The Most Digitally Advanced Country In The World “Looking For Ways To Develop” Digital Services In Zimbabwe

Have you ever heard of Estonia? Probably not, but I’m pretty sure you have heard of Skype and Taxify. These two companies hail from Estonia, a country which is regarded as the most advanced digital society in the world.

Incidentally, Estonia’s President, Eesti Vabariigi met President Mnangagwa at the AU Summit where they talked about the need to increase cooperation between the two countries in the digital realm. Talking about the meeting with President Mnangagwa, Estonia’s President said:

First, he gave me the overall economic development of your country and we have to say it was wonderful to hear about very concrete plans and we tried to see how Estonian experience in digital development could match with what you are doing in your country. Estonia is a country where public services are fully digital. You cannot get married online but everything else online.

Our companies have already been to your country and our ambassador as well as been to your country already looking for ways to cooperate and to develop digital services in your country. I think we found a lot of interesting information about each other’s country and we agreed we need to continue to cooperate. In our case, we are a small country but we have embraced digital technologies because it is just effective and productive to do things online

Apparently, there are some Estonian companies which have been scouting Zimbabwe for opportunities in the digital space. With Zimbabwe still relying on much paperwork to conduct business, no wonder these Estonian companies are interested in Zimbabwe. 

However, much relies on the government’s willingness to see Zimbabwe adopt e-services. If President Mnangagwa is really serious about e-services and tech advancement (which were talked about in the Transitional Stabilisation Programme) in the country then it’s a no-brainer that he should make all efforts to work with Estonia (and its companies too).