He is appointed just one year after assuming the position of general secretary of the same agency he will oversee. In his new position, he will have to address several challenges to make the domestic ICT market more attractive to investors and boost digital adoption.  

Inoussa Traore (photo) is, since May 18, the new executive director of Burkina Faso’s Agency for the Promotion of Information and Communication Technologies (ANPTIC).  A research professor in economics, innovation, and ICT, he is the fifth executive director to preside over ANPTIC's destinies since its creation in 2014. 

In May 2021, when he was appointed ANPTIC executive secretary, Inoussa Traore commented that there were significant challenges facing Burkina Faso’s digital transformation plans. He also hoped the ICT promotion agency would be up to par with expectations. Now that he is at the helm, he will have the chance to make his wish come true. 

The new executive director has a doctorate in economic science obtained from Thomas Sankara University (formerly Ouaga II University), in 2019. He began his professional career in 2008 with Yam Pukri Association, an association specialized in training and consulting in the ICT sector.  In 2012, he was appointed the head of the International Institute for Water and Environmental Engineering (2iE) program aimed at building the capacities of rural electrification actors and operators in West Africa. Five years later, he joined the Moving Energy Initiative (MEI 2), as a project coordinator, to improve access to electricity services and products in  Burkina Faso’s Sahel region and refugee camps. 

Since 2014, he is a professor and researcher at Joseph Ki-Zerbo University. He is also a member of the coordination team of the university’s incubator (Incubuo). He is notably in charge of entrepreneurship and management support issues. 

In 2020, Mr. Inoussa initiated the FabLab university project selected among the 92 projects that were to benefit from the €1 million Fund set up by the Francophone University Agency to support member universities amid the coronavirus pandemic.  

Melchior Koba