Dr Martin Koyabe
Senior Advisor (GFCE Africa) & Founding Partner (Africa Cyber Expertise)
London, United Kingdom
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Dr Martin Koyabe is an ICT expert, Cybersecurity and AI leader, and emerging technology strategy & policy expert with more than 30 years of international experience spanning digital infrastructure, innovation, research, regulation, legislation, and emerging technologies. He serves as Senior Advisor for Africa at the Global Forum on Cyber Expertise (GFCE), founding partner of Africa Cyber Expertise (ACE), a pan-African consortium of senior cybersecurity and digital governance specialists, and founded DataConnect (Kenya), AI Lab (Kenya) and MWK Consult (UK), which focus on Data Governance, Open Data, AI and other emerging technologies.
He has led major continental initiatives including the Africa Agenda on Cyber Capacity Building with AUDA NEPAD, AI capacity building for 33 African LDCs through the UN Technology Bank and GFCE, cybersecurity resilience programmes for Togo with KPMG and the World Bank, the AU CSIRT CERT project funded by LuxDev, the GFCE AUDA NEPAD Cyber Capacity Building Coordination Committee, and the AU-GFCE Cyber Capacity Building collaboration project supported by the Gates Foundation to strengthen cyber resilience across all 55 African Union member states.
Previously, Martin headed the Technical Support and Consultancy Division at the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (UK) for seven years, delivering ICT assistance across the Commonwealth. Earlier, he spent ten years at BT as Senior Researcher and Technical Lead, contributing to the 21st Century Network, cybersecurity strategy, Future Internet Architecture research, and a global best practice framework for mitigating DDoS attacks.
He holds a PhD in Communications Engineering, several technology patents, and degrees and executive qualifications from Egerton University, The University of Nairobi, University of Bristol, University of Aberdeen, University of Cambridge Judge Business School, and Harvard Kennedy School.
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GFCE Africa Regional Meeting | Theme: “Enhancing Cyber Resilience and Capacity Building in Africa”
The Global Forum on Cyber Expertise (GFCE) is a multi-stakeholder community of more than 200 members and partners consisting of governments, Inter-Governmental Organisations (IGOs), companies, academia, and project implementers from all regions of the world. The main vision of the GFCE is to create a safe and secure cyberspace for everyone, by promoting and strengthening global Cyber Capacity Building (CCB) coordination and collaboration more effectively. The GFCE coordinates CCB global activities through Regional Hubs (Africa, Pacific, Southeast Asia and Americas & The Caribbean).as a liaison and point of contact to the GFCE community members including development partners, donors, researchers and implementors.
The African Union Development Agency New Partnership for Africa's Development (AUDA-NEPAD) was established by the Decisions of the 31st African Union Assembly of Heads of State and Governments in July 2018 (Assembly/AU/Dec.690(XXXI), and 35th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council in July 2019 (Ex.CL/Dec.105(XXXV), as the technical body of the African Union with its own legal personality defined by its Statute, (hereinafter referred to as “AUDA-NEPAD”). It was established to act as the continent's technical interface with all development stakeholders and development partners working in Africa.
In Africa, the GFCE has worked with the African Union (AU) through the African Union Development Agency New Partnership for Africa's Development (AUDA-NEPAD) to enhance cyber capacity and resilience for all AU member states through the AU-GFCE Collaboration project, which was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The three (3) year project conducted a baseline analysis of CCB gaps and priority needs of AU Member States. The output included (i) an assessment of current cyber capacities, as well as CCB priorities needs, of AU Member States; (ii) the establishment of the Africa Cyber Expert (ACE) Community with over 80 experts drawn from over 37 AU member states and (iii) the development of Knowledge Modules on eight priority CCB focus areas.
In 2023, the GFCE launched the GFCE Africa Hub. The Hub aims to provide a central and collaborative platform for CCB stakeholders to share knowledge, resources, and best practices to improve Africa’s cyber resilience and reduce the impact of cyber threats. Through the Africa Hub, GFCE is currently establishing further, a network of cybersecurity experts and organizations across Africa to work closely with AU member states governments, the private sector, academia, research and development institutions, civil society and other non-governmental organisations to build local capacity, promote cybersecurity awareness and develop innovative solutions to counter cyber threats.
Enhancing Africa Cooperation on Cybersecurity Resilience
Theme: “Supporting the Establishment of African Centre for Coordination and Research in Cybersecurity (ACCRC) in Togo”
On 23-24 March 2022, the Republic of Togo, in partnership with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), co-hosted a Cybersecurity Summit in Lome, Togo. This event brought together leaders from government, the private sector, and civil society to tackle Africa's cybersecurity challenges. During the summit, Member States endorsed the "Lomé Declaration on Cybersecurity and the fight against cybercrime," committing to adopt the African Union's "Malabo Convention. During the summit, it was agreed for the establishment of the African Centre for Coordination and Research in Cybersecurity (ACCRC), which will work towards combating the proliferation of cyber threats, aid in early assessment, detection and mitigation of cybercrimes and ensure continuous monitoring of cyber threats in collaboration with all African States. ACCRC will also aim to enhance regional and continental cooperation, coordination and partnerships on cybersecurity.
To operationalize the Lomé Declaration, the Republic of Togo and UNECA initiated the creation of the ACCRC. This regional hub, based in Lomé, Togo, aims to bolster cyber resilience across Africa through coordinated efforts and formal mechanisms for regional cooperation.
UNECA solidified its commitment to this initiative by signing a memorandum of understanding with the Government of Togo on August 16, 2022, formalizing their partnership for establishing the ACCRC. Supported by both Togo and UNECA, the ACCRC has garnered backing from other African nations, showcasing its potential to become a pivotal entity in enhancing cybersecurity across the continent.
Recognising the significance of the ACCRC, the World Bank Group has enlisted KPMG in partnership with GFCE to provide technical assistance for the establishment of ACCRC. It is in this regard that this concept note aims to articulate and propose a session on Togo ACCRC during the Africa Internet Governance Forum (AfIGF) 2024 to be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 20-22 November 2024.
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