Hormuud Telecom Somalia Inc., its largest telco, rolled out faster internet speeds last month, signalling budding growth in the country’s digital services industry.

“As Somalia strides towards stability, the launch of 5G services by Hormuud Telecom emerges as a critical milestone. This initiative is more than just a technological advancement, it’s a symbol of our nation’s commitment to growth and constant improvement,” said Somalia’s Telecommunications Minister Jama Hassan Khalif.

The immediate benefit of this rollout, according to Hormuud, is the seamless upgrade for its 4G customers to 5G at no additional cost, ensuring that a broad base of users instantly enjoy improved internet speed and reliability. A 5G service promises to enhance connectivity and efficiency, aiding the country’s integration into the regional economy and stimulating trade and investment.

The network will initially be accessible in major cities, offering 81% coverage, indicating the extensive reach of the new technology nationwide, the service provider said.

“The network will initially be accessible in Mogadishu, Kismayo, Galkayo and Baidoa, as well as Dhusamareeb, Beledwayne, Afgoye, Merca and Dhobley,” Hormuud said in a statement.

After years of investor reticence and minimal foreign direct investment flows, Somalis themselves have taken significant steps to alter their economic destiny.

Hormuud Telecom, a domestically established firm since 2002, promotes itself as a company “built by Somalis for Somalis.”

Operating from Mogadishu, the company is Somalia’s leading telecom provider, the largest private-sector employer, and the first Somali private enterprise to attain international ISO certification.

With over 12,000 shareholders, all of whom are Somali nationals, Hormuud has grown from the 283 founders who initially started the company. 

Given the widespread reliance on mobile money services among the Somali population, particularly among those without access to traditional banking facilities, the introduction of 5G is also expected to significantly boost the efficiency and security of financial transactions.

Somalia’s formal integration into the EAC came after its Minister of Commerce and Industry, Jibril Abdirashid Haji Abdi, presented the instrument of ratification of the treaty of accession to EAC Secretary-General Peter Mathuki on March 4, 2023, in Arusha, Tanzania.

Its accession to the regional block comes after decades of hesitance due to factional political conflicts that had engulfed it in civil war. As active participation in EAC activities increases, robust digital infrastructure will be essential for further cross-border trade, investment, and collaboration. 

Nigeria plans to replace 40% of all cars on its roads with Electric Vehicles (EV) by 2033, 10% less than the initial 50% target for 2031. The government also expects all these cars to be manufactured or assembled locally.

On the other hand, the Indian government plans to seek firm commitments from companies interested in accessing the Indian market to first establish a supplier ecosystem and source approximately 20% of parts locally within the first two years, which will eventually increase to 40% by the fourth year. They will in turn waive import duty down to about 15% provided the manufacturer will build from India. To hedge against possible defaults, the companies must provide bank guarantees covering the amount of import duty waiver they would enjoy. 

Stakeholders believe India’s planned policy demonstrates what smart and responsible policy development should look like and reflects the quality of mindset of the leadership but more importantly, captures political accountability to a very woke electorate.

The Economics Survey 2023 predicts that India’s EV market will grow with a CAGR of 49% between 2022 and 2030, with 10 million annual sales by 2030.

India has already made firm commitments to reduce the carbon intensity of its economy by at least 45% by 2030 compared to 2005 levels and achieve the target of net zero by 2070.

This policy ensured they maximise the value of this commitment while not exposing their local economy to global forces. Some of the expected impact of this Policy on the Indian economy includes:

• The further strengthening of India’s economy and the continuing growth of what is already a very strong middle class that can afford Tesla and other EVs.

• The policy will support the Indian government’s goal by contributing 10 million of the 17 million direct jobs from the Make In India Program while adding 50 million indirect jobs and propelling India’s goal to become a $10 trillion economy by 2035. 

• More wealth will be created through this program as India achieves its goal of becoming a hub for EV manufacturing in competition with China. 

The Nigerian EV policy rock chair

Nigeria currently has a combined and installed manufacturing capacity of 313,150 vehicles but only a dismal 90,550 actual production per annum. 

With Nigeria’s EV market projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 57.9% in six years (2024 to 2030), the country could learn some lessons from India’s policy.

