Building Africa’s Digital Future

This transcript is from a CSIS podcast published on August 5, 2024. Listen to the podcast here.

Mvemba Phezo Dizolele: Welcome to Into Africa. My name is Mvemba Phezo Dizolele. I'm a senior fellow and the director of the Africa program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. This is a podcast where we talk everything Africa, politics, economics, security and culture. Welcome.

In the last two decades cybersecurity has increasingly become a crucial industry as new digital threats emerge, largely as a result of the technological revolution of the 21st century. African continent has seen its gross domestic product increase exponentially in the last 20 years. While 60% of Africa still remains unconnected to the internet, the millions of individual and institutions with access to the internet are increasingly at risk of security breaches. In fact, Africa reached their highest average number of weekly cyber attacks compared to other regions in 2023, and in 2021, cybercrime resulted in a GDP reduction of over 10%.

It is evident that this is an area that requires more attention from African policymakers. Globally, the cybersecurity industry is consistently growing, but there remains a need for more professionals in the field. The same could be said for Africa where as of 2020, there is an estimated shortage of 100,000 certified cybersecurity professionals. It is also important to note that only nine percent of these professionals are women, compared to the global average of 25%. There are several key avenues to overcome the challenges to increasing cybersecurity in Africa, including investing in more cybersecurity training for individual looking to enter the workforce.

The African continent faces several unique challenges that increase its vulnerability to cyber-attacks. In addition to the shortage of professionals, much of the software used is outdated, as updating technology is costly. The lack of digital literacy among individuals, especially in rural areas, is another prominent barrier to improving cybersecurity. Many struggle with personal data protection, and are susceptible to threats such as phishing and online scams. When it comes to African policymaking, this is an underprioritized issue by most countries. Only 15 countries have adopted a cybersecurity protocol established by the African Union at the Malabo Convention.

39 out of 54 countries have implemented cybersecurity legislation, and there is little alignment between states in cybersecurity policy.

Though it has gained more traction in the last few years, there is much more work to be done. These are major issues that will either make Africa, particularly in economically, or break some of these Africa potential that we talk about so much, particularly when it comes to economy, uh, the well-being of society and others. So, joining me to discuss the cybersecurity landscape in Africa is Miss Francine Katsoudas, the Vice President and Chief People, Policy and Purpose Officer at Cisco.

As head of the People, Policy and Purpose Organization, Fran leads an ecosystem comprised of People and Communities, Sustainability, Social Impact, Government Affairs and Policy, Workplace Resources and Country Digital Acceleration. Welcome to Into Africa Fran.

Francine Katsoudas: Thank you so much.

Mvemba Phezo Dizolele: I'm very intrigued by the report that your organization published in partnership with Access Partnership and the Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria. The report is named, "Elevating Africa's Cyber Resilience: Unveiling Regional Challenges and Charting AI Solutions." From what I just read, what I skimmed from your report, how would you describe the cybersecurity landscape in Africa?

Francine Katsoudas: I would start first by saying that many of the countries, and the heads of state that we're talking to recognize that this is a huge opportunity. I think, for so long, we have put focus on the fact that unfortunately around the world, and beyond the African continent 2.6 billion people are not connected, and, I think, in Africa, that number i- is closer to one billion, and, I think, we put the focus on the connection. I think, one of the key takeaways from the report is that we have to look at not just connection, but secure connection. We have to increase conversations that we're having. We have to together learn a new vocabulary in digital literacy that will help to protect Africans on the continent, and continue... to your point, a lot of the amazing growth that is happening today.

Mvemba Phezo Dizolele: What is the main challenge to this growth that you describe? So, we heard a few numbers here, only nine percent of the cybersecurity professionals are women. We heard that the GDP's increasing. Is there an overarching challenge you see, is that the mindset, is that lack of means?

