A number of reports have put African mobile subscribers at about one billion. This is huge by every stretch of the imagination. Yes, all across Africa are a number of challenges but alongside are also opportunities owing to the youthful, growing populations that are becoming connected in droves.
Suddenly, more and more forward-looking entrepreneurs and investors are beaming their search light on the continent. The last decade, however, has shown some tremendous changes in the general trends of development on the continent.
It is interesting to note that a number of African countries such as Rwanda and Angola have risen from the ashes of war and strife to become fast evolving economic powerhouses.
Mobile technology and the Internet have both combined to improve standard of living and communication amongst Africans while fuelling the new wave of new businesses and innovation being witnessed across the continent.
A few days ago, erstwhile Minister of Communications Technology, Omobola Johnson and her partners at TLCom announced that they had successfully raised the sum of $40m specifically targeted at technology start-ups in Africa – a bold move to prove to the world that big deals can indeed happen in the African technology space.
Notwithstanding the stereotyped reportage of war and famine in Africa by foreign media, it is evident that many African cities have witnessed considerable improvement in infrastructure development which has also increased opportunities and it is hoped that more African countries will ramp up investments in science and technology.
Be that as it may, many rural communities now enjoy the different benefits of mobile telephony reaching out to the world and new markets. Owing to poor communication services, small-scale production firms are usually faced with efficiency and financial issues.
As they were mainly dependent on a limited number of supply chains, it was difficult for them to make a quick decision regarding production and transportation. With mobile telephony, not only the small firms but also the large organisations are now able to communicate and coordinate better with their clients.
Market efficiency has improved a lot as the cost and time required for searching relevant information has decreased tremendously. For example, there are a number of solutions today that allow a farmer to easily exchange market price and other necessary information with another farmer in a different city or location from where they are without visiting that place and bearing traveling expenses.
Nigeria’s erstwhile Minister of Agriculture; now President of African Development Bank, Adewunmi Adesina, was recently named the 2017 World Food Prize Laureate and this was due to a number of — Finish Reading on the Punch
