Stephen GbolagadeGrowths in Africa’s tech industry: Between 2016 and 2018, Africa’s tech industry grew by 50% while countries like Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Egypt, and a few others are listed as the most thriving in Africa’s tech industry.
From 2018 to date, a lot has happened!
Gone are those days when Africa was viewed as a continent of ‘potential scammers’ and a hub of poor people. Of course, we still have a lot to do in making African countries meet up with the world’s giants and that’s what technology has been doing for us.
Africa’s tech industry has been making waves in recent times and the world has come to realize these improvements. making them invest in our business ideas and innovations.
According to Briter Bridges, “Technology is the next big thing in Africa”.
Let’s talk about the top 10 growths we have seen in Africa’s tech industry over the last 10 years;
The Unicorns
A unicorn is any startup that is valued at or more than One Billion US Dollars ($1Bn).
About ten years ago Africa had no single unicorn. But, in recent times the continent could account for more than seven great unicorns. This does not only signify growth, but it also spells a prosperous future for upcoming startups.
The 9 unicorns operating in Africa are as follows:
- Jumia: A eCommerce giant across Africa, launched in 2012 and is valued at $1bn
- Fawry: The first unicorn in Egypt, currently valued at $2bn
- Esusu: A wealth tech startup from Nigeria operating in the US is currently valued at $1bn
- Interswitch: Nigeria’s digital payments king, currently valued at $1bn
- Flutterwave: Founded in 2016 by Olugbenga Agboola (“GB”) and Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, Flutterwave is valued at $1bn
- Andela: A startup that connects talents with companies founded in 2014 is valued at $1.5bn
- Wave: Wave not “Flutterwave” is a mobile money provider from Senegal, valued at $1.7bn
- Opay: A Nigerian-owned fintech company currently valued at $2bn
- Chipper cash: Another Fintech startup founded by Ugandan and Ghanian tech guys is valued at $2bn
It happened so fast, right? Well, expect more Unicorns from Africa as the continent is massively utilizing technology to solve problems.
Silicon Savannah
The world respects Silicon Valley as a tech city where ideas and innovations are brought to life.
Well, in the last decade, Africa has had its own tech cities. Almost all tech giants like Google, Facebook, Netflix, Twitter, Microsoft, and Apple have all opened offices in Africa.
This is a strong signal that the world is seeing growth in Africa’s tech industry and economy.
It is notable that silicon savannah is but one corner of Africa’s tech movement. Oh, Silicon Valley is still a renowned tech city we still don’t have yet in Africa.
But let me gist you;
Iyinoluwa Aboyeji of Future Africa, and the co-founder of two of the unicorns listed above (Flutterwave and Andela), is currently building one! Yes, he is building Africa’s first tech city, just like Silicon valley.
It’s just day 1, expect more growth in Africa’s tech industry.
Teledensity
Teledensity simply means telephone density. It is a measurement of the percentage of people with telephones in a country.
I remember when I was in secondary school (about 8 years ago), few of us had mobile phones and mobile phones then were 98% “button phones or Java phones” as they were called.
But recently, the story has changed! The continual increase in teledensity in Africa shows how Africans are fast embracing technology.
Teledensity in Africa has increased from 63% – 107% in the last decade. This is equivalent to over 43 million new users. The Trend is replicated across the continent.
The Mobile Ecosystem
Do you remember when you had to take valuable stuff to the post office because you wanted to send it to someone in another city? Well, I don’t know.
But I remember we used to write letters and send them to a family member through someone traveling. The increase in teledensity solves this as you can email or send messages to anybody anytime via messengers like WhatsApp.
Aside from the fact that people are using mobile phones to communicate, it is affecting every area of our life. The continent has seen growth in the adoption of tech-enabled mobile applications in areas like money transfers (Fintechs), e-commerce, agriculture, entertainment, and many more.
You don’t need to waste your money and time just in the bank just because you want to send or withdraw money, you don’t need to visit a theater or buy discs before you see a movie and many other things that technology has made possible in the continent.
Africa now rivals any other part of the world in the adoption of enterprises and innovations being created on mobile.
Tech Talent and Potential
Africa relied majorly on industrialization, education, and the “grace of God” before someone could make it. But with the growth in Africa’s tech industry, we have many other options!
An article published in The Wall Street Journal by Gary Beach says by 2025, every Chief Information Officer will hire talents from Africa.
Africa has grown a lot in the availability of talents in the continent. African developers can compete even at the global level. Africa is emerging as a significant source of software engineering talent.
Africa is a continent of over one billion people, but the most impressive fact is that Africa is the third world’s youngest continent in the world with more people falling in the age range of 16 to 24 years old. And these GenZs are adopting one or more technical skills.
Tiffany Nash calls Africa India 2.0 and this is true. She says “the talent potential of Africa 2015 is similar to the talent potential of India in 1995”.