Nigeria has some active EV-related manufacturing and assembly companies. They include Hyundai Konak EV, Jet Motors, ReviveEarth (Enugu-based EV retrofitting startup), Osquareteck (providing energy storage as a service and gridless power system for EVs), Volta EV (Lagos-based), Quadcycle Automobile (Abuja-based), and a recent entrant, Egoras. 

Based in Port Harcourt, Egoras brings a new dimension to the EV conversation by leveraging blockchain technology both for the vehicles and the charging stations – according to Harry Ugorji, the Company’s CEO. Egoras plans to open the pre-order at an event scheduled for Port Harcourt in early April while deliveries will begin in October. 

Nigeria’s changing EV goals

Nigeria has developed and adopted twice, the National Automotive Design Plan with the goals changing on each occasion. The first approved plan in December 2021, according to Jelani Aliyu, the Director General of the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), targeted 50% locally produced EVs by 2031. 

However, the latest approved plan as per a statement by Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo, Nigeria’s trade minister, targets 30% locally produced EVs and one million jobs by 2033. 

Here are a few things we could learn: 

• FDI is a two-way street: Companies will invest where they find value and not because they like your face. Energise local businesses and cut smart deals that protect and help them thrive.

• Amplify and play to your strengths: If you amplify and play to your strengths, you will dictate the terms. Unlike India, Nigeria’s recent economic challenges mean a shrinking middle class. However, Nigeria boasts of a large deposit of Lithium—a very important component of EV batteries. Lithium is currently mined in Nassarawa, Kogi, Kwara, Ekiti, and Cross River States.

• Nigeria needs to signal its intentions with bold visions: Economics will respond to bold visions, competent people, and passionate executors, not whimpers. The president should appoint competent and passionate people to drive the automotive policies. Targeting one million jobs from EV seems very understated and doesn’t seem to have captured the entire value chain. For instance, modern cars are software driven and EVs are no exceptions. Producing EVs locally will create many jobs for Nigeria’s software engineering ecosystem as well.

Nigeria can become a powerful hub and net exporter of EVs in Sub-Saharan Africa if the right vision, policies, and drivers are in place. 

Uche Aniche is a Startup Coach and Policy Advocate. He is a General Partner at Rebel Seed Capital, a Secondary Cities-focused early VC Firm, the Convener of #StartupSouth, and the Communications Director at Imo Economic Summit Group (IESG).

The latest data from GitHub, a global hub for software development, has listed the two African economies – Nigeria and Egypt – as among the world’s 10 fastest-growing countries for software development in 2023.

It may come as no surprise that software development is on the rise in Africa. Vibrant startup hubs across the continent have become famous, with Silicon Cape, Silicon Savannah and Silicon Valley (South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria, respectively) all known across the tech ecosystem. Over the last five years, Nigeria has flexed its continental muscle in terms of tech startup funding and development, while Egypt has shown every sign of becoming Africa’s next biggest startup ecosystem, both in terms of deal count and deal value.

What is surprising is the speed of growth, according to the report.

Nigeria grew developer talent numbers by 45.6% between Q3 of 2022 and Q3 of 2023, to 872,162 – the fastest growth in Africa.

“Nigeria has been ploughing ahead of other African geographies in recent years, firmly establishing itself as a – if not the – leading startup ecosystem on the continent,” said Disrupt Africa in a separate report.

The West African country was the world’s second-fastest-growing country for developers after Bangladesh, whose developer count grew by 66.5% to 945,696.

Egypt, placed second in Africa in terms of total developer numbers and growth rate, saw its developer count rise by 34.1% to 729,790.

The North African country topped the growth rates of Argentina (33.2%), Hong Kong (32.1%) and Indonesia (32.1%) in terms of growth rates, to finish seventh in the global ranking.

However, an article in non-profit publication, Rest of the World, warned that the fast-rising developer community could also reflect tech workers turning to unpaid work in the face of drying venture capital taps.

“A surging number of GitHub accounts might suggest a rising tech sector — but it might also represent a decline in actual work, as developers turn to unpaid work on public repos after paid work disappears,” according to the publication.

