For the second year in a row, Morocco has organized its Gitex Africa convention under the high patronage of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, in the lovely city of Marrakech. Data Tech International had the honor of attending the convention, which proved to be a big success.
What is Gitex and why is it important?
Gitex stands for Gulf Information Technology Exhibition and, together with Gitex Global, represents the largest and most inclusive tech and startup event.
Africa is slowly but steadily emerging as a major player in the global digital economy, with experts forecasting tech investments to soar from $115 billion to $712 billion in the upcoming 25 years.
Gitex serves to help local and international companies connect with tech leaders, governments, startups, and investors to foster innovation and collaboration. Topics range from digital finance, cybersecurity, and the future of health, with a special focus on AI.
Last year, Gitex’s organizers counted around 25,000 crowd attendees, while this year’s estimations show twice as many attendees. Around 1.500 exhibitors, companies – including DELL, Huawei, Microsoft, HP, Lenovo, Cisco, and Epson – entrepreneurs, investors, or startups looking for investment, coming from 130 countries, attended the second Gitex Africa tech show. To drive the talks, 53 distinctive speakers were carefully chosen to present.
Lessons learned at the convention
Finding local partners is crucial: To be successful as a global company, it is fundamental to build strong, resilient connections with local experts. Local companies can advise how to deliver more efficient services, especially regarding solutions which target governments. They offer invaluable insight into the tax administrations’ needs, which are unique for each jurisdiction in which we operate.
Using off-the-shelf solutions is a key factor: When governments try to develop their own, in-house solutions, historically they almost surely fail. Alternatively, using a tried and tested solution such as TaxCore has proven to be a more successful venture. Having developed and deployed our solutions in numerous jurisdictions around the world, our cumulative know-how is a key aspect of our success, allowing us to avoid common pitfalls and to focus on specific local needs.
This experience has been extremely positive as DTI’s delegates have had the chance to interact and connect with local and international companies that share the same goal – to provide tax authorities with the most advanced and reliable solutions to help them in their fight against the gray economy, revenue gaps, fraud detection, and tax evasion.
