African Union’s ‘4D’ Launched at ‘Boma’ To Give Startups Massive Boost 

 
Mary Nnah

 
 
African Union (AU) leaders and strategic partners are gathering at the AU Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and online to launch an initiative called 4D to boost startups and SMEs with fresh flows of funds and supporting platforms.

 
The 4D initiative combines innovative new ways of channelling resources from development finance institutions and aid agencies to startups, SMEs and other fast-growing innovation-focused entities with a suite of mega-platforms to lower and override barriers to market access and scale caused by unfriendly regulation and unresponsive state and public sector policies. If it all goes well, the 4D Initiative should multiply several fold the number of African startups, SMEs, university spinoffs and other agile economic actors that can plug into critical value chains like biotech, vaccine production, biopharma R&D, artificial intelligence, genomics and digital health, where, so far, Africa’s progress has stalled. Africa’s weak performance in such vital sectors was on display during the pandemic and the recent Russia-Ukraine crisis when the continent was shut out of major supply chains for vital commodities and technologies.

 
With the official unveiling happening today, 8th July, at 5 PM EAT / 2 PM GMT during the Boma of Africa 2023 Summit, the 4D Initiative is assured of a triumphant entry judging by the calibre of attendants at the Summit.

 
The Boma itself is a part of the commemorative activities of African Integration Day and has been dubbed the premium convening of the AU’s Heads of State and Government, the African Union Commission and its Organs together with CEOs and business leaders, Heads of regional bodies, and world leaders. Quite the fitting occasion to sign the momentous AU 4D Pact, which is being portrayed by AU strategists who have spoken to this newspaper as the definitive accelerant of the Agenda 2063  Flagships, like AfCFTA. “Agenda 2063” was adopted in 2015 as Africa’s guiding light out of underdevelopment. So far, the continent’s march towards it has not had the required energy. 4D, AU spokespersons insist, can help to change that.

 
The way 4D is set to work is as an interlocking network of partnerships encompassing several AU organs including the AU Commission’s Department of Education, Science,  Technology & Innovation; the Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy & Sustainable Environment; the Department of Economic Development, Trade, Industry & Mining; the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat; the African Capacity Building Foundation; the Africa Civic Aviation Commission; the AUDA-NEPAD; and the Africa CDC.

 
This interconnected AU 4D network will strengthen the harmonisation of existing AU interventions in health, research, agriculture, education, climate response and trade. To help with that goal of effective multistakeholder collaboration and coordination, a number of large-scale innovation platforms have already been built and adopted by many African Union Member States. They include PanaBIOS, ProPer, AfCFTA Hub, Tranzyt and Transforma. The launch of 4D should usher in the needed funding for startups, SMEs and other innovation drivers on the continent to take the fullest advantage of these platforms to scale their products and services across national borders, paving the way for deeper value chain integration to support the production and distribution of vital technologies and commodities in Africa.

 
 
Other AU ecosystem programmes, such as the Africa Pathogen Genomics Initiative (Africa PGI), the Single Air Transport Market, the Protocol on Free Movement of People and the Pan-African Vaccine Manufacturing initiative, will all benefit from the enhanced synergisation, coordination and collaboration across public, private, national and regional levels.

 
In the area of health innovation, for instance, 4D, according to AU spokespersons, will help to accelerate integrated diagnostic, socioeconomic, immunological and genomic data streams to better analyse patterns of disease spread in Africa and device optimal responses.

 
The 4D partnership will also speed up the emergence of electronic exchanges in the areas of climate finance tokenisation, digital trading, bio-innovation data sharing, among others, positioning Africa for greater self-reliance and geopolitical agency.

 
The broader coalition behind the 4D partnership includes AfroChampions, the African Academy of Sciences, the African Institute of Mathematical Sciences, the PanaBIOS Consortium, the African Organisation of Standards, Koldchain BioCordon, and Orango Investment Corporation. Development Finance Institutions that have made early pledges of support include Afreximbank, Africa Finance Corporation and BADEA.

 
Most fascinatingly, African leaders are looking for the next generation of unicorns that will revolutionise new sectors like biotech, gene editing, genomics and artificial intelligence but without the usual delegation of such discovery to venture capital and private equity funds alone. The leaders are hoping to channel a stream of investments in such a way as to activate these innovators to more effectively impact outcomes in health, trade, local manufacturing, and job creation.

