Museveni will be chief guest at Africa Blockchain Conference

DIPLOMACY

President Yoweri Museveni will officiate at the forthcoming Africa Blockchain Conference, State House has confirmed.

In a statement, State House Press Secretary Lindah Nabusayi also confirmed that the President will host his counterpart, President Julius Maasa Bio of Sierra Leone who will arrive on July 1 and the two will address the media.

Sierra Leone is one of the countries in Africa spearheading the use of advanced innovations and innovative thinkers in the running of businesses both in the public and private sector.

At the inaugural conference in 2018, President Museveni delivered a keynote address on how Africa is ready for the digital age, saying blockchain technology removes opaqueness in business and replaces it with total transparency.

At the time, he said blockchain should not substitute goods and services, but instead enable things to move faster through technology and systems. Museveni also said it should support the four sectors in the economy that produce goods and services: agriculture, manufacturing and processing industry, services and ICT.

This year's Africa Blockchain Conference which will take place on July 3 and July. It is organised by CryptoSavannah and the Blockchain Association of Uganda with the support of the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance.

This year's conference theme will be "Africa 4.0:  Preparing Africa for the 4th Industrial Revolution'' and will focus on what the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) is, what opportunities it presents, what threats it poses and what Africa must do to leverage 4IR for its development.

Alongside the conference, will run the "Africa 4.0 Tech Expo," an experiential journey showcasing the leading technology innovations and applications in Africa.

The conference and tech expo will host 3,000 people, comprising the public and private sector, experts and leaders from global technology companies, entrepreneurs, innovators, students, youth and government representatives.

Topics to be discussed include Africa's readiness for the 4th Industrial Revolution, Fintech, payment systems and digital financial services, the future of work and education, SDGs and technology for impact. 

The conference comes at a time debate is rife about social media giant Facebook's recent introduction of their cryptocurrency, Libra.

In an article published about the future of finance, Yomi Kazeem writes, "The big-picture goal, Facebook says, is to "empower" unbanked people across the world by providing access to the global financial system. That's an ambitious target given the sheer size of that population (1.7 billion) —a bulk of which are in Africa.

CryptoSavannah director, Noah Baalesanvu, agrees that Africa is ripe for the revolution: "While initially being marred by scams and cons, significant value has moved to crypros with major markets like Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa with significant crypto holdings also trading activity."

There will be 50 speakers at the conference, including Sheikh Khaled Al Nehayan, Chairman Bin Zayed Group, Mohamed Taysir, CEO Drakon Tech Solutions, Toro Orero, Partner QI Holdings, Ian Balina, Founder 100X Advisors.