Hi, Quartz Africa readers!
Good vs Better
The internet is a good thing for Africa. But it could be an even better thing.
That seems to be the subtext of an Internet Society report, out this month, titled Promoting the African Internet Economy.
The economic case for the internet in Africa is unsurprisingly strong, but the report points out there’s still plenty of room for improvement and growth. In developed countries the internet contributes up to 3.7% of GDP on average while in Africa countries it’s just 1.1%. When it comes to employment the internet sector makes up 3% to 5% of the workforce in OECD countries but only 1% in developing countries.
Internet Society says a focus on building the internet sector, “while critical for development, will have a beneficial, but ultimately limited impact on the size of the economy, in and of itself.”
The point is not that more internet directly leads to a bigger economy. Instead, the report argues the improved efficiencies for an internet-enabled economy—particularly one in Africa—can be significant. Looking at six key sectors: education, healthcare, financial services, agriculture, retail and government, McKinsey estimated the internet can deliver productivity gains in Africa valued between $148 billion to $318 billion by 2025.
For African governments, many of which are still pen and paper pushers in their day-to-day interactions with citizens, there could be cost savings of 60% to 75% just on administrative tasks. Mauritius, Tunisia and South Africa are already leading on that (pdf).
The lack of local content infrastructure, such as data centers, routers, servers and content delivery networks (CDNs) is one of the key challenges Internet Society identifies as being needed to drive wider and deeper internet usage in African countries.
It’s one thing for a local blogger to create original content that people want to see, but it’s quite another for the content to get served up to someone in the same country in a rapid and seamless fashion. That often doesn’t happen because that story or image or transaction is being routed halfway across the world through internet exchanges in Europe or North America before being delivered to your reader, friend or relative who only lives a few doors down the road from you.
This doesn’t just mean internet delivery is a slower and more unreliable experience than elsewhere, but also ends up making it a more expensive and discouraging experience. Fixing that problem would a be a big step in the right direction.
— Yinka Adegoke, Quartz Africa editor
Stories from this week
The agony and joy of being gay in Africa. In an excerpt from his book, Lives of Great Men, Frankie Edozien writes on how the strident anti-gay rights stance taken by some African governments is losing touch with slowly changing attitudes of ordinary Africans. But there is still much work to be done to “build standing and tolerance” even in African countries which don’t have anti-gay laws.
China’s “win-win” economic diplomacy is failing in South Sudan. Across Africa, China is primarily welcomed as a business partner, accessing lucrative contracts and overseeing major infrastructural development. Reporting from the capital Juba, Lily Kuo explains, in this in-depth piece, how the civil war in South Sudan is putting a dent to this mutually beneficially relationship.
Silicon Valley is supporting a startup disrupting Africa’s pharmaceutical retail. Ghana-based mPharma manages prescription drug inventory for pharmacies and their suppliers with the aim of eventually reducing drug prices for patients. The company’s innovative model is paying off with a stellar cast of investors for its Series A funding round led by the Bharti Mittal family and major Silicon Valley names.
How the Saudi purge will affect detained billionaires’ assets in Africa. In early November, more than 200 Saudi princes, businessmen, and former government officials were arrested in an anti-corruption probe. Given some of the arrested billionaires’ extensive investments in Africa, the wide-ranging shakedown could soon manifest itself in African cities, reports Abdi Latif Dahir.
Africa’s elite graduates are giving up on the West and heading home. After studying in universities in Europe and the US in the past, African students would stay on and seek work experience and often end up on long term employment. But buoyed by economic growth at home and discouraged by tighter work visa regimes in the West, Chidinma Irene Nwoye finds African graduates are increasingly returning home to take part in the continent’s “brain gain.”
Nigeria’s kleptocrats have a toxic love affair with London’s expensive real estate. Nigeria has lost hundreds of billions of dollars in illegal financial outflows, some of which end up in posh neighborhoods in the UK. Matthew T. Page investigates to find out why Nigeria’s corrupt elites find London so attractive.
Chart of the week
It’s been a tough year for Africa’s strongmen—but who’s next? After 37 years in power, Robert Mugabe resigned as president after his own Zanu-PF party threatened to impeach him. His ousting was met with celebration and some wistfulness by ordinary Zimbabweans as they welcomed the swearing in of interim president Emmerson Mnangagwa. As Lynsey Chutel reports, Mugabe’s was the third African dictator to leave office in 2017. As he leaves state house, the question is if he’ll stay in the country. Here’s where other deposed African leaders went to find a new home. His departure leaves many wondering how long the others, like Museveni, will cling to power.
Other Things We Liked
The story of how Africa’s tech generation is changing the continent. Africa arrived late to the digital economic revolution but that hasn’t stopped its young people from creating with the little they had. In the National Geographic magazine, Robert Draper documents the generation of entrepreneurs and innovators who are introducing groundbreaking technological solutions to the continent’s problems.
How the Lion King changed South African lives. The Lion King musical celebrated 20 years on Broadway this month, with more than 90 million people seeing it across the world. As Michael Paulson reports in the New York Times, the show’s success has been laced with the casting of more than 260 South Africans who have traveled with the show in search of success, new homes, and careers.
Keep an eye on
Uhuru Kenyatta’s inauguration (Nov. 28) President Uhuru Kenyatta will be sworn in for a second term after Kenya’s supreme court upheld his reelection in the Oct. 26 repeat elections. Britain has issued a travel advisory warning its citizens against possible clashes around the inauguration.
The African Union-European Union Summit (Nov. 29-30). African and European heads of state and government will gather in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire for the 5th Summit. This year’s theme is “Investing in youth for a sustainable future”. President Emmanuel Macron of France and Germany’s chancellor Angela Merkel are expected to participate.
Our best wishes for a productive and thought-filled week ahead. Please send any news, comments, suggestions, elite jobs in African cities and affordable luxury London apartments to africa@qz.com. You can follow us on Twitter at @qzafrica for updates throughout the day.
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