Gabby Otchere-Darko

Just a decade or more ago, when it comes to major and technical work, Africa looked up to expertise and investments from outside the continent. Now, we are seeing more and more African businesses doing well in one country expanding to others. We are seeing it in a big way with Dangote but there are many more. RigWorld is one. It begins with trust. We are beginning to trust ourselves more to deliver and slower than before to look west for solutions.

Is money making the wealthy fascist? Interesting perspective here.

The Africa Prosperity Network (APN) is pleased to announce Smart Africa as a partner for the Africa Prosperity Dialogues 2027. The partnership follows a strategic meeting between APN Founder and Executive Chairman, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, and Smart Africa CEO, Lacina Koné, at the fourth edition of GITEX Africa in Marrakesh, Morocco, on 8 April 2026, and subsequent engagements. It builds on a collaboration dating back more than three years. We invite fintech companies, innovators, digital identity solution providers and payment providers to join us at APD 2027 to engage with Smart Africa and other stakeholders and help shape Africa’s digital future. Date: 13–15 January 2027 Venue: Kempinski Hotel Gold Coast City, Accra, Ghana Smart Africa has been at the forefront of efforts to develop Africa’s digital economy. Our collaboration is strategic. Smart Africa’s work directly supports APD 2026’s focus on empowering SMEs, women and youth in Africa’s single market and the APD 2027 theme, “The Borderless Africa We Want: Move Freely. Pay Seamlessly. Trade More.” Trusted identity is essential to delivering a visa-free Africa and mobile money interoperability across borders. This is why APN supports the Smart Africa Trust Alliance (SATA) and Smart Africa Data Exchange (SADX). SATA establishes the framework for cooperation on national identification, while SADX enables national systems to securely verify and exchange information, with countries retaining control over their data. Nineteen countries have signed the SATA Declaration. Ghana, Benin and Rwanda have completed the first phase of the SADX pilot, demonstrating cross-border identity verification in a controlled testing environment. These are practical steps towards enabling trusted transactions, seamless payments and greater cross-border trade. Register now⁠: apd2027.africaprosperitynetw… #APD2027 #AfricaProspers #BorderlessAfrica #SmartAfrica #DigitalTransformation #MakeAfricaBorderlessNow

Looking forward to this early start of the December festivities. @grampsmorgan and various reggae stars. If you are a reggae lover, like me, you can’t miss this festival.

Yesterday, Monday, 2 November, I joined discussions at the 15th Africa Internet Governance Forum at the Labadi Beach Hotel in Accra, including a Smart Africa Steering Committee roundtable. My main message was that connecting Africa’s mobile money wallets across borders, alongside visa-free travel, could transform intra-African trade, significantly. At the Africa Prosperity Network (APN), we estimate that implementing both reforms could help raise intra-African trade from around 16% to more than 25% within five years. The opportunity is enormous. The figures I presented show that US$2.1 trillion flowed through mobile money wallets globally in 2025, with approximately US$1.4 trillion, two-thirds of the total, transacted in sub-Saharan Africa. Africa had some 1.2 billion registered accounts, while West Africa alone recorded approximately US$498 billion in transactions across 517 million accounts (not unique individuals). Within states, we have built mobile money at extraordinary scale. Take Ghana, for instance, which was the first to do comprehensive mobile money interoperability in 2018, last August alone, over one billion mobile money transactions were recorded in one single month. We must now connect those national wallets and put them to work for continental trade, for greater opportunities and jobs. Imagine a trader in Kumasi buying from a supplier in Abidjan: she pays in cedis from her wallet, and the supplier receives CFA francs quickly, securely and affordably. Neither needs to source dollars or carry cash across a border. Multiply that transaction across millions of businesses. Lower costs will release money for stock and expansion. Faster settlement will improve cash flow. Reliable transaction records can also support access to credit and insurance. For women, SMEs and young entrepreneurs, this could place Africa’s single market directly in their hands. But a trader who can pay a supplier must also be able to travel to inspect goods, negotiate and build trust, if need be. Free movement and seamless payments should, therefore, go hand in hand. This is what we are meeting to push to achieve at the Africa Prosperity Dialogues 2027, Kempinski Hotel, Accra, 13-15 January 2027. To register: apd2027.africaprosperitynetw…

