Lee Hogan Tech hubs are arising throughout Africa. In Rwanda, the government has made an effort to power information and verbal exchange era entry, taking advantage of the information age for its 11 million human beings. Apart from Rwanda, there are hubs in Nairobi, some taking shape in Uganda, and plenty of different nations. For instance, at Makerere University, computing and information technology students increase their use of apps and promote them inside the Samsung and Google app shops. However, these apps are downloaded and used by people outside Africa. I have some 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 least 1/2 of all mobile surfers use smartphones, with Japan topping the listing at eighty-two % penetration observed through Switzerland and Kuwait, both at 80%. Egypt tops the list in Africa 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 because of the excessive expenses of these gadgets. The entry to smartphones could make it smooth for human beings to get admission to online content consisting of virtual items and news inside the convenience of 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-priced devices hit the market. For instance, in Uganda, you could get a telephone from Techno for less than $50, and prices are predicted to go down further.
Digital Divide
The digital divide refers to the lack of capabilities to utilize effective facts and communication tools that a person might own. For instance, I should have a smartphone, but I am only used to voice calls. If I can not use it to text an SMS or to access the net because I do not understand how to do it now, then that is what is known as the virtual divide. This is a not unusual state of affairs in Africa, wherein several human beings have access to very powerful equipment but lack the essential talents to harness the capacity of that equipment capacity rates, as many people nevertheless can not study and write. Language is another big barrier 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 so that human beings, such as Airtel Uganda and MTN Uganda, can benefit from using the Internet. I accept as true that this can go a long way in addressing the virtual divide issue, but more needs to be accomplished.
South Africa is one of Africa’s most technologically superior countries, but -two-thirds of its adults have in no way used the Internet, which is in line with voanews.com. The latest study, with the aid of the South African Network Society survey – a business enterprise searching on the social impact of the latest telecommunications networks and technologies in Africa – discovered that 34approximatelyth 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 entryto because of lack of gettingathe structure, highllular 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 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 caused a gold rush of cellular businesses trying to create nice apps for customers and companies. The marketplace is overrun with international packages, many of which no longer upload value inside the African context. Local purchasers are searching out apps that assist them in their day-by-day sports to remedy nearby troubles and grow their effectiveness.” This assertion wraps it up; there is a need for improvement of apps by way of Africans solving simple neighborhood African issues. This will assist power mass model, similar to m-pesa turned inthe to capable of doing in Kenya,what and asismany folks who had been formerly unbanked now have access to mobile banking offerings.
Easier Money Exchange Platform
I strongly accept that nothing improved the boom of eCommerce in Europe and North America more than the emergence of 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 unbanked, and there is no alternative to sporting out virtual transactions. When you read forums of builders from across the location, many complain that they find it too tough to cash in for their efforts. A money trade platform that is reasonably priced enough and less difficult to use needs to be developed.