Francine Katsoudas: There's so many things, I'll give you a few examples. If I look at just the sheer number of security experts country by country, that varies quite a bit. In the US, as an example, you see close to 500,000 security professionals. If you look at a country like Nigeria, that number is closer to 5,000, and so, the first thing that I would say is, "There is a need to build and expand this capability that exists," but to really ensure that it is prominent country by country, as this is so important. You know, I remember, when we first started working with President Ramaphosa years ago, we started offering technical training, and he had said at the time, "Please ensure that a large percentage of the training is from a security perspective, so that our people have the skills required."

And so, the first thing that I would say is, "There's an opportunity to have people trained and ready," that's the first thing.

The second thing is that there's a level of agility that all countries and all people need to have, because the technology is changing so quickly. Something that we had talked about earlier today is that we also have AI coming in across the continent as well, and what we know is that, AI can be used to really support security, but we also (laughs) need security for AI, and so that's just another element that, I think, makes it incredibly dynamic. Because the continent has fewer people that are connected, I think, it also makes sense that it takes a little bit of time for people to learn about data privacy, and digital literacy, and so, I think, we're on the curve of that element as well.

The last thing that I would say, and we see this as a challenge around the world, the more that we approach policy, country by country, or here, state by state, it does make it a little bit more challenging, and so having these aligned protocols, and the sharing that is critical from a security perspective, I think, will help tremendously as well.

Mvemba Phezo Dizolele: It's interesting you say that, because when I look at the report, the report highlights four major challenges, lack of tested security measures, I think, we talking about cybersecurity, probably that, digital illiteracy, you alluded to that a little bit. There's also the hidden costs of aging infrastructure, and then lack of security professionals. So, you talked about the lack of security professionals. This is a continent of 54 countries, so, it's huge, and we know that to do anything that is of imports, we need policy and regulatory frameworks to get things moving. Let's stay with the first challenge, the lack of tested security measures. What does that exactly mean, because they say Black attackers are taking advantage of these vulnerabilities?

So, as a professional and expert in this area, what does that mean, and what's the impact for Africa?

Francine Katsoudas: Yeah, and so, what this means, and I'll give you a couple of examples of where we're addressing this, is that we do not have enough wisdom and understanding coming out of some of the strongest areas from a security perspective on the continent. Something that Cisco was very proud to engage in was the creation of a cybersecurity center in Nairobi, and it was a partnership with the University of Nairobi. At that university, we are working to not only build the skills and the capabilities, but to also create some of the mechanisms for communication, so that the country of Kenya can have the measures and the communication that helps tremendously, and I think, we have other efforts that we're driving in Rwanda and Nigeria that are trying to do the same.

I think, anytime you have a field that is changing, and anytime you have exposure, the ability to formally share, the ability to learn from that, is absolutely critical.

Mvemba Phezo Dizolele: The second point you talked about is digital illiteracy, I think, we understand that somewhat in an abstract terms, but in real life, how does digital illiteracy impede development?

Francine Katsoudas: It is so very important for people everywhere to understand risks around data privacy... think about the first time we learned about phishing, as an example. We were taught in many cases by IT organizations, "Hey, don't click on this, be aware of this," and there's just a little bit of that education that is gonna have to happen to truly protect society. When we talk about digital literacy it's really understanding some of the terms, the things to watch out for, some of the latest, either malware phishing attempts that are going on, and to ensure that we have ways to block that and support people.

Mvemba Phezo Dizolele: And how do we build this capacity, if we saying 700 million people, it's about half of the African continent... a population of 1.4 billion... if 700 million of them are not connected, how do we bring this literacy to them?

Francine Katsoudas: I think, the answer is in your question. First, we have to connect people, and what we have learned is that that connection opens up education, it opens up job potential, even healthcare support as well, and so, when we help people get connected, that is the first step in building this literacy, and I have to say that fortunately so many of the countries across Africa are focused on connection, because they know it's good for their economy's as well. When I look at some of the work that we're doing in Nigeria, we're working closely with the government to really increase the number of people that have access, to change the economic model of getting access, so that it can be available to more people, and to ensure that we have the professionals that are there to really build out networks for the future.

