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| Africa and the tech revolution: what's holding back the mobile continent? – podcast transcript | Africa and the tech revolution: what's holding back the mobile continent? – podcast transcript |
| (25 days later) | |
| Reporter and presenter: | Reporter and presenter: |
| CNC Clár Ní Chonghaile | CNC Clár Ní Chonghaile |
| Interviewees: | Interviewees: |
| VL Viola Llewellyn | VL Viola Llewellyn |
| TD Tomi Davies | TD Tomi Davies |
| SH Stephen Haggard | SH Stephen Haggard |
| CNC It’s London technology week and today I’m at the Africa technology business forum; a one-day conference showcasing technology opportunities that are unfolding across the African continent. | CNC It’s London technology week and today I’m at the Africa technology business forum; a one-day conference showcasing technology opportunities that are unfolding across the African continent. |
| Technology is radically reshaping business and society in Africa, mainly thanks to an explosion in the ownership of mobile phones. So much so that when people talk about the subject you can guarantee that superlatives will flow: phrases such as “Tech is thriving in Africa”, “Africa is the tech continent”, and “Nairobi’s got the Silicon Savannah”. | Technology is radically reshaping business and society in Africa, mainly thanks to an explosion in the ownership of mobile phones. So much so that when people talk about the subject you can guarantee that superlatives will flow: phrases such as “Tech is thriving in Africa”, “Africa is the tech continent”, and “Nairobi’s got the Silicon Savannah”. |
| But, although nearly 386 million Africans will hold mobile technology in their hands by the end of 2016, getting the most out of this potentially transformative tech is another matter. And that’s largely because some of the basic building blocks that are needed to activate those opportunities are still lacking. | But, although nearly 386 million Africans will hold mobile technology in their hands by the end of 2016, getting the most out of this potentially transformative tech is another matter. And that’s largely because some of the basic building blocks that are needed to activate those opportunities are still lacking. |
| SH This is an enormous pool of talent and appetite for learning and when you’re delivering over these slightly creaky devices and networks you are necessarily giving people basic foundations, a lot of the time, rather than the higher levels of learning that people deserve and need and want – which is a challenge. | SH This is an enormous pool of talent and appetite for learning and when you’re delivering over these slightly creaky devices and networks you are necessarily giving people basic foundations, a lot of the time, rather than the higher levels of learning that people deserve and need and want – which is a challenge. |
| VL Even though there’s internet but the power supply is going to be huge, because when people start building from small to big there’s going to be a drain. | VL Even though there’s internet but the power supply is going to be huge, because when people start building from small to big there’s going to be a drain. |
| CNC I’m Clár Ní Chonghaile and in this Global development podcast I speak to investors and business people who have come together for London technology week in order to investigate some of the barriers to opportunities offered in Africa, which is sometimes called the “mobile-first continent”. | CNC I’m Clár Ní Chonghaile and in this Global development podcast I speak to investors and business people who have come together for London technology week in order to investigate some of the barriers to opportunities offered in Africa, which is sometimes called the “mobile-first continent”. |
| Nelson Mandela said that education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. And to support the potential massive changes in Africa that could result from mobile technology the continent does need expertise. | Nelson Mandela said that education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. And to support the potential massive changes in Africa that could result from mobile technology the continent does need expertise. |
| VL You can’t get a degree in computer science in the majority of west Africa – you have to go somewhere else. You’ll probably have to go to Sierra Leone or you’ll have to go to Nigeria. You cannot get a degree in animation even though we have companies like, I think it’s Kiriku [Kiro’o], in Cameroon, who raised venture capital because they’re doing gaming. You can’t get a degree in logistics even though Cameroon has Douala, the biggest seaport, and entry way to the Cemac. | VL You can’t get a degree in computer science in the majority of west Africa – you have to go somewhere else. You’ll probably have to go to Sierra Leone or you’ll have to go to Nigeria. You cannot get a degree in animation even though we have companies like, I think it’s Kiriku [Kiro’o], in Cameroon, who raised venture capital because they’re doing gaming. You can’t get a degree in logistics even though Cameroon has Douala, the biggest seaport, and entry way to the Cemac. |
| CNC Viola Llewellyn is co-founder of Ovamba which offers financing to small- and medium-sized businesses through a web-based platform with a mobile app. She feels education is one area where movement is needed, especially in mainly francophone west Africa. | CNC Viola Llewellyn is co-founder of Ovamba which offers financing to small- and medium-sized businesses through a web-based platform with a mobile app. She feels education is one area where movement is needed, especially in mainly francophone west Africa. |
| VL So there needs to be a shift from traditional learning to what’s going to make these countries functional in 20, 30 years’ time. And it’s all sitting on technology but the shift has not happened yet. | VL So there needs to be a shift from traditional learning to what’s going to make these countries functional in 20, 30 years’ time. And it’s all sitting on technology but the shift has not happened yet. |
| CNC For Tomi Davies, a Nigerian angel investor with a special focus on Lagos, education – or rather lack of it – is also keeping the lid on the potential for investment in tech. | CNC For Tomi Davies, a Nigerian angel investor with a special focus on Lagos, education – or rather lack of it – is also keeping the lid on the potential for investment in tech. |
