At this year’s AfricaCom French Pavilion, French and African innovators gathered to look beyond today’s technologies and imagine what the digital and telecom landscape could become by 2035 — and how to thrive in this new world.
The two key takeaways from the workshop were as follows:
1. Define Your 2035 Strategic Moonshot
Instead of trying to predict the future, leaders must invent it. They must craft their Strategic Moonshot, envisioning what true success will look like for their company, customers, partners, and society in 2035.
This requires balancing two critical roles:
Chief Exploitation Officer: mastering today’s business model, doing things better, faster, leaner.
Chief Exploration Officer: designing tomorrow’s models, experimenting boldly, and creating what doesn’t yet exist.
(Terms popularised by authors such as Alex Osterwalder)
Strategic excellence lies in balancing both, strengthening the core, while exploring the edge.
2. Execute Simply
As Peter Drucker reminded us, “Strategy is a commodity. Execution is an art.”
Most strategies fail not because they’re poorly designed, but because they’re never truly implemented.
The workshop introduced a four-page execution framework designed to turn strategy into action:
1️⃣ AIM Stratpage: one page capturing all strategic objectives.
2️⃣ ACT Stratpage: one page prioritising the critical initiatives that drive impact.
3️⃣ TRACK Action Tracker: monitoring progress and discipline of execution.
4️⃣ TRACK Achievements Tracker: measuring real business impact.
Short. Strategic. Actionable.
From Talk to Transformation
The message was clear: success in 2035 won’t come from predicting the future, but from shaping it - and executing it with discipline.
🚀 The telco leaders who dare to define their moonshot and execute it will lead Africa’s next decade of digital transformation.