Interview Angela Wamola : “Digital development and technology lie at the heart of solving many issues faced in Africa”

Technology ecosystems across Africa have witnessed incredible growth over the past few years, with South Africa and Kenya leading the way, both homes to over 80 tech hubs. 

These tech hubs have a large backing from mobile operators and internet providers, who all have close relationships with the digital transformation space. For example, Orange has been setting up Orange Fab labs across Francophone Africa, while MTN and ICT infrastructure providers such as Liquid Telecom have also launched in-house tech hubs initiatives, like MTN Y’ello Startup in Abidjan, in several markets on the continent. African start-ups are also becoming increasingly appealing to an international audience, with the likes of Y Combinator, Startup Bootcamp, and Founders Factory shifting a greater presence to the continent.

A huge strength of African tech hubs is that they are fueling digitalisation across the region, offering the ability to connect African markets with the internal African ecosystem and wider world, while providing unmissable opportunities to drive innovation, economic growth and job creation in many sectors within the economy. They also provide great promise to the development of creative, and impactful solutions to both African-specific and global issues such as climate change, access to digital financial services and agricultural solutions, all of which ensure that a greater population can access, share and benefit from technology solutions.

However, challenges faced such as gaining investment capital, complying with multiple regulatory frameworks, and encouraging technology adoption, need addressing to ensure that Africa’s technology entrepreneurs in hubs across the region can fuel the continent’s digital transformation.

For us to grow and maintain these technology hubs, we are working with our members and other stakeholders to explore and offer initiatives and frameworks to support African startups to ensure they are as viable for success as possible.

Accelerating digital adoption is in our best interests as it brings undeniable benefits for reducing poverty across Africa, by providing greater access to education and the ability for people to apply for jobs and work remotely

There are several gaps that need addressing to reach the UN’s digital inclusion goals by 2030. These include the connectivity gap, by ensuring that mobile connectivity is available across all areas; the usage gap, ensuring that digital literacy and affordability barriers are overcome to enable people in the region to use these mobile connectivity services; and the gender gap, through policy and societal change which allow for greater adoption of smartphone and mobile internet use by the female population of Africa.

Addressing these barriers will bring huge opportunities to Africa from both a social and economic standpoint. For example, our most recent report predicts that from a global perspective, closing the gender gap will bring a value of $700 billion in GDP growth over the next five years.

Accelerating digital adoption is in all of our best interests as it brings undeniable benefits for reducing poverty across Africa, by providing greater access to education and the ability for people to apply for jobs and work remotely. One major benefit of this is that we will see fewer people leave rural areas in pursuit of employment, bringing strong socio-economic gains to all localities.

Digitalisation also brings huge economic interests for the region, as with greater innovation and enabling the broader population to participate within the digital economy, we can expect to see a much higher level of global investment into the booming African technology industry.

In order to facilitate digital adoption however, we must collectively demonstrate the value that it can have to citizens by building trust, offering educational and accessible resources for digital upskilling, and ensuring that governmental policies allow for all to participate within the digital economy.

The African technology scene is exciting with home-grown entrepreneurs developing innovative solutions to issues faced in Africa and local communities

The African technology scene is particularly exciting at the moment with home-grown entrepreneurs developing innovative solutions to specific issues faced in Africa and local communities.

One key way to unlock investment for startups is for governments and regulatory bodies to support the growing industry through policy and funding initiatives. Private-public partnerships are a strong way to unlock this investment for startups. By leveraging the expertise of the private sector and reassurance of the public sector, these models can provide stability, financial loans, grants and tax incentives through legislation. Within the African ecosystem, it is crucial that startups are represented as viable prior to seeking any external investment from the US for instance.

Digital development and technology lie at the heart of solving many issues faced in the region. Innovation from the likes of M-Pesa is enabling greater digital inclusion across the region, from offering financial services and healthcare access to the millions, which truly has the power to change lives and enable early entrepreneurs to thrive. The GSMA is also forming partnerships with the likes of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, for example, to work together to use mobile connectivity to track the spread of disease.

One of the most exciting prospects in the region is the rise and growth of African entrepreneurs who have the greatest experience and understanding of region-specific issues, such as the impacts of climate change on farming, economic crises on finances and the need for more accessible education, which empowers them to develop new and bespoke solutions.

Technology investment holds the power of digital inclusion, economic benefits and social development in Africa

We see huge opportunity for African technology advancement and investment into the African landscape. Africa is recognised as the world’s next biggest digital economy, with an expected investment in tech across the region to rise from $115bn to $712bn over the next 25 years.

Technology investment holds the power of digital inclusion, economic benefits and social development in Africa which will further fuel innovation through widespread digital connections and greater educational resources. Over the next decade, we expect to see a concerted effort from the stakeholder ecosystem across Africa and beyond to continue the continent’s digital inclusion and development efforts.