The rise of tech hubs
It is an open secret that Africa is a key region on the globe, with great strategic value and economic potential, and this reality has not been overlooked by tech giants around the world that see Africa as the next hub of tech business activity and development.
Google and The World Bank are among the many international companies and institutions that have decided to take advantage of this African reality and are investing in technological “Tech” hubs to foster growth in Africa.
Tech hubs are the gathering place for entrepreneurs, developers’ students to meet, learn and build products that are in demand around the world, and provide students with a space for training, mentoring, business tools and financial sponsorships.
According to GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator, a company that has been researching tech hubs in African countries, 50% of the tech hubs are concentrated in 5 countries (South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Egypt and Morocco), but almost each of the other African countries have at least one or two active tech hubs.
The rise of tech hubs has had tremendous benefit by way of increased foreign investment in the technological industry across the African continent, furthermore, a high number of start-ups have been birthed as a result of these hubs, resulting in the rise of self-employment and facilitating the augmentation of the various countries’ economic growth.
According to Tech-crunch, more than 150 start-ups have launched out of Kenya’s iHub. MEST’s Incubator seed fund program, created out of Ghana’s Meltwater IT academy.
Africa’s tech leaders are receiving Google for Entrepreneurs guidance through Nigeria’s Co-Creation Hub(CcHub).
The rise of tech hubs demands keen interest as it shows the truth of the adage, if you give a man a fish you feed him for a day, but if you teach him how to fish you feed him for the rest of his life.
These hubs offer training and support in the technological and ICT spheres, equipping young entrepreneurs with the skills to start and sustain their own businesses and entrepreneurial ventures.
In addition, these hubs have managed to solve the problems affecting the day-to-day lives of the inhabitants of these countries.
In Nigeria, Life Bank was able to create a network that applies smart technology to build an efficient blood system across sub-Saharan Africa through an enterprise marketplace that links hospitals with blood banks.
Another innovative solution is GRIT Systems which develops web-enabled technology for controlling and gathering data about household & commercial electrical power consumption, all of which are accessible on cell phone.
These innovations will soon launch Africa onto a global platform, as it is only a matter of time until great global solutions will come out of Africa. This can disrupt the perception of an Africa, which seems to have nothing to offer.
For now, all eyes remain on Africa and her growing ‘technovations.
