L’Afrique des Idées a rencontré S-Cash Payment, une solution bancaire, totalement digitale. Son fondateur Lionel Yao, revient dans cet entretien sur le rationnel derrière la mise en place de cette plateforme.

ADI : En quoi consiste votre initiative, pourriez-vous nous donner un aperçu général de vos activités ?

Nous avons développé le premier compte sans banque 100% mobile pour les personnes exclues des systèmes financiers classiques, afin de leur permettre de bénéficier de solutions d’épargne, de crédits et d’un porte-monnaie électronique permettant d’acheter 24h sur 24 sans prendre le risque de transporter de la liquidité sur soi. Ce projet nous a couté plus de 25 millions Franc CFA jusqu’à présent. 

D’où vous est venue l’idée de fonder S-Cash Payment ? 

En 2015 lors d’un voyage au Nigeria en bus, j’ai été frustré et peiné parce que je ne disposais pas de compte bancaire, ni de produit bancaire comme les cartes de crédit pour effectuer mes transactions en naira. Ce constat m’a amené à chercher une solution dématérialisée  qui pourrait répondre aux problèmes de tous ceux qui étaient ou se retrouveraient dans ma situation. En faisant les recherches, je me rendu compte qu’en Afrique, on dénombre 925 millions de personnes non bancarisées en Afrique dont 420 millions en Afrique subsaharienne alors que 277 millions possèdent des smartphones et un compte mobile Money. Dès lors la solution que nous voulions proposer était possible et se justifiait. C’est dans cette optique que mon équipe (2 financiers et 3 codeurs) et moi, avions décidé de nous investir totalement pour créer S-Cash.

L’administration vous a-t-elle aidé dans vos démarches ?

Nous avons obtenu un fonds d’amorçage auprès de la fondation jeunesse numérique (www.fjn.ci), on espère plus dans le future. Au delà, d’un intérêt réel pour notre projet, nous n’avons pas reçu pour l’heure d’autres concours de l’Etat. Il n’y a pas de dispositifs d’appui concrets à des initiatives comme la nôtre malheureusement ; cela aurait été le bienvenu.

Quels sont les retours que vous avez eu sur votre projet ?

Nous avons seulement lancé pour le moment la version test (MVP) pour acquisition client. En termes de commercialisation véritable cela se fera dans les mois à venir. Nous recevons chaque jours de nos leads des messages nous demandant l’horizon de commercialisation de S-Cash car impatient d’utiliser la solution. Seules les banques demeurent réticentes à l’ouverture de leur système par peur des cybers attaques.

Comment voyez-vous l’avenir de S-Cash Payment ?

Je vois S-Cash comme une entreprise leader et experte dans la fourniture de solutions de finances digitales pour promouvoir l’inclusion financière en Afrique. Après la conquête du marché national, nous avons pour but de nous étendre sur toute l’Afrique subsaharienne !

Une dernière chose que vous souhaitez ajouter ?

La solution S-Cash est toujours en phase test et ne sera commercialisée que cette année. Mais nous avons déjà récolté un investissement de plus de 35 millions Franc CFA. Et nous restons ouverts à tout investisseur qui souhaiterait appuyer notre initiative pour contribuer à renforcer l’inclusion financière en Afrique.

Pour suivre le développement de S-Cash Payment, suivre leur page sur Facebook : @scash4you, Twitter: @scashpayment ou Instagram: @scash_payment

This brief discusses key fiscal practices which should be addressed urgently to save South Sudan from chronic economic disasters. After many years of war with successive repressive regimes in Khartoum, South Sudan attained independence in 2011. The young nation immediately faced challenges in creating institutions and operating them in an environment of weak enforcement and compliance.

Lack of robust coordination among key institutions of economic governance, weak oversight institutions encourage mismanagement of resources with impunity which partly accounted for the onset of the 2013 conflict. To provide steady resource needed for reconstruction and sustainable development investment and mitigate fiscal crises, the government of South Sudan needs to implement strategies conducive of healthier public finances, including expenditure control to avoid overspending, pruning agency-shopping and improving tax collections through administrative reforms. Building institutions is not a spontaneous act but rather a contextual endeavour, which exacts both time and resources. Read the full Policy Brief.

n In 2017, what can be said about the democratic situation in African States? Whereas some countries are strengthened year after year, the democratic benefits often obtained come with difficulty and lots of sacrifices. Others don’t succeed in breaking free from the long-lasting and important lingering odour of authoritarianism. Whereas we witness pacific transfers of power and democratic alternations in some countries, we still deal with political leaders who use clever processes to unduly prolong their position as heads of the state. This is the demonstration that the obsession of power remains a perennial issue in the head of lots of political authorities in Africa. It shall be first specified that the democratic health condition of African countries cannot be determined only with regard to free and transparent elections in those countries. This would be  a really minimalist and subjective conception of democracy.

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n The Good Performers of Democracy in Africa

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n Ghana and Benin experienced last year, pacific elections and a democratic alternation at the head of the state. In these two countries, the political pluralism is seen as strength and is not stifled. Trade unions are well organized and constitute pressure means against the government. Benin is also the first country which organized the first national conference on the continent in 1990. Benin is moreover the pioneer in the establishment of an independent electoral commission. Benin is worthy  of note due the fact that this country didn’t stay paralyzed in a kind of excitement following this historical role of democratic precursor, but as the analyst Constantin Somé rightly underlines in his master’s thesis: « Benin distinguishes itself by its innovation ability in all fairness and transparency, which shows progress. Refusing the usurpation of political power by any group or faction that wouldn’t originate from the electoral body choice. This is why  an independent and autonomous « a mediator »  charged with elections has been established. Benin cultivates pacifism by an increasingly healthy management of electoral competitions and a progressive institutionalization of organs charged with regulating elections and above all their independence towards the government, the parliament and public authorities ». [1]

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n Ghana takes second place in Africa behind Namibia and the 26th at the global level of 2016 Reporters without Borders (RSB) ranking about press freedom. [2] This prominent place in this international ranking conveys the steady challenge of guaranteeing press independence and freedom of speech and opinion prerogatives. On the political level, the popular vote is respected and the losers accept their defeat. During the presidential election of 2012, Dramani Mahama was declared the winner by the Constitutional Court against Akuffo Addo after recourse of the latter before the said court. Following this sentence, he admitted his defeat and called Mahama to congratulate him. In 2016, the outgoing president Mahama was defeated by Akuffo-Addo during the elections and admitted instantly his defeat. This gives every reason to believe that the Ghanaian democracy is constantly growing.

