The Africa Information & Communication Technologies Alliance (AfICTA) has announced the election of a new board at its 3rd Summit 2015, hosted in Braamfontein, Johannesburg.

Members were introduced at the Summit, which ran under the theme Lighting the way to Development and Prosperity across Africa.

Board chairman Dr Jimson Olufuye emphasised the need for industry stakeholders to ensure that strategies and policies are correct and sustainable in order to facilitate development and prosperity.

He said it was important to remember ICT's contribution to the millennium goals and referred to the relevance of the 'World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) + 10' review by the UN General Assembly, renewal of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) and inauguration of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) agenda.

"Africa needs to re-strategise... there are too many failed projects. Recently in Nigeria it was announced that there are over 20 000 failed projects. It is not only in Nigeria, it is in other regions in Africa as well. A policy framework is needed for sustainability," Dr Olufuye said.

In a written message to delegates, Dr Olufuye added, "AfICTA at three is still young but determined to impact our rich continent and her over 1.1 billion people positively to fulfil the promise of the digital age."

Sunil Geness, president of the Information Technology Association (ITA) in South Africa, referred to the announcement of Durban as the host of the 2022 Commonwealth Games, as well as South Africa's involvement in co-hosting the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project, as evidence that the continent is one of opportunity.

"But what piece of this pie are African ICT companies, small-to-medium businesses and those operating on the continent being exposed to?" said Geness. "We serve as catalysts to ensure the sustainability of these organisations."

Geness also said Africa continues to attract investment and specifically referred to a recent commitment by VW Global to a R4.5bn investment.

While challenges like low currency value remain, the message to delegates was that the ITA endorsed AfICTA's newly elected board and its role in ensuring Africa directs its own ICT and telecommunications strategy, and the sustainability of ICT companies.

Thought leaders took part in a panel discussion and expressed the view that Africa needs to retain its knowledge, capacity and resources 'in-house' and not rely on external resources to build economies. This is central to the development of an effective strategy.