Disrupt Africa in its African Tech-Startups Funding Report 2023, reported that Egypt experienced a huge squeeze on startup jobs in 2023, with just 3,085 new jobs reported – an average of 67 per startup and substantially down from the 11,153 people employed by startups in 2022.

This was fueled by the collapse of funding by more than 50% in the country, with figures almost entirely propped up by a single company – MNT-Halan’s single round of $510 million.

Nigeria’s startup job market, however, recorded only a marginal drop, from 6,751 people in 2022 to 6,669 in 2023. The Disrupt report put the average number of employees at Nigerian startups in 2023 at 53 per startup, up from 38 in 2022. 

Other top developer markets in Africa, according to GitHub, include South Africa, which finished as the third-fastest-growing market on the continent. The country’s developer numbers grew from 412,731 in 2022 to 540,486. South Africa was followed by Morocco with a current total of 448,194 developers and Kenya with 297,581.

In 2021 search engine Google recorded the continent’s total developer count at 716,000, according to its Africa Developer Ecosystem Report 2021, reflecting the phenomenal level of growth in recent years.

African startups, according to the Google report, are responsible for hiring more than half of local developers, with foreign companies outside the continent hiring 38% of the remaining talent.

Data from the layoff-tracking website, Layoffs.fyi shows a total of 1,191 tech companies – including giants like Microsoft, Google, TikTok and YouTube – retrenched 262,995 employees across the globe in 2023.

The fact that you exist is not news…

Occasionally, a crisis or controversy in the African tech ecosystem ignites debates among founders and influencers about the merits of local versus international media coverage. While it’s undeniable that sensational headlines can spread like wildfire, accusing the local tech media of a sole focus on the negative is neither fair nor accurate.

At Wimbart, after eight years in the industry, I’ve come to understand a fundamental truth that also happens to be Wimbart CEO’s Twitter cover story: The fact that you exist is not news. Whilst raising over a million seed in funds could guarantee you coverage, whether you’ve launched a new product or expanded, journalists will always ask, “So what?” What’s the impact, the innovation, the human story?

The African tech market is brimming with startups eager to share their narrative. At Wimbart alone, where we represent a modest fraction of African-focused companies, we often find ourselves amongst at least three different teams pitching to the same journalist in any given week. It’s important to recognise that journalists’ inboxes are inundated with up to 50, sometimes hundreds of pitches, on any given day. Recognising their hard work is crucial—they are the storytellers who have elevated our narratives, making international media platforms not only notice but also hire local teams to push the narrative further. When I began working in PR for African tech, capturing the attention of international media was a formidable challenge—it was H-A-R-D. We owe much to local publications that have tirelessly championed our stories; they deserve our gratitude, or “flowers,” if you will.

Pitching a story that will resonate and secure media coverage is an intricate art. For those with in-house communications teams or a PR agency like Wimbart, there’s support to sculpt the narrative. Yet, we are aware that not all, especially early-stage startups, have these resources. If your pitches happen to be met with a rate card, it‘s an indicator that what is being pitched is perceived more as promotional than editorial content. There lies the distinction between what is known as “earned media” and “paid media”. In layman’s terms, earned media is akin to a badge of honour, granted for its intrinsic worthiness, whereas paid media is a lot more straightforward; it’s coverage that you pay to secure—zero thought required. Each serves a purpose but they are not interchangeable. 

So, you’re set on securing earned media coverage without resorting to financial outlay? Excellent decision. Below are some actionable steps that can elevate your story from just another pitch that ends up unread to headline-worthy news:

Research publications and journalists 

Finding the right journalist for a media outlet to share your startup’s story should mirror the process of choosing the perfect business partner or founding team. It involves aligning your startup’s mission with the outlet’s editorial focus where possible, ensuring there is mutual interest and goals. This due diligence involves thorough research into their past work and identifying the journalists within a specific publication who champion themes that resonate with your venture. Whether it’s your company’s innovative approach to sustainability, significant funding achievements, or the founder’s unique profile, finding that match means you’re ready to pitch.

Pitching to the right person transcends mere coverage; it becomes an opportunity to weave your story into their ongoing narrative. It’s about creating a partnership where your startup’s achievement and aspirations complement their storytelling, ensuring that your narrative gets shared and truly resonates with their audience, creating a meaningful impact. 

