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Daily Maverick
a day ago
- Business
- Daily Maverick
Stalking Minister Schreiber at the e-Governance Conference in Estonia
Daily Maverick was invited to Estonia as a guest of the minister of foreign affairs to attend the African Business Forum and 11th annual e-Governance Conference, and experience the EU's premier digital society — stalking Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber for an interview was optional. Sometimes the best stories happen in the margins. While Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber was behind closed doors at the e-Governance Conference in Tallinn, Estonia, with Estonian President Alar Karis, I found myself in conversations that revealed as much about South Africa's digital transformation challenge as any high-level diplomatic exchange could. At least that's what I told myself after being blocked from following the delegates into the meeting room. The Ukraine Defence Tech stand is right next to the entrance hall for those meeting rooms, so I head over to chat to Anastasiia Kapranova, the Ukraine Ministry of Defence lead for international engagement on defence digitalisation, about the lessons the war-torn nation may have for developing digital economies. Downside? I need to lead with an apology for South Africa's neutrality, which is born out of our allegiance with Russia. War is a great digital accelerator To her credit (or maybe it was my charm), she doesn't flinch when I say the quiet diplomacy part out loud. She's focused on something else entirely: how a crisis becomes a catalyst. 'The full-scale war showed us that we have to completely shift the focus and move from the peacetime solution to the wartime solutions,' she tells me, standing next to displays of Ukraine's Delta combat system and Army Plus Reserve Plus platforms. What strikes me isn't just the sophistication of the technology, but the philosophy behind it. Ukraine has been 'sharing the knowledge that we gained … um … at very high cost at the cost of our people's lives' to help allies 'increase their resilience through the digitalisation'. It's digitisation born from necessity, stripped of bureaucratic niceties and focused purely on what works. The lesson for South Africa isn't about war — it's about urgency. While we debate timelines and processes, Ukraine rebuilt its entire digital infrastructure under fire. 'A lot of, especially, technological development in Ukraine is done bottom up,' explains Kapranova. 'It is important to listen, to hear and to empower those who have knowledge and skills.' WhatsApp, Mr Minister? That bottom-up philosophy feels particularly relevant when I go over my notes from an earlier conversation with fellow South African Mitchell Ron Black — Schreiber was at an offsite lunch. Black is a South African entrepreneur (with links to Rise Mzansi) whose company, Wakamoso Africa, is tackling what he calls the 'invisible data problem' — the fact that 'the type of granular data to build financial profiles on South Africans of colour doesn't exist in the systems', making them 'appear as less bankable by default'. The solution is elegantly simple: a WhatsApp-first platform that turns CVs into 'micro income-generating assets', paying users in airtime when their skills match job searches. It's the kind of grassroots innovation that should excite government officials committed to digital transformation. Except it doesn't, apparently. Black recounts his interaction with Schreiber: 'As soon as he heard that we were working on WhatsApp, the reaction was, 'Oh, we should probably start looking at that'.' Black says he has been 'tossed from pillar to post' trying to engage with the government and mobilise funding outside of a limited pilot project in Uitsig (the Cape Town one), despite having a ready-to-scale solution. 'There's no clear focus on innovation.' The yawning gap between ambition and implementation When I do finally get my interview with Schreiber after his presidential meeting, his enthusiasm is infectious. The conference had brought 'even greater clarity' to South Africa's digital transformation goals. He spoke passionately about Estonia as a benchmark, and he has five key commitments: eVisas, smart IDs, the electronic travel authorisation (ETA) system, expanded bank branch integration and courier delivery options. His November deadline for the ETA ahead of the G20 summit shows accountability. 'We're absolutely on track,' he insists. But there's a disconnect between the high-level vision and the reality facing South African innovators like Black, who, despite being 'owed a couple million rand in government funding that just never appeared', continues bootstrapping solutions while waiting for the state to catch up. Estonia's patient capital model This gap became clearer in conversations about Estonia's approach to African partnerships. The European Union's Global Gateway strategy, promising to 'invest €150-billion [about R3-trillion] in Africa by 2027', represents significant resources. But accessing these requires navigating complex procurement processes and finding the right partnerships — something that seems particularly challenging for South African startups caught between government indifference and funding gaps. For African entrepreneurs, Estonia's e-residency programme offers an intriguing workaround. Incorporating in Estonia can 'derisk the project' for European investors and open up grant possibilities, particularly for seed-stage startups. It's a pragmatic solution to funding challenges, though one that exports local talent and IP. Perhaps the most telling observation came from Dr Armid Azadeh, founder of the medtech solutions company OnCall, representing Namibian perspectives on digital transformation. While acknowledging Estonia's offerings, he noted, 'We ourselves feel we're a Namibian company and that is our brand — proudly Namibian.' For countries with stable systems, the benefits of offshoring incorporation are less compelling. This touches on something deeper: the question of digital sovereignty versus digital pragmatism. South Africa wants to be digitally transformed, but on whose terms? Using whose platforms? With whose data? Black's vision extends beyond individual solutions to 'creating digital twins of these communities' that provide 'microeconomic granular data to start better trending' for government planning. It's the kind of locally rooted, socially conscious innovation that could transform lives. But it requires what he calls 'patient partners over time' — something in short supply in both government and local investment circles. Beyond the taglines Watching Schreiber network with Estonian officials while Ukrainian innovators showcase crisis-forged solutions and South African entrepreneurs struggle for recognition, the challenge becomes clear. South Africa's digital transformation won't be solved by adopting Estonia's model wholesale, or by securing EU funding, or even by delivering the ETA system on time. It requires bridging the gap between ministerial ambition and grassroots innovation, between international benchmarking and local implementation. The tools exist. The talent exists. Even the political will, in its way, exists. What's missing is the connective tissue — the systems and relationships that turn individual innovations into societal transformation. Ukraine learned this lesson the hard way, with Kapranova explaining how putting 'people who we serve in the government at the core of our digital products' builds trust and preserves identity. Estonia learned it through decades of patient institution-building. DM
Daily Maverick
2 days ago
- Business
- Daily Maverick
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