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n Still in West Africa, Senegal is also an avant-garde in terms of democracy in our continent. Even if this country has known intermittent episodes of « crisis », it always knew how to recover. The longstanding and strong tradition of activism in the political, community and trade union spheres (Ex : Collectif Y’EN A MARRE, Raddho, Forum Civil as well as other organizations of the civil society and lively and committed political parties) forms a significant safeguard against authoritarian and anti-democratic vague desires. President Wade’s defeat against his opponent Macky Sall in 2012, the constitutional referendum organized in 2016, illustrate the healthy democratic condition of this country and the desire of citizens and political leaders to preserve the Senegalese democratic ethos. The insular States that are Cape Verde and Mauritius deserve as well to be mentioned as model democracies in the continent. These countries experience a political stability which is in particular the result of an institutionalization and of the respect of democratic rules and practices that govern the public action as well as the private sphere.

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n In respect to South Africa, it is a democracy which works well generally. Unlike a lot of countries in our tropics, we can add to the credit of this nation that the judicial power is still independent from the executive one. As proof of this, we can quote the legal problems of president Zuma entangled in corruption and abuse of power scandals. We all recall the reports of the Republic ex mediator Thuli Madonsela who revealed in all independence –even if she suffered political pressures- the « Nkandlagate » which refers to the renovation of a private residence with public funds and also the case concerning the narrow collusion between Zuma and the wealthy Gupta family. Even if the targeted murders are plentiful in this country, we can still notice that on the institutional field, freedom of speech is guaranteed and respected, as shown by EEF (Economic freedom fighters),deputies’ severe grumblings of Julius Malema during parliamentary sessions in the presence of president Zuma.

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n Sao Tomé and Principe is a democratic role model in Africa. Even if this little country, not much strategic in a geographical and economical perspective arouses little interest for the international observers and analysts, the essentials of democracy are established there and have value. The same analysis can be made for Tanzania.

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n According to a 2014 Reporters Without Borders (RSB) rank about press freedom, Namibia is the only country in Africa to get a score more or less similar to Scandinavian countries’, performing better (19th at global level) than France (37th) and many more countries of the Old Continent. Namibia is also the first African country to organize presidential and legislative elections by electronic vote in November 2014.Botswana is also quite reputable for its democracy. This country organizes regularly free and transparent elections, has good results in respect of good governance and fight against corruption even if we cannot ignore the coercive and repressive measures taken against the San minority, also called Bushmen. In North Africa, Tunisia tries to stand out from his neighbours. Tunisia adopted a progressive constitution and organized in 2014, free and transparent elections. Trade union or civil society activism such as the UGTT (Tunisian general union of work) and the Human rights league in Tunisia (LTDH) has without a doubt been an essential contribution in this democratic burst.

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n The political systems resistant to the long-term establishment of democratic principles

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n Alongside these countries that show notable democratic profiles, there are countries that counteract the good effects and are  still hostages to authoritarian systems or insufficiently democratic. In Africa, many regimes establish “cosmetic” or facade democracies. Many regimes claim that they become infatuated with democracy fundamentals such as multi-party system, free and transparent elections, Rule of law and basic law, even though the running of their countries reflects clearly an arbitrary power, autocratic or/and corrupt…the choice is yours. The Great Lakes region of Africa (Uganda, DRC, Rwanda and Burundi) and countries such as Eritrea, Gambia, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Egypt, to name but a few, are among many that are far from having achieved the advisable or desired standards of a democracy. It is clear that the democratic situation of these countries is not utterly uniform. Some of these countries are led by tyrannical and last-ditch regimes, frontally resistant to populations’ democratic ambitions. Whereas in other countries, despite serious democratic gaps, some basic democratic principles are relatively, sometimes according to the desires of the regime, well promoted and applied.

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n African populations and especially the youth are very thirsty for democracy to freely express their potentials. They don’t want be stifled anymore by authoritarian obsolete drifts. Lately, we saw how Yahya Jammeh’s regime in Gambia attempted to carry out an illegitimate takeover in order to stay in power despite his defeat. This megalomania got fortunately what it deserved: a failure. The African Union as well as the sub regional organizations must assume an active role to stop the authoritarian momentums. It will be good when African democracy rises from the ashes and moves forward to progress!

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n [1] Somé, Constantin (2009, pp.31-32): “Pluralisme socio-ethnique et démocratie : cas du Bénin », a dissertation made to achieve a Master in political science at Quebec University in Montreal.