Quick reminder: India was the world’s capital of poverty, but no longer. Nigeria is now the capital poverty of the world.
But what helped India scale through, and become one of the countries with the biggest economy in the world? Tech!
With the increase in tech talents in Africa building and shipping products, Kenya, an African country is able to make it to the top list of Global competitive report 2015-2016 topping India!
Jeremy Johnson, the co-founder of Andela (an African unicorn startup that connects talents with companies) said “There are a staggering number of extraordinarily bright people (in Africa) who just don’t have a path to the global economy”.
Yes, talents and potentials are fast increasing in Africa over the last decade, thanks to startups like Andela, Turing, Tunga, TalentQL, and many others connecting them to the world.
This, of course, shows growth in the African tech industry because a few years ago, how many people know about writing code in Africa? Very few.
Growth of talent accelerators
With the increase of talents in Africa, we need to connect them to the “global economy” according to Jeremy of Andela. But who is going to help us?
The good news, is we don’t need to rely on a “foreign” freelancing marketplace where getting jobs is like gambling, you can win or not.
Talent accelerators like Andela, Decagon, AltSchool, Univelcity, and more aim to create pathways for careers in tech in Africa. These programs are helping to turn Africa into a source of global talent in tech.
If you are a total beginner and want to get into tech, we have accelerators for starters too. We have the likes of Zuri.team (Start.ng and HNG internship), Kodecamp, SideHustle, and many others.
African Women in Tech
Do you remember when they used to say “(African) women belong in the kitchen”…?
Well, the story has changed as we have more African women disrupting the tech ecosystem in Africa. Among them, we have CEOs, Co-founders, and executives of Startups. For instance, we have Ire Aderinokun of Buycoins Africa (Helicarrier Studio), Jumoke Dada of Taiello, Miishe Andy of JetStream Africa, and many more women doing amazing things in Africa’s tech industry. (Check this article on Benjamindada.com about 40 outstanding African women in tech)
According to UNESCO, the percentage of African women in tech is 30% which is more than the global percentage of 28%. This growth comes from a coordinated action to involve women and girls in tech on the continent.
Gen Z in Africa’s Tech
Generation Z (Gen Z) is classified as those born between 1997- 2012. This generation unlike other generations before them are digital natives i.e first generation does not live a life without technological devices. Technology has afforded Gen Zers different learning styles and tools.
In a continent like Africa where 60% of the population are Gen Zs, they have been able to use tech to do things that no other generation before them could; thereby putting Africa in the limelight regarding technology.
Few African Gen Zs disrupting the tech industry includes but are not limited to:
- @njokuscript – CEO of Lazarpay (19 years old)
- @eni4sure – GenZ techies and Frelapay (18 years old)
- @heypleasant – CEO of Zeddpay and Aeroseeds Africa (17 years old)
- @Nathan – CEO of Klas (18 years old)
We have a lot of Gen Zs who are building low-key while some others are working with big companies across the world.
Building a product in this age requires at least considering these GenZs.
Tech in Africa’s Education
Covid-19 hits the world, and we are still feeling the impact to date. Countries like the USA, China, and other big countries in the world had little to no fear about how their education will be affected because they have a working system.
Most African countries also have made advanced progress in education with the help of technology. We have ed-Tech startups like Edukoya, uLession, and some others who focus on teaching students online on various levels, just download the app and you are good to go!
Technology has made a great deal in modern education in Africa and still breaking great walls and making headways.
Tech in Africa’s business
In Africa where 80% of the career opportunities are informal, tech has helped in digitizing informal trade with tools to support logistics, management, and operations for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises.
These Growths and many more will serve as a guide to project into Africa’s future. Among the 30 fastest growing cities in technology, 21 of them are in Africa. The International Finance Corporation estimates that by 2030 there will be 230 million jobs that require a reasonable level of digital skill.
BONUS
The health sector has seen improvement with the rate at which med-Tech startups are increasing. If you need assistance in the area of health or health insurance, you don’t really need to start looking for doctors or medical professionals who are busy in their hospitals, just take your mobile phone and visit platforms like Healthtracka, Famasi, Cassava, Reliance HMO and many other MedTech startups in Africa.
Conclusion: 10 Growth in Africa’s Tech Industry
Imagine what the growth in Africa’s tech industry in the next 10 years will be… It’s going to be massive right?
Yeah, technology is fast growing in Africa today. If you are an African, this is a call for you to get into tech to be part of those making impacts and driving our continents to the world. You don’t need to quit whatever you are doing right now, you can use tech to make it more note-worthy.
If you are thinking of learning a skill that would catapult you into tech, check these digital skills mentioned here.
If you are not an African, bet on African talents and you will not regret it.
Cheers to the next 10 years of us celebrating more growth in Africa’s tech industry ?
Stephen Gbolagade
Stephen Olgade