As the world moves toward greater sustainability and lower emissions it is important to understand local and regional needs. Natalya Makarochkina, Senior Vice President, Secure Power Division, International Operations at Schneider Electric, tells Intelligent CIO Africa about how promising movements across technology and culture are paving a bright future for this continent.
What can we learn from an expansive, dynamic and diverse continent that has a strong track record of leap-frogging its development over apparent deficits? Several key lessons: from sustainable Digital Transformation to world leading diversity in tech leadership and effective ways to bring more women into the field through better opportunities in education.
With a thriving tech start-up scene featuring several unicorns that is supporting regional economic growth and innovating opportunities for renewable energy, African nations are also setting a high standard globally for increased equity in the boardroom.
Growth and investment in the continent
There are vibrant tech ecosystems across the continent, irrespective of data infrastructure, clustered in certain locations. These existing ecosystems have attracted much of the investment seen and there is cause for optimism in the short term.
Gartner predicts IT spending in the MENA region will total US$178.1 billion in 2023, growing 3.1% from 2022, outpacing broader economic growth in many regions.
Silicon Savanah and tech unicorns
Existing investments are already proving a focal point for further development, such as Nairobi for example, where the ‘Silicon Savanah’ is seeing intense activity. An international financial services centre is expected to attract start-up activity, alongside previous investment from Microsoft in a $100 million plan for development centres, expected to have some 500 engineers in 2023.
This kind of development has provided fertile ground for start-ups and scaling, as Africa’s tech start-ups raised a record US$5 billion in 2021, according to Bloomberg. Since 2021, tech start-ups across the continent received US$4.77 billion in investments, reports the World Economic Forum, with the emergence of at least five new tech-unicorns, among such notables as Chipper Cash, valued at more than US$2 billion, Andela, valued at more than US$1.5 billion and OPay, valued at more than US$2 billion.
Leadership and creating talent
While there are concerns for how evenly distributed tech investment is across the continent, there are other factors which give much cause for optimism. According to UNESCO, women represent almost a third (30%) of professionals in Africa’s tech sector, a figure above the global average of 28%.
This is attributed to co-ordinated action to involve women and girls in tech and STEM fields on the continent through initiatives such as ‘Women in Tech Africa’, ‘She Code Africa’ and ‘Africa Code Week’, which equip women and girls with skills and opportunities aimed at reducing gender disparity.
These efforts are already yielding results ahead of other regions. The global FinTech think tank Findexable has found that in Africa there are twice as many female chief technical officers versus the global average. Furthermore, Africa has the highest proportion of female board members and with the Middle East, hosts the highest share of female CEOs. In Africa, as with Latin America and the Middle East, more than 10% of female executives are in the top job.
This is most encouraging to ensure that the overall benefits of education, opportunity and career choice are available to and availed of by women. This also ensures that companies across the continent are better placed to foster cultures of innovation, as attested to by experiences in diversity and inclusion elsewhere.
Supporting regional growth strategies for a sustainable future
As was seen with the mobile revolution across the African continent, a lack of traditional telecoms infrastructure did not stymy innovative implementation of mobile networks, the so called ‘leapfrog’ progress. This culture of adaptation, informed by local and regional insights, has created a resourceful and resilient tech sector, that has blossomed beyond to tackle some of the unique challenges faced by the huge diversity of countries, nations and cultures across Africa.
Having supported various international regions over my career, one enduring lesson has been to listen and understand local needs. The vibrancy of the various African regions requires that they be understood for their diversity and their uniqueness. Templates and direction will not work here. The best of international experience, technology and equipment must be put at the disposal of these tech leaders to leverage these resources in their own unique way.
With the right supports through vendor, channel and partner relationships, African tech leaders can be supported to address local challenges, optimise operations and take full advantage of the specific characteristics of talent and markets.
Sustainability advantage
As many countries in Africa have low emission economies, there is a huge opportunity for sustainable development, incorporating the wave of renewable energy sources (RES) coming online, so that the foundations being built for future digital economies are sustainable from the outset. For example, hydropower grew by 25%, while solar and wind capacity increased by 13% and 11%, respectively, from 2019 to 2020.
According to Statista, 18% of the African continent’s power comes from RES, or some 55GW, with solar capacity of 11,387MW and wind capacity of 6,500MW. Kenya has emerged as the leading producer of geothermal energy. Looking further out, estimates for the year 2050 project an increase of 27.3 exajoules (EJ) above the present value of 1.8 EJ.
Jobs boon
The World Economic Forum has recognised the African region’s potential for solar power, with predictions that up to 30% of the continent’s power could come from solar by 2050.
By 2030, energy transition in Africa is expected to yield a total renewable energy employment of around five million jobs. The solar PV workforce is expected to dominate the field of renewable energy employment sector with roughly 3.8 million short-term jobs in construction, installation and manufacturing, as well as over 335,000 long-term occupations in operations and maintenance.
This would be a massive boon for labour markets and potential leadership in the field.
Justified optimism
There is every reason to expect the recent trends across the varied and diverse continent of Africa in technology, education, culture and economics, to coalesce into a powerhouse of development that is uniquely diverse and inclusive. Leading the world in bringing women into the workforce and enjoying the benefit of their attainment of the highest positions, African nations are attaining recognition of their respective achievements through orders of magnitude increases in investment.
With a proven record in uniquely adapting broader technological developments to national and regional needs, the opportunity to base a strong digital and sustainable future on innovative, renewable energy solutions, has the potential to be a model for the world.
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