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n [2] RSF rank: https://rsf.org/fr/classement

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n Translated by

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n Corinne Espartero

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n Mina lives in Sahuyé, 70 km away from Abidjan. Since 2008, she has used a mobile money account which she uses to send money to her aunt in Ouagadougou and to save a few bucks each month. Along with 100 million other people, Mina is now able to have access to basic financial services, which she did not have before. To what extent do FinTechs allow financial inclusion on the continent? Do they indeed offer financial services to all, from the Cape to Algier, from Dinga in Central African Republic and to Gondere in Ethiopia?. FinTechs are not a unique and global solution for Africa – it would be reductive to say that they are. They nevertheless offer a relevant response to daily challenges, as well as innovations that change profoundly the global financial ecosystem.
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n During the 27th African Union summit in Kigali of 18th July 2016,King Mohammed VI declared that ‘’Morocco is already the second investor in Africa but aims to become the Continent’s foremost investor very soon”. Indeed, between 2003 and 2013, more than 1.5 billion dollars have been invested by Moroccan companies in West and Central Africa. This only represents half of the direct foreign investments launched by Morocco, in the last few years.

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n In the early 2000’s, many Moroccan companies of the private sector started businesses in Africa in a wide range of sectors. For example, bank branches of BCP (Banque Centrale Populaire), BMCE Bank of Africa and Attijariwafa Bank have been opened in about fifteen African countries. More so, the insurance company Saham has also been planted in about twenty countries since the takeover of the Nigerian company Continental Reinsurance in 2015.  In the telecommunications sector, Maroc Telecom increased its influence on the continent through the takeover of 6 African branches from their Emirati shareholder Etisalat.

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n Moreover, many holdings such as Ynna Holding and the National Investment Company through its mining branch Managem, have operations in the African continent.  In the property business, the company named Alliances Développement Immobilier, has signed partnership agreements with the Cameroonian and Ivorian governments in order to build thousands of council housing. The company, Palmeraie Développement, has launched building projects in Gabon, Ivory coast and recently in Rwanda. Attracted by the important investments in infrastructure (highways, bridges, ports, council housings, universities, etc.), the Addoha group pitched its tent on the continent too via two of its companies: Addoha and CIMAF (Ciments de l’Afrique). They have been recently joined by LMHA (LafargeHolcim Maroc Afrique), a company held jointly by LafargeHolcim and the national investment company which is a Royal Holding.

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n So, the private sector plays a key role in the economic integration process of the continent. The mobilization of private investments is essential to economic integration as it helps to create jobs, improve productivity and increase exports. The economic integration between Morocco and other African countries put in place by the King Mohammed VI invites the companies of the Kingdom to share their expertise and to strengthen their partnership relations with the African countries.

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n The Moroccan private sector will now play an important role in skill transfer, while enhancing its production capacity. It will then improve its competitiveness on an international level. Concerning inter-regional trade, it will boost the commercial exchanges, which are still weak and reduce the structural deficit of the Moroccan trade balance. The economic potential is huge. The Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS) and The Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) have altogether more than 300 million consumers, that is to say a market which is  nine times the size of the Moroccan population.

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n The Role of Economic-stimulus Groups in the Reinforcement of Economic bilateral relations

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n Whenever King Mohammed VI makes an official visit to  a Sub-Saharan country, his country Morocco makes advantageous agreements that includes customs facilities and tax concessions. The aim is to promote commercial exchanges and to develop intra-African investments. Recently, economic relations between the Moroccan Kingdom and other African countries are ruled by a legal frame of more than 500 cooperative agreements. This is so important to the Moroccan Kingdom that the King Mohammed VI called a meeting of his government, during the first ambassador conference that took place in August 2013, to work with the different economic operators from the public and the private sectors in order to grab investment opportunities in countries having strong economic potentialities. Thus, the last trips of King Mohammed VI allowed mainly to create economic-stimulus groups on the between Morocco-Senegal and Ivory Coast. These groups, co-chaired by the foreign ministers and the presidents of employers of each country, aim to promote partnerships between the private sectors and to boost commercial trade and investments [1].

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n With a total population of 22 million inhabitants, Ivory Coast is the first economy in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) area and is also the second economic power in the ECOWAS area. Also, the investment options are numerous: industry, infrastructure, construction industry, mines, energy, and so on. Senegal is also not left behind. There are so many reasons that encourage investment in the country. These include political stability, economic opportunities and new infrastructures. A guarantee is also given to the Moroccan investors through notably mutual protection and promotion agreements of investments and non-dual taxation agreements. The Memorandum of Understanding concerning the creation of a joint venture between the Moroccan group, La Voie Express and the Senegalese company Tex Courrier signed on 9th  November 2015 at the ceremony to present the work of the Moroccan-Senegalese EIG – chaired by King Mohammed VI and President Macky Sall, is a good example of the instrument's driving role in boosting private-private partnership[2].

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n Exchanges between the Moroccan kingdom and the African continent have increased clearly during the last decade. Between 2004 and 2014, global exchanges have quadrupled, going from 1 billion dollars to 4.4 billion dollars. The study '' Structure of trade between Morocco and Africa: An analysis of trade specialization '' produced by OCP Policy Center in July 2016 shows that West Africa remains the first destination of Moroccan exports[3]. This region has indeed welcomed around 50.08% of exportations in 2014, the equivalent of 1.04 billion dollars[4]. However, an analysis of the export structure reveals that Moroccan exports to the other African countries are dominated by intensive goods in raw materials and natural resources[5]. A strong potential is to be developed to boost more Moroccan exports. The Directorate of Studies and Financial Forecasts (DEPF), attached to the Moroccan Ministry of Economy and Finance, stressed in its study "Morocco-Africa Relations: the ambition of a new border" that "Moroccan companies targeting the African market should focus on a penetration strategy based on cost considerations from targeted sectorial choices, in the light of the current and, above all, future needs of African populations. Demographic growth, the rise of the middle class and the rampant urbanization of the continent are all factors to be taken into consideration, in order to anticipate the rising configuration of these emerging economies ".

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n In this sense, Moroccan exporter companies had better anticipate the dynamics of economic, social and cultural transformations that are on the horizon in Sub-Saharan Africa by setting up adaptation strategies in order to capture a higher market share and catch up their delay in this fast-growing region.

