MWC25 Kigali: MTN Group CEO Ralph Mupita champions people-centred innovation and collaboration
Date: 2025-10-21
MTN Group President and CEO, Ralph Mupita, has joined global and regional leaders at Keynote 1: “Africa’s Future First – Determining the Path to a Digital Future” during the ongoing Mobile World Congress (MWC25) in Kigali, where he underscored the importance of people-centred innovation and cross-sector collaboration in shaping Africa’s digital future.
Speaking
on the continent’s digital transformation agenda, Mupita stressed that Africa’s
progress depends on empowering people with the right tools, skills, and
policies to participate meaningfully in the digital economy. “When people
are at the heart of innovation and collaboration is intentional, Africa’s
digital future shines bright,” he said.
Key
themes discussed during the session included the continent’s usage gap, the need for progressive regulation, the
responsible use of generative AI,
and the expansion of financial
inclusion.
On addressing Africa’s digital usage gap, leaders called for increased investment in digital skills training, affordable local devices, and low-bandwidth, trusted digital services to enable broader participation in the digital economy.
In
terms of regulation, Mupita and other panellists highlighted the importance of predictable licensing frameworks, open access to infrastructure, and smart AI regulations underpinned by robust data governance and regional harmonization.
Discussions
around generative AI centred on ensuring governance
structures, inclusion
of local data and languages, affordable compute capacity, and privacy safeguards that support ethical and scalable deployments
across Africa.
On
financial inclusion, the panel advocated for interoperable digital wallets, digital identification systems, and
the use of alternative credit data
to unlock access to financial services. They also stressed the need to expand digital savings and insurance solutions
and enhance financial literacy
to ensure equitable participation.
By:
Nana Appiah Acquaye
