Will the Cloud bring life back to Africa ?

New life has started to bloom across this drought-ridden continent.   These green shoots are the fruit of the last decade and a half of increasingly feverish activity.   Democracy and mining spring to mind, but what about retail?  What about banking?  And of course mobile – the great enabler !

Chinese colonization proceeds with alacrity while their Global counterparts dawdle.   But is Sino capital and labour what Africa really needs?  Yes – but only if there is no alternative.   The rest of the World, suffering from post 2008 crisis lethargy, is slowly starting to realize that Africa should form part of their longer term plans.  The UK chugs along barely in positive territory while Osborn pats himself on the back for having squeezed the life out of the UK which he now kicks down the road and calls it growth !   The Tea Party almost dragged the USA (and the World) to the brink of an economic morass – all the while China struggles to placate its’ masses while fooling itself and the World that it is growing at 8% plus.   The World economy is in a bad place;  and politically not much better either.  

Relations between allies are under strain with Germany quite correctly blasting the USA for its incorrigible behaviour of eavesdropping on Frau Angela and her volk.  Not too mention the unbearable strain between Russia and the US because of the Syrian tragedy, all the while Rohani  tries valiantly to build bridges where none have existed for 34 years.  The new Australian PM has shown a middle finger to the World by ditching all Climate changes measures and callously turning away desperate migrants back to Asia. 

So while all this goes on Africa quietly gets down to business.  New undersea cables around the Cape and up both coasts have bolstered bandwidth 400 fold in just 5 years. Democracy is starting to take root.  Foreign investors (including Brazilians like Vale)  have boosted Mozambique into one of the World’s fastest growing economies.   

The connectivity bonanza provides the first critical and necessary part of the infrastructure that will help Africa really become connected to the World.  The first vital stepping stone to helping Africa move from its less than 10% broadband penetration today to over 90% by 2020.  This is a realistic goal and must be striven for.  

What provides hope is that mobile phones have shown the way.  Their ubiquity  shows that Africans can engage with the latest technology and ‘get it‘.  There are now well over 800m mobiles in Africa giving a penetration of over 80%.

The way forward has been created for the building of the next stage of the digital infrastructure that will enable broadband.   The likes of data centres, backhaul links,  metropolitan fibre and wireless networks, power solutions,  training and the investment that will accompany it.  

Countries like Rwanda and Kenya have already shown what can be done with the right political will and others like Mozambique are moving in the right direction on the journey to a more unified and connected Continent.     New data centres will drive the proliferation of Cloud services,  virtualisation, infrastructure as a service (IAAS) and software as a service (SAAS).   This will in turn have a knock on effect across the economy in all sectors including e-Government.

The future of Africa relies on its large and dynamic population that is increasingly hungry for a better life.  A better life that can be achieved through the proliferation of new technologies which are not only sustainable, but appropriate for Africa’s needs.