I think, you mentioned an important point from the report, which is some of the aging infrastructure that's there. What we know is that does contribute to a lot of the security risk, and so as we build out people that have connection, as we build their education, these are the people now that are gonna build stronger networks for the future as well.

Mvemba Phezo Dizolele: Africa is also young, Fran, median age is 19. So, we often focus on the bigger picture, which means, these professionals that we talking about, like there are, but the reality is, Africa, a lot of countries are still grappling with just basic education. So, as we enter the digital revolution space, we need to start capturing those kids when they much younger. At 19, it's almost a bit old. Are there initiatives that you know of, or from your perspective, in your Public-Private Partnership... you've not used-

Francine Katsoudas: Yes.

Mvemba Phezo Dizolele: ... that term yet-

Francine Katsoudas: (laughs).

Mvemba Phezo Dizolele: ... but I understand it, since you talked about working with government-

Francine Katsoudas: (laughs) that's right, that's right.

Mvemba Phezo Dizolele: ... you coming from the private sector, are there initiatives that you know of where we trying to capture these young, much earlier, right, from the kindergarten or the primary school, so that they actually literate, not when they're 20 and they're trying to learn to touch a computer, what are the apps, at that time may be a bit too late?

Francine Katsoudas: Absolutely, and we have to. It's so funny, because, I think, what you're talking about now from a technology, or even from a security perspective, I think, this is now basic education, and we have to think about it that way as well. So, it has to be embedded in what we're doing. I'll give you a few examples. Right now in Rwanda, we're having conversations with the minister in charge of ICT. Something that she is thinking about is offering our Networking Academy training to every citizen in the country, and, uh, to use this training now for students are much younger. This is an example of how we start to embed this capability, and again, the reason they're doing this, is because they know this will be really good for both the individuals, their careers, and the economy as well.

We recently signed an MOU in South Africa, with the education minister, and that one was a little bit different, because it's really targeted at getting to students much younger, versus, to your point, a lot of what we do from a workforce development perspective, as well, and so I do think, in the US, and all around the world, we're gonna have to get the technical training and knowledge to students much, much earlier.

Mvemba Phezo Dizolele: And that will require infrastructure. Cisco, you are into apps, you're into the software, then you have other groups out there who into the hardware, computers and laptops, phones. In Africa, they talk a lot about Huawei and other non-American devices, but be that as it may, is there a link with the effort that you're putting in place between you and those other organizations that are producing the hardware that are needed to bring this literacy to the young ones that we just talked about?

Francine Katsoudas: So funny, I love that you talked about us as a software company, and we are, we're a- a very significant hardware company too, and so when you build the backbone of the internet, which is what Cisco has done, and continues to do in a secure way, there's a hardware and a software play, but you're absolutely right, I believe, that for all of the big issues that we're talking about, there's no one company, nor government that can do this, and it's gonna take these partnerships to really ensure that we can leapfrog, that we can find those opportunities, and so yes, you take a company like Cisco, who works very closely, as an example, with telecom companies, who works very closely with the financial industry to ensure that not only can they connect and communicate, but that it- it is absolutely secure.

You take our technology, and you apply it from an app perspective as well, yeah, across the stack, there's partnership, there's a need for us to work together, and again, to ensure that in doing so we don't create additional security risks or issues.

Mvemba Phezo Dizolele: So, when we talked about software, hardware companies, that's one side of the vision, right? So, the Cisco's of the world, the Dell's and many others, uh, Microsoft and that, so you have a big family there, and then on this other side you have the other families, which would be the countries. You mentioned Kenya, you mentioned Rwanda, South Africa, you need initiative on those sides as well, right, the sides of country, and you cannot force them, so how do you create this partnership so that they see... they're driven by different dynamics, and sometime that may not be the priority at the time, but we know in the long run it should be. There gotta be challenges, what are those challenges?