Attention-Grabbing Subject Email

Your email’s subject line is the gateway to capturing a journalist’s attention, so make every word count. Imagine you’re crafting the editorial for tomorrow’s newspaper, it should be compelling enough to make anyone pause and take notice. Take inspiration from the impactful stories you see on major platforms titles like “How [innovation/company] is changing [industry]” are not just headlines, they are calls to curiosity. Use this approach to mirror each publication’s storytelling style in your email subjects. This not only piques interest but also shows you’ve done your homework and understand what resonates with their readership. 

Keep it punchy and to the point 

Keep your pitch concise and riveting. As highlighted above, journalists sift through a mountain of pitches daily, so you need to make yours stand out by hitting the key point right from the start, much like you’d share a piece of irresistible gossip with a friend. Highlight the most compelling aspect of your story immediately to grab their attention otherwise you risk losing it before the second paragraph—this could include striking data, a customer story, etc. If there’s depth to add, consider bullet points or a summary after your email signature. Alternatively, you could keep it in reserve for a follow-up, which is often required. Reading lengthy pitches can be daunting, but this strategy respects journalists’ time and piques their curiosity, significantly enhancing the chances of your story being featured. It’s about striking the perfect balance: being informative yet engaging, ensuring your message is not just another in the huge pile but a must-read.

Build a relationship before pitching 

Fun fact: My path to landing my first big feature was paved not just by an intriguing story, but more so by the relationship I had nurtured with the journalist well ahead of the time I needed to pitch my client’s news. It’s crucial to start building these connections early, long before the urgency to disseminate your news arises. This can be done by demonstrating a sincere interest in their work, engaging in meaningful conversations, and extending your assistance, such as connecting them with a speaker, without immediately anticipating a return; it can remarkably shift your stance from that of an outsider to a respected collaborator. I’ve found that the most fruitful relationships are those where communication can be as simple as sending bullet points over WhatsApp. Yet, reaching this level of informality and trust with journalists requires an investment of time and genuine interaction, moving you from just another contact in their inbox to a trusted and familiar figure.

As we’ve established, the art of pitching is nuanced, requiring more than just presenting facts—just because a publication is considered “local” or regionalised, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t practice the art of pitching. Truthfully speaking, you could tick all of the right boxes with your pitch and due to timing or resources, it doesn’t get picked up. But if your pitch is compelling and memorable enough, the journalist will come back to you at the appropriate time. Journalists seek stories that captivate their audience and bring significant attention to their platforms, therefore pitching must be strategic. By following these tips, founders can not only refine their failed approach but also build respectable, productive relationships with African tech media. This foundational work is crucial for when it’s time to scale up efforts and introduce a PR expert *cough, Wimbart* to the fold. Let’s turn your innovation into news that matters. 

A digital makeover for South Africa’s cricket ecosystem could be in the works, leveraging artificial intelligence and blockchain technology to increase the popularity of the sport among fans while creating new revenue streams for fans, players and brands.

Results of a pilot collaboration between LootMogul, an Indian sports technology company, Cricket South Africa and the Durban Super Giants have revealed an increase in fan engagement with cricket gaming platforms, pointing to the potential impact digitisation could yield for the sport.

According to Vibhu Srivastava, the digital marketing head at LootMogul, “it indicates the significant potential for future business opportunities.”

Results from the month-long pilot were unveiled on February 23 by LootMogul.

After deploying an AI, blockchain and metaverse-led strategy, an average of 4.05 million platform visits were recorded in one month. These translate to 48,177 average new monthly games played and a 242.5% rise in the number of games played per month.

The collaboration sought to bridge the boundaries between the physical and digital worlds of cricket, offering a holistic and immersive experience to fans.

Notably, the partnership with the duo involves creating digital twins of South African stadiums, players, and all features of the sport. The digital maps are packaged as games on websites and applications, allowing fans to experience a virtual yet realistic experience of being in the heart of cricket action.

According to LootMogul, the interactive gaming platform feature facilitates fans’ engagement with the sport beyond live matches, creating a year-round connection with the sport.

Cricket South Africa and LootMogul announced the partnership on December 5, while the deal with the Durban Super Giants was announced in January when LootMogul was unveiled as the official Cricket Metaverse Gaming Partner.

