Thelma Quaye

Thelma Quaye

Thelma Efua Quaye is a distinguished digital leader with over two decades of experience spanning telecommunications, cybersecurity, digital policy, and banking. She serves as the Director of Digital Infrastructure, Skills and Empowerment at Smart Africa, where she drives the digital transformation agenda across 40 African member states — shaping national broadband, data, cybersecurity, and gender empowerment strategies that determine how emerging technologies reach African citizens and economies.
Under her leadership, Smart Africa has developed key partnerships with the World Bank, GIZ/BMZ, DIAL, AfD and others, delivering programmes that span digital infrastructure, capacity building, and the empowerment of women and girls in ICT. Her work has supported member countries in implementing national digital strategies across broadband connectivity, cloud and data centres, cybersecurity, data protection, and digital skills — with the Smart Africa Digital Academy (SADA) earning back-to-back WSIS Champion Awards in 2024 and 2026.
Beyond Smart Africa, Thelma serves on the WEF Global Future Council on
Cybersecurity, the boards of the Global Digital Inclusion Partnership and First Atlantic Bank Ghana, and is a newly appointed ITU CyberTracks Mentor. A sought-after voice on the global stage — from MWC Barcelona to AI for Good — she brings an operational, pan-African perspective to the question of what truly equitable AI diffusion demands in practice.

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  • Organization
    Smart Africa
  • Profession
    Director of Digital Infrastructure, Skills and Empowerment
Related sessions
In person
8 July 2026
14:00 - 16:00
EST - New York
CST - Beijing
PST - Los Angeles
AWST - Perth, Australia

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