CONNECTING AFRICA’S WALLETS, UNLOCKING AFRICA’S TRADE, SMARTLY By Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko Yesterday, Monday, 2 November, I joined discussions at the 15th Africa Internet Governance Forum at the Labadi Beach Hotel in Accra, including a Smart Africa Steering Committee roundtable. My main message was that connecting Africa’s mobile money wallets across borders, alongside visa-free travel, could transform intra-African trade, significantly. At the Africa Prosperity Network (APN), we estimate that implementing both reforms could help raise intra-African trade from around 16% to more than 25% within five years. The opportunity is enormous. The figures I presented show that US$2.1 trillion flowed through mobile money wallets globally in 2025, with approximately US$1.4 trillion, two-thirds of the total, transacted in sub-Saharan Africa. Africa had some 1.2 billion registered accounts, while West Africa alone recorded approximately US$498 billion in transactions across 517 million accounts (not unique individuals). Yet our commercial strength remains constrained by fragmented markets, compared with intra-regional trade figures of approximately 59% in Asia and 68% in Europe. Within states, we have built mobile money at extraordinary scale. Take Ghana, for instance, last August alone, over one billion mobile money transactions were recorded in one single month. We must now connect those national wallets and put them to work for continental trade, for greater opportunities and jobs. Imagine a trader in Kumasi buying from a supplier in Abidjan: she pays in cedis from her wallet, and the supplier receives CFA francs quickly, securely and affordably. Neither needs to source dollars or carry cash across a border. Multiply that transaction across millions of businesses. Lower costs will release money for stock and expansion. Faster settlement will improve cash flow. Reliable transaction records can also support access to credit and insurance. For women, SMEs and young entrepreneurs, this could place Africa’s single market directly in their hands. But a trader who can pay a supplier must also be able to travel to inspect goods, negotiate and build trust, if need be. Free movement and seamless payments should, therefore, go hand in hand. Since the inaugural Africa Prosperity Dialogues in 2023, APN has brought together policymakers, the AfCFTA Secretariat, Smart Africa, GSMA Africa, telecommunications companies and financial institutions to advance this connectivity agenda. Trusted identity is essential to delivering these ambitions. This is why APN supports the Smart Africa Trust Alliance (SATA) and Smart Africa Data Exchange (SADX). SATA establishes the framework for national identification cooperation; SADX enables national systems to securely verify and exchange information while countries retain control over their data. Nineteen countries have signed the SATA Declaration. Ghana, Benin and Rwanda have completed the first phase of the SADX pilot, demonstrating cross-border identity verification in a controlled testing environment. We believe this can help address a major obstacle to visa-free travel: governments’ uncertainty about visitors’ identities. Allowing authorised agencies to verify travellers against official records in their home countries, with privacy and security safeguards, could strengthen border management and greatly reduce those concerns. Trusted digital identity can also support access to financial services across borders. We are hopeful because progress is visible. Since our Make Africa Borderless Now! campaign began this year, several countries have introduced or announced visa-free policies for Africans. These sovereign decisions demonstrate growing political willingness to open our borders. Expanding participation in PAPSS and the 19 SATA signatories are equally encouraging. The foundations for freer movement, trusted identities and seamless payments are coming together. starrfm.com.gh/gabby-otchere…

Congratulations to #Afreximbank, the African Petroleum Producers’ Organisation (APPO), participating governments and all involved in establishing the Africa Energy Bank, with authorised capital of US$5 billion. Once again, Afreximbank has shown the way and Africa is grateful. This is a major step towards Africa financing its own energy future. As traditional lenders withdraw funding from fossil fuels, oil and gas remain central to our energy systems, our own definition of energy transition must prioritise a more urgent transition for us: economic transformation and integration. Thus, our energy policies as a continent must first support development and recognise the urgency of ending energy poverty. Africa needs reliable, affordable electricity to power factories, support businesses, create jobs and even keep the lights on for students studying for exams. Ethiopia has demonstrated what African ambition can achieve when it found the capital to build the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, recognised at the Africa Prosperity Champions Awards 2026 as the continent’s most transformational project. We must now find a financing solution for Grand Inga in the Democratic Republic of Congo, including transmission infrastructure to supply several countries. With full development commonly estimated at around US$80 billion, this requires collective African action and serious multilateral financial institutions’ partnership. We should build on efforts led by the African Development Bank to mobilise Africa’s institutional capital. Our pension funds, insurers, sovereign wealth funds and other institutional investors hold trillions of dollars. We must channel a share of these long-term savings into transformational projects such as Grand Inga, while securing sound returns for savers. Africa’s savings should power Africa’s development. Clean, affordable and reliable electricity, shared across borders, would give real meaning to economic integration. And, if financing projects such as Grand Inga becomes part of the reparations conversation, then we may be getting somewhere! Reparations should help reconnect and integrate Africans everywhere and Africa and also build Africa’s productive foundations, powering industries, expanding opportunity and delivering lasting prosperity. Congrats to my learned friend, Dr George Elombi and his team for making this possible.

