Continental focus

‘The kind of things the AfCFTA is trying to do, it’s really up to us’, says Cassava Technologies’ Pemhiwa

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By Nicholas Norbrook

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Posted on July 5, 2022 13:04

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Cassava Technologies’ CEO Hardy Pemhiwa talks to The Africa Report about technology, trade and the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA). The company operates fibre networks, data centres and other tech-focused business in Africa.

The Africa Report: On the AfCFTA, you’re operating in over a dozen countries on the continent. You, more than anyone, understand the importance of interconnections between different countries, different jurisdictions, different legal systems, different financial systems. The need for a continental architecture that makes business seamless, I guess is obvious from your standpoint. Have you already seen impacts from the AfCFTA? Where could it move faster? And where does it intersect with your business in particular?

Hardy Pemhiwa: In Cassava Technologies, we always say technology leads policy. The kind of things that the AfCFTA is trying to do – the policy-makers will sit and make the pronouncements, at the end of the day, it’s really up to us to, for example, facilitate cross-border payments that are as frictionless as possible. And for us, we are a key enabler to the AfCFTA, whether you

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