| TD I do not believe our current educational systems are fit for purpose and I think there’s a general agreement and a consensus on that. For the last four years, five years, I’ve spoken about this topic at the education world forum and it looks like some are listening, others aren’t. But if we don’t change education we’re not going to change Africa. It’s just that simple. | TD I do not believe our current educational systems are fit for purpose and I think there’s a general agreement and a consensus on that. For the last four years, five years, I’ve spoken about this topic at the education world forum and it looks like some are listening, others aren’t. But if we don’t change education we’re not going to change Africa. It’s just that simple. |
| CNC There is also the topic of technology IN education. | CNC There is also the topic of technology IN education. |
| SH I’m Stephen Haggard and I am the chair and I also do a little bit of the running of Eneza Education. Now, Edeza Education is a Nairobi-based education technology company. We serve the core basic education curriculum through mobile phones to learners in, mostly, Kenya, but we’ve now also begun operations in Ghana and Tanzania. | SH I’m Stephen Haggard and I am the chair and I also do a little bit of the running of Eneza Education. Now, Edeza Education is a Nairobi-based education technology company. We serve the core basic education curriculum through mobile phones to learners in, mostly, Kenya, but we’ve now also begun operations in Ghana and Tanzania. |
| CNC The company is about to break the one million mark in terms of the numbers of users, but there’s still a long way to go to reach more children. For Stephen Haggard, the biggest problem is the cost of airtime for the learners. | CNC The company is about to break the one million mark in terms of the numbers of users, but there’s still a long way to go to reach more children. For Stephen Haggard, the biggest problem is the cost of airtime for the learners. |
| SH To get a week’s unlimited access is 10 Kenyan shillings – about 10 US cents – and that is a challenge for many learners to afford, particularly if they’re younger or in that teenage transition where they don’t quite have their own money or their parent’s money yet – there’s ground rules. | SH To get a week’s unlimited access is 10 Kenyan shillings – about 10 US cents – and that is a challenge for many learners to afford, particularly if they’re younger or in that teenage transition where they don’t quite have their own money or their parent’s money yet – there’s ground rules. |
| CNC Cost is just one barrier. Just over 70% of Africans use 2G but in the rest of the world around 70% of people use 3G or 4G. Apps of course run on the faster networks and are what make phones so powerful. So without this capacity, Africans could be missing out on many of the benefits in terms of development. | CNC Cost is just one barrier. Just over 70% of Africans use 2G but in the rest of the world around 70% of people use 3G or 4G. Apps of course run on the faster networks and are what make phones so powerful. So without this capacity, Africans could be missing out on many of the benefits in terms of development. |
| SH Most of our learners are coming in on pretty old-fashioned SMS phones, technology, though we are seeing adoption of smartphones, particularly in urban areas among our students. Access to network, obviously, is an issue in many of the more remote communities, but we can still reach very, very large proportions of the population just using the network. | SH Most of our learners are coming in on pretty old-fashioned SMS phones, technology, though we are seeing adoption of smartphones, particularly in urban areas among our students. Access to network, obviously, is an issue in many of the more remote communities, but we can still reach very, very large proportions of the population just using the network. |
| The difficulty there though is that often the computing power of the devices is sufficiently low, or the frustrations of working with SMS are sufficient barriers, that you can’t really give the highest quality interactive educational experiences to the learners. You’re talking about quite basic and frugal pedagogies, is the word we use – you know, methods of giving people knowledge and skill – which is a pity, I think. | The difficulty there though is that often the computing power of the devices is sufficiently low, or the frustrations of working with SMS are sufficient barriers, that you can’t really give the highest quality interactive educational experiences to the learners. You’re talking about quite basic and frugal pedagogies, is the word we use – you know, methods of giving people knowledge and skill – which is a pity, I think. |
| CNC Access to expertise, capacity, network, are all of course major barriers. But for even the most basic device to work, it needs power. According to the World Bank, only 24% of people in sub-Saharan Africa have access to electricity. | CNC Access to expertise, capacity, network, are all of course major barriers. But for even the most basic device to work, it needs power. According to the World Bank, only 24% of people in sub-Saharan Africa have access to electricity. |
| VL It’s a combination of the electricity supply not always being as constant, and the inability of some legislative groups to allow things like Cleantech, and alternative electrical sources or solar, to give people constant access to being able to power these things. That, for me, is a really big problem. | VL It’s a combination of the electricity supply not always being as constant, and the inability of some legislative groups to allow things like Cleantech, and alternative electrical sources or solar, to give people constant access to being able to power these things. That, for me, is a really big problem. |
| CNC The antidote to all these barriers is investment, but the path for investors who want to support new initiatives is not a clear one. Tomi Davies explains why angel investors, like him, who want to invest in tech start-ups, are sometimes frustrated. | CNC The antidote to all these barriers is investment, but the path for investors who want to support new initiatives is not a clear one. Tomi Davies explains why angel investors, like him, who want to invest in tech start-ups, are sometimes frustrated. |
