Uqudo, a digital ID Platform Joins the Smart Africa Alliance

The Smart Africa Alliance is now counting Uqudo as a new start-up member. Uqudo recently joined the alliance to closely support the Smart Africa initiatives such as digital ID and cross-border e-payments.

According to the 2021 Economic Development in Africa Report, Intra-African trade is currently low at 14.4% of total African exports compare to 69% for Intra Europe trade. A major reason for this gap in potential is a lack of trust; the fact that many individuals and entities are unable to prove that they are who they claim to be, or unable to provide the necessary credentials to allow them access to goods and services.

In line with the instructions of the Board, the Smart Africa Secretariat launched a Working Group to provide a platform for collaboration with and among a range of stakeholders. The Working Group developed a blueprint for a continental concept for digital identity – named the Smart Africa Trust Alliance (SATA) – to establish institutional ownership and accountability combined with a trust framework based on standards and trust assurance mechanisms to facilitate cross-border interactions such as e-payments.

Smart Africa Member States and private operators now have access to a reference document presenting high-level principles and the required institutional arrangements, with an initial roadmap on how to create an effective framework for safe and trusted cross-border digital interactions in the future.

In line with this, the Smart Africa alliance will join forces with Uqudo to further advance the digital ID initiative among its member states. Other initiatives include data governance, cybersecurity, and cross border e-payments.

Digital ID, data governance and cross borders epayments are critical to advance the digital transformation we want for Africa. Therefore, welcoming Uqudo to the alliance is clearly aligned with our ambitions. Their expertise and experience will be a great asset to our organisation.

Mr. Lacina Koné, CEO/Director General, Smart Africa Secretariat

The Uqudo platform adopts advanced digital identity technology including biometrics, certified 3D liveness detection, NFC-based passport reading, cognitive document analysis, AI and blockchain. This enables users to experience a fast, secure and frictionless onboarding process whilst protecting the organisation from fraudulent activities simultaneously ensuring the organisations are fully compliant with KYC, AML and CDD regulations.

We are excited to become part of the Smart Africa family and to collaborate on a number of levels. Through this partnership, uqudo will bring trust to digital interactions through identity, as Smart Africa enables commerce across Africa. Tackling the prevalent problem of identity theft due to the absence of proper identity verification, we aim to work in partnership with Smart Africa to establish a framework based on trust to facilitate cross-border interactions. Our alliance with Smart Africa will help advance digital identity in the continent and aid in data governance and cybersecurity, helping individuals and companies keep their data protected and establishing accountability. Mohamed Fagiri, CEO, uqudo