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n Economic Action at the Heart of Morocco's Integration Strategy in Africa

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n Economic integration is important for both Morocco and the African continent.  The recent trips of King Mohammed VI to Rwanda, Tanzania, Senegal, Ethiopia, Madagascar and Nigeria is designed to reinforce this notion. The Eastern part of Africa is the fastest growing region in Africa. Added to that, its economic potential  is still unexploited. If Morocco wants to reinforce its influence on the African continent, a number of options have to be investigated. First, the internationalization of Moroccan companies and their investment in African countries have to be encouraged by putting at their disposal a real database on the specificities and the potential of each economy. Second, export flows to African countries have to be fostered. Both public and private actors are involved in the promotion of Moroccan products. The new Moroccan agency for the development of Investment and Export, as well as the ASMEX (Moroccan Association of Exporters), will have to conduct trade missions to various African deposits and offer national companies the necessary support to develop their exports and / or carry out their development project in the continent. Finally, strengthening trade integration with the various African countries is important. The consumer market is growing with the emergence of a middle class more interested in manufactured goods with a high added value. The negotiation of advanced partnerships with ECOWAS and CEMAC, including the creation of free trade areas, is in turn an ideal gateway to this large market of more than 300 million people.

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n In the era of globalization and fierce international competition, the growing interest of emerging countries towards the African continent is marked by rivalries: China, India, France, Japan or Germany have all unveiled their African ambitions. Facing this international context, Moroccan diplomacy is more ambitious and aggressive. King Mohammed VI declared at the opening of the Moroccan-Ivorian Forum the 24th of February 2014: "Diplomatic relations are at the heart of our interactions. But, thanks to the profound changes that the world is undergoing, their mechanisms, their scope and even their place in the architecture of international relations are forced to adapt to new realities.”

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n In the wake of this , Morocco would win by organizing a Moroccan-African business summit. The latter would be a continuation of the Africa Action Summit and would focus on the economic development potential of the continent. The Summit would bring together governments, businesses, the public and private sectors, around the economic, social and human development of Africa. The challenge is to reaffirm the strategy of influence of Morocco on the continent.

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n Translated by:

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n Pape Djibril Diagne

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n [1] Economic impetus groups include 10 sectors identified as priorities: banking-finance-insurance, agri-business-fisheries, property-infrastructure, tourism, renewable energy-energy, transport- Logistics, industry-distribution, digital economy, social and solidarity-craft economy, human capital-training and entrepreneurship

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n [2] Christophe Sidiguitiebe, Four new agreements signed between Morocco and Senegal, Telquel.ma, 10.11.2016: www.telquel.ma/2016/11/10/quatre-nouveaux-accords-signes-maroc-senegal_1523082

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n [3] Four of Africa's top five trading partners (Algeria, Mauritania, Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire and Nigeria) are part of West Africa.

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n [4] With regard to imports, the weight of North Africa accounted for nearly all Moroccan imports, with a share of 82% in 2014 compared with 53% in 2004, mainly by importing natural gas, manufactured gas, petroleum and related products.

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n [5] Moroccan exports consist mainly of food and living animals (25%), machinery and transport equipment (18.5%), chemicals and related products (18.1%), manufactured goods 15.9%) and mineral fuels, lubricants and related products (11.7%).

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n The Iroko project is the first crowdlending platform in West Africa. The objective is to allow individuals to lend their savings directly to small and medium-sized companies in West Africa, for a fixed term and interest rate.

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n The project:

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n The project was created by two former students of Paris HEC (who graduated in June 2016), passionate about the dynamics and stakes that cross the African continent, especially West Africa.

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n Their work is based on a threefold observation: in the coming decades, the creation of millions of jobs represents a major challenge of the region, but SME’s are the main levers of job creation. However, these companies often lack the necessary funds for their development. This is the famous “missing middle” or “missing link” of financing. Since September 2015, they have been working on the opportunity of crowdfunding for small and medium businesses from West Africa and they conducted a feasibility study in April/May 2016 in Senegal and Ivory Coast. This study led to partnerships notably with Cofina group and Lendopolis (KissKissBankBank Group).

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n There were 3 objectives: to develop a legal operational model in the West Arican legal framework (there is no regulation on crowdlending in West Africa yet), to gauge the SMB and lender's interest in the service and to create strategic partnerships with local institutions. Then, they  presented and published their report (which is available on their website) and went back in October to start their activity.

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n The aim of the pilot stage (october to march) is to realize the three first lendings of about 30 millions CFA francs each. The first collection will start after the first project presentation during the launching event in Dakar on November 15th. They also joined the Cofina Group business incubator in Dakar.

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n Function and business model

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n The pivot of their model is their partnerships with agencies that assist SME’s, such as the Entreprise Upgrading Office or the ADEPME in Senegal. Every small and medium business funded is supported and  tutored by these agencies for at least a year.  These provide quantitative and qualitative information on the companies they assist and act as trusted third parties. The applications transmitted by these agencies are then reviewed by the Iroko Project team, and for those selected, presented to the lender community. The needs of the projects funded, vary between 10 and 100 million CFA francs. If the needs are more substantial, they can be complemented with a traditional bank loan. Once the project is presented online, lenders choose individually if they want to contribute, depending on the quantitative and qualitative information available on the company and its team. They also decide the amount they want to lend: between 100 000 and 2 million CFA francs. During this phase, lenders have the possibility to exchange with the manager and ask questions about the company activity. Data on social and environmental impacts are also highlighted, following the setting up of credit are also highlighted. These include: number of jobs created, reduction in the use of fossil energy, impact on local products etc. Once the collection is completed, the credit is disbursed and the reimbursements start. The proposed remuneration to lenders equals the credit interest rate and is around 9 to 14% each year.

