On June 23rd 2021, ATBN and Buni Innovation Hub, co-organized a virtual roundtable under the title “Building Resilient African Digital Economies post-COVID – Focus on Tanzania”. This virtual event tried to understand which are the needs of Digital Innovation Hubs in Tanzania and how hubs can be better supported to help African economies harness the digital opportunities arising and catalysing innovation on the continent. The event attracted participants, including Entrepreneurs, Digital Skills providers, Tech Hubs, and  Digital Innovation Hubs, mainly from Tanzania, and consisted of two parts.

The first part consisted of solid introductory remarks and a panel discussion about the challenges and opportunities for Tanzanian digital ecosystems and hubs post-COVID with three panelists: Godfrey Kilimwomeshi, Co-founder and Business development lead of Fundi App, Promise Mwakale, Partnership Lead of Buni Innovation Hub and Iku Lazaro, Co-founder of Shule Direct. According to our panelists, there is a lot of effort from the Tanzanian government to support digital infrastructure. The path to digitalization is not based only on private investment anymore and the sector has now realized its importance & is taking measures to adapt. Regarding the basic impact of Covid-19, it affected the revenue streams and forced changes in the field of digital transformation.

During the second part, the participants reflected on “What benefits and opportunities can African and European digital ecosystem actors offer each other?”, “What are some of the barriers to effective partnership and collaboration between European and African digital ecosystems?” and “How can the barriers to effective partnership between EU and Africa digital ecosystems be addressed?”. During the discussion with the audience, we had contributions on the consumer’s perspective on digitalization, the challenges of running a startup, and the cultural barriers in the field of digital transformation.

It was an interactive event, during which the participants generated ideas for building the capacity of Tanzanian digital innovation hubs and enabling effective partnerships with Europe. AfriConEU had live coverage of the event through Twitter.