Africa, Rise!
Joel Adeyemi Adefidipe
Future BIGWIG| Writer | BIGWIG Ambassador | Tech, Law and Finance Enthusiast | Startup Advisory | Data Protection Enthusiast
Africa is a resource-rich continent with resilient people and culture. Contrary to what the West has consistently tried to portray, Africa is the Mother of innovations. Civilisation, as we know it today, has its roots in Africa. Africa was home to some of the finest technological innovations in its incipient forms. These facts have been obscured by biased historical documentation.?
The narrative over the years is one of a continent under the resource curse. Years that should have been expended in investing in the continent's human resources have been wasted in mismanaging natural resources made by no man. Years of corruption and neglect of the things that matter has brought Africa to its knees, feeding on a scrap of the West. Fast forward to the 21st century, and we have a giant that seems to have lost its way, relegated to celebrating long overdue milestones in technological advancement.
As it stands, there is a massive gap between Africa and the West in terms of knowledge and Innovation. Although there have been rays of sunshine poking through the creative space in Africa, it must be conceded that we are not where we ought to be. The continent is blessed with more than enough to be a global frontliner in innovation. However, Africa dwells in the shadows of the West.?
The gap between Africa and the West
Africa is touted as the continent with the youngest population in the world. Europe and North America are the first and third continents with the largest ageing populations. However, we are still lagging in global innovation and technological advancement. Innovation is a feature that is commonly associated with youthfulness. Despite the brimming exuberance we have in Africa, there are just about 5200 tech startups in the continent, according to Mckinsey (1).
To show how far behind we are trailing, Europe is home to a significantly higher number of around 330,000 tech startups (2). The number is astronomically higher in North America, particularly in the US. In terms of scalability and profitability, according to TechCabal, there are only seven unicorns in Africa. It is appalling that the whole continent accounts for less than 1% of the world's unicorns. There are 644 unicorns in the US, which amounts to around 51% of unicorns globally (3).?
The same gap exists in the VC funding space. In the whole of 2022, according to the Big Deal, the amount of VC funding that Africa raised was about 4.84 billion dollars. Many have lauded this feat, describing it as remarkable because it was an increase from what was raised in 2021 despite the financial and economic headwinds of 2022. However, the value of VC funding in Africa holds no candle when compared to the West. In Europe, for example, although there was a decline in VC funding, the startups in the continent raised about 24 billion dollars (4). That is more than five times what Africa was able to raise. In the US, VC funding raised in Q3 2022 alone was about 37 billion dollars (5).
Africa investing in Africa as an impetus for innovation and foreign investment.
It is obvious that there is a wide gap between Africa and the West. There are many factors responsible for this "phenomenon". One can ask a random African, and he would categorically tell you the problems that bedevil the creative space. Factors including
The most perplexing, perhaps, is the unsupportive attitude of Africans towards African brands. "Africans" in this context include both the government and individuals.
If Africans do not support their brands and encourage innovation and creativity, no one will do that in their stead. We must spearhead our innovations' promotion and be the first beneficiaries before others can truly see the value in Africa.
Silicon Valley, home to the world's most notable Big Tech companies and a haven for startups, did not just emerge out of the blue. It resulted from Americans believing in the American dream and trusting that America is innovative enough to drive the economy. Silicon Valley is what it is today, not because of external funding firstly, but because of local funding. Necessity was indeed the mother of invention for the US as the US government poured funds heavily into research and development for military technology (6). This single act spurned the web of innovation that, today, is called Silicon Valley.
Investing in education, research and development?
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Africans and African leaders may need to learn that some of the very first building blocks of Silicon Valley were laid at Stanford University (7). Over the years, Silicon Valley and Stanford University have created an interdependent relationship in which the University churns out talents, and the Valley churns out money. There is an inextricable link between quality education and innovation. The very first investment the US made that birthed a legacy of innovation was to invest in research and development at Stanford University. This would eventually translate to one of the pillars that formed the foundation of a knowledge-based economy and positioned the US as a global leader in the innovative sector.?
It is important to note that almost all the founders of the African unicorns were schooled in Europe or the US. That serves as a pointer to where Africa is missing it. The knowledge gap between the West and Africa is due to funding disparity in education, research, and development. The US spends the most on R&D in the world. No African country ranks top 20 in the list of countries with the highest gross expenditure in research and development (GERD). We care more about exploiting natural resources and importing everything than investing in what can bring generational value to the continent. China, Israel, India, Japan, and Taiwan are amongst the top countries with the highest gross expenditure in research and development (GERD). Today, Asia has the second-highest number of unicorns. There is a nexus!
Africa investing in Africa starts with investing in education and R&D. Innovation does not exist in a vacuum. We must deliberately lay a foundation that serves as a fountain of innovation. We must invest in the African people through knowledge. The issue is no longer identifying the problems or the solutions to the problem. We have bright minds in Africa; a lot of ink and paper has been expended in proposing solutions to the problems we face in Africa. However, we still move at snail's speed, celebrating breadcrumbs. The only way to wake this sleeping giant is to take proactive steps.
When we create Africa with an endless stream of “innovatives” and creatives, foreign investment is bound to come. Africa is a land of endless opportunities; we must let the light shine from within, a light too strong for anyone to resist. It is time to take our rightful place in the global innovative and creative space. Why aim for a valley when you can have a mountain?
A government with vision equals an Africa with progress?
As said earlier, Africans investing in Africa includes the government. In fact, the government has to spark the fire that would rekindle the light of belief in Africa. A brief look at the strategy of the US government to attract VC funding would be instructive. In 1958, the Small Business Administration (SBA) was created. To encourage investment in the US, SBA made a corresponding 2 dollars investment for every dollar of private investment made (8). This “investment competition” was the fodder that grew the VC sector of the US by multiple folds. Ever since the enactment of the Small Business Administration Act in 1958, there has been no turning back for the government. The US government has regularly made legislative tweaks to enable the SBA to stay on top of the trends in the US. SBA facilitates access to capital and credit for small businesses in the US. The SBA even provides capital for venture capital funds through the Small Business investment company program. In addition, SBA provides advisory services to startups. The US government has managed to create a cycle of value that drives innovation and investment.
The narrative of the US being a global VC giant started with the proactiveness and vision of the government. African governments must realise it is time to invest the returns of what man did not make (natural resources) and make makers of our people. We would have created an attractive value system for foreign investors through this.
This is the voice of one in the wilderness crying out to Africa.
The intention of this piece is not to make light of the strides that Africa has made in the innovative and tech advancement space globally so far. The statistics are not bad for a late bloomer. Instead, the intention is to resuscitate a sleeping giant with the ability to leave a bigger footprint.??
Africa must rise again and tap into the exuberance of its people. We must wield our youthful population as a spear to pierce the veil of complacency that has prevented us from realising where we ought to be. Although time is of the essence, there is still time to re-enter and dominate the game. One of the benefits of re-entering the game late is that you get to learn from the experience of other players. These templates are resources we can adopt and localise to navigate the potholes and turn them into leverages.
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1 年I got a notification of your article and decided to glance through it. Your call on Africa is welcomed. One can say the continent is a "late bloomer" but we are the most adaptive to change and adapting and adopting technology is no exception. From where I sit, Africa has long left the verge. Now more than ever, we are on a deep dive into the technological space. We are not Silicon Valley in anyway but we are banking on the biggest room - that of improvement. Your article was a nice read Joel Adeyemi Adefidipe. Thanks for sharing.