Africa can only earn its place on the development table by rethinking big. Time for leap-frogging is over," warned Kagame (pictured) at the World Economic Forum on Africa which ends in the Rwandan capital today.
He was participating in a plenary session on how the continent can use the world’s so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution to deliver economic growth and social prosperity.
While underscoring the important role of the information and technology transformation taking place in some African countries, Kagame said ICT was not a magic wand.
"Africa needs skills to achieve stable returns. Development is about real people and not capital or machines," said the Rwandan leader.
He said in five to 10 years, the continent should be seen doing something and was capable of doing that, but without forgetting the pertinent role played by the African women.
"There is a saying that men in Africa are ahead of women but the same men are globally behind everyone else," said the President.
Graca Machel, founder of the Graca Machel Foundation in South Africa and co-chair of the forum, said the future of Africa should look at what it means to develop the power of women.
"The industrial revolution should have the face of women. We cannot continue to leave women behind," said Machel, adding that talking of women was not a humanitarian issue but it was about common sense.
She also called for the need to overhaul the education system to prepare the African young generation with skills that would enable them to cope with the situation 20 years ahead.
Akinwumi Ayodeji Adesina, President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), said the availability of electricity was crucial in moving the continent ahead.
"Africa should be tired of being in the dark," said Adesina, adding that the bank has set aside a huge amount of funds for electrifying Africa in the next five years.
He also called on the need to invest in science, saying in Denmark there were 10,000 scientists per one million people while South Africa has 800 scientists per one million people.
"We need to invest heavily in science, engineering and mathematics," said the AfDB chief executive officer, adding that Africa should be ready in terms of skills before it engaged in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
"This is fundamental if we are going to succeed. I believe the future of Africa is great," he added.
Dominic Barton, global managing director for McKinsey & Company in the United States, said one of the priorities for Africa should be fixing its education.
"Youth unemployment is very high across Africa," he noted.
In her opening remarks, Elsie Kanza, Head of Africa at the World Economic Forum in Geneva, said: "My dream is to send young African rural women to space. With the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Africa can realize this dream."
In his message to the forum, WEF founder and executive chairman Prof Klaus Schwab said he was convinced that Africa was at the beginning of a revolution that was fundamentally changing the way people live, work and relate to one another.
Prof Schwab, who could not make it to the Kigali event due to ill health, has been at the centre of global affairs for over four decades.
More than 1,200 participants from over 70 countries across the world participated in the 26th World Economic Forum on Africa.
The theme of the meeting was: ‘Connecting Africa's Resources Through Digital Transformation.