PRO€INVEST doubles the African participation in the World biggest ICT trade show.
A historical African delegation came to CeBIT to represent African ICT companies and Intermediary Organizations.

Organised by Pro€Invest (www.proinvest-eu.org), NOVATECH 2008, the ICT Africa Marketplace (www.novatech-proinvest-eu.org), was the first stage of a dynamic process for the promotion and support to the ICT sector in East Africa and the Indian Ocean.

The main event took place in Addis Ababa – Ethiopia- from the 13th to the 15th of February 2008. Among the 315 delegates from 43 countries that attended NOVATECH 2008, 5 Intermediary Organizations (IOs) and 15 companies have been selected to represent the NOVATECH African delegation organized by Pro€Invest and hosted by the Hamburg Development Agency during CeBIT, which was held in Hannover from 4th to 9 th March 2008.

Their participation to CeBIT enabled the selected companies and IOs to increase their international exposure and business opportunities through contacts with participants from all over the world.

The NOVATECH African delegation represented competitive IT companies from Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, testifying that the ICT sector of the East African region has experienced major changes throughout the last decade. This ongoing fast development is to a large extent due to a general political determination to reduce the digital divide and effectively fight against under-development and poverty. It is fuelled by drastic changes in the sector: end of monopolies and privatisation of the main public operators, investment boom in mobile networks, introduction of new private operators and emergence of new technologies particularly well suited for the African environment. These positive factors give the ICT sector a strategic role as a catalyst for development in Africa.

Pro€Invest is a joint programme of the European Commission (EC) and the group of ACP states (Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific), it aims at supporting the growth of investments in ACP countries by reinforcing the capacity of Intermediary Organizations (IOs) to promote investment and technology flows to enterprises operating within key sectors in the ACP States.
In order to prepare follow-up actions, the 5 intermediary Organisations are already spending an extra week with partner EU organisations with which they will be in a position to develop joint activities and partnerships with the support of PROINVEST, thus building a long term momentum for the sustainable growth of the ICT sector.

Press Contact: Cécile Guthmann: 00 33(0)6 13 61 59 87