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n The service proposes a complementary source of financing and a performing savings product, affordable for individuals. Once the credits have been set up, the Iroko project teams are in charge of following up the reimbursements and the possible recovery in partnership with the agencies. Concerning the default risk, as a last resort, it is supported by the lenders who are actually paid for the risk taken.

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n The economic model relies on the amount drawn during the credit setup, incurred by the company at a rate of 4,5 % of the total credit amount.For the lenders, the service is free and joining the community is very simple. Iroko project is open to every resident having a bank account in CFA francs. The only documents required are an ID and and bank transfer information.

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n Conclusion

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n The goal is to create a dynamic network where lenders and borrowers coordinate their funds, competence and know-how to encourage the development of the West African economic structure. The team is aware that their service targets the West-African privileged part of the population who have a strong savings capacity.   Developing innovative and popular payments channels such as mobile money is a priority.  However, these solutions are still very expensive and very difficult to bear by the parties at stake (SMB, lenders, Iroko Project).

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n Finally, the team hopes that their initiative helps the implementation of a specific regulation for crowd lending in this region. That is the reason why they discuss with the Senegalese authorities and the UEMOA zone to support the reflexion in that way.

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n The official project launching is scheduled on November 15th 2016 in Dakar.

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n You can contact the Iroko project team at contact@iroko-project or on Facebook and Twitter

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n Translated by

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n Anne-Sophie Cadet

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n Pateh Sabally, a 22 year-old Gambian refugee, died in the Grand Canal of Venice on Saturday 21st January. After the death of the Nigerian Emmanuel Chidi in July 2016 beaten by racists in Fermo, Italy has again become the theatre for another barbaric racist act.Pateh Sabally's death conveys something about our time; it demonstrates what Hannah Arendt called “the banality of evil”. In 2017, a young man drowned while bystanders and tourists were laughing. They let him die while hurling racist insults at him.  No one attempted to rescue him, but some picked up their phone to shoot the scene, you know, to “be there when it happens”. Inhumanity has reached a scary dimension through the mediation of cruelty.It is a tragic spectacle that Europe shows. The same Europe which keeps claiming to be a model of democracy, freedom and respect for human dignity all the day long. The Old Continent keeps lecturing Africa on morality about election and the conflicts which wreck our countries. But the way it treats migrants and refugees who are running away from atrocities, is nothing but degrading.

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n What is the point of rescuing a mere migrant?

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n Those Venetians and those tourists would have jumped to rescue anything, even a camera. Thus, their guilty behaviour results from the persistence, in Europe, of a certain discourse drummed by the press on the danger that others embody these include migrants, refugee or a simple foreigner. There are plenty of qualifiers used to refer to these people and they all show total disregard, these include  “Negro”, “invader”, “world’s misery”, “job thieves” …

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n Media channels have reported Pateh Sabally’s tragedy by invoking the indifference in which his death occurred. The expression is false. The young man died under the conscious sniggering of people which are nothing but indifferent. He was only a migrant, what was the point in rescuing him? They said to themselves! Others are going to die, regretfully. Just have a look at the debates in Europe: a politician says such outrageous things about the foreigners, refugees, Muslims and still enjoys a surge in popularity. Elsewhere, physical and symbolic barriers are being erected against those who were not born in the right country or who don’t have the right religious persuasion.

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n A wave of xenophobia is sweeping across the Western World that reminds us of the darkest days of our history. Tempers will not be calmed by the decree signed on January, 27, by Donald Trump, which bans the USA entrance for nationals from seven countries, including three Africans one : Somalia, Libya, Sudan.

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n Nothing can foretell when the horror cycle will end. On the contrary, we get caught by the verbal and murderous escalation which is the underlying cause of Emmanuel Chidi and Pateh Sabally’s death, who were trying to escape Boko Haram and Yahya Jammeh’s dark regime, respectively. Their death will be a burden on the mind of all those who, each day, point finger at others as the problem. That is the shame of Europe and the executioner of our young exiles.

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n Translated by:

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n Mame Thiaba Diagne

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n At about 60 years old, the Cameroonian scholar Achille Mbembe devoted himself to an ambitious as well as risky exercise. He looks at the world as it is, where self-hatred has been transformed into a rejection of others, “Scapegoats have become objects  such as  foreigners, Muslims,  the ‘veiled woman’, the refugees, the Jews or black people”. According to him, a real desire of Apartheid is growing in contemporary societies, which is deeply-rooted in the establishment of liberal democracies and their link to colonialism.

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n Mbembe painstakingly dismantles the racist  and deep-seated fears and tries to bring a  ‘treatment’  to them. Inspired by the work of the Martinican psychiatrist Frantz Fanon , in  his treatment measures in Algeria in the 1950s and his heated writings against colonialism. In this article he speaks to ADI, about his last essay Politics of enmity, published in March 2016. He presented the latter at a grand colloquium in Dakar and Saint-Louis in Senegal ( from the 27^th to the 31^st of October, 2016). This was a gathering of about twenty African intellectuals who are at the heart of this revival of the African thinking.

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n You wrote that the days that we live in are characterized by the rejection of others and for the spread of the ‘state of exception’. Furthermore, what does the “politics of enmity” that you speak about stand for? This is of course, what inspired the title of your book

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n In this project, I meant to take a snapshot of the world. This snapshot is characterized by the propensity to violence and the uprising of war-like instincts. Since the terrorist attacks of September 2001, in the United States, the ‘state of exception’ has become more or less the rule and is connected to the quest and the obsession with the enemy. For us, citizens of the Global South, I wanted to retrace the historical origins of this hostility; to take a look at those moments when politics becomes a vector of  hostility than one that links individuals.  

