Internet infrastructures are compensating for the lack of physical infrastructures in Africa and digital ventures are providing the long-awaited technology that’s helping the most towards reducing social and economic disparities in African countries.
Countries like Kenia, Nigeria, Morocco, and Ghana are leading the way in the development of digital hubs that are accelerating growth in Africa. According to the World Bank, the digital transformation in Africa can lead to an annual growth increase of almost 2% and to the reduction of poverty of 1% annually in Sub-Saharan regions.
Africa can import digital strategies that are known to work
Take, for instance, the online gaming industry. In the United States alone, the online casino industry has risen to levels that have made the online version of games like blackjack, poker, and slot machines even more popular than their physical counterparts.
Games like slots can be greatly enhanced online with amazing graphics and animations that catch the human eye and that result in a great way of entertainment. Add this to the infinite possibilities that the digital environment offers to casino gaming platforms such as credit card payment, mobile device compatibility, and promotions such as free spins, that allow users to start playing games without even using their own money.
Many of these practices can be applied to other digital ventures, and African startups and companies shouldn’t be afraid of importing online strategies that have proven to work in more mature markets such as the United States.
It isn’t copying, but rather understanding that the business ecosystem in Africa doesn’t necessarily need to invent anything. If the industry has already gone from A to B, it’s better to start from B and from there find your own way.
The private and public sectors must work together
Entrepreneurial push is not enough if the objective is to have a long-lasting effect on African economies. Governmental action must go toe-to-toe and invest in promoting new businesses and a proper entrepreneurial ecosystem.
In the capital of Morocco, Casablanca, the Casanearshore project is the best example of this. This entrepreneurial hub concentrates on more than 80 companies that work in the offshore sector and is today the biggest business park in Africa.
Casanearshore has managed to integrate the public sector interests as well by using public investments to develop projects like electronic administration, electronic governance, carpooling initiatives, and digital services for company employees.
Startups are the way to go forward
The startup phenomenon has also reached Africa. Nigeria is one of the countries that’s experiencing the fastest growth of new startups on the continent.
The economical capital of Nigeria, Lagos, is home to one of the biggest digital hubs in Africa. Known as Yabacon Valley, foreign companies such as Facebook and Google have opened startup incubators and the physical closeness of so many new companies is promoting the trade of knowledge and digital know-how.
Startups like Jumia have already raised more than 800 thousand million dollars. Jumia is an e-commerce platform that provides consumers with convenient and affordable online goods and services. We could say it’s the African Amazon, as it has also developed an intricate logistics model and even an online payment tool called JumiaPay.
Just like Jumia, there are many other examples of successful companies, and we should cite Flutterwave as well. This is an example of a startup in the fintech companies’ sector, one that’s providing many business solutions for the African people. In the case of Flutterwave, it was founded by former employees of the biggest financial companies such as PayPal, Standard Bank or Google Wallet. Flutterwave has become one of the fastest-growing payment companies in the world and has processed almost 2 billion dollars in payments.
Technology will provide life-changing solutions
2019 marked the year that Google opened its artificial intelligence research center in Accra, Ghana.
The objective of this center is to tackle African issues in the areas of agriculture and health care, two of the most concerning industries in the continent.
Agriculture accounts for up to 80% of an African country’s GDP and the sanitary issues in this continent are known to be the cause of the rapid spread of diseases.
Researchers in the AI center of Accra are developing technologies to detect early signs of crop diseases for example or in the health care sector, looking for early signs of breast cancer.
The potential gains in such countries with little to no access to proper health care services are substantial.