South Africa has been a major force in the world of cricket ever since the first visit by a touring British test side, in 1888. Targeted with sanctions during the country’s Apartheid era, cricket took off after 1994 as a sport for all South Africans and the country currently stands at number five in the world test rankings and number three in the one-day international (ODI) rankings.

However, domestically, the sport languishes behind others like football and rugby as a spectator sport and Cricket South Africa is looking to improve the sport’s fanbase.

The digitisation drive, anchored on technology and the use of AI, promises to strike a connection between fans and the sport, leading to an increased appeal for the sport among the fans.

The opportunity for fan growth in South Africa is clear from the global rise in the sport’s popularity, with cricket’s inclusion in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles underscoring an expanding global influence. 

“This is a leap into the future of cricket. It is not just about enhancing the game; it is about revolutionising the fan experience,” SA Cricket’s Chief Executive Officer, Pholetsi Moseki, remarked in December during the rollout of the programme.

The use of AI in cricket is the latest addition in Africa to what has been a growing application of AI in sports, from player analytics to statistics assessment to game management.

The successful initial application of AI in cricket in South Africa also points to the potential in other countries on the continent where cricket is a major sport, such as Zimbabwe, Namibia and Kenya.

In 2021, Nigerian mobility startup Metro Africa Xpress (MAX) became Africa’s most-funded startup in the electric vehicle (EV) space after netting a $31 million round to expand into Ghana and Egypt. 

In 2023, Nigerian mobility startup Moove more than doubled that, netting $76 million in funding for its global expansion. 

Now, Uber is reportedly looking to back Moove with an additional $100 million in a new funding round. According to a Bloomberg report, that would boost Moove’s valuation from $650 million to $750 million and take it closer to becoming a mobility unicorn (a startup with a value of over $1 billion).

So far in 2024, a $24 million in funding clinched by Kenya-based electric mobility standout Roam is the largest funding round in the sector.

The funding is a blend of $14 million in equity and $10 million in debt, from the prestigious US government’s Development Finance Corporation (DFC).

Roam said it will leverage the new funding to expand its production of locally designed and manufactured electric motorcycles and buses.

“As Africa embraces the move toward electric vehicle technology, we are proud of our impact on the environment and livelihoods across Kenya and the wider continent. This funding is a critical step for Roam to achieve our strategic objectives in scaling up and increasing utility to our customers,” said Roam’s Chief Finance Officer, Rajal Upadhyaya.

While some of Africa’s mobility startups are planning to bolster their offerings to include electric vehicle production, fleet purchase and financing, others are setting their sights on regional and overseas expansion to tap into a multi-billion dollar market being driven by rising demand for cheap, low-emissions transport.

A recent raise of $10 million in new debt by Nigeria’s Moove was to fuel its overseas expansion in India, the mobility company said.

The vehicle financing startup said the funding would strengthen its India presence by allowing it to expand operations to three additional Indian cities – Delhi, Pune, and Kolkata.

The startup entered the Indian market in 2023, following a strategic partnership with Uber that targets the introduction of 25,000 electric vehicles in the Indian market. The company currently operates in Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Hyderabad in India and boasts a presence across nine markets in Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.

Another Nigeria-based mobility operator, Shekel Mobility, recently announced securing $7 million in funding to propel its growth and expansion plans. Shekel is a B2B auto dealers’ marketplace that enables users to find, finance, and sell cars. The startup has an ambitious transaction goal of $10 billion annually, by 2025.

Over its 20 months of operations, the startup said it has facilitated more than $56 million in auto dealer transactions and supported over 1,400 dealers.

“We have positioned ourselves as a transformative force in the African automotive market. This infusion of $7 million in fresh funding is poised to enhance our financial services, expand into new markets, and sustain our impressive growth trajectory,” Shekel said in a statement.

With Francophone Africa continuing to attract foreign startup investments, Senegalese startup, Mbay Mobility has also thrown its 10-year rollout plan into the mix.

The startup, which began piloting electric vehicles in 2022, announced in January it was actively seeking funding to purchase a fleet of 33,000 electric taxis for rollout in Accra, Dakar, and Abidjan. The startup has yet to disclose its funding target.

