MTN Digital Consultant Encourages Africa To Capitalize On Covid-19 Crisis To Accelerate Digitization

MTN Digital Consultant, Dario Bianchi

Dario Bianchi, MTN Digital Consultant is calling on Africa governments and businesses to take advantage of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) crisis to go digital.

African countries, just like countries in other parts of the world have been faced with the Covid-19 pandemic for the last few months.

Governments and businesses have been forced to resort to digital means of reaching their customers.

Speaking as a discussant on Africa Digital Festival WEBINAR on the theme “Building A Contactless Economy Beyond Covid-19’, Dario Bianchi indicated that the crisis has exposed the weakness of the continent and the need for Africa to prioritize digitization.

“I think we need to use the next few months to really accelerate any move to digital and I strongly believe that especially in Ghana e-commerce is one of the main opportunities”, Dario Bianchi said in a WEBINAR today.

According to him, the digital world is continuously growing and it is absolutely critical of Africa because even though the future of Africa is manufacturing, it will equally be dependent in the service industry where digitalisation is a key part of the service industry.

He said the covid-19 crisis is compelling countries and companies to digital and hence governments should educate people and businesses at all levels on the need to adjust to the latest trend in doing business.

“The government should make small businesses understand the power of doing digital business and why it will be good to go into e-commerce.

"The government must help all these small businesses to really understand that the pandemic and this crisis has been and is still a massive issue for small businesses but it is also an opportunity to see how digital can help them moving forward”, Dario Bianchi further noted.

Having worked in Ghana for the past 18 months, the MTN Digital Consultant says he has been impressed with what he has seen in the digital space insisting that a lot needs to be done through investment to match up with the world of technology.

He is hopeful that in the next few years, one can go to the Makola market and pay for everything he/she buys with mobile money [cashless system] that will not require personal contact.

Wishing same for the rest of Africa, he indicated that countries on the continent need to take advantage of opportunities that have not already been exploited well and make use of the digital evolution to solve various problems.

At MTN Ghana, Dario says they are doing a lot and "we want to do much more in the digitization approach."

He added that not only in Ghana but as a group, they have a clear strategy to become a digital operator with the aim of providing great service in terms of data and voice but at the same time making sure they provide new services that will promote the use of digital services.

In line with that, the telecommunications giant is focused on constantly improving the mobile money services to ensure it becomes the preferred payment method for services in all sectors.