11 December 2017
Africa is full of possibilities and great potentials. At least, we all know about that. Even if you did not notice it, the west has and they are all scrambling to have a share in the pie but the party just got started.
It wasn’t always like this. If we were to look back in time 10 years back maybe more, Africa seems to be a dumping ground for the whites, all we did was consume everything that came from them. We saw any and everything with the label made in China, Germany, Ireland or the USA as authentic and of high value to be trusted and anything that comes from Africa as inferior and must be scrutinized seriously with a third eye. I speak of the digital space as I write.
It was unheard of when you begin to talk about great technological inventions and products or company non would come to mind as all we did was consume what was created by the west and other developed countries alike while our brains sleep to the lullaby of laziness and short-sightedness.
Fast forward to 2017, African startups are changing the global narrative about Africa and how people do business, interact, relax and socialize in Africa. We can boast of great startup making global impacts whose roots are African and the tech community globally has recognized that Africa is no longer a dumping ground nor consumers as it were but they are now a vital part of building a better global tech community and creators of innovative solutions for the global audience to consume too.
This year, the Africa tech space and Nigeria, witness the visit and support of global tech giants from Mark Zuckerberg visiting Nigeria and Kenya and investing in Andela, African coding accelerator, a global tech company founded by a Nigerian, Iyinoluwa Aboyeji. The investment was up to the sum of US$24 million through Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. the CEO of Google, Sundar Pichai also visiting Nigeria and Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella. All three global tech giants have all set foot on Nigerian soil recently. Africa really is becoming the future hub of global growth. Global investment companies and venture capitalist are all backing Nigerian and African startups. That means a lot to us and shows us that we have gained global recognition and cannot be ignored by the world again.
We now export world-class developers to the world to build world-class products for the world to consume, remember we were once the consumers now we are also creating.
Many great tech startups are changing the game and making Africa proud as they develop unique products to address the unique challenges faced by Africans. No one can better build a solution to Africa’s problem better than Africans. From hotel.ng to paystack, piggybank, interswitch, irokotv, cchub, flutterwave, konga, jumia, cars45, Dealdey, Andela, niarabox, farmcrowdy, techpoint, techcabal, paga, Printivo, jobberman, techquery and a host of other tech startups around Nigeria and Africa which we have not heard of but they are helping solve the Africa problem in a global way.
One thing anyone cannot deny is the rising focus on the continent’s digital economy and it is clear. We are rewriting the history of Africa, we are changing the conversation, we are taking the world by surprise. We are no longer all about foreign aids, 419 and cyber crimes or prostitution. We are more now, exporting the best talents and products to the world. This reminds me of the Celestine Omin saga, where the west, never believed a Nigerian could be a software expert but all that is changing today. We are rewriting the African story and we are doing that, one line of code at a time.
P:S -We might not be all we should be today, but we have come a long way and the tech space is playing a major role. What are your thoughts on this?
Justus Inspire
Is a Gamified UX Designer
