A €14 million African Development Bank credit boosts corporate growth and climate resilience at the Cabo Verde Technology Park. Regional communications hub.
Through a credit deal worth €14 million, the Cabo Verdean government and the African Development Bank have teamed up to improve the Cabo Verde Technology Park. The project intends to increase the technology park’s resiliency to climate change and its capacity to foster business growth.
The first phase of the cutting-edge technology park, which is already converting the nation into an avant-garde regional information and communication hub, was financed with a loan of €31.59 million from the African Development Bank prior to this.
As a special economic zone, the park attracts ICT specialists from all across Africa with its tax and import tariff incentives. It comprises two campuses, one on the island of So Vicente and the other in Praia, the nation’s capital.
The second stage of development will see the technology hub outfitted with renewable energy systems. Furthermore, it will create two data centers as part of a public-private alliance.
A €1 million seed fund will also be established by the Cabo Verde ICT centre to support up to 20 cutting-edge local firms. Additionally, it intends to give integration grants of at least €5,000 to more than 50 tech businesses from different African nations.
Prospects for the project
Over the next three years, the project will train 300 African youth in soft skills in partnership with international universities and businesses to prepare them for employment that will be generated as a result of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Cabo Verde’s deputy prime minister and minister of finance, Olavo Avelino Garcia Correia, expressed excitement for the project’s potential to make the nation a digital one with a booming economy.
In his words, “Our ambition is to transform Cabo Verde into a digital nation, with a circulating economy and the technology parks in Praia being part of this significant government strategy.”
Uyoyo Edosio, the project leader for the African Development Bank, emphasized the project’s synergies during the signing of the financing agreement and stressed that Cabo Verde’s distinct advantage in tourism will now be strengthened as technology meets tourism.
The project, according to Dr. Abdu Mukhtar, director of industry and trade development at the African Development Bank, gives young African talent the chance to flourish at home rather than looking for chances elsewhere.
The largest provider of development financing in Africa is the African Development Bank Group (AfDB), which is made up of the African Development Bank (AfDB), the African Development Fund (ADF), and the Nigeria Trust Fund (NTF). The AfDB actively aids in the social and economic advancement of its 54 regional member states with its presence in 34 African nations and an overseas office in Japan.