Earlier this year, Oliver Wyman, a global management firm, in a report titled ‘Shared Mobility’s Global Impact’ projected Africa’s shared mobility market size would grow from $4.2 billion in 2023  to $7.8 billion by 2030. 

Growth in the market will come from ride-hailing, e-bike and scooter rentals and car-sharing, driven by  Africa’s fast-growing urban population on a continent with the world’s largest population under the age of 30.

The recent announcement by Opera MiniPay that it had signed up over one million users in Kenya, Nigeria, and Ghana just five months after its launch is the clearest indication yet of the rising popularity of decentralised finance, or DeFi tools, across the continent.

“MiniPay makes it easier and more affordable for individuals across Africa to acquire, send and receive Mento cUSD stablecoins – simply by using mobile phone numbers,” said  MiniPay’s product director, Charles Hamel.

MiniPay is a self-custodial wallet for dollar stablecoins that offers cUSD, a stablecoin built on the Celo blockchain, and touted as “decentralised” so that its value is linked to a variety of currencies, which makes it more stable.

Hamel explained recently at the Africa Tech Summit 2024 that the payment platform was integrated into the Opera Mini browser to provide African users with a more stable way to store and send money using digital assets.

The move to decentralised finance in Africa is being driven by the double-whammy of high inflation rates and battered currencies.

According to MiniPay, the cUSD offers multiple advantages, including mitigating currency volatility and providing a reliable store of value.

“This is especially crucial in regions affected by hyperinflation and economic uncertainty, where stablecoins present a decentralised and accessible alternative to traditional financial services,” the payment platform said in a statement.

Severe currency volatility across Africa has disrupted some of the continent’s strongest currencies including the Nigerian Naira and Kenya Shilling – both now considered among the world’s most undervalued currencies.

According to Bloomberg data, the two currencies featured in a list of 10 that experienced the most devaluation in 2023, globally.

The Naira was ranked the third most devalued currency in the world after losing 55% of its value against the dollar, while the Kenya shilling lost over 20% against the greenback in 2023.

The Angolan Kwanza (-39%), Malawian Kwacha (-39%), Zambian Kwacha (-29%), Burundi franc (-27%), Congolese franc (-24%) also featured among the world’s 10 worst-performing currencies. 

Several other DeFi-backed startups in Nigeria and Kenya are getting noticed by investors.

Canza Finance, a Nigerian Web3 Neobank that helps African startups with cross-border payments raised $2.3 million in January 2024 to expand Baki – its African DeFi platform.

“With the help of Baki and stablecoins, Canza Finance aims to assist businesses in achieving dollar stability and overcoming traditional forex challenges. This will ultimately result in reducing transaction costs to just 1%, making it easier and more affordable for businesses to conduct cross-border transactions in Africa,” said Canza Finance in a statement.

Canza has ambitions of Baki building the world’s largest non-institutional financial system.

“Baki provides the ability to offer infinite liquidity at the official conversion rate, and natively quote assets in local currencies on chain,” Baki’s website states.

Another DeFi startup, Jia, in May 2023 secured $4.3 million in seed funding.

Jia, which is also looking at expanding the company’s operations in West Africa and Kenya, specialises in offering loans of up to $5,000 to small businesses to fill the gap left by other digital lenders and loan apps that usually do not offer credit exceeding $1,000.

A group of affiliated DeFi organisations, the Africa DeFi Alliance, aims to deploy $100 billion in working capital to help close the African MSME Funding Gap. Their goal is to provide MSMEs with capital that is ten times cheaper than today’s commercial rates.

“We believe that by uniting the many stakeholders in Africa and beyond who can unlock working capital to African MSMEs, we will actualise a future where an open infrastructure drives growth for vendors and more businesses at scale,” the alliance says on X.

According to the World Bank, SMEs which account for 60% of jobs in Africa face a huge finance gap of $330 billion.

Africa’s logistics sector is growing into a lucrative market and strategic hub within the global logistics network, as investors’ confidence in the sector increases.

A new report by logistics company Agility confirms the global logistics industry is considering expansion plans or first-time investments in the continent’s logistics sector.

