uqudo, the award-winning digital ID platform has joined the Smart Africa alliance
uqudo has recently joined the Smart Africa Alliance as a start-up member, to actively promote the Smart Africa efforts like digital ID and cross-border e-payments across the continent.
The 2021 Economic Development in Africa Report states that intra-African commerce presently accounts for only 14.4% of all African exports, whereas intra-European trade accounts for 69%. A major reason for this gap in potential is a lack of trust; the fact that many individuals and entities are unable to prove that they are who they claim to be, or unable to provide the necessary credentials to allow them access to goods and services.
In accordance with the Board’s directives, the Smart Africa Secretariat established a Working Group to serve as a forum for interaction between and among various stakeholders. The Working Group created a blueprint for the Smart Africa Trust Alliance (SATA), a continental concept for digital identity, to establish institutional ownership and accountability along with a framework of trust built on standards and trust assurance mechanisms to make cross-border interactions like e-payments easier.
In order to build an effective framework for future secure and dependable cross-border digital exchanges, Smart Africa Member States and private operators now have access to a reference paper outlining high-level principles and the necessary institutional setups.
In line with this, uqudo will work with the Smart Africa partnership to expand the digital ID program across its member states. Other initiatives include data governance, cybersecurity, and cross-border e-payments.
Mr Lacina Koné, CEO/Director General, Smart Africa Secretariat states “Digital ID, data governance and cross borders e-payments are critical to advance the digital transformation we want for Africa. Therefore, welcoming uqudo to the alliance is clearly aligned with our ambitions. Their expertise and experience will be a great asset to our organisation.”
Using biometrics, certified 3D liveness detection, NFC-based passport reading, cognitive document analysis, AI and blockchain, uqudo provides an advanced digital identity technology platform.
The uqudo platform adopts advanced digital identity technology including biometrics, certified 3D liveness detection, NFC-based passport reading, cognitive document analysis, AI and blockchain. This makes it possible for users to go through a quick, secure, and painless onboarding process while also safeguarding the business from fraudulent activity and guaranteeing full compliance with KYC, AML, and CDD standards.
Mohamed Fagiri, Uqodo CEO said: “We are excited to become part of the Smart Africa family and to collaborate on a number of levels. Through this partnership, uqudo will bring trust to digital interactions through identity, as Smart Africa enables commerce across Africa. Tackling the prevalent problem of identity theft due to the absence of proper identity verification, we aim to work in partnership with Smart Africa to establish a framework based on trust to facilitate cross-border interactions. Our alliance with Smart Africa will help advance digital identity in the continent and aid in data governance and cybersecurity, helping individuals and companies keep their data protected and establishing accountability.”
Born with a mission to bring trust to digital interactions uqudo aims to rid the digital world of fraudulent identities. Aligned with the United Nation’s Sustainability Development goals, uqudo intends to shape an inclusive, trustworthy and sustainable internet for everyone.
Founded by a team of identity experts, uqudo has a long heritage of delivering large-scale, high-quality projects with success stories in digital federal national identity programs, national driving license systems, and national electronic passport programs. As a natural progression of these successes, uqudo has reinvented itself as an intelligent AI-based identity layer that’s future-proof, dynamic, and secure.
What differentiates uqudo from other identity players in the region is the capability to verify identities not only in the countries our customers operate in but also in those they are planning to expand to in the near future, making us the de-facto option for digital identity in the region.
Additionally, uqudo has been the recipient of numerous awards from the European Union, the UAE and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.