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n In your essay, you explain that this violence has long existed in liberal democracies. It also existed in colonial plantations or  penal colonies, far from  the eyes of the world…

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n The point was to rethink democracy as the ultimate form of human government. More so, a historical rediscovery of modern democracy, the liberal form particularly, enables us highlight that the system was established as a democracy for like-minded people. There is no democracy except the one which gathers like-minded people. This was the case during the long period of slave trade in the United States and in Europe during the colonial period.  Historically, democracies always needed a neutral place beyond their borders where they could accept violence without any boundaries against those who were not considered as part of their clan. The colonial period embodied this moment that I speak about. 

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n Why did you focus your analysis on liberal democracies? Isn’t this ‘enmity’ a distinctive feature of all states, of every national community which is founded on relationships?

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n Indeed, this is the peculiarity of the state, and mostly the nation- state, which as we can see with its name, is a state for nationals-for those whom we think are like us. And yet, I am particularly interested in liberal democracies, because, all things considered, I can’t see any hope beyond democracy. But, in the last quarter of the 20^th century, the democracy, that we thought was going to triumph over all other political approaches fell apart and underwent a process of reversal. There has been an unprecedented opposition between capitalism and democracy. I do not think that it is possible for  a certain form of capitalism, especially financial capitalism, to co-exist with democracy. I join my voice to recent criticisms of democracy- that it has reached the end of its lifespan. We need to reinvent something else, or at least think about a possible way to revive democracy so as to bring solutions to our problems and save us from this savage world, with extreme and irrational expressions of violence, like terrorism . Although, the fight against terrorism is also an embodiment of violence.

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n You made reference to Franz Fanon’s ‘pharmaceutical treatment’. To what extent is his method in Algeria the model of an ideal cure?

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n Fanon is quite a dangerous author… I refer to him because he understood well, maybe even better than any theorist of the anticolonial struggle, how violence was both a remedy and a poison. This reference to Fanon does not aim to present him as a master with the suitable solutions for our current stalemates. I talk about him because he really emphasizes the tensions – unsolvable for most of them –  that we face.

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n We can say that Fanon dealt with violence and radicalism without inhibition. What would be the practical applications today?

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n Violence in Fanon’s work  plays a cathartic role, meaning that it enables the colonized subject to get out of his present situation. Paraphrasing Fanon, the oppressed needs to come to the realization that ‘the blood  that runs in the settler’s veins is the same colour as his’- that there is an essential and fundamental similarity among everybody. Violence wakes the oppressed from his slumber. Furthermore, violence brings us back to earth. Its is like an earthquake, which destroys the colonial and racist system and based on those ruins, we might imagine a new order.

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n But the mythological dimension of violence is not really what I am interested in, but the fact that Fanon who advocates violence, is very attached to what I would call the politics of treatment. It is this same Fanon, who studies the psychological disorder that the policeman who tortures Algerian nationalists has to go through. From an intellectual point of view, I am interested in the double-dialectic of violence and care.   

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n In order to fight this enmity, you propose the ethics of a traveler. What is this about?

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n Behind the idea of a traveller is the huge cosmological reflection on “who are we?” and how can we define the essence of human life in relation to the long history of the universe where the human species represents a small fraction- a species amongst others. It seems to me that one of the main characteristics of humans is our temporal being on earth as travellers. We don’t choose our place of birth, that is a choice made by others. What we choose is the type of experiences we have on our journey and what we do with those experiences.

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n If we really take that image of the traveller seriously, it would open us to new horizons on the question of identity and fetishism of identity. That image would also enable us think differently on the form of the nation-state, which has become a prison. In an era where mobility speeds up everything, it would most importantly, enable us reflect differently on the issue of migrants, of the person who is passing-by, and the types of laws created to face those processes which are sources of fear.

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n Isn’t the image of the traveller only for those who have the opportunity to travel and to meet others?

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n Not at all. If we consider people in motion, refugees, people who are forced to leave their place of birth and take risky paths without any guarantee of destination- their numbers are constantly on the rise. Mobility has become the most important condition of survival for a large number of human beings. The tragedy today is being stuck and not being able to move on. Millions of people are facing that tragedy. Governing this type of mobility is probably one of the biggest challenges of the 21^st century. If we do not confront and find human solutions to this challenge, we will end up to multiplying the tragedies that we could have avoided. We need to take seriously this image of the traveller and temporal passage as the foundation of our human essence.  

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n The tone of your book is a worried one. Isn’t the intellectual situation in Africa reassuring?

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n Yes, absolutely. There is an intellectual and artistic effervescence in several disciplines, from Literature to Dance including the Visual Arts and Philosophical Critique. Indeed, there is a huge movement, which I think will be on the rise over the next decades from people in Africa to those in the African Diaspora. The place of birth of this effervescence is movement and mobility.  This reflection on mobility is what I call Afropolitan.

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n Further reading – Achille Mbembe, Politics of enmity, Ed. La Découverte, March 2016.

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n Translated by Laurence Mondésir

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n Original article by Adrien de Calan

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n Throughout the centuries, technological innovations have shaped relations between individuals, as well as interactions between these individuals and their environment. One can think for example of printing, first used by the Chinese (since the 2nd century A.D.) and then sophisticated and generalized by Gutenberg.

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n It has been said that printing strongly contributed to the diffusion of the thinking and ideas since the Renaissance, consequently revolutionising the transmission of information and knowledge between individuals. The development of the internet since  the early 2000s significantly modified our ways of life  and paved the way to new tools and models of communication. Through this New Information and Communication Technologies (NICT), the world became a "global Village"- globalization as they said!

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n By revolutionising our surroundings, living environments, our thinking schemes, in a nutshell our daily lives, ICT has  reshaped from top to bottom  the structure of our societies.  At the heart of these transformations, technological innovations brings answers to social, economical and environmental issues. This observation is even more emphasized in African countries-the boom of telecommunication has created ideal conditions for local apps and softwares to develop.