Francine Katsoudas: You're absolutely right, and- and this is why when you see a change in leadership, it does sometimes change the priorities as well, and so as we work with companies around the globe, the first question is always, "What are we trying to achieve with technology?" So, there are countries that we work with where the first thing that they're trying to achieve is access, and to ensure that people have the ability to participate. There are other places in the world where they're looking at digital records, and trying to help their citizens get the prescriptions that they need, or their access to healthcare.

There are a lot of digital projects that we run around transportation. A country can look at what they need to shift, and need the technology to understand some of those needs a bit better. Our biggest thing is, we work country by country to understand the priorities and the needs of a country, and then to bring in the partners and the players that can solve these issues for the long-term, and with scale. Cisco has an effort called, "Country Digital Acceleration," and today we work with 50 countries around the world on digital projects that I do believe are driving an improved experience for citizens, and in many cases, I think, creating the future together with the local leaders and workers that are gonna build this infrastructure.

Mvemba Phezo Dizolele: That infrastructure you referred to a few moments ago Fran as, "Aging," so, they need to be brought to line, brought to speed, and brought to today. It's costly, so a country that is trying to invest in its health, invest in its hard infrastructure which is roads and airports, and others, I think, you referred to this a little bit, but specifically how do you build this, I mean, there's a cost to it? Telling a minister of ICT that, "We need you to do this," but then they go to the assembly, and they say, "That's not a priority now, we need to build this road, so farmers can get their produce to- to the market?"

Francine Katsoudas: Yeah, I never wanna make it sound like it's easy, because it isn't, and I think, what I see governments doing, in many cases, is both the short-term and the long-term play concurrently, because in the short-term play, you drive some wins that, I think, create the proof point, and in some cases hopefully, the funding for these big infrastructure projects. I do think that financing is a huge conversation and challenge as well, but let me give you an example. When we look at countries around the world, something that they're realized is that a government can help a population get connected in a way that isn't too costly a- as a starting point, but what they can also do is ensure that that last mile of connectivity is created by creating either new companies to manage that, or by supporting local companies in helping to provide that access.

In doing so, you create local businesses that can then generate dollars and investment that can help with some of those bigger challenges as well, and so I do think, around the world what I see is a little bit of balance of both, but if you do it right, some of the infrastructure can create additional paths for your app developers to work something on top that creates opportunity. It's so funny, I thought about this earlier today, and it made me laugh. My first trip to Africa was South Africa years and years ago. I met a software developer that was using Cisco technology in a way that I would've never imagined. He was helping a local bakery understand when to put pies in the oven, based on the traffic that would be in that area of the bakery.

So, when traffic went up, he would get the green light, he'd put the pies in the oven... next thing you know, his business has grown, his inventory has been reduced, and it just shows there's like so many different solutions, but they all start with connectivity, and I think, Cisco and other companies, because we have these use cases, we have over 1,600 that we've worked around the world, can sit down and share, "What's worked, what hasn't worked," those bets that create momentum within a company, or a country as well, and I think, that's so important.

Mvemba Phezo Dizolele: Software developers, that's means ingenuity, that means innovation. One thing that is often not associated with Africa is innovation, even though you and I know that that is actually not true. Africans have shown tremendous innovation, M-PESA being one of them, in Kenya. M-PESA of course being mobile money, and mobile transfer. This has helped reduce a lot of corruption in a lot of countries. Soldiers can get their paid easily now in a lot of places in the continent, but we also saw during COVID, for instance, that a country like Togo, and we don't think of Togo as a hub of innovation. Togo, the minister of, uh, technology there came up with process whereby the government could deliver money to the lower rungs of society, particular people working in the informal sector, who couldn't afford the shock of COVID.

From where you stand, how do you see the innovation and creativity landscape on the continent, particularly from the context of this Elevating Africa's Cyber Resilience report?

