eBusiness Weekly
Business Writer
The Minister of Information Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services, Dr Jenfan Muswere, will next week headline the annual ICT, Digital Conference and Awards in Victoria Falls organised by Global Renaissance Investments (GRI).
The multi-session conference is expected to draw a wide range of participants ranging from policy and decision-makers, entrepreneurs, bankers, academia, government ministries and agencies in charge of digital transformation across the country among others.
Through insightful presentations and roundtable conversations by subject-matter experts, it is expected that a consensus will be reached concerning how various stakeholders can exploit digital infrastructure, resources and services to enhance economic development and growth.
Speaking ahead of the conference to be held from March 27-29 at Elephant Hills Hotel and running under the theme; “Towards a smart and digital economy by 2030 in line with NDS1”, GRI chief executive officer Ngoni Dzirutwe, said it was pertinent for various stakeholders to attend this event that will shape the country’s future economy.
“It’s quite clear that Zimbabwe cannot proceed successfully into the future without recourse to digital. Digital has now become a need-to-have, not a want-to-have. And this conference will provide the needed platform for experts and stakeholders of the digital space to share ideas and exchange thoughts, to chart the way forward for the economy to undergo the needed transformation to survive the future,” he said.
The conference is coming at a time when stakeholders agree that the drive to unlock wider digital economy opportunities is critical to achieving economic growth targets under the National Development Strategy 1 (2021-2025), which builds towards attainment of Vision 2030.
NDS1 comprises of core indicators that track readiness for the digital economy including digital infrastructure, technologies in use, use cases and challenges encountered with access to and use of digital services, some of which information can only be collected at household level.
Dzirutwe noted that the necessity for greater investment in digital technologies, skills, resilience and innovation can never be over-emphasised.
“We need to enrich our digital space by retooling major facets of our economy in order to bring about requisite agility and resilience, and to deliver greater efficiencies across entire value chains throughout the economy and across the entire nation,” he added.
Several speakers including Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Deputy Governor Dr Innocent Matshe, Indian Ambassador to Zimbabwe Vijay Khanduja, Africom Chief Executive officer Rudo Mudavanhu, and Dandemutande Chief Executive Officer Never Ncube have been lined up for the conference.
Ministry of Finance’s Non-Accounting Permanent Secretary Dr Judith Kateera, Zimbabwe Engineers Association Vice Chairman Eng Tororiro Chaza, FBC Holdings Digital Executive Tawanda Kambani and Postal and Telecommunications R