According to Agility Vice Chairman Tarek Sultan, “This is the most optimism we’ve seen about Africa in the 15 years of the Index.”

Notably, 47.4% of respondents are planning additional investments in Africa, while 14.2% of the logistics executives from different companies are planning first-time investments on the continent. Only 6.6% of the executives are planning to exit or scale back from certain African markets.

This report coincides with increased investment in Africa’s logistics sector, with railroads and ports undergoing renovations and tech-driven solutions targeting emerging opportunities like intra-African trade.

A major upgrade to the Lobito Corridor, a close to 100-year-old rail network linking the mineral-rich Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Angola, and Zambia) to the Atlantic Ocean, received a major boost recently at the Mining Indaba in Cape Town. The US and EU-backed corridor operators signed a deal with its first customers, who committed to using the railroad to transport minerals upon its launch in 2025.

Trafigura, a Singapore-based multinational commodity trader, along with the Kamoa-Kakula copper mine (a mine in the DRC jointly owned by Ivanhoe Mines and China’s Zijin Mining Group) will export up to 450,000 and 240,000 metric tons of copper, respectively, via the railroad.

According to Jeremy Weir, Executive Chairman and CEO of Trafigura, these commitments will grow to make the corridor one of the leading rail transport links in sub-Saharan Africa. 

Revitalisation of the TAZARA railway, another logistics route connecting mineral-rich Zambia with the Indian Ocean via Tanzania, is on the negotiation table, with China proposing to inject $1 billion in its rehabilitation, according to the International Railway Journal. 

Elsewhere, the port of Maputo in Mozambique is the latest of many African ports to attract deep-pocketed global investors keen to invest and expand their operational capacity and general efficiency.

According to a 2024 Bloomberg report, DP World, working with Grindrod Ltd., will pump $2 billion toward port expansion after winning a 25-year concession extension deal that will end in 2058.

As international investors increasingly eye investments in the continent’s logistics sector, homegrown companies from established operators like Grindrod to startups are scaling operations and leveraging technology to build logistics services across Africa. Many of these companies are responding to the recently signed African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTFA) agreement, which will see the elimination of tariffs between member states.

Moroccan logistics tech startup Logidoo announced in mid-February it had raised funding to expand an end-to-end logistics offering to 5 new African markets. The startup already has active operations in 8 African countries.

There has been a steady rise in the number of similar tech-led logistics startups in Africa. Tracxn.com, a startup tracking platform, shows that there are an estimated 1,218 logistics tech startups operating in Africa today.

According to Africa: The Big Deal, startups in the logistics and transport sectors were among the top three most-funded sectors last year, raising some $210 million.

According to the UN Economic Commission for Africa, AfCFTA will boost intra-African trade by around 40%. The UN body called on African governments to “implement the Inter-Governmental Agreement on the Trans-African Highways; finance Road Safety; sign the Solemn Commitment to the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM); fully implement the Yamoussoukro Decision on the liberalization of air transport; sign and ratify the Luxembourg Rail Protocol to attract private sector investment in rolling stock; support the civil aviation industry” to fully benefit from AfCTFA. 

Cloud-native startups in Africa are luring big tech firms to ramp up spending on cloud facilities as demand for cloud services that comply with data protection laws grows.

McKinsey forecasts a global cloud value of $3 trillion in 2025, with $797 billion of this value sitting in Africa and Europe.

In the same period, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) statistics forecast the continent’s e-Conomy to hit $180 billion, 5.2% of its GDP.

Google’s Cloud director, Niral Patel cited the IFC figures, highlighting the burgeoning opportunities for cloud services in Africa.

On Friday, February 2, Google Cloud announced that it has opened its first cloud region in Africa, located in Johannesburg, South Africa. The new region will offer its core cloud services, such as computing, storage, networking, and security, to customers across the continent.

Meanwhile, Oracle revealed that it plans to establish a public cloud region in Kenya’s capital city of Nairobi to meet the growing demand for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) services across Africa. 

It will be the firm’s second on the continent, with the first one opened in January 2022 in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Both Oracle and Google are competing with other cloud providers, such as Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services, which have also established cloud regions in South Africa in recent years.

