So a scene of technology companies is pretty far fetched.
Don't let the growth rates fool you. Most of it is still related to oil, mining, construction and public works.
I'm very interested in learning about growth in Africa, as there is a lot of potential to raise millions of Africans out of poverty as well as contribute positively to the global economy, and a lot of what I hear makes me optimistic (I think of things like, "Could a rising Africa offset a receding Europe?") This is not the first article I've seen talking about huge growth in cell phones in Africa, though I'm skeptical that "90%" of the continent has one... Is the proliferation of cell phones evidence that Africa is growing generally beyond a few key industries, or does that really not indicate anything interesting?
And when you think about how few landlines there used to be, it's just amazing. Or the whole point is that there were no landlines.
But we're still talking about a consumption market. And we're talking about a case in which technogical progress and the lack of infrastructure allowed us to leapfrog.
The real growth is still driven by the thousands of jobs created directly and indirectly by mining and oil. (even construction and public works depend on revenue from mining and oil)
For potential angel investors, the lack of reliable statistics about the relevant markets is probably a big issue. Africa is also less homogenous than Europe, so we're talking about many different markets that need to be looked at individually.
They do. In extractive industries and anything that involves negotiating favours with a government. And I'm not sure capitalism prefers a repressive system or that systems in Africa are that oppressive (or the right kind of oppressive).
> For potential angel investors, the lack of reliable statistics about the relevant markets is probably a big issue.
Chicken and egg. Statistics appear when there is a market for them (investors).
There's probably a very wide gap between the best and the worst countries in Africa in terms of this -- it's not one homogeneous region.
It sounds more than cynical, it sounds disingenuous.
As someone who grew up in southern Africa, I'd love to put some time and resources towards efforts to help the start-up scene in Africa.
Another thing about Rwanda that is surely affecting their growth and blows many African countries out of the water is they have wired most of the country with Fiber where most have dial up speeds. It is not yet common residentially, but for global businesses to establish a base in East Africa, this is huge. I lived two hours outside the capital in a mud house with out running water inside, but I did have 1-Mbps download (was near a rural, well-financed hospital, but still, it was faster internet than I had in Boston.) This is largely all due to the government there which is a pretty well-oiled machine with a bit of a benevolent dictator, but one who gets things done for the benefit of the country IMHO. Contrast with where I am currently living in West Africa in Sierra Leone where the infrastructure is dismal and there is no kLab type place anywhere. There is a lot less action in the startup/entrepreneurship scene. Bad infrastructure, a long civil war and countless other things feed into this.
In terms of startups...so much of Africa runs on mobile phones (the majority of small amounts of money is transferred via SMS) and most of what I saw in terms of startups was based around Mobile-Social-Local. Not unlike what you see in the US and elsewhere.
I would agree with most of what you said (I'm one of those expats in Kigali referenced above) but I would add that it is actually a tough market to make money in.
The consumer base is really small, with very little disposable income. So pretty much everybody has to target businesses. That is doable, but even those are few and far between.
In time the skill level will get higher here that people can compete on the world market, which is really the goal, the creation of an export. But that is still a ways off.
Incubation / Startup / Coworking spaces like the kLab should help on a lot of those levels, I'm obviously a big believer in that model. I think it will take a bit to instill that startup culture though, but it is happening.
Once a startup gets enough success to make relocation accessible, why wouldn't they relocate somewhere easier?
