Zimbabwe Data Sovereignty Too Small To Make Global Impact, Expert

Zimbabwe has been urged to provisionally join a bigger force than itself from a low digital economy of 17 Million people to over a billion people in Africa if our tech solutions are to impact.

Addressing delegates attending the Tech Convergence Fora (TCF) hosted by TechnoMag in Harare recently, Cyber Security specialist Cade Zvavanjanja said there is power in numbers.

By Ross Moyo

“Zimbabweans as much as we have data sovereignty our numbers do not make strategic sense to a number of competitors,” said Zvavanjanja.

“..For China if they launch an app like what some of us were talking about they have a billion access, India can afford to do that, and we are talking of 17 to 20million, a low access digital economy, so who is the client and the client becomes not only Zimbabwe the client and strategic alliance becomes SADC, COMESA, African Union,” Zvavanjanja made his case on the power of numbers.

According to the Cyber Expert, businesses, digital technologies provide efficiency across the board, helping to reduce overhead and operational costs. The rise of technologies like cloud computing and other remote systems also further help companies cut down on spending and produce more economic value.

Zvavanjanja said when Zimbabwe joins it’s neighbors SADC, Sister brothers like COMESA and Africa as a whole it will be enlarging it’s Digital footprint and Digital technology which can support economic inclusion by breaking down barriers to information, broadening access, and lowering the level of skills needed to participate in the local, regional and continental economy.

Zvavanjanja said Zimbabwe and Africa must dictate the terms adding,
“We are letting the developed world dictate what’s acceptable what’s not, how do we do it but it’s us so we need to come together as developed countries as Africa as SADC, come with protocols come with standards come with regulations, and at the same time come with a consensus of interest what is our data sovereignty interest and once we come with that we can go to any country and say as Africa this is our position if you shut us out you are shutting out a billion dollar market.”