 
The new 4D Pact is yet another lever of cooperation for key African Union institutions like the AfCFTA Secretariat,  Africa CDC, AUDA-NEPAD, AFCAC and ACBF, to create a path to mobilise tens of millions of dollars from development finance institutions and aid agencies, including those listed above that have already committed to the vision.

 
The 4D Initiative builds on the Trillion Dollar Fund announced in 2020, which initially focused primarily on driving trade in goods manufactured in Africa under the AfCFTA.

 
The emphasis, as explained above, will now expand to cover biotech innovation, digital health, artificial intelligence, and the green economy.

 
The commercialisation of research at African universities through spinoffs will receive additional impetus, according to a strategy document seen by this writer.

 
At the core of the vision, in summary, is an innovation-driven marketplace that will encourage cross-border collaboration to shape a greener continent and create climate-smart jobs.

 
Signing the 4D pact, according to AU technical experts that have spoken to this writer, will jump-start continental integration, thereby driving job creation and establishing stronger knowledge economies.

 
This aligns with the Africa Union’s Agenda 2063 outlining the vision for the ‘Africa We Want.’

 
One of the five main sponsors of the African Union-endorsed 4D Initiative is Nardos Bekele-Thomas, the Head of AUDA-NEPAD, a body set up by African Presidents to advise the African Union on long-term development planning and transformation.
 

Ms Bekele-Thomas gave as the primary motivation for the 4D Initiative the need to fast-track Agenda 2063, the African Union’s principal blueprint for continental integration and prosperity.
 

She said that the continent is currently not on track to meet Agenda 2063. 4D will turn things around by ensuring stronger synergy between the continental private sector and the development finance and aid agency communities.
 

Agenda 2063 is Africa’s blueprint and master plan for transforming Africa into the global powerhouse of the future. It is the continent’s strategic framework that aims to deliver on its goal for inclusive and sustainable development and is a concrete manifestation of the pan-African drive for unity, self-determination, freedom, progress and collective prosperity pursued under Pan-Africanism and African Renaissance.
 

Tidjane Thiam, the international banker, will deliver a keynote at the Summit on how to position Africa for global relevance. Various Presidents and business leaders will also attend, including the Presidents of Ghana, Ethiopia and Comoros, whose leader currently chairs the African Union.
 

Also making an appearance is the President of the Republic of South Africa, H.E Cyril Ramaphosa;  President of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, H.E. Sahle-Work Zewde; former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and African Union High Representative for the Horn of Africa region, H.E. Olusegun Obasanjo;  Deputy Chairperson, African Union Commission, H.E. Dr Monique Nsanzabaganwa; and Director-General of the World Health Organisation, H.E. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
 

The AU Commissioner for Economic Development, Trade, Tourism, Industry & Mining, Ambassador Albert Muchanga; Secretary General of AfCFTA Secretariat, Mr Wamkele Mene; Director General of Africa CDC, Dr Jean Kaseya; Mr Mamadou Biteye, Executive Secretary of ACBF;  and Secretary General of AFCAC, Mr Adefunke Adeyemi, will all address the Boma.

 
The main objective of the Boma is to assemble Africa’s decision-makers across
politics, business, technology and the technocracy to commit to major actions to
accelerate Africa’s attainment of the Agenda 2063 goals of unity and continental
prosperity, thereby positioning Africa as a credible global force for good in the 21st  Century.
 

Through the resourcing and promotion mechanisms of the 4D Initiative (www.4DCorridor.org), platforms and accelerators like BioNovac, the AfCFTA Hub, ProPer, the African Public Health Wallet (PanaBIOS-Trusted Health), and the Green Economy Transforma, will be scaled up into a marketplace-ecosystem of innovation through which resources and support can be channelled by DFIs, Social Venture Funds and development agencies.

Beneficiaries of the initiative will include startups, SMEs, university spinoffs and commercialisation offices, and national investment promotion and small business support agencies.
 

Besides the launch of 4D, the Boma will also feature: “The Sankore Lecture”, titled,  “Unlocking the World Market for Africa’s Future”, will touch on the themes of global competitiveness, capital mobility, and value chain integration. It will be delivered by AU Special Envoy & Executive Chair, Freedom Acquisition Corporation, Mr Tidjane Thiam. He will weave a new and powerful narrative of how the continent’s strategic enablers can connect and interlock to position Africa in the pole position to benefit from global shifts and transitions, from the ecological to the demographic. An apt theme given the vast ambitions of 4D.