If there is a gift that the world has given to Africa, it is the internet and with this, the unlimited ways in which to make life easier.
The internet and by extension the technology that comes with it, has helped in moving the continent towards creating solutions for day to day living instead of waiting for parachuted aid.
From getting farm produce to the marketplace to creating solutions that are ground-breaking in the health sector, the internet has enabled and propelled the hitherto jettisoned continent into spaces even the so-called developed countries wish to occupy.
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Looking at some of the amazing things that the tech space in Africa has created include the world-renowned M-Pesa which has transformed how people transact not only in Kenya but across the continent and globally in different ways and formats.
And as the world progressively becomes a village where even viruses and disease are spreading faster than days of yore, technology will push Africa to self-actualisation. By creating home-grown solutions, the tech space is the go-to which will thrust Africa to the independence that has eluded it for centuries earning it the Dark Continent moniker.
For starters, the 4th Industrial Revolution will create close to US$3.7 trillion in value for the manufacturing sector across the globe.
In Africa, technology’s impact continues through breakthrough advances recorded in sectors such as healthcare, agriculture, energy, education and telecommunication. In the tech space, the continent’s rapid growth indicates a positive shift towards the 4th Industrial Revolution which is largely driven by the digital, biological, and physical innovations convergence.
For Africa to reap from this convergence, it needs to prepare itself through adequate policies and the private sector’s readiness through industrial development, digitalization and greater integration.
Prof Victor Harrison, African Union Commissioner for Economic Affairs, notes that this readiness will result in greater opportunities for Africa’s growing youthful populations.
In 2018, Google opened its first African Artificial Intelligence research laboratory in Accra, Ghana to address economic, environmental and political challenges on the continent.
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By offering innovative solutions in education, health and ecology among other sectors, UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay says artificial intelligence can help the continent’s rapid advance towards achieving the SDGs.
Africa has risen
For probably the first time in recent history, Africa has become one of the continents whose tech sector has been exploited as the world seeks treatment for the Covid-19 coronavirus.
Institut Pasteur de Dakar, will manufacture rapid test kits for coronavirus at the DiaTropix, in Dakar, Senegal.
The new custom-built facility is for epidemics-related innovations and Senegal is well placed to produce the handheld device which can diagnose Covid-19 in 10 minutes.
Working with British biotech firm, Mologic, the coronavirus test kit which is expected to be ready in June will be validated by specialists from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, the University of London, the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the University of Malaya and Fiocruz in Brazil.
Instead of waiting for help with the coronavirus pandemic as has been the norm, tech has become the solution for African problems and challenges brought about by the viral outbreak and African countries have adopted ways to limit transmission of the virus.
First, Kenya started with the shift from cash transactions to mobile money and incentivised the move by removing charges for transactions valued at US$ 10 and less. Ghana followed suit later while other countries seem to be catching up.
In Nigeria, a free online tool, the Covid-19 Triage Tool, was adopted to help users self-assess coronavirus risks. The tool guides users depending on their answers by offering remote medical advice.
South Africa turned to the popular WhatsApp chat service running an interactive chatbot which answers common queries about Covid-19.
Market sellers in Uganda have turned to the Market Garden app where they can sell their vegetables safely by limiting interactions between customers and sellers.
While these are just some of the home-grown solutions addressing the pandemic, the tech space in Africa can only get bigger and better.
In Kenya, a prototype ventilator is already in the works after Trade CS Betty Maina met the four young Kenyan innovators behind the model. The CS directed that the relevant government agencies give the innovators whatever they needed to develop the ventilators in the next 10 days.
Samuel Kairu Ndegwa, Dr Joseph Munyiri Nderitu, Paul Kariuki Kamau and Peter Kabue Ndegwa who came up with the ventilator prototype worked with the Kenya Industrial Development Institute (KIRDI) and other agencies to produce the ventilators.
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On the PPEs front, Kitui Governor Charity Ngilu who was health minister during Uhuru Kenyatta’s first term repurposed a textile factory in her county to start producing masks instead of relying on imports whose deliveries were limited due to global demand.
As it is, the Covid-19 coronavirus has become a blessing in disguise for Africa whose industries had collapsed due to reliance on Chinese supplies. With tech now available and without having to reinvent the wheel, the continent is one to watch especially over the post-coronavirus pandemic period.
