The small East African country Rwanda has discovered its competitive advantage in our interlinked global society. It offers a greenfield for proof-of-concept of digital innovations. And expects a contribution to its development.
Rwanda is different. Driving from the airport to the center of the capital Kigali, you feel a bit like in the Tuscany in Italy. Green alleys and red-roofed houses in „the land of a thousand hills“. As an European you might forget that you are only some 200 km away from the equator, in the middle of the African continent.
End of January we were 18 Mzungus visiting Nairobi. It was the third so called "Learning Journey to Silicon Savannah" making us explore "Digital Africa", "Urban Africa" and possibilities for "Co-Creation". We went for an experiment and checked in at the Madaraka railway, Kenya's first big infrastructure investment built by China.
We will be looking for the 'missing link' in understanding 'Africa' - the innovators. We will meet innovators, entrepreneurs, managers, professors, thinkers, writers...
Junker's State of the Union speech: Africa is taken more seriously. Europe has learned what it means to be part of the interconnected global society. And has again real interests in Africa.
The recent China-Africa summit has been another proof of how China is leading the global world of ideas. The Chinese economic success story, an authoritarian model and a "5-no policy" has made China the role model for many African countries.