McKinsey notes prevalent data residency laws in Africa like those in Algeria, Gabon, Niger, and Morocco have forced these firms to set up shop on the continent.

The existing laws demand localised data, making it impossible for many firms to use the public cloud due to limited provider presence. 

Kenya, South Africa, Tunisia, and Uganda also impose restrictions on cross-border data transfer. 

A surge of cloud computing investments comes is also fuelled by factors like increased continental access to broadband internet.

Africa does not have a large installed base of legacy IT systems and hardware that need to be replaced or integrated with cloud services. 

This allows businesses to leapfrog ahead and adopt cloud-native applications and platforms that are more agile, scalable, and cost-effective.

According to some estimates, demand for cloud computing services in Africa is growing at between 25% and 30% annually

Google and Oracle are, thus honing in on the pulse of innovation—the thriving community of cloud-native startups. 

These nimble enterprises, born and bred in the cloud, have become the focal point of attention for two tech giants eager to contribute to and benefit from Africa’s expanding tech ecosystem.

In its last insights last month, McKinsey said African companies that “can make the leap stand to gain a sizeable prize. 

the consulting firm’s recent research projected a global cloud value of $3 trillion across what it categorized as the “Rejuvenate dimension (IT cost efficiencies) and the Innovate dimension (revenue uplifts and business operations savings).” 

In Africa, cloud adoption among respondents is consistent across African regions, with the highest levels, 70 to 77%, in East Africa, West Africa, and Southern Africa, according to the consulting firm.

Investors in the cloud space like Oracle and Google are also keen to develop cloud skills and talent. 

Both companies have launched initiatives to train and certify African developers, students, and educators on cloud technologies and applications.

Data tracker, Africa: The Big Deal notes that around 1 in 3 dollars invested into startups on the continent in the forecast period went to climate tech startups.

The strength of the sector  according to the Deal, illustrates “both the potential of ‘green’ investments in Africa and the increased focus of investors in this space.”

“While energy and water start-ups took the lion’s share, agtech dominates the early-stage pipeline, also pointing to the need for greater innovation across diversified sectors that will need to adapt to climate impacts.”

Rising investor interest in regional climate tech mirrors findings from the 2023 Africa Climate Awareness Report, published by bird story agency, which showed a growing preference for cleaner solutions among the populace.

Africans showed a strong inclination towards green solutions such as solar-PV and electric vehicles, which are slowly entering the market, especially in Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt and some Maghreb states.

Partech Africa trackers showed that African tech startups hauled in $3.5 billion in total funding (equity and debt combined), a 46% dip from the previous year, spread across 547 deals. 

Despite a 22% drop in the overall amount raised by the climate tech sector between 2022 and 2023 (falling from $1.6 billion to $1.2billion), the sector still managed a modest increase in the number of debt deals – from 71 in 2022 to 74 in 2023. 

Part of the sector’s resilience is the availability and diversification of funding sources, such as impact investors, development finance institutions, corporate venture capitalists, and philanthropic organisations keen to support climate tech startups.

The emergence and innovation of new business models and technologies such as pay-as-you-go have also made these startups more bankable, while artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things have enabled them to scale and reach more customers.

Late last year, several climate tech startups from Africa were featured in the inaugural Google for Startups Accelerator. They offered solutions for energy, agriculture, and transportation using data, AI, and clean energy. 

These included NeedEnergy, a Zimbabwean startup that uses data intelligence to provide smart and clean energy solutions and Octavia Carbon, a Kenyan startup that designs, builds and is set to deploy machines that can directly capture CO2 from the atmosphere in the Kenyan Rift.

Others were Seabex, a Tunisian startup that offers an AI-driven sensorless precision irrigation solution that empowers farmers with actionable insights for water-efficient crop growth and SolarTaxi, a Ghanaian startup that provides locally assembled electric vehicles to advance the growth and adoption of sustainable transportation.

Support for climate tech companies in Africa has been growing internationally, too. At COP27, several UN agencies launched a programme to drive new capital flow in climate tech to help African states harness and build renewable energy systems to power their economies.

Climate tech is seen as an important ingredient in fast-tracking Africa’s transition from high-pollution industries to adopting clean sources and promoting an energy transition in line with the 1.5-degree goal