We are all waking up to the enormous potential of Africa becoming the emerging giant tech hub of the world The evidence is everywhere: from news of a US$360 million Chinese investment in Nigeria’s Fintech industry; to predictions that more than half of the world’s working population will live in Africa by 2035, and news that Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey will spend up to six months a year in Africa because Africa as he says, “will define the future.”
As far back as 2016, Mark Zuckeberg, CEO of Facebook made a similarly bold remark in front of an army of developers in Lagos, Nigeria, “I am here,” he said, “because this is where a lot of the future will get built But while smart people the world over don’t doubt that the global future of tech will be built in Africa, the form this building will take remains uncertain For one thing, the future of Africa’s cities and urban areas need much attention
By the turn of the century, a third of all people will be African The population of the continent is expected to grow from its 1.2 billion today to 4.5 billion by the end of the century Nigeria alone will be home to 400 million people This is double the number who live here right now
More than 60 percent of these people will live in cities and urban areas.At present Africa’s cities are ill-equipped to cope with the huge changes that are coming and that, many would say, that are already upon us For example, Lagos, a tiny 110 square kilometre coastal city that’s threatened by climate change, is home to more than 17 million people The Lagos population is projected to grow to more than 100 million by the turn of the century Yet, Nigeria with a population of close to 200 million people has only seven cities accommodating more than a million people each
Contrast this to India that has 46 cities with populations greater than a million, or China with more than 100 cities with at least a million people each Africa has an opportunity to build more sustainable cities for exponential population growth However, unlike China and India, African governments lack both the time and the money to build these cities It’s for exactly this reason that Andela is working (with a state government backed free trade zone in South Eastern Nigeria) to tackle this problem
We’re building a talent city: a charter city focused on the talent that will drive technology, innovation and the digital economy This Talent City (its working name) will be a charter city focused on attracting technology and creating technology enabled jobs and will be run and managed within a free trade zone with its own productivity-focused, entrepreneurial-centered regulations and bylaws.Whereas the old Nigerian economy was built on agriculture and oil, today trade services and ICT comprise more than half of the country’s GDP Yet Nigeria’s political class still makes policy as though agriculture and oil comprise the vast majority of our economy Source: The Anchor
All Zim News
All Zim News is a central hub for all things Zimbabwean, curating news from across the country so no story is missed
Alongside aggregation, our team of nationwide reporters provides real-time, on-the-ground coverage Stay informed and connected — reach us at admin@allzimnews.com.
Source: Theanchor
