He has over 15 years of experience in the fintech sector. His goal is to create innovative and secure solutions tailored to the needs of professionals and individuals in Africa.

Moussa Dembele (photo) is a Malian computer scientist and entrepreneur, co-founder and CEO of Danapay, a fintech startup focused on improving access to international payments for Africans. Based in France, Danapay was founded in 2017 by Keita Gaoussou, Moussa, and Demba Dembele. The company leverages blockchain technology to simplify financial transactions between African businesses and individuals and the rest of the world. Additionally, it enables transactions via USSD and SMS.

Danapay allows individuals to transfer up to €6,000, while businesses can transfer up to €30,000, with the option to increase this limit to €70,000 by providing the necessary documentation. Africans residing in Europe can send money to 12 countries in West and Central Africa.

Moussa Dembele holds a degree in computer engineering from Polytech Marseille, which he earned in 2008, and a master's degree in organizational consulting from EM Lyon Business School, obtained in 2013.

His professional career began in 2009 at Société Générale Corporate and Investment Banking as a software engineer. In 2011, he joined AXA Investment Managers as an IT architect. By 2013, he became an information systems consultant at Sentelis, a consulting firm specializing in strategy, governance, and IT architecture. From 2018 to 2020, he worked as an IT consultant at CGI in Luxembourg, a company known for its technology services and business process management.

Melchior Koba

Developed with the support of multiple technical partners, the solution assists parents in tracking their children's vaccination schedules.

Mangwele is a digital health solution developed by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to help parents keep track of their children's vaccination appointments from birth until the age of one. Launched in July 2023 with support from the Japanese government, the platform is designed to streamline the vaccination process.

“This project will allow healthcare workers to monitor birth registrations and track each child’s vaccinations by entering this information into a national database. The system enables individualized tracking to ensure all children receive the necessary vaccines, even if they relocate,” said Satoko Morito, First Secretary of the Japanese Embassy in Congo.

From the moment a child is born, midwives collect key information such as the child's name, the parents' details, and their phone numbers. Fifteen days before each vaccination date, Mangwele sends SMS reminders to parents, notifying them of the upcoming appointment. These dates are pre-set according to the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) calendar.

In addition to aiding parents, Mangwele helps healthcare professionals monitor birth registrations and track each child’s vaccinations, contributing to a national database. Currently available in Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire, authorities plan to expand the app’s use across the entire Congo in the coming months.

Adoni Conrad Quenum

Her goal is to provide every African with access to quality insurance tailored to their respective needs. Through technology, she helps insurance companies better understand their customers' expectations.

Jihan Abass (photo) is a Kenyan entrepreneur and businesswoman. She is the founder and CEO of Lami Insurance Technology, a startup aiming to revolutionize insurance and make it accessible to everyone.

Founded in 2018, Lami Insurance Technology offers an insurance-as-a-service platform that digitizes the entire insurance value chain. This platform allows users to quickly create and distribute digital insurance products. Its services cater to a wide range of clients, including individuals, independent agents, and small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Before launching Lami, Jihan Abass founded Griffin Motor Assurance in 2016, one of East Africa’s first smart car insurance companies. The Griffin Motor app is redefining auto insurance in Africa, providing a simpler, more affordable, and efficient experience through innovation.

The Kenyan entrepreneur holds a bachelor’s degree in Investment and Financial Risk Management from Bayes Business School in London, England. She also graduated from the University of Oxford in 2019 with a master’s in Business Administration.

Prior to her entrepreneurial ventures, she worked as a trader at Toyota Tsusho Sugar Trading Limited, a company specializing in wholesale confectionery distribution. In 2022, The New Africa magazine ranked her among the 110 most influential African women.

Melchior Koba

Landlocked African countries heavily rely on neighboring nations' markets, infrastructure, and institutions, making them economically vulnerable. To enhance their economic resilience, the adoption of new trade facilitation methods is crucial.

On September 10, Botswana's permanent mission in Geneva, Switzerland, organized a forum to discuss strategies for boosting digital trade in landlocked countries. The event was organized under the theme ‘Overcoming Geography: Digital Trade in Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs),’ on the fringes of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Public Forum 2024. It focused on how to meet the unique challenges faced by landlocked nations, particularly in Africa, to participate in global trade.

Torbjörn Fredriksson, head of e-commerce and the digital economy at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), explained that there is a need for “ more investment in ICT infrastructure, strengthening the capacity of policymakers to put in place a favorable legal environment, intensify efforts to improve digital and financial literacy and other skills, including through more effective public-private collaboration, and strengthen support for improved trade logistics and trade facilitation, including paperless cross-border trade.”

Vuyile Dumisani Dlamini, Eswatini's Permanent Representative, stressed the need to invest in “ a robust digital infrastructure coupled with a vibrant skills development and supportive regulatory environment, including international cooperation.” He justified this approach given the importance of digital commerce, which “can help to reduce trade costs, improve market access and foster economic growth.”

Moderating the discussion, Gerelmaa Davaasuren, Mongolia's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations, said that it is also necessary “to fully digitize customs processes to reduce the high trade costs faced by landlocked countries due to their lack of direct access to the sea.”

During the discussion, emphasis was also placed on the potential of the creative industry in digital trade, advocating collaboration with various organizations to improve transactions. The formation of alliances was suggested as a way of streamlining support and funding efforts. In addition, the disparity in ownership of digital devices between developed and developing regions was noted, underlining the importance of equitable access to digital resources.

There are currently 32 landlocked developing countries in the world, 17 of which are classified as least developed countries. According to the World Bank report ‘Improving Trade and Transport for Landlocked Countries’, one of the characteristics of these countries is their low per capita income compared to neighboring transit countries. They are often heavily dependent on the markets, infrastructure, and institutions of their neighbors, making regional cooperation and investment in digital trade vital to their economic growth. 

Hikmatu Bilali