
Europe has laid the foundations for an interconnected global society. So also for the upswing in Africa. With our false image of Africa we cannot see that at all. The two narratives - hopeless Africa, the break-up of Europe - reinforce each other.

In Africa, the entrepreneurial mindset is the norm, the "default" position of African societies. That makes a big difference for the digital transformation.

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.

Only when we realize the realities in Africa, Europe will be able to deal with migration and the interconnected global society.

Gado, Safaricom, M-Pesa, Kibera and other events and meetings have been part of our Learning Journey to Silicon Savannah, Nairobi.

We will be looking for the 'missing link' in understanding 'Africa' - the innovators. We will meet innovators, entrepreneurs, managers, professors, thinkers, writers...

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.

Learning Journeys to modern Africa make us recognize that solutions for the current asylum issues can only be found outside the asylum system

"Mobile money” has become a basic technology in “Silicon Savannah” in Nairobi. The digital transformation happens differently from other places. In education, in health or in the energy sector. We should better learn from "Digital Africa".