Francine Katsoudas: Like you said, the innovation on the continent is significant and inspiring. You see it up and down the continent. From a Cisco perspective, we've tried to lean into that innovation, and I'll share a few examples, because I think, these are things that other companies can do. I think, they're great opportunities from a partnership with the government as well. So, we've established something called, "EDGE Centers," and these EDGE Centers serve many different purposes, based on the local economy and what's needed, but I'll just highlight a couple. One of our EDGE Centers in Cape Town is focused on female entrepreneurs, creating a center where Cisco can support an amazing organization focused on women, by bringing technology, bringing architecture. They bring in the women entrepreneurs who get training, and then leverage the technology to build their companies and their great ideas. They actually also now have an investment arm, and we're co-located together. The last time I was there I listened to women who were creating an app for healthcare, and I was sharing my perspectives, and sharing with them that once they built it, I'd love to see what they're doing. And so, there's a ton of innovation, and I think, it's really important for a global company to be local and connect.

Something else that we do is, we have EDGE Centers that are focused on building the future Cisco partners around the world. Another example, we had a entrepreneur who was just starting his company. He had three employees the first time that I met him. He is now a Cisco partner. He has 200 employees. He is making, I think, over 20 million dollars in sales... doing an amazing job, and so what I would say to you is that, "There's tremendous innovation. There's tremendous skill and capability," and sometimes what we can do as a company is create place, the space, and the structure to showcase this amazing technology, innovation that's out there.

Mvemba Phezo Dizolele: What does the Cisco partnership entail?

Francine Katsoudas: So, basically throughout the continent, we sell our technology, for the most part through local partners, and so what that looks like is we train local people on Cisco technology, how to sell, how to create solutions for our customers, and then they go out and they build their businesses selling Cisco technology, and sometimes competitive technology as well in service of an outcome. It's really a win-win, because we then get that local expertise. They build amazing businesses and is a big part of how Cisco can be local, despite the fact that we're headquartered in California.

Mvemba Phezo Dizolele: Speaking of the localization of Cisco, making it local across the continent, you've mentioned mostly only a handful of countries. Gone from Kenya to Rwanda, to South Africa, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa. How do you tap into the rest of the continent, you know, I just mentioned Togo, the countries like DRC. The countries we don't hear a lot often, Sierra Leone, where they're doing tremendous work on maternal and child healthcare. I'm not sure what role technology plays there, but I think, there all these linkages that we may not be tapping into.

Francine Katsoudas: So, it's interesting, because we do that through partners, and so, this morning, I happened to see one of our partners who was selling technology into African countries where- where Cisco doesn't have presence today, but we have partners there, and he was telling me a little bit about deals that he is winning in Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal, and that's a little bit of our scale as a company, which I think, is so very important. I also think, as a company, our ability to prioritize and ensure that where we go we can show up as big Cisco, opening EDGE Centers, working with the government is really important, because those successes will then open the door for us to be in other countries as well.

And so, we try to be incredibly strategic. I think, the country that I haven't mentioned so far, that we're doing a lot of work in, is Botswana as well. There're about six countries that we're focused on, where we have presence, and then our partners give us that scale across the broader continent.

Mvemba Phezo Dizolele: Yeah, I just returned from Botswana, a couple of weeks ago... impressive infrastructure that they have there. Elevating Africa's Cyber Resilience: Unveiling Regional Challenges and Charting AI Solutions, that's the name of the report. We've talked about some of the challenges. Can we spend a little more time on AI Solutions? How do we bring this online, African countries in African spaces? We know that the African youth generally are digitally savvy, but they don't always have all the platforms that they need. AI is the way of the future, at least as we think today... how does Africa tap into this, and what's happening there?

Francine Katsoudas: The continent, and- and across the continent, we do see so many businesses tapping into AI, with the realization that in some cases, it's gonna drive a level of productivity, a level of reach. In some cases, it will help to automate and improve some of the quality of what's delivered to customers as well, and so we absolutely see that. Something that we're really excited about at the moment is that next week we will be launching a paper on an AI Consortium that we have been working on with Microsoft, with SAP, with IBM, with Eightfold, and a- a handful of other companies really understanding the skills and capabilities that are required in this next chapter.

