Press Release | May 3, 2021
Last month, Kizito Okechukwu announced his intention to step down as interim President of Digital Africa, a French Government initiative aimed to support Africa’s tech ecosystem. His departure is effective as of 2 May 2021, after holding the position since June 2020.
The Board convened on 3 May 2021 to officially accept Okechukwu’s departure and thanked him for his dedicated commitment to Digital Africa’s mission. During his tenure, he was instrumental in helping the Operations team develop a new strategy for Digital Africa and launching initiatives such as the Africa Next platform which brings together dozens of investors across the globe to meet startups across Africa, and the launch of the €5m Bridge Fund to support African startups affected by the COVID19 pandemic.
“The Board confirmed that supporting the development of the African tech ecosystem was at the heart of Okechukwu’s work and he will continue with his quest, while expressing his faith in Digital Africa to continue working towards building a stronger tech startup ecosystem on the continent. The challenges for sustainable growth of the digital economy on the African continent remain ever present and are compounded by the crisis resulting from the pandemic”.
After his withdrawal letter was accepted by the Board, Okechukwu thanked the French government, the French Development Agency (AFD), the Board and the team at Digital Africa for the opportunity to serve the initiative. “For one year, I had the mandate to help build a strategy that will support Africa’s tech ecosystem. There were bottlenecks along the way in doing this, but I believe we achieved this mission and I wish the team well as they implement this strategy we’ve built”, he concluded.
The Board has subsequently nominated the French Development Agency (AFD) to put forward a representative as president of Digital Africa.
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