How COVID-19 has benefited technology in Sub-Saharan Africa

The Covid-19 pandemic has led to a significant improvement in technology in Africa. There are many digital resources and services that became an integral part of helping to sustain businesses as well as the African economy. With many people working from home, there has been a significant increase in data traffic, especially on mobile and wireless networks across Africa. 

The Mobile Economy Sub-Saharan Africa report, digital services and mobile technology accounted for 8% of the economic activity in 2020 for Sub-Saharan Africa. Similar to an  IT support company UK businesses use, this has been a major increase for African IT Support Providers. The 8% increase brought an additional $130 billion in economic value for Sub-Saharan Africa. The report also found that around 300 000 people worked within mobile telecoms in Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as 1.1 million within the informal sector and 1.8 million in other technology related jobs. 

Mobile networks have had to keep up with the increased load on their services and they have done so by increasing their network capacity. The investments within these mobile networks have accounted for this and are projected to have increased investments to a total of $45 billion. It has been projected that the demand is high enough to potentially provide returns of around $15 billion per year invested, particularly when focused on urban areas within Africa. 

This has pushed companies to switch to outsourced IT support services to companies like private specialist data centers. With more businesses using technology and increasing their use of digital technologies, has increased the demand for infrastructure to keep up with the increased applications within business. Africa is adapting to the rapidly advancing techworld by keeping up with digital technology. This has increased the ability of African business owners to reach new consumers. It also allows budding entrepreneurs to have access to more affordable transactions within their business, making entrepreneurship even more accessible than ever before. 

A major adopter of new technology is the field of digital financial services. They attract many new investors, and the tech startup market has a value of over $1 billion. There is a large gap to be filled within the fintech industry which is great for businesses to adopt Especially since Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the largest users of mobile fintech. Digital platforms are taking over gaps in business models, which is amazing for Africa as it is helping to develop the economy at an even greater pace. Startups within Africa are changing the future of financial services, healthcare, and education