Amujae Leader Malado Kaba recently took part in an online discussion hosted by the Milken Institute on the topic “Investing for impact in emerging and frontier markets.”

The discussion followed the recent agreement between the US and Israel to expand collaboration and co-innovation between their respective international development agencies, USAID and MASHAV. The event gathered public and private sector leaders to address strategies and opportunities for leveraging outcomes-based technological and financial innovations to invest for impact.

When asked about the importance of leveraging digital disruption to foster investments in emerging markets, Malado noted:

“I strongly believe that the public sector is a powerful tool for inclusion, but it needs to undergo a sweeping transformation, which is partly underpinned by digital change. I think pushing for this agenda can actually lead us to achieve three key objectives that are related to misperception in Africa and also related to how to increase Africa’s investment attractiveness.”

Malado went on to explain these three objectives: increasing transparency and public access to information, curbing corruption, and collecting more and better data. She also listed four actions to guide the public sector towards digitization. 

1. Having an unwavering commitment from authorities, who should be willing to face resistance and reluctance as they work to advance digital disruption.

2. Being clear about who should drive the digital strategy and ensuring coordination and quality standards.

3. Defining what kind of organization can take the lead on the strategy, giving particular consideration to agencies, as they are better equipped to keep track in such a fast-paced environment.

4. Partnering with the national and international private sector to push for more context-specific solutions and, therefore, achieve sustainable development. 

The panel, moderated by Milken Institute Financial Innovations Labs Senior Fellow and Founder Glenn Yago, also welcomed remarks from USAID Deputy Administrator Bonnie Glick, Head of MASHAV Ambassador Gil Haskel, Econet Group Founder and Executive Chairman Strive Masiyiwa, and GigaWatt Global Director and Chief Operating Officer Weldon Turner. 

You can watch the full discussion here.