The great reset must place social justice at its centre
New institutions need to actively intervene to build a future where people of all racial, social, gender and economic backgrounds can excel.
Mark Doumba is Gabon's Minister of Digital Economy and Innovation, where he leads the country's digital transformation agenda and the development of digital public infrastructure, digital government, mobile payments, innovation ecosystems, and AI readiness.
Previously, he served as Minister of Economy and Public Holdings, leading reforms in state-owned enterprise governance, domestic debt management, para-fiscal taxes, and public-private investment.
Before entering government, he co-founded CLIKPAY Technologies, Central Africa's first licensed neobank, and Enovate Capital, an impact investment firm focused on emerging markets. As an entrepreneur and investor, he has helped mobilize nearly $100 million for ventures that expanded financial inclusion, healthcare access, business formalization, and telecommunications connectivity across Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.
Doumba's work focuses on how emerging economies can achieve economic and technological sovereignty in the age of artificial intelligence. He coined the concept of "premature automation" to describe the risks of adopting advanced technologies without first building domestic productive capacity and digital ownership.
He serves on the ITU Digital Innovation Board and previously served on the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council, and in subsidiary companies of Bharti Airtel, and Orabank.
His writing has appeared in Brookings, Project Syndicate, Le Monde, Jeune Afrique, World Economic Forum, and CNBC Africa.
He studied at George Washington University, the London School of Economics, and Harvard Kennedy School, where he served as Managing Editor of the Africa Policy Journal.
He is a Foundry Fellow at MIT and a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader.
New institutions need to actively intervene to build a future where people of all racial, social, gender and economic backgrounds can excel.
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