California, USA based civic technology firm Townlabour Technologies has appointed Smart Africa’s Director General Lacina Koné to its advisory board, an official statement made available to APA Monday in Kigali said.
The statement said that Mr Koné will advise the board on the Services and other business areas that the company offers for the benefit of service partners and customers. This falls in line with the Smart Cities agenda that Mr Koné champions across Africa through the Smart Africa Alliance.
Reacting to the new appointment, Townlabour Technologies Founder and CEO, Vivek Kapoor said, “We are honoured to have Mr Koné on our advisory board”. “His experience and expertise are uniquely suited to our service offering and will offer immense benefits to the communities that we serve. He will certainly be a key part in driving our organisation to the next level,” he said.
Townlabour Technologies uses technology to offer cities with interconnected services through its Town Connect brand.
“Technology has the ability to exponentially improve people’s lives. It improves quality of life, access to key services and security among other benefits. I am honoured to lend my expertise to the drive to offer these technological benefits to Africa’s citizens,” said Mr Lacina Koné.
Mr Koné is the Director General of Smart Africa which is an alliance of 31 African countries, international organisations and global private sector players tasked with Africa’s digital agenda. The alliance is empowered by a bold and innovative commitment by African Heads of State to accelerate sustainable socioeconomic development on the continent and usher Africa into the knowledge economy through affordable access to broadband and use of ICTs.
Prior to that, Mr. Koné was the advisor to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire (2017-2018), in charge of Digital Transformation and Public Reforms, and was also the advisor to the President from 2011-2017. Mr. Kone is a professional of ICT industry with over 25 years experience in the telecommunications, satellite and intelligent transport system. Prior to that, Mr. Koné held during his career several high level technical and managerial positions with prestigious firms such as Booz Allen Hamilton and Intelsat.
Mr. Kone is a graduate of three continents. United Arab Emirates, he obtained a bachelor’s degree in electronic engineering, in the UK, it has validated its Polytechnique rank at the University of Brunel, and the United States, his MBA from George Washington University.
CU/abj/APA