Lee Hogan Tech hubs are arising all throughout Africa. In Rwanda, the government has made it an effort to power information and verbal exchange era get entry to, with the view of taking benefit of the information age for its 11 million human beings. Apart from Rwanda, there are hubs in Nairobi, and some taking shape in Uganda, and plenty of different nations. For instance, at Makerere University, students from the computing and information technology department increase apps and promote them inside the Samsung and Google app shops. However, these apps are downloaded and used by people primarily out of Africa. I have exact some of reasons as to why it’s miles like this below and also cautioned some viable solutions;
Smartphone Penetration
According to bizcommunity.Com, global adoption of smartphones has reportedly topped 1000000000 handsets. And, in at least 30 countries, at the least 1/2 of all mobile surfers are the usage of smartphones, with Japan topping the listing at eighty-two % penetration observed through Switzerland and Kuwait both at 80%. In Africa, but, Egypt tops the list at 37%, with East African gamers like Tanzania and Kenya at thirteen% and 12% respectively in the top 5. The telephone model has been low to date, that is because of the excessive expenses of these gadgets. The get entry to smartphones could make it smooth for human beings to get admission to on line content material consisting of virtual items, and news inside the convenience in their houses. Following this, it’d be less complicated to turn those human beings into customers and sellers.
However, this is starting to change as low price devices are hitting the market. For instance in Uganda, you could get a telephone from Techno at less than $50, and prices are predicted to go down in addition.
Digital Divide
Digital divide clearly refers to the shortage of capabilities to utilize the effective facts and communications tools that a person might also own. As an instance, I should have a smartphone, but once I am only using it for voice calls. If I can not use it to text an SMS or to access the net because I do now not understand how to do it, then that is what is known as the virtual divide. This is a not unusual state of affairs in Africa, wherein a number of human beings have access to very powerful equipment but lack the essential talents to absolutely harness the capacity of that equipment. The main cause for that is high illiteracy rates, as many people nevertheless can not study and write. Language is likewise some other big barrier right here. Those whose reading competencies are confined to their nearby languages are correctly shut out.
However, with the advent of m-banking, telecom operators have hugely invested in advertising to help people take advantage of those gear. They have also given out loose facts packages in order that human beings benefit interest in using the internet, as in the example Airtel Uganda and MTN Uganda. I accept as true with that this can go a long way in addressing the virtual divide issue, but more needs to be accomplished.
South Africa is one of the most technologically superior countries in Africa, but -thirds of its adults have in no way used the Internet, in line with voanews.Com. The latest study with the aid of the South African Network Society survey – a studies business enterprise searching on the social impact of latest telecommunications networks and technologies in Africa – discovered that simplest 34% of South African adults use the Internet. That’s about 12 million people. What is occurring in South Africa is only a microcosm of what is happening in many components of the continent. The reasons for the dismal Internet statistics in Africa consist of; high-priced home net gets right of entry to because of lack of infrastructure, high cellular data prices among others. It is consequently hard to evaluate the viability of the digital marketplace on the continent because only a fraction of humans on the continent have access to the internet. The best hope right here is that international internet giants Facebook and Google have made it a part of their schedule to make net access a reality, and Google has already started out wearing out experiments in Africa.
Local Apps
According to Nicholas Rixon of Bizcommunity, “There is a need for neighborhood application developers to broaden apps mainly for the African market that resolve nearby problems and provide an application to the neighborhood market. The upward thrust of the cellular era has sold about a gold rush of cellular businesses trying to create the subsequent nice app for customers and companies. The marketplace is overrun with international packages, a lot of which do no longer upload value inside the African context. Local purchasers are searching out apps that assist them of their day by day sports to remedy nearby troubles and growth their effectiveness” This assertion wraps it up, there is a need for improvement of apps by way of Africans solving simply neighborhood African issues. This will assist power mass model, similar to m-pesa turned into capable of doing in Kenya, and as a result, many folks who had been formerly unbanked now have access to mobile banking offerings.
Easier Money Exchange Platform
I strongly accept as true with that nothing improved the boom of eCommerce in Europe and North America more than the emergence PayPal. In Africa nowadays, the story remains one of a kind. People in North Africa and the Middle East use an online price gadget called cash. In sub-Saharan Africa, many human beings are nonetheless unbanked, and there is no opportunity alternative for sporting out virtual transactions. When you read forums of builders from across the location, many of them are complaining that they find it too tough in an effort to cash in for their efforts. A money trade platform that is reasonably-priced enough and less difficult to use need to be developed.