00:07For Prosperity Paul, co-founder of ADB Technology, East Africa's digital economy presents enormous
00:15opportunities. The company, which operates in Tanzania, the United Arab Emirates and
00:21the United Kingdom, develops artificial intelligence solutions for governments and businesses.
00:26As the company explores expanding into Kenya, Paul says businesses still face regulatory
00:32and infrastructure barriers when expanding across borders.
00:36So if you're a business, maybe a payment provider in Tanzania, and you want to expand to Kenya,
00:42you probably need an infrastructure in Kenya. So you probably need to have completely savers
00:49and everything in Kenya. But for me, I think if we are East Africa and we learn through
00:55a common framework, we wouldn't necessarily need that.
01:00According to the East African community, newly approved regional rules will help member states
01:05share data safely across borders while protecting people's personal information. The regional
01:10bloc says the rules are another step towards creating a single digital market, making it
01:16easier for businesses to offer digital services, receive payments and sell products online across
01:22all eight partner states under a more consistent digital framework.
01:27Business owners say those changes could create more opportunities across East Africa.
01:31They should have an East African company. For me, an East African company that could freely
01:37operate in East Africa should be the way to go. I know the common currents of trade, maybe
01:45not now, maybe in the future. There's a lot of things need to be done with that. But if we
01:50get to that
01:51point, that will be okay. But with an East African company having also standardized policies that applies to that entity
02:00within the whole region, that will be the next thing.
02:04Economists say the technology already exists to support greater digital integration. The bigger challenge, they argue, is ensuring governments implement
02:14their agreed reforms consistently across all eight partner states.
02:18Letting go of some of the political powers is normally not easy. So I do understand that this is not
02:26an easy decision to make. That's why the debates have been there for a very long time. The papers have
02:31been there for a very long time, but the implementation has not been there.
02:34The plan builds on earlier efforts to improve regional connectivity, including lower mobile roaming charges in participating countries and a
02:42regional e-commerce strategy adopted in 2022. According to the East African community, its eight member states have a combined
02:49population of more than 300 million people and an economy worth over 340 billion U.S. dollars.
02:55The new rules on cross-border data flows and personal data protection will now be considered by the bloc's decision
03:03-making organs before they can be adopted by partner states. For supporters, the expectation is that the envisaged single digital
03:11market will boost trade, investment and innovation across the region.
03:15The new rules on cross-border data flows and the new rules on the new rules on the new rules
03:15on the new rules on the new rules on the new rules on the new rules on the new rules
03:15on the new rules on the new rules on the new rules on the new rules on the new rules
03:15on the new rules on the new rules on the new rules on the new rules on the new rules
03:15on the new rules.
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