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n The most striking example is the rise of the mobile telephon in Sub-saharan Africa. The mobile is currently the best way of accessing the internet. According to a study published in 2013 by the GSM Association, the number of mobile subscribers in this area of the world has increased by 18% per year between 2007 and 2012. In Africa, most of the mobile phones are sold with an Android system. This is an operating system on which it is very easy to create mobile applications/softwares. It also enables the creation of synergies between different sectors and contributes to social innovation (e-health, e-learning, and etc), economical innovation (mobile banking, urban waste management, and etc).

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n First restricted to private use, today ICT is acclaimed in the formal and institutional sphere.It is seen as a real tool for development, for socio-economic growth and for populations looking for emerge in the global economy. These technological innovations also impact in different ways to African GDPs. According to a study of the McKinsey Global Institute (MGC) made available to the public in November 2015, the internet contributes 3.3% to the GPD of Senegal ; 2.9% to the GPD of Kenya ; 2.3% to the GPD of Morroco and 1.2% to the GPD of South Africa [2].

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n So it is not surprising that ICT is directly mentioned in 4 out of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the UN in September 2015. As a catalyst for education, gender equality [3], or driving force of the construction of resilient infrastructures for a sustainable industrialization [4] profitable for all, it is largely admitted that ICT play a major role in the emergence of Africa. This article revisit the role that ICT can play in the emergence of Africa as well as the way they will contribute to inclusive growth on the continent.

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n 1. ICT as catalyst of development in Africa

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n The interest of ICT in Africa lies on their utilities and the services they allow to develop : they're no longer only used as simple communication materials (private or professional), but rather as real tools of socio-economic development. The help of ICT in the continent went from "leisure use" to "therapeutic use" : they bring solutions to the populations regarding their basic needs : education, health, transportation, nutrition, access to energy and drinkable water, and so on. [5] But this wasn't always like this ; for a very long time, " ICT-scepticals" saw the emergence of these new means of communication as the wood for the trees : a lure that distract the attention away from the "real" issues of Africa : famine, malnutrition, illiteracy, epidemics and pandemics, wars, natural disasters and other calamities attached to the representation that some people (and some still have today!) had of the continent. But isn't time the best ally? On this subject, time has ruled in favour of the "ICT-optimisitcs". Indeed, for a decade, an abundance of mobile applications, developed by innovative start-ups has proved that ICT aren't unnecessary, on the contrary they are one of the solutions to resolve "real" issues african countries are facing.

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n The most well-known are Obami in South Africa (online plateform of free courses and educative videos), Gifted Mom in Cameroon (mothers and infants healthcare), M-Pesa in Kenya (mobile banking), Jumia (e-shopping), W Afate in Togo (3D printer made from electronical waste), M-Louma in Senegal (agricultural stock exchange). Every bold initiative illustrates the key role that ICT play in the fight against poverty, in the access for a good education for all, in the access of healthcare. As Alain François LOUKOU [6] emphasized "ICT aren't a problem completely disconnected from other development-related issues. They rather as in interaction with them." Moreover, the use of ICT through the development of mobile applications has an extent of intergenerational responsibility, not highlighted in the analysis of the rising of ICT in Africa. Indeed, by developing an application as Gifted Mom or Obami, the developers have responded to actual needs as well as those of future generations : access to healthcare and education and so on.  In that sense, ICT are well and truly tools that will allow the reach of the SDGs as set by the UN. Thus, we can paraphrase the definition of sustainability saying that ICT are technologies enabling to answer to the needs of the present generations as well as those of the future generations.

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n 2. ICT as tools of inclusive growth

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n It is undeniable that ICT contribute to boost development for the african continent. The time we saw ICT as luxury for Africa (prey to heavy structural and infrastructural backwardness) is over. Today thanks to ICT, many african entrepreneurs offer to their compatriots local solutions to local problems. But some initiatives even have an international impact, this is "glocalization"  : develop local solutions that can extend beyond the national market (especially in countries that share the same issues). For instance, this is the case of the applications for money transfer by mobile in companies where very few private individuals own classic bank account, but do own 2 or 3 mobile phones. Today the thought isn't about the usefulness of ICT for Africa's development. The fundamental question now is: how ICT can contribute efficiently to a sustainable and inclusive growth for african countries?

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n In front of all the benefits mentioned, rulers and economic agents get down to the job to implement strategies promoting ICT through the rising of digital economy. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, digital economy can be defined as the whole wealth-generating economic and social activities that are activated by plateforms such as the internet, the mobile phones or sensors, including e-commerce. This new category of the economy includes the ICT sector, digital-oriented sectors which couldn't exist without these new technologies. The versatility of the technological innovations makes them vehicles for growth, productivity and competitiveness in some fields such as agriculture, finance, access to energy, consumer goods and services, and so on. Yet, for ICT to become true growth levers, necessary resources have to be mobilised.

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n a. The role of States

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n Starting by an offer in education and formation that are in line with the needs of the employment market. Very few educational structures provide courses to learn how to use ICT : very few elementary schools, middle schools, high schools in Africa have computers for computer science teaching. Rare are the schools that offer internet classes or workshops. Learning is completely informal (with friends, family and internet café).

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n There's no point of specifying the downward slides that this lack of frame engenders (communication tools hijacked for unethical purpose).

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n A lot of learners are self-taught men and women, or have followed courses in training structures dedicated to ICT [7]. Those trainings come too late in the global educative offer when not marginal. The sector of digital economy is booming, and its need in skills will be huge in the future. With this aim in mind, Africa needs to form future coders, engineers, IT developers and not remain in a lethargic state that will make the continent a desert of skills.