Yesterday, at the launch of the 70th anniversary celebrations of our old school, St Peter’s Secondary School, Nkwatia, the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Johnson Asiama, announced an initiative he had developed with Emmanuel Asiedu Sekyere, CEO of Virtual Security Africa Ltd (VSA), to install AI-assisted CCTV cameras at St Peter’s and our sister school, St Roses, Akwatia. I highlight this because properly deployed CCTV cameras can help deter bullying, sexual harassment and other forms of abuse, while supporting investigations when incidents occur. I hope the Ghana Education Service and private schools without such systems will seriously consider installing them, with appropriate safeguards to protect students’ privacy. I congratulate Dr Asiama and Emmanuel Asiedu Sekyere on this initiative and thank VSA for offering to sponsor it. VSA provides CCTV cameras, electronic surveillance systems and cybersecurity solutions. I was also pleased to hear fellow Perscoba Kingsley Awuah-Darko, who delivered the keynote address, encourage the younger generation to pursue opportunities in farming. The chairman of the occasion, Dr James Ato Lindsey, urged them to plant trees. Both messages speak to the importance of nurturing a generation that produces, protects the environment and invests in the future. Our big anniversary challenge is to raise GH¢30 million to build a modern kitchen and dining hall complex for the school. I encourage all old boys to give generously. Let us honour the school that helped shape us by giving today’s students and generations to come, the facilities they deserve. ACCOUNT DETAILS Bank: GCB Bank PLC Account Name: Persco at 70 Account Number: 1231180004248 Branch: Madina Sort/Branch Code: 040123 SWIFT Code: GHCBGHAC

Governments and continental institutions cannot deliver this [single market] vision alone. We need institutions that command the trust of communities and influence how people live and work together. We need our traditional leaders. During my university years at the School of Oriental and African Studies, I learned about received law and living law: the law inherited from colonial administrations, and the customs and institutions through which our people continued to order their lives. The colonial state claimed authority over Africa, but it could not simply command our people to forget where they came from or abandon their allegiance to their traditional leaders. That is why kings, queens, chiefs and other customary authorities continue to command respect across modern Africa. You are custodians of heritage and mediators of disputes. You connect generations, sustain community relationships and reach places where government communiqués and conference declarations often do not. If traditional rulers once saw their authority absorbed into larger states, why can their successors not help us build a larger African family; this time freely, on terms set by Africans, and for the benefit of Africans? You can strengthen relationships with your counterparts across borders, encourage peaceful coexistence and challenge the suspicion that makes Africans treat fellow Africans as strangers. You can bring the concerns of traders, farmers, artisans and small businesses to governments and continental institutions. And, you can help your communities understand and claim the opportunities that a united continental market should bring. Excerpts from my speech: Re-Igniting The Role of Traditional Rulers For Africa’s Integrated Future  28/10/26

“A borderless Africa does not mean that we cease to be Warri, Yoruba, Kikuyu, Asante, Akyem, Dagomba, Zulu, Ga, Amazigh, Tuareg, Kongo or Luba. Our unity need not erase the identities that enrich us. If borders drawn through the heart of our communities could not sever our ties to our peoples, surely building one Africa will not diminish them.”

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It is bigger than football. Congrats Saka!

He kaned it!

Register now for APD2027: africaprosperitynetwork.com

It looks like British Airways is doing marketing for its main competitors, including Emirates, KLM, Virgin and others. They keep offering less and less to their loyal customers.