Jun 16, 2026 · 39 min · 12 segments
The cables that carry most of the world’s data, the shipping lanes that carry its energy and goods, and the satellites that keep its financial systems running were all built on the assumption that the…
Jasmin BaoumyHost
Mark Malloch BrownHost
Sal MercoglianoGuest
Parag KhannaGuest
Elisabeth BrawGuest
This was a problem he wouldn't let drop, because he felt that without better access to the Internet, Africa would continue to fall further behind the rest of the world.
Kofi had seen how across a whole range of economic revolutions in modern centuries that Africa had typically been left behind, left out.
That's my co-host and former UN deputy secretary-general under Kofi Annan, Mark Malloch Brown.
And he was particularly interested in small farmers in Africa, who are a good example.
Could they get data on prices for what they were producing so that they weren't screwed by the middleman? Could they get, you know, warnings about weather that might be coming and which might put their crops in jeopardy?
Otherwise, the communications revolution was going to put Africa even further behind the rest of the world.
Some leaders in Africa felt that Annan had his priorities backwards, and some of the Silicon Valley folks agreed.
There was a famous debate that I had in Seattle in, I think, 2001 with Bill Gates where, you know, Bill dissed all of this and aligned himself with those people who felt get basic development right first.
And so Mark found himself trying to convince Bill Gates, the guy who made a fortune with Microsoft, that computers and the Internet were key to economic development in Africa.
Annan pushed back against the critics and said that the Internet wasn't a luxury.
To the point where they could have clean water, or they could pay for decent education for their kids or healthcare, et cetera.
Annan realized that the UN couldn't lay hundreds of thousands of kilometers of cable.
No, I mean, look, the UN was an enabler, you know, and this really was very much Kofi's thing, convening all the different parties in a very informal way, not to sort of write new laws, uh, not to have the UN start getting in the business of laying out cable or infrastructure, but to just stimulate interest and demand, to overcome the regulatory obstacles, and to just allow solutions to flourish and find themselves by having the right people in the room.
This was a problem he wouldn't let drop, because he felt that without better access to the Internet, Africa would continue to fall further behind the rest of the world.
Kofi had seen how across a whole range of economic revolutions in modern centuries that Africa had typically been left behind, left out.
That's my co-host and former UN deputy secretary-general under Kofi Annan, Mark Malloch Brown.
And he was particularly interested in small farmers in Africa, who are a good example.
Could they get data on prices for what they were producing so that they weren't screwed by the middleman? Could they get, you know, warnings about weather that might be coming and which might put their crops in jeopardy?
Otherwise, the communications revolution was going to put Africa even further behind the rest of the world.
Some leaders in Africa felt that Annan had his priorities backwards, and some of the Silicon Valley folks agreed.
There was a famous debate that I had in Seattle in, I think, 2001 with Bill Gates where, you know, Bill dissed all of this and aligned himself with those people who felt get basic development right first.
And so Mark found himself trying to convince Bill Gates, the guy who made a fortune with Microsoft, that computers and the Internet were key to economic development in Africa.
Annan pushed back against the critics and said that the Internet wasn't a luxury.
To the point where they could have clean water, or they could pay for decent education for their kids or healthcare, et cetera.
Annan realized that the UN couldn't lay hundreds of thousands of kilometers of cable.
No, I mean, look, the UN was an enabler, you know, and this really was very much Kofi's thing, convening all the different parties in a very informal way, not to sort of write new laws, uh, not to have the UN start getting in the business of laying out cable or infrastructure, but to just stimulate interest and demand, to overcome the regulatory obstacles, and to just allow solutions to flourish and find themselves by having the right people in the room.
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