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n Besides public administration didn't invest the digital sphere : for a while now, we note a digitalization of the government bodies (website, social media account, access numbers via mobile application, and so on). This indicates a mobilization by the rulers who gradually understand the interest of ICT in the daily management of services. The setting up of a dematerialized administration would allow the States to be more efficient and to better serve their citizens.

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n b. The role of firms

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n Let's remind that for an inclusive growth of the african countries, the on-site firms have a key role to play. Still today, internet access is expensive for a lot of private individuals. The rates (very wide so every consumer can be satisfied) often stay very high for a continuing consumption. It's not rare for some people to not have access to internet for several days because their bundle is over. They have to recharge their mobile to have internet. The access to this latest is indeed increasing, but still not enough to fill the North-South digital divide and reduce inequalities inside the regions (rural, suburban, urban areas). High rates are the consequences of the weakness of infrastructures and the weak connectivity inside the continent [8]. The decrease of the prices of the internet "subscriptions" is the minimum requirement in order to guarantee continuous internet access to all.

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n In order to do that, IT firms in collaboration with the states and investors have to work to improve telecommunication infrastructures. As part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), it would be to the firms’ advantage to deploy telecommunication networks more efficient and modern : the dilapidation of equipment and the low rate of electrification on the continent are the biggest handicaps impacting the quality of the services delivered by the operators.

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n The lack of funds in the telecommunications sector can be resolved by the setting up of guarantees and by an improvement of a business climate more healthy and responsible. Together with the States, firms have to fight against corruption and unfair practices. This is how african countries will know how to appeal new investors, to compensate the low renewal of equipment and the dilapidation of infrastructures. The difficulties stemming from this dilapidation are also the result of the failure in the maintenance of the infrastructure. These lacks can also be explained by the lack of human resources highly qualified. Still in the frame of CSR, firms can benefit from the strengthening of the skills and capacities by building partnerships with training centers, so these latest can train apprentices to the jobs firms really need. Once more, education and training offers are at the heart of the impact of ICT on african countries' development.

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n Let's mention, before ending this article an element little addressed in the thoughts on ICT in Africa : the management of electrical and electronical waste (EEW). In a context in which the communication between 2 rival operators is excessively expensive, consumers have taken the habit of having multiple phones (one for each operator) or one phone with multiple chips. It is necessary to add to this, tablet computers, laptops and computers. If we consider that each individual changes his mobile phone every 18-24 months, all of this represent a ton of waste badly recycled or even not recycled. Some cautions (for example wearing protection equipments) have to be taken in the treatment of this waste. Indeed all of these devices are composed by elements that are toxic for humans' health and environment if not correctly recycled. Without regulations, the market of recycling and EEW's increasing is mostly informal, so subject to severe negligence in the respect of security measures. In the frame of CSR, telecommunication firms will have to find solutions to manage "e-waste". These latest, if neglected, would generate severe health issues to recyclers (cancer, breathing issues) and severe environmental damages (pollution of ground waters and grounds close to the wild sorting and recycling centers.)

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n ICT are indeed tools in the service of the sustainability of Africa, but if we think further, we can confirm that with some fulfilled prerequisite, ICT can be catalysis for the sustainable and inclusive growth of the african countries. We've enumerate some improvement targets for the States and the firms as they are the main actors of the development of the continent ; without denying though the importance of civilians on this path toward emergence. ICT are today a key link of the economy of a lot of african countries, and the contribution of the internet might reach 5 to 6% of the african countries' GPD by 2025. This reveals that the sector is highly dynamic. It is necessary to add an informal sector whose datas are "informal" and escape to any formal statistics. The informal sector generate thousands (even millions) of small jobs and substantial incomes to people from every age and sex, who practice wherever networks are available.

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n To confirm those facts, reliable indicators should be set up in order to appreciate the real impact of ICT on the development of african societies. There are two trails to do this : on one hand, quantify the share of digital economy in the africans GPDs (for example, through the number of descent and lasting jobs created in the ICT sector). We mention countable approaches because they express themselves uniquely in financial terms or job creation. On the other hand, quantifying the shortfalls in case of "deprivation" of ICT ; we would evaluate the organizational consequences of unused ICT on firms, private individuals and administrations."

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n Translated by : Ornella-Ashley Sangronio

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n Original Article by: Rafaela ESSAMBA

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n [1] http://www.gsma.com/publicpolicy/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/gsma_ssa_obs_exec_french_web_01_13.pdf

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n [2] http://www.medias24.com/MEDIAS-IT/pdf6666-En-Afrique-Internet-est-promis-a-un-bel-avenir.html

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n [3] 5.b  Renforcer l’utilisation des technologies clefs, en particulier l’informatique et les communications, pour promouvoir l’autonomisation des femmes

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n [4] 9.c  Accroître nettement l’accès aux technologies de l’information et de la communication et faire en sorte que tous les habitants des pays les moins avancés aient accès à Internet à un coût abordable d’ici à 2020

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n [5] Besoins qu’on peut assimiler aux 2 premières bases de la pyramide de Maslow à savoir les besoins physiologiques et ceux de sécurité/protection

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n [6] Alain François Loukou, « Les TIC au service du développement en Afrique : simple slogan, illusion ou réalité ? »

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n [7] Signe d’un fort engouement pour l’économie numérique et les TIC, des espaces d’innovation digitale (hub, pépinières, espace de co-travail, incubateurs..) voient de plus en plus le jour en Afrique.

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n [8] La plupart des pays africains utilisent la largeur de bande passante internationale pour un partage de données au  niveau local ; opération extrêmement chère.

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n [9] http://www.geo.fr/environnement/actualite-durable/le-ghana-poubelle-pour-les-e-dechets-25740

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