There are significantly greater rewards for Africa if our development policy is attuned to ensuring that the efficiency gains and commercial advantages attributed to the digital economy are effectively captured and reinvested within the local economy. (Image: Adobestock) Less Information and communication technologies have not only altered the way we work, learn, play and live, but also expose who we are, and our habits and patterns. The reach is impressive but terrifying, and who controls that information is key to the future stability of African economies. Data is the new oil, but, unlike oil, data is infinite.
A decade ago, African agricultural vendors had to use phones, emails and interprovincial bus drivers to place orders. Now they can order fresh produce from farmers using an app on their smartphones. And they can easily trace all agents in the supply chain. This is not just a win for consumers but also for farmers. Farmers can now easily manage quantity, quality and customer satisfaction at fairer prices than they previously got from the early morning hustle and bustle of haggling with middlemen.
This is the offering that companies like Twiga – a mobile-based application – bring to the market in Kenya, connecting small and medium-sized vendors in Nairobi to farmers to secure fresh fruit and vegetable produce.
Tech-empowered agricultural solutions have the potential to revolutionise African agriculture and increase gains to its agricultural value chain, enhancing the lives of African farmers, over 50% of the continent’s population.
Over the past two decades, Africa has benefited from the application of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to economic and social issues. Across the continent, dozens of technology hubs and incubators fostering local ICT4D (ICT for development) entrepreneurship have sprung up. For many of these (think Impact Hub Accra; Khayelitsha Bandwidth Barn, Cape Town; and Swahilipot, Mombasa, etc), the focus has largely been on improving connectivity, growing network coverage, boosting the adoption of devices and providing access for many, including the so-called bottom of the pyramid (BoP) with innovative applications aimed especially at integrating informal micro and small-scale entrepreneurs into more established formal financial and business networks.
Innovations such as mobile money, ride-sharing applications and tech-empowered trading platforms are praised for their contributions towards reduced transaction costs, creating jobs and increasing efficiency and incomes for previously excluded economic actors.
Take Safaricom’s M-Pesa, for instance. Pre-Covid-19, some 96% of Kenyan households outside Nairobi had at least one M-Pesa account. […]
