7 - The New Oil

Summary

Sub-Saharan Africa has seen an extraordinary technological take-up. As recently as a decade ago, fewer than 5 per cent of sub-Saharan Africans had access to the Internet but by December 2020, approximately 85 per cent of Kenyans and 73 per cent of Nigerians had internet access. Growing connectivity is empowering a generation with opportunities that would have been unthinkable a little as 10 years ago. Young sub-Saharan Africans are using tech-based solutions across agriculture, education, finance, healthcare and infrastructure, to develop African economies at lower cost and faster speed. The use of smartphones, which enable greater use of mobile technology, is also growing. Nigeria’s mobile economy is set to grow by 19 per cent between 2019 and 2025 – the highest rate in Sub-Saharan Africa, which is the fastest-growing mobile technology region in the world. Mobile technologies and services generated 9 per cent of GDP in sub-Saharan Africa in 2019 – a contribution that amounted to more than US$155 billion of economic value and supported almost 3.8 million jobs. This reflects the fact that in some areas – such as the mobile financial sector – sub-Saharan Africa has become a global leader.