Digitalisation is revolutionising financial systems worldwide – not just in industrialised nations but in developing countries as well. This creates unprecedented opportunities for financial inclusion. Therefore, BMZ recently published a position paper on this very topic for the pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The paper provides a summary of challenges, goals and achievements in the financial sector.

In addition, the UN Secretary General's Task Force on Digital Financing of the SDGs recently published its final report "People’s Money: Harnessing Digitalization to Finance a Sustainable Future". It summarizes the findings and recommendations developed and agreed by the Task Force since its inception in November 2018. The core thesis is that private financing with the help of digital technology can in future make a significant contribution to achieving the goals of Agenda 2030.

The "Empowering Entrepreneurship Initiative" supports young companies in coping with the economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. Enpact e.V. is implementing the initiative within the framework of two programmes: the "COVID-19 Relief Programmes" and the "COVID-19 Relief Programmes for Tourism". A total of 330 teams of innovative companies in Egypt, Ghana, Jordan, Indonesia, Mexico and Kenya are supported by mentoring, workshops, network building and financial assistance. The aim of the initiative is to rebuild structures impaired by the corona crisis. The initiative was developed within the framework of the Strategic Partnership Technology in Africa (SPTA) and is implemented by enpact e.V. and the TUI Care Foundation.

On 24 September 2020, for the first time the Make-IT Day was hosted entirely online and in partnership with the AsiaBerlin Summit. In total, 170 participants from over 50 different organizations gathered virtually to explore new opportunities for cooperation and to shape the future of the Make-IT Initiative. The event featured high-level speakers and guests from the European Commission, BMZ, Berlin Senate, Smart Africa, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) as well as the Make-IT Alliance, the BMZ's partner network to foster local digital innovation.

As proof of Make-IT’s conviction, Parliamentary State Secretary Dr. Maria Flachsbarth shared BMZ´s vision of the future of Make-IT and officially welcomed the GSMA, New Energy Nexus and VC4A as new members to the Make-IT Alliance. The Make-IT Day moreover included three individual breakout sessions on "Corporate Innovation", "How to Support Start-ups" and "Shaping Make-IT in Asia". The event culminated in a roundtable discussion on fostering triangular cooperation between European, African and Asian innovators.

Make-IT recently launched the Investment Guide Africa, an online tool that aims at facilitating African entrepreneurs’ access to finance. The Investment Guide Africa includes a unique pan-African database which entrepreneurs can browse by country, sector, company stage and funding needs. In addition, you can find all relevant information on funding and investment as well as many practical tips on how to raise capital. Last but not least, the Investment Guide Africa includes six so-called country guides that explain the country-specific investment scenes of Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Ethiopia and the Ivory Coast. More country guides are added on a continuous basis.

Roughly a decade after its inception, blockchain remains outside the comfort zone of many policy and decisionmakers. While some European countries presented their national blockchain strategies in recent years, if not months, the Smart Africa Secretariat wants to inform its member states about the policy choices that need to be made to take full societal advantage of distributed ledgers and related technologies with this paper. With the support of GIZ, a bird’s eye view was taken to inform African decision and policymakers on the interlinkage of blockchain technology into legislative and financial frameworks and present use cases for the application of the technology on the African continent.

The ability to prove one’s identity is a prerequisite to access social, economic and political services. From border controls to health insurance, new digital identities allow faster and more transparent delivery of services. Smart Africa with the championing Government of Benin launched the Smart Africa Trust Alliance (SATA) at the 14th Steering Committee Meeting on August 26, 2020. In line with international standards and guidelines - as well as the support by the European Commission DG Connect - SATA focuses on implementing Digital Identity as the key building block to government servicest. BMZ supports this approach to achieving the bold commitment to the digital transformation within and across African states. If embraced, the proposed approach will greatly contribute to a single digital market incorporating private sector players in it's continental approach to interoperability.  

The European Investment Bank (EIB) takes stock on latest developments in the African digital economy regarding COVID-19 and climate change - the greatest challenges facing humanity. The EIB organized a large survey across Africa to better understand the digital solutions that can help the continent and to estimate the investment required. In partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the report "COVID-19: Africa's Digital Solutions" lists more than 100 high-impact digital solutions, including a self-diagnostic app available in 15 African countries.

In the field of tension between innovation and regulation, the study "Data and the Global South: Key Issues for Inclusive Digital Development" examines which governance structures favour an inclusive digital change. Guided by the question of how to reduce inequality between industrialised countries and low and middle income countries, the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung focuses in particular on the issue of data access and governance. In their conclusion, the authors call for digital change based on collaborative efforts among democratic actors, regardless of their geographic location.

Monitoring, evaluation, research and learning (MERL) are four keywords that play an important role in development programmes. New technologies are rapidly changing this so-called MERL area, with data at the centre of attention. A recent report deals with new types of data sources (application data, sensor data and drones), new methods of data storage (distributed ledger technology and cloud) and new ways of processing data (text analysis through machine learning). Last but not least, the report addresses technical and ethical concerns in order to provide concrete guidelines for users in development cooperation.

In recent years, Africa has experienced a boom in digital entrepreneurship driven by the Silicon Valley success narrative: disruption, global markets, exponential growth. In the recently published book "Digital Entrepreneurship in Africa", scientists from HIIG and the Oxford Internet Institute show what is really happening on the ground. Drawing on a five-year research project, the authors show how entrepreneurs creatively and productively adapt digital technologies to local markets. Rather than dreaming of global dominance, they achieve sustainable businesses by scaling based on relationships and customizing digital platform business models to African infrastructure challenges.