank of Uganda talked about the consumer protection guidelines and how the institution is working towards understanding the new technologies like Blockchain and having necessary measures to regulate them.
Where you part of the conference? Do you have any views, comments or other feedback on this? You can head to the comment section and leave your thoughts for us.
