Digital Technology Is Essential For Inclusive Development

A society in which one person has a fortune of $200 billion and another cannot even afford a roof over their head, or where one person launches off into space on a mission while another walks 10 kilometres a day just to fetch water for the family, is not a good advertising for the civilization we have established.

As an outsourced partner and professional, I have assisted firms in a variety of industries with the assistance of individuals pulled from rural, underprivileged places. At many firms, I’ve seen the liveliness created by not just advocacy, but an active pursuit of diversity. And I hope that others will follow suit.

Inequalities exist between communities and groupings

Worryingly, despite policymakers’ efforts over the years, these discrepancies are widening. According to a World Economic Forum analysis, during the previous two decades, “income inequality has increased within most countries. The average income gap between the top 10% and bottom 50% of individuals within countries has almost doubled across that time period.”

When you go deeper, the fault lines become more defined. Some communities are more affected than others. We already know that systematic racism has resulted in poorer income and opportunities for communities of colour over decades. Indeed, as recently as 2021, female labor-force participation was the lowest in 33 years. Female founders received just approximately 2% of VC financing, according to Crunchbase. What about Black entrepreneurs? Only 1%.

Why should we be concerned about inclusive growth?

According to Forbes, shrinking the racial wealth gap could add $2 trillion to $3 trillion of incremental annual GDP to the U.S. economy, while solving for women’s full participation in the workforce could add $2.1 trillion to GDP by 2025.”

Numerous studies have found that inclusive growth is the primary driver of the bottom line. This, to me, demonstrates that progress is faster and more durable in communities where the rewards of wealth are distributed fairly to the bottom rungs.

This interaction between opportunity and progress is being quantified and acknowledged. Brookings published research by Katharine Bradbury and Robert Jensen that revealed “metro areas where low-income children experienced higher upward mobility underwent faster subsequent per capita income growth, controlling for other factors that influence growth. In other words, greater equality of opportunity yields greater growth.”

According to the article, this maximises the talent and entrepreneur bases on which growth and productivity rely, minimises the fiscal and social costs of exclusion, reduces hostilities that erode social and political cohesion, and promotes good governance, which affects economic growth and generates the wealth and tax revenues required to support public goods.

What steps should be taken?

Digital technology has arrived as a game changer. It is the backbone of the fastest developing industry sectors, contributing to cost reduction and increased transparency and efficiency in operations. The Covid-19 epidemic highlighted the importance of digital technologies even more.

According to the Cabo Verde Economic Update: “digital technologies have become an intrinsic part of sustainable growth across the world.” Further, “Digital dividends for the country include improving governance and public service delivery, creating new sources of income, jobs and economic diversification, and developing competitive workforce for the future economy.”

What is required, in my opinion, is investment in ICT and ensuring that underprivileged populations have unrestricted access to it. But, corporate leaders may help to support and even expedite the process in a variety of ways:

 Practice what you preach.

• Invest in upskilling people on relevant digital skills.

• Create technology-based forums which people find safe for expressing themselves in.

• Offer flexibility in terms of place and time for work.