Speaker Bio
Norman Schräpel is the director of the Digital Transformation & Digital Economy Cluster of GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit) in Rwanda. He has worked for almost twenty years on the intersection of digital technologies and development. Norman is an anthropologist by training and pioneered several projects for German development cooperation in different African countries, including Tunisia, Nigeria and Rwanda. He has served as a policy advisor to the German government on digital development cooperation. Between 2018-2022 he built and headed GIZ largest digital portfolio in Tunisia. Under his responsibility several large programs have been successfully implemented focusing on startup ecosystem support, digitalization of the public sector, Industry 4.0, artificial intelligence, mobile money and digital inclusion. Norman believes that the digital transformation, if used correctly, can have huge impacts on societies and economies in Africa and can help to solve some of the most pressing problems of our times.