2 days ago
Digital dispatch from Estonia, the eGovernance capital of the world
Daily Maverick was invited to Estonia as a guest of the minister of foreign affairs to attend the African Business Forum and 11th annual eGovernance Conference. Minister Leon Schreiber was also in attendance, but I missed his panel discussion at the forum.
'When Estonia was part of the Soviet Union the decisions were made in Moscow; now we're part of the European Union and decisions are made in Brussels. There's no change,' says my driver — it's a private trip, but he also does Bolt work — while racing to the African Business Forum that I'm already late for.
It takes about 10 minutes to get from Tallinn airport to the Radisson hotel where the event is happening. 'It's 2pm' chimes the digital assistant on my Sony WF-1000XM5 earbuds. There is almost no traffic on a Tuesday.
I've been in transit for 24 hours since boarding Ethiopian Air flight ET 846 in Cape Town. I should have arrived on Sunday, but my passport was still at the VFS operational centre in Pretoria on Friday, on its journey which started when Godongwana ended his Budget 3.0 speech en route to Cape Town from the Swedish embassy in Nairobi.
Technology should have solved this problem by now. I'm also in desperate need of a shower.
A problem of scale
I dialled into the media roundtable with Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs Margus Tsahkna from the downstairs lobby of the VFS offices in Cape Town. He said that we 'cannot compare your big country with us' in response to questions about scaling his country's digital advancements to the South African context.
It's a fair point. Estonia has 1.3 million people — roughly the population of Johannesburg's northern suburbs. The entire country runs on what they call the 'XRO solution', a system they developed nearly 20 years ago that allows different government databases to talk to each other seamlessly.
So remember, when Tsahkna says '100% of public services are online' and 'everyone knows exactly what their rights are', he's talking about a population smaller than eThekwini municipality and a land area the size of Gauteng.
But here's what struck me about his response: he wasn't dismissive.
'There are technological solutions available, of course… and you have (natural) resources to invest,' he said. The key, he insisted, was political leadership. 'We can (share with) you our experiences about digitalisation.'
Digital dreams and African realities
The Africa Business Forum is in full swing by the time I arrive. I excuse myself briefly to brush my teeth in the fancy bathroom – the only thing I couldn't do while changing in the restroom at Frankfurt Airport before boarding flight LH 880 to Tallinn.
I'm led straight into a conference room buzzing with conversations about digital transformation, but the context is distinctly different to what I'd expected. This isn't Estonians lecturing Africans about efficiency — it's a more nuanced conversation about partnership and practical realities.
Estonian and EU officials are refreshingly candid about their limitations.
When they talk about their digital achievements — tax returns in three minutes, businesses started in 18 minutes online — they acknowledge these come with caveats.
For real though, eFiling is dope, but the Estonian Tax and Customs Board (exclusively for Estonian tax residents) online platform is something else.
Their entire digital infrastructure was built 'together with the private sector mainly' over 'more than 30 years', they explain, and it works for a population of 1.3 million.
The geopolitical subtext is never far from the surface. Estonia is 'under heavy heavy cyberattacks', as officials put it, and they're 'very careful' about technological cooperation with certain countries — a not-so-subtle reference to Russia, their 'difficult neighbour' The digital-first approach wasn't just about efficiency; it was about survival.
The Global Gateway pitch
The forum's centrepiece is the European Union's Global Gateway strategy — a €150-billion investment promise for Africa by 2027. EU officials position this as a 'value-based alternative' to other global powers' approaches, though they're diplomatically vague about which alternatives they have in mind.
'We are not coming in to put the conditions there,' comes the refrain from multiple speakers. 'We have long-term partners based on values.'
The pitch includes 'literally thousands of procurement actions every year', with opportunities ranging from direct private sector contracts to partnerships through organisations like the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS), which spent $130-million across various African countries.
Digital infrastructure is positioned as one of five key pillars of Global Gateway, with the EU (and Estonia) offering expertise in 'payments identity interoperability' and promising a 'more explicit message to our partner countries' about digital public infrastructure.
Estonian companies in Africa
The Estonian presence in Africa is already more substantial than I'd realised. Companies like Positum use mobile data to provide insights for governments, working with UN agencies and the World Bank. And the 'digitisation services' industry is in advanced talks to set up a pop-up to deliver e-residency cards in Mzansi — they're aware of our country's challenges with keeping card printing equipment working.
Estonian businesses have implemented projects in 'Botswana, in Nigeria, in Kenya, many of them in Tanzania', according to forum speakers. The approach seems less about grand pronouncements and more about practical problem-solving — using Estonia's digital experience as a starting point rather than a template.
'Estonian expertise is really sought after,' one official notes, encouraging participation in international expert groups, 'even if it is pro bono work.' The message is clear: build relationships first, business follows.
The e-residency proposition
Oh, yes… Perhaps Estonia's most audacious offering is e-residency — a programme started in 2014 that makes you a digital resident without requiring physical presence.
'You don't need to become an Estonia resident,' they explained to me. You apply online, and once approved, 'all our digital infrastructure is open for you about how to start business, run the business, taxation and the services that we have online'.
They claim to be the 'only country in the world that can actually be part of this environment'. For African entrepreneurs navigating complex regulatory environments, it's an intriguing proposition — remote access to Estonia's digital infrastructure, running businesses through their systems while remaining physically based elsewhere.
It's become a community of more than 120,000 digital citizens, generating €15-billion (R304-billion) in combined revenue from more than 33,000 companies.
When Estonia says it is selling a lifestyle to African entrepreneurs, they really mean it — but being an e-resident doesn't come with the same benefits as being a tax resident, so it will still be SARS systems for you.
Looking ahead
The organisers of the eGovernance Conference told me that they were aware of how previous iterations had been hijacked by the now decidedly out of vogue idea of 'put it on the blockchain' — this year was shaping to be all about 'AI' but they insisted that it would be less of a ride on the hype train.
The forum has been about relationships and possibilities; whereas the conference will be about implementation and practicalities.
But already, one thing is clear: the Estonian model isn't about copying and pasting solutions. It's about understanding principles and adapting them to local contexts. As Tsahkna puts it, each country needs to find its own model while drawing on available technological solutions and investing in political leadership.
I bump into Minister Leon Schreiber at the eGovernance Conference reception — he says I must pull him aside for an open discussion about the eVisa he is trying to get going back at home. I said ' yes ' but was forced to pull away from his typically South African, manly affirming embrace (he is, after all, a Paul Roos old boy) because I was heading out the door to finally take that shower at my hotel room. DM
