PS2 Speaker | InF13 Speaker

Cina LAWSON is Minister of Posts, Digital Economy, and Technological Innovation of Togo. Drawing from her over 15 years of experience and expertise in telecommunications policy and regulation, she is leading Togo through a profound transition to an inclusive digital economy. Lawson began her career at the World Bank in Washington, DC where she worked on telecom restructuring projects in developing countries focusing on regulatory reforms. She went on to become a Manager of Corporate Strategy and Business Development at the Orange Group in New York City, and later at Alcatel-Lucent in Paris. Her initiatives as minister have included diversifying private participation in the telecoms sector, spearheading regulatory reforms for data protection and electronic transactions, setting up an innovation hub as well as pushing for the deployment of high-speed fibre broadband to link key institutions, including all public universities in the country. In 2012, Forbes magazine ranked her among the 20 most powerful young women in Africa and in 2019, Lawson became the first African woman political figure to receive the Harvard Alumni Public Service Award. She is a fervent advocate of innovative solutions to Africa’s developmental challenges and sits on the advisory board of the Digital Identity, Trade and Economy Initiative of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. She is a graduate of Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government and Sciences Po Paris.