Africa must build, own technology to secure future — Margins ID Group CEO

The deepening trade tensions worldwide, symbolised by escalating tariff wars and rising protectionism, should serve as a stark wake-up call for Africa.

Also, as countries turn inward and nationalism resurfaces with renewed force, the illusion of a borderless global economy is fast unravelling.

The CEO and Founder of Margins ID Group, Moses Kwesi Baiden Jnr, who made the call, stated: “In the current fractured global order, Africa must recognise the urgent need to secure its technological sovereignty—not tomorrow, but now”.

At the launch of the 2025 CEO Summit in Accra, Mr Baiden Jnr sounded a clarion call to business leaders, policymakers and entrepreneurs in Africa to build and own their technology.

Mr Baiden Jnr’s presentation was on the theme: “Leading Ghana’s Economic Reset: Transforming Business and Governance for a Sustainable Futuristic Economy.”

He urged the private sector to take the reins of innovation and lead Africa’s journey into the digital age on its terms.

He said Africa must not remain on the periphery of global transformation but must build its own digital destiny, an Africa where data is sovereign, systems are secure, and innovation is homegrown.

“The time for building is now. Because in the world that’s coming, you either build or you are built,” he said.
 

The risks of technological dependence

The Margins ID Group CEO further stated that recent disruptions in access to cloud-based tools, intellectual platforms and digital storage systems had laid bare a glaring vulnerability, as many of the digital platforms African firms depended on were controlled by foreign entities which had their own geopolitical and commercial interests.

"Imagine a future where your corporate memory, your data, your identity can disappear overnight—not due to your failure, but because of decisions made halfway across the world," Mr Baiden Jn warned.

He also stated that the growing dependence on foreign technology—whether in cloud services, social platforms or financial technologies—presented an existential threat to the continent's future and, thus, cautioned that without decisive action, “Africa could become a digital colony, dependent on systems it does not control, bound by rules it did not write, and vulnerable to disruptions it cannot predict or prevent.”
 

Participate or perish

Mr Baiden Jnr. emphasised the need for Africa to engage deliberately and boldly.

“The future belongs to those who create it,” he declared.“

Let us not wait to be invited to the table.

Let us set the table. Let us shape the future,” he added.

The Margins ID Group CEO additionally pointed out that it required the private sector to lead, not just with capital but with courage and vision.

That demands that African institutions fostered the kind of homegrown innovation capable of scaling and competing globally, stressing that Africa’s biggest challenge was technological and institutional.

“To build and own its technology, the continent must recalibrate how it governs, how it educates, and how it partners across the public and private divide,” Mr Baiden Jn suggested.

He called on CEOs and business leaders to become a force for good, not just by pressuring governments but by pushing themselves to reimagine production systems, reform governance frameworks and champion long-term, values-driven transformation.

“The future demands governance, compliance, transparency and effectiveness.

These values must be embedded in the DNA of both public and private institutions if Africa is to rise in the digital era,” he said.

Building Africa’s future

Mr Baiden Jnr. urged African governments to also take the design of national platforms and infrastructures that protect citizen data seriously, encourage innovation and allow local entrepreneurs to flourish.

However, he was unequivocal that the private sector could not afford to be passive. 

“This network of CEOs must lead with intention. We cannot be spectators in a future designed by others. If we do not act now, we risk becoming casualties of it.

“As nations retreat behind trade walls and realign their priorities, Africa must resist the temptation to wait for handouts or policy shifts from global power centres because the continent's future will be determined by the institutions it builds, the talent it nurtures and the technologies it owns,” he stated.