We should not kid ourselves! Digital governance is no longer a luxury for high-income nations with glossy ministries and smart-city posters. It’s the scaffolding of a functioning society in the 21st century. When done right, it brings people closer to government, makes institutions less bureaucratic, and injects fairness where opacity once ruled. When done poorly, or not at all. it leaves half the world behind, shouting into a void of disconnection, distrust, and disorder. Tackling digital divide? It is possible!
Let’s start with this fact: digital governance is not an indulgence. It is the bedrock of public administration’s advancement in our connected world. These are not just words I say for applause; they are a line from the statement I gave at 28th UNCSTD Session at the UN’s Palais des Nations… and I meant every syllable. The stories we point to – Estonia’s secure digital identities, Denmark’s open-data initiatives, Fiji’s, Samoa’s, Vanuatu’s and Papua New Guinea’s quest for domestic revenue mobilization, Serbia’s E-Foreigner system – aren’t fairytales from tech utopias. They are lived realities built with deliberate planning and the kind of public-private trust most countries are still dreaming of.
But for every Estonia, there’s a Chad, where families spend nearly 20% of their income for something as basic as internet access. That’s not digital governance, it’s digital exclusion. And it’s unacceptable.
5 Key Takeaways
- At the UN, we made it clear: digital governance isn’t a luxury — it’s the very foundation of a functioning society in the 21st century — essential for delivering services, building trust, and empowering citizens everywhere.
- The RegTech is tackling the digital divide where it matters — not in boardrooms or glossy brochures, but on the ground, side by side with governments and communities, delivering digital solutions that actually improve people’s lives.
- We don’t just deliver tech and walk away — we stay, we listen, and we co-create trust. Every citizen-centered platform we build is designed to restore faith in systems and bring dignity to every digital interaction.
- We build with communities, not for them — real transformation doesn’t happen when outsiders dictate. It happens when local voices shape the tools they’ll use every day, and when inclusion is baked into the system from day one.
- This isn’t theory — this is hands-on action. And The RegTech is proud to lead the charge toward a more inclusive, transparent, and just digital future — a message we’re taking from the Palais des Nations to every corner of the globe.
Tackling Digital Divide: A Dangerous Split-Screen
Look around and you’ll see two parallel timelines: one where digital tools uplift citizens and rewire institutions for good, and another where outdated systems and unclear AI experiments deepen inequality. The question isn’t whether technology will be part of our future – it already is. The question is: whose future is being built by it? And who’s left out?
In Sub-Saharan Africa, 60% of people still don’t have access to reliable internet. In parts of Southeast Asia and Latin America, digital ID systems are patchy, often favoring urban elites while rural populations fill out forms in triplicate. The divide is no longer just about infrastructure – it’s about dignity. It’s about whether a woman in a remote village can register her child’s birth without traveling for days. Whether a migrant worker can access healthcare without bureaucratic marathon. Whether a young person in Chad or Laos can participate in civic life without being digitally invisible.
And while governments stall in regulatory meetings and civil society wrestles for voice, the private sector moves. Fast. Sometimes too fast, with too little accountability. And yet, here’s the twist: we, in the private sector, can also be the antidote. If we choose to be.
The RegTech Perspective: Progress with a Conscience
At The RegTech, based in Dubai, we’re not here to sell buzzwords. We don’t show up in countries, pitch a solution in a PowerPoint, and vanish into the desert sun. We embed. We build. We stay. And let me be crystal clear: we refuse to see only profit at the expense of progress. Others should too.
It’s deeply rewarding to guide a company that doesn’t just sling tech like candy at a trade fair. We create thoughtful, locally grounded digital solutions that really work – because they are built with the people who’ll use them. Whether digitizing tax systems in the Pacific to close revenue gaps or developing e-government platforms that respond to local needs in the Balkans, we do one thing above all else: we listen.
We listen to policymakers who want reform but don’t have the bandwidth. We listen to citizens who want fairness, not complexity. We listen to civil society groups who tell us, “This doesn’t reach our people – try again.”
We don’t just supply technology. We craft solutions. We work with governments, academics, and community leaders to implement systems that fit the society they’re intended for – we bridge the digital divide. Not in theory, not on paper, but in practice, on the ground, for the long haul.
The Illusion of Neutral Tech
Do you still think technology is neutral? It’s not. Algorithms reflect the choices of their makers. Systems mirror the values of those who build them. And if those values skew toward profit, speed, and monopolization, we get what we have now: AI policies made in backrooms, biometric databases without consent, and data extraction disguised as innovation.
As I said in my speech, “No single entity holds all the answers. Technology is developing nowadays much faster than our multilateral discussions that follow it.” You can call that frustrating, but it’s also a wake-up call. We don’t have time for more summits that produce declarations without deadlines. We need quick wins and those wins require us to compromise.
And yes, I know, compromise is a “dirty” word in some circles. But it’s the only way we build something that lasts. Governments must foreground transparency and access. Companies like mine must scale affordable solutions that aren’t just for those who can pay. Civil society must advocate fiercely but also exercise patience where real partnership is happening.
Tackling Digital Divide: Talking About Trust
When Kenya or Tanzania partnered with private firms to build mobile money systems that now support millions, they didn’t just create apps. They created trust. And trust is the currency of digital governance. You don’t get it by issuing a new platform. You earn it – one secure login, one successful transaction, one citizen-centered feature at a time.
Trust comes when citizens know they’re not just data points. When they see systems respond to their needs and reflect their dignity. When they know the digital state sees them as more than a burden or a potential fraudster. At The RegTech, we work every day to make that a reality. And we do it without fanfare, without promises we can’t keep, and without compromising integrity for expediency.
The Choice Before Us
And there is the big question I posed on stage: Will we be the generation that bridged the digital divide, or the one that deepened it?
Because let’s be honest: the tools are already here. The expertise is sitting in meeting rooms, waiting to be heard. The private sector, at least the part that cares, is ready to work. What we lack is coordination and political will.
I don’t say this as an observer. I say it as a practitioner. As someone who’s been on the ground in Middle East, Rwanda, Serbia. As someone who has seen what happens when systems work – and when they don’t. And I can tell you: nothing about this is theoretical. It is daily life. It is access to services, to rights, to hope. We don’t need another summit to restate what we already know. We need to put “boots” on the ground, code into systems, training into institutions, and trust into the DNA of digital governance.
Tackling Digital Divide: One Last Thing
Finally, this is not charity. This is strategy. When citizens believe in their digital institutions, they use them. When they use them, systems get better, fraud declines, compliance increases, and society flourishes. This is not just the right thing to do – it’s the smart thing to do.
So yes, The RegTech is a business. But it’s one that dares to align profit with purpose. And we’re not alone. We’re part of a growing wave of private sector actors who understand that long-term value comes from inclusive, responsible, and equitable digital governance.
This isn’t idealism. It’s realism. Because there’s no lasting innovation without public trust. No durable system without shared accountability. No meaningful progress without all hands – government, civil society, private sector – on deck.
So the next time someone says digital governance is a luxury, tell them this: luxuries don’t build democracies. Infrastructure does. Equity does. Integrity does. And that’s what we’re here to build.
Founder of The RegTech, focused on inclusive digital policies and scalable solutions through multilateral collaboration for global governance and development.
