• Smart Africa signed multiple digital cooperation deals at TAS 2025 in Conakry
• Visa, Ascend, and others to support payments, data exchange, and youth programs
• Agreements aim to build digital skills, inclusion, and a Digital Single Market by 2030

Smart Africa signed a series of cooperation agreements on Thursday at the Transform Africa Summit (TAS) 2025 in Conakry. The deals include several memoranda of understanding and a contract with public and private partners aimed at advancing the continent’s digital transformation. The agreements focus on youth, digital skills, financial inclusion, data exchange, internet domain management and women’s leadership, with the longer-term goal of building African digital sovereignty and a Digital Single Market by 2030.

Digital payments and data exchange

Smart Africa signed an MoU with Visa to promote digital services and electronic payments as a driver of economic development. The agreement, signed by Smart Africa CEO Lacina Koné and Mina Abdo, Visa’s Head of Partnerships for Sub-Saharan Africa, covers the digitisation of public services, expansion of payment infrastructure, financial inclusion, support for e-commerce, and measures to facilitate trade and entrepreneurship across member countries. The parties say the aim is to strengthen Africa’s digital economy and support plans for a Digital Single Market by making electronic transactions easier within and between states.

Smart Africa also signed a contract with Ascend Digital Solutions to pilot the Smart Africa Data Exchange (SADX) platform. The system is intended to provide a secure, interoperable data exchange framework based on open standards. It is designed to support cross-border digital services, digital identity verification and data sharing between states. A pilot will be rolled out in Benin, Ghana and Rwanda under the Smart Africa Trust Alliance (SATA) initiative, as a first step toward wider deployment of cross-border digital services.

Youth, skills and internet governance

An MoU between Smart Africa and YouthConnekt Africa aims to support youth-led digital transformation. The two organisations plan to use existing Smart Africa Youth Chapters and YouthConnekt Country Chapters to connect young innovators, promote mentoring and entrepreneurship and highlight African digital solutions. They also intend to run joint programmes during major events, including TAS and the YouthConnekt Africa Summit, to give more visibility to youth initiatives.

To address digital skills gaps, Smart Africa signed an MoU with the government of Gambia on the deployment of the Smart Africa Digital Academy (SADA) in the country. The partnership will organise and coordinate digital training programmes for public decision-makers, young people, women and civil servants, in line with Gambia’s digital transformation priorities. The goal is to put in place long-term mechanisms for continuous training supported by national infrastructure.

Smart Africa also signed an MoU with the Africa Top Level Domains Organisation (AFTLD) to strengthen management of critical internet resources. The agreement covers capacity building on country-code top-level domain (ccTLD) management, work on policy alignment and measures to reinforce cybersecurity related to domain name systems. It also seeks to present a more unified African position in global internet governance forums.

In addition, an MoU with Women Political Leaders is intended to place gender considerations at the centre of digital policy. The partnership aims to promote a gender-sensitive digital transition, support women’s leadership in the digital sector, back women’s digital entrepreneurship and increase women’s influence in digital policy and governance.

Smart Africa says the deals signed at TAS 2025 are meant to deepen cooperation between governments, the private sector and international organisations around the alliance’s digital agenda. The next step will be turning the commitments into concrete projects in member states.

Muriel EDJO