4IR AND THE AFRICAN CONTINENT

In the words of Klaus Schwab, executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, “the key for the future of any society lies in the talents, skills and capabilities of its people.”

Almost a decade back Africa a continent that has at least 120 cities of over half a million residents and 47 cities of over a million, spread out among 54 countries was the continent that the Economist pointed out to its readers that it has “Flicker of a brighter future” warning them on the other hand that “doing business in Africa is a gamble” and that “African countries have thrown away past opportunities.’’ Right now we know that the story is different, that Africa is now the new hub for foreign investors.

With the advent of what many may term “demographic dividend” African has been on the sport light for it favorable demographic dividend. But this can only be maximized depending on the role Africa will play in the 4IR; Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Through the Fourth Industrial Revolution, African nations can catch up in what it missed in the first, second and third industrial revolution. One of the main benefits of demographic dividend is that it will create a window of opportunity for Africans to invest in the education and the health of their booming youth population, increase economic output and invest more in technology and skills that will strengthen the economy. As we are aware one third of East Asia’s economic “miracles” was due to demographic change. It is estimated that 60% of Africa’s population is under the age of 25. And in the word of Craig Wing from future word who spoke at the NEC XON annual summit, “the world is changing so much quicker and it belongs to the young people who understand the impact of technology and how to change things.” With these skills acquired, imagine what billions of mobile phones connected to the internet in the hands of African youths can do to the different sectors of the Africa’s economy.

To demonstrate the power of an active market and the effect of number to an economy, I will refer to the illustration given by Wing, about an initiative by Jack Ma and Alibaba.

The day was meant for single people and was based on the same gift-exchange notion of Valentine’s Day, but rather singles were encouraged to buy something for themselves.

They said “wait till the eleventh of November and don’t worry about the fourteenth of February because you are single, no one is going to buy you anything….but on the eleventh of November, buy something for yourself’’. So the Chinese did. And they bought US$23.5 billion worth of stuff in one day, 1.5 billion transactions. The first US$5 billion was spent within fifteen minutes, 325 000 orders a second, 250 000 payments every second, 1 billion packages from 140 000 brands and merchants, and one day in China is now bigger than a year’s online sales in Brazil.”

“So, suddenly when you take 4IR and you lump it with something traditional like brick and mortar, these are the kinds of numbers and scale you can get, “Wing said.

And in 2015 Alibaba made US$14.3 billion, which represent 8% of South Africa’s GDP within 24 hours and 90% of sales came from mobile. That is the power of number.

If every stakeholder (government, private organization and the youths) will play their roles to create an environment that will be favorable for the growth and learning of the new technologies, if governments can make policies that will be favorable to the adoption of these new technologies, and support financially projects that are hinged on; Internet of Things (IoT), Blockchain, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality. Africa can get the above result that will lead to its exponential economic growth, not only that, it will create employment and reduce the amount of money governments spend in importing technologies from various continent of the world.

Imagine governments and private institutions building institutes, code labs and hubs that relate to these technologies in all the major cities of Africa. Imagine governments including these current technologies in school curriculum. Just imagine where Africa will be in the next twenty years.