Côte d’Ivoire’s Digital Transformation is Driving the Nation’s Tech Future: a Dream of Zero Paper Usage

Côte d’Ivoire is driving one of Africa’s most ambitious digital transformations, aiming for a fully paperless government by 2030.

Karen Diallo, Director of Digital Transformation in Côte d’Ivoire’s Ministry of Digital Economy, is at the centre of one of West Africa’s most ambitious public sector modernisation programs, PARAE (Programme d’Appui à la Réforme de l’Administration de l’Etat) project. As the country wraps up its current digital strategy and drafts a new roadmap for 2026–2030, Diallo’s team is pushing to unify services, invest in AI, support startups, and—eventually—make paper government processes obsolete.

TechCabal spoke to Diallo on the sidelines of the Cyber Africa Forum. In this conversation, she discusses Côte d’Ivoire’s priorities around artificial intelligence, the role of local startups in public procurement, and why the country is betting big on connectivity and digital identity infrastructure.