What that report also shows us is that we can see that a very large percentage... about 97% of entry-level jobs will be impacted by AI, and I think, the consortium coming together, putting our heads together around this information will allow us to work on the continent, and beyond, around how do we really prepare businesses, because I- I think, while on the one hand there's goodness in being able to automate and streamline, on the other hand, you've closed a door that many people leverage to get into a company.

Something that- that I share from time to time is that I joined Cisco in our Contact Center 28 years ago. I was answering phone calls. The job that I entered the company in, will no longer be around, because pretty soon this role can be done more effectively than I ever was. These are some of the opportunities that we're seeing. I do think that the Public-Private Partnership is incredibly important. That working with a country on how AI is leveraged, not only in a safe and ethical way, but leveraged in a way that actually creates jobs and opportunities, I think, will be really important.

Every time you see a stat that tells you that jobs are going away because of AI, there's another stat that you see right next to that saying that new jobs emerge, and I- I think, we have to work really hard to be ready for that, where that goes.

Mvemba Phezo Dizolele: Think that's part of the training and agility that you'd mentioned earlier. One challenge that Africa faces, uh, is the narrative, the narrative about Africa is not good, you know and it's been frozen for centuries. People in, uh, programs like ours here at CSIS and others are trying to change that. Typically, if you don't go to the mountain, the mountain comes to you, they say, but Africa never comes to you, you have to go to Africa in many ways. How do we create platforms, uh, where there's conferences or other venues to engage with Africa until such time where the narrative will change, or Africa will come to you?

Francine Katsoudas: I think, that the narrative on Africa is very different based on your proximity to Africa. The amount of time that you spend on the continent, I think, definitely sheds light on the narrative and I- I would say, that's probably the case in most places that you go as well. One of the privileges that I have is to sit on the President's Doing Business in Africa Council, and on that council, I sit with 25 very large US-based companies, and together I can tell all of us have a lot of belief and excitement for the growth and the opportunity, for the skills that exist on the continent. And so, I would say that, I see these types of forums that you're talking about at every level with the organization.

I would encourage that people get closer to the opportunity. I think, that as we look to various countries from a talent perspective which, I think, is a huge opportunity... I think, that starts to change the narrative as well. Some of the work that we've done, whether it's in an EDGE Center or working directly with a university, hopefully maybe this report sheds light on some of the opportunities, because within the report what you see is that some of the cybersecurity challenges are a result of growth and development as well.

Mvemba Phezo Dizolele: The report again is, "Elevating Africa's Cyber Resilience: Unveiling Regional Challenges and Charting AI Solutions." To those who are listening, to those who are not sure what to make of development in Africa, what do you tell them in the few minutes that we have left?

Francine Katsoudas: I would tell them that from a growth opportunity perspective, when you think about the fact that over the near term, we will see 700 million people become connected, I think, what they will see is tremendous opportunity. I think, I would say that governments across the continent are looking for partnerships with the private sector. I think, the other thing that I would share is that the private sector also needs to come together. Together there are huge opportunities for us to leverage the amazing talent on the continent. We talked about the fact that the average age is 19 years old. When you think about a workforce, having so many people at that age is a huge opportunity. I think, the last thing that I would say is that, if you have any question about innovation on the continent, look to the financial industry, look at how they are driving mobile banking in a way that is amazing, but also bringing a level of inclusion and purpose into everything that they're doing, and I would say that, if this is not something that you're familiar with, it's time to get a little bit closer.

Mvemba Phezo Dizolele: On that note, Fran Katsoudas, Executive Vice President and Chief People, Policy and Purpose Officer at Cisco (laughs), we thank you for joining us today on Into Africa.

Francine Katsoudas: Thank you so much.

Mvemba Phezo Dizolele: Thank you for listening. We want to have more conversations about Africa. Tell your friends, subscribe to our podcast at Apple Podcasts. You can also read our analysis and reports at csis.org/africa. So long.

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