First-Ever Virtual Inclusive Africa Conference Attracts Thousands from 43 Africa Nations & Globally

NAIROBI, Kenya - Oct. 16, 2020 - PRLog -- To promote digital accessibility in Africa, inABLE.org organized the 2-day virtual Inclusive Africa Conference 2020, on October 8 –9th. Her Excellency, Margaret Kenyatta, The First Lady of the Republic of Kenya was the opening keynote speaker at this digital accessibility knowledge-share event.

The Inclusive Africa Conference brought together a speaker faculty of 38 global and local knowledgeable experts, from 11 different countries representing different sectors to feature panel discussions about accessibility in; ICT Policies in Africa, financial services, Mobile accessibility, Inclusive Design, social media, and Higher, Primary and High School Education.

inABLE Founder and Executive Director Irene Mbari-Kirika recognized speakers and shared her gratitude with all the participants for their contribution to this timely digital accessibility discussion: "Thanks to the global speakers and the involvement of different governments and corporates in Africa, I am positive that together we will be able to implement all that was discussed during the conference, one step at a time."

The speaker faculty featured renown Global Disability Rights Lawyer, Author, and Speaker Haben Girma; Rama Gheerawo, Director, The Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design, Royal College of Art; Ida Jullow, Program Coordinator, ITU Regional Office for Africa; and senior officials from Google; Access Israel;  Innovate Now-AT2030; Kenya Bankers Association, W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI); Ministry of Education in Kenya and Namibia; the National Communications Secretariat (NCS) GSMA; Safaricom PLC; Vodacom, South Africa; Twitter; Uber Sub-Saharan Africa; M-Pesa; KCB Group PLC; and Equity Bank Kenya, among others.

At the closing ceremony, inABLE presented the inaugural Digital Accessibility Innovation Award (https://inclusiveafricaconference.tk/AccessibilityInnovat...) to recognize the best inclusive African innovations. Out of the 20 submissions received from across Africa, the judges recognized two finalists. Hudson Asiema from Kenya, who developed the Fingerspelling Pro for Kids mobile application, was named the winner of Kshs 1 million prize money contributed by inABLE. Fingerspelling Pro for Kids provides accessible content in sign language, helping hearing impaired and deaf children and their family to learn fingerspelling and quiz game using the handshapes to each letter. The first runner up was Mr. Oluwatomisin Kolawole from Nigeria, who created the Visis by Vinsighte mobile application. The Visis project involves the use of Visis artificial intelligence mobile application and other assistive technology device to aid the visually impaired to read printed books and educational materials, thereby giving them access to convenient, inclusive and sound education like their sighted peers.

Go to -  https://inclusiveafrica.org/speakers  - to learn more about Inclusive Africa Conference speaker faculty.