Can the Internet transform Africa

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I feel the internet can solve a lot of Africa’s problems. In fact we can build entire infrastructures we’ve never had. I believe in the leapfrog effect and see an Africa ahead of the rest of the world. We have the talent and resources.

Kindly read my blog post: https://medium.com/@dayo_gmk/what-the-internet-can-do-for-africa-c6df72f75837

Tell me what you think

Share your ideas and comments on how the internet is transforming and can transform Africa one industry at a time.

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I’ve read your blog on medium way before you posted it on here and I agree with you. You are right. I will also like for you to please post the list of ideas/solutions that you have (if you don’t mind). Mr. Temidayo, you are smart and please keep up the good work and research. Still we need to be realistic/honest. You mentioned that an estimate of 40% of Nigerians use the internet. Is it daily, monthly or yearly? Like sir where are you getting these numbers from because from my research it seems as if only 10% - 15% of Nigerians actually use it daily because it is too expensive. The internet can solve Africa’s problems but Africans must first be able to use the internet. How can something that they can’t afford to use, help them?

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Your definetly right there. This 40% is not using it daily but are people that have had access to the internet. I’m not quite sure how many use it daily at the moment. However I work with two pretenses:

  1. Is that they will eventually become frequent/daily internet users
  2. You don’t have to use the internet daily to use it effectively

List of Ideas I have:

  1. Reviews: There is a big issue with trust especially when patronizing service providers. If we can have more platforms for reviews and more people use them it will aid us make better decisions when buying. It will also encourage companies to step up their game.
  2. Politics: We are already using the internet to make politics alot more transparent. Conversations on twitter and other platforms are getting Nigerians more involved and for once were starting to feel like our opinions count. Budgit has done alot in releasing information, I feel they can still do alot more.
  3. Education:
    We need similar models like coursera here in Africa. This is where we need it most. With the disparity in standard of education the internet can give access to the best education resources to everybody that has access to the internet.
  4. On demand services
    On a continent where things are extremely hard to do or have access to. Technology becoming the middle man can become a very lucrative industry. If companies can overcome the payment, logistics and quality hurdles Africans will be willing to patronize them.

Yes the Internet is very expensive at the moment and its most likely because of the recent spike in demand. I’m guessing these telco companies have had to expand their facilities to meet this demand and were currently paying the price for it.Internet was alot cheaper a few years ago ( alot slower too). Inevitably it will come down and more people will get on line. I think whats most important now is us focusing on making the African internet space ready for when this does happen.

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Thank you sir for the details and thank you for the ideas. I really appreciate your time and patience in answering my question. Please continue to keep up the good work.