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Centre of Digital Excellence


Centre of Digital Excellence

Overview

The Centre of Digital Excellence (C0DE) focuses on technology innovation as well as the opportunities that this provides for improving the development potential of African nations and for managing the risks inherent in an increasingly digital world.

Leading The Team

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    Mark Schoeman

    Partner (Centre of Digital Excellence)
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    Pria Chetty

    Senior Adviser (Centre of Digital Excellence)
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    ​Korstiaan Wapenaar

    Principal (Centre of Digital Excellence)
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    Jonathan Beardsley

    Programme Director (Centre of Digital Excellence)

Areas of Expertise

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      Digital opportunity & their enablers

      We identify, quantify and enable economic and social opportunities in the digital economy to connect people to sources of income and service delivery. We work across the enablers required to scale these opportunities inclusively: digital and financial inclusion, digital upskilling and reskilling, inclusive tech-enabled business models, and policy and regulation.

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        Digital policy and regulation

        Frontier digital technologies − such as Internet of things, the metaverse, artificial intelligence, big data and cloud computing − put policy and regulatory frameworks to the test, causing the global digital policy and regulatory landscape to evolve rapidly.

        Our Digital Policy and Regulation team offers services to help organisations navigate this complex landscape, including:

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        Data-driven decision making

        We enable data-driven decision making by combining human-centred design with innovative digital tools. Although data is an increasingly important part of business and society, making sense of it can be challenging. We cut through the noise of data to ensure that our clients’ decisions are made using high-quality information.

    Projects

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      Realising Tanzania's growth through digital economy

      Genesis Analytics partnered with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to provide clear recommendations on the development of Tanzania’s digital and blue economies.

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      Data tool tracks risk of Covid overwhelming healthcare systems

      At the start of the Covid-19 epidemic in South Africa, Genesis Analytics developed a useful tool for looking at and understanding the impact of the epidemic on the healthcare system.

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      Genesis supports Uganda with strategy to capitalise on 4IR to drive growth

      Genesis is providing technical support to Uganda's Presidential Taskforce on the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) to formulate a national 4IR strategy to guide the country on areas where 4IR technology can be domesticated to achieve development objectives.

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      Genesis looks for drivers of innovation ecosystem in SADC region

      Genesis was contracted by FinMark Trust and the Insights 2 Impact (i2i) Facility to conduct an innovation scoping study for the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region to identify the drivers of innovation ecosystem development and opportunities to enhance the innovation ecosystem in the SADC.

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      Strategy to support Indonesia's digital skills development

      Genesis Analytics’ Centre of Digital Excellence (C0DE) team partnered with Digital Pathways at Oxford University and the SMERU Research Institute to develop a strategy focusing on accelerating digital skills development in Indonesia.

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      Insights into changing nature of work for young Africans

      Genesis was contracted by the Mastercard Foundation to perform audience-needs research for a new initiative to improve the availability of insights relating to the changing nature of work for young Africans in the coming 10-15 years.

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      Unpacking gig opportunities for unemployed Kenyan youth

      Genesis partnered with Mercy Corps Youth Impact Labs (YIL) Kenya to undertake a study that unpacks the potential that the gig economy has in solving Kenya’s unemployment challenge.

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      First comprehensive mapping of South African fintechs for national treasury

      To enable the growth of the fintech sector while minimising risk and protecting consumers, the National Treasury, in partnership with The World Bank Group, commissioned Genesis to conduct the first full market diagnostic and sizing of the local fintech sector.

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      Rockefeller looks to new digital skills for Africa's youth

      Genesis was awarded a two-year grant by The Rockefeller Foundation to serve as monitoring and evaluation (M&E) partner to their Digital Jobs Africa (DJA) initiative, which was set up in response to the challenge of widespread youth unemployment in Africa.

    View all

    Related Focus Areas

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      Youth: Our focus is on girls and young women

      Africa is experiencing an unprecedented youth wave.  Our focus in youth is on young girls over the next five years so that no one is left behind in the development of the next generation. 

      Gender equality describes a world in which women and girls have equal access to resources and opportunities and where their participation, contributions, and decisions are valued and rewarded as much as those of men.

      For this reason Genesis looks at all its projects through a gender lens so we can find the opportunities for gender equality and address the barriers that keep women and girls from being fully active in their homes, economies and societies. We can’t achieve progress if half the world’s population is left behind and their potential and talent are left untapped.

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      Agriculture and agribusiness

      Africa’s agricultural sector is critical to sustainable economic development. It supports economic opportunities in rural communities, the alleviation of poverty and plays an essential role in food security. Genesis works across the public-private interface for governments, donors, philanthropic and private sector clients.

      Unlocking the sector’s potential requires a combination of political will, enabling regulatory frameworks, improved access to finance, skills investment and climate change adaptation. An understanding of these interlocking factors underpins our approach to programme design and implementation.

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      Applied behavioural economics

      Behavioural economics is a powerful field that combines economics and psychology to influence behaviour and improve decision-making for the better through low-cost, high-impact, easy-to-implement interventions. Genesis Analytics created the first team of consultants in Africa in 2014 to use a scientific understanding of human behaviour to solve practical problems in the world of business.

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      Communications and broadcasting

      We work with governments and regulators to cut through the complexities of digital markets and ensure that digital policy and regulation are fit for purpose, striking the optimal balance between intervention and innovation. Our work includes all aspects of governance and economic regulation including competition, digital rights, data protection and privacy, consumer protection, e-commerce, economic structure and digital trade.

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      Competition and Regulatory Economics

      As the leading provider of competition and regulatory economics services in Africa, Genesis has an unmatched breadth and depth of skills and experience. Blue-chip companies, regulators and competition authorities across Africa routinely rely on us for expert economics advice and input.

      We have worked on most major competition and regulatory matters in South Africa and we have been involved in key matters across multiple other African countries including Botswana, Namibia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

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      Digital financial services

      At Genesis we provide digital strategy support and advice to our clients looking to embark on a transformation journey, enter new markets with a digital proposition, or optimise their existing strategy through better use of digital analytics.

      We have a broad understanding of fintech innovation and keep abreast of developments across the financial service core competencies. These include payments, lending, deposit taking, investments, and wealth management and capital markets.

      We have advised a number of financial institutions on their digital transformation journeys and have contributed to how policymakers can support and enable innovation that promotes improved access to finance while protecting consumers and ensuring the stability of the financial services sector.

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      Photographer, Johnny Miller

      Shared Value and Impact

      A revolution is taking place in business. In the Shared Value and Impact practice our purpose is to reshape capitalism to serve the world. We put flourishing societies and ecosystems at the centre of the economy, not as afterthoughts.

      We regard the company as the most powerful economic engine ever invented - and when companies start to think beyond narrow shareholder value to the creation of impact, they can also become potent drivers of development, social progress, inclusion and sustainability.

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      Youth, education and early childhood development

      Improving outcomes for infants, children and young people.

      Half the population in Africa is below the age of 20. We are committed to helping these young people, and their peers in the Middle East, develop to their full potential and make a positive contribution to their communities and societies. We work to improve education, care and support from the critical first 1,000 days of life, through K-12 education, up to young adults’ entry into the world of work. 

      We are particularly focused on expanding opportunities for children and young people who lack choice and opportunity. We work with governments, their partners in development, and private and non-state actors to improve the reach and quality of education, care, and support services. We help clients to take opportunities and deal with challenges presented by changes in demography, climate, technology and the shock of COVID-19.

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