| TD Africa is not very, very structured in terms of how investments are made. So, for example, in our particular sector, in our particular segment, there aren’t clear policies, either around taxation or investment. But when you look at local investing, which is where I’m coming from, there’s still a fair bit of work to be done in that space. | TD Africa is not very, very structured in terms of how investments are made. So, for example, in our particular sector, in our particular segment, there aren’t clear policies, either around taxation or investment. But when you look at local investing, which is where I’m coming from, there’s still a fair bit of work to be done in that space. |
| CNC And, Viola Llewellyn adds, in many west African countries banking systems have failed to move with the times. | CNC And, Viola Llewellyn adds, in many west African countries banking systems have failed to move with the times. |
| VL Because of the regulatory environment and the risk appetite and lack of innovation, getting to that money in a timely fashion and circulating it with transparency is very hard to achieve. The systems have been in place now for 50, 60 years and are a holdover from previous colonial or legislative environments, and not a lot has changed. We’re in a modern day now – the use of technology will be possibly the way in which we can alleviate some of those issues. | VL Because of the regulatory environment and the risk appetite and lack of innovation, getting to that money in a timely fashion and circulating it with transparency is very hard to achieve. The systems have been in place now for 50, 60 years and are a holdover from previous colonial or legislative environments, and not a lot has changed. We’re in a modern day now – the use of technology will be possibly the way in which we can alleviate some of those issues. |
| CNC However Tomi Davies still believes international investor interest in Africa’s tech scene is not going anywhere, any time soon. | CNC However Tomi Davies still believes international investor interest in Africa’s tech scene is not going anywhere, any time soon. |
| TD Well, we can rely on it as long as the growth continues. And the growth factors inherent are the fact that you’ve got a youthful population, that will continue … The trend is still south – they’re not ageing yet. So when you’ve got an ageing population elsewhere in the world and a youthful population – so you have the counterbalance. That’s the first thing. The second is you have the growing middle class. Regardless of what is happening, you know, on the ground, the middle class in Africa is growing, which means you have an increasing consumer base. | TD Well, we can rely on it as long as the growth continues. And the growth factors inherent are the fact that you’ve got a youthful population, that will continue … The trend is still south – they’re not ageing yet. So when you’ve got an ageing population elsewhere in the world and a youthful population – so you have the counterbalance. That’s the first thing. The second is you have the growing middle class. Regardless of what is happening, you know, on the ground, the middle class in Africa is growing, which means you have an increasing consumer base. |
| CNC So can this interest in tech significantly boost development in Africa? And how does it compare to other progress in terms of development? Stephen Haggard. | CNC So can this interest in tech significantly boost development in Africa? And how does it compare to other progress in terms of development? Stephen Haggard. |
| SH I think you can say that the mobile-driven processes, and the technology-driven processes, are working harder and faster and further in this area than anybody else I can see. You won’t find many governments, perhaps one or two on the African continent, who are driving participation in innovative problem-solving in the way that the mobile platforms and the mobile device and networks are – you just won’t. They are – in terms of scale, power, affordability, reach, replicability – doing something that no-one else is doing. Yes, you’re certainly right that there are risks about it being divisive or serving only the already-enabled strata of society, but I think that is true of any kind of social process. Whether you’re talking about education, banking, health or whatever it is, we see that operating everywhere. | SH I think you can say that the mobile-driven processes, and the technology-driven processes, are working harder and faster and further in this area than anybody else I can see. You won’t find many governments, perhaps one or two on the African continent, who are driving participation in innovative problem-solving in the way that the mobile platforms and the mobile device and networks are – you just won’t. They are – in terms of scale, power, affordability, reach, replicability – doing something that no-one else is doing. Yes, you’re certainly right that there are risks about it being divisive or serving only the already-enabled strata of society, but I think that is true of any kind of social process. Whether you’re talking about education, banking, health or whatever it is, we see that operating everywhere. |
| CNC So while an excess of euphoria about Africa’s tech revolution may be misplaced, new technology is certainly already offering new opportunities, from money transfers to learning apps. | CNC So while an excess of euphoria about Africa’s tech revolution may be misplaced, new technology is certainly already offering new opportunities, from money transfers to learning apps. |
| The next step is to resolve some of the hardware glitches holding back the software; so expanding electricity networks, boosting connectivity and training young people to be able to use and, ultimately, design apps made for Africa, in Africa. | The next step is to resolve some of the hardware glitches holding back the software; so expanding electricity networks, boosting connectivity and training young people to be able to use and, ultimately, design apps made for Africa, in Africa. |
| VOICEMAIL: At the end of your message, press “one”. | VOICEMAIL: At the end of your message, press “one”. |
| That’s all for this edition of the Global Development podcast. You can download all our podcasts on guardian.com/global-development or via iTunes, SoundCloud and all podcasting apps. | That’s all for this edition of the Global Development podcast. You can download all our podcasts on guardian.com/global-development or via iTunes, SoundCloud and all podcasting apps. |
| Thank you for listening. My name is Clár Ní Chonghaile and the producer is Kary Stewart. | Thank you for listening. My name is Clár Ní Chonghaile and the producer is Kary Stewart. |