Using Technology as an Enabler of Economic Growth in Africa

Technology for economic growth in Africa

Most of us probably know that for many years, Africa holds the title for being the poorest and most underdeveloped continent in the world. Aside from the high levels of poverty, Africa also faced different issues such as low life expectancy, different diseases and famine. In spite of the extensive measures that the African government made in order to find solution to this issues it seems that the situation in Africa seems to stay the same. But the failure of the foreign aid and global trade in helping to develop Africa has also produced a positive effect in country’s micro finance and that is mobile money. In this age, where we are very dependent in every single digital equipment that we have, we can probably say that technology nowadays plays an important role in developing a nation such in the case of Africa.

Even though only 10 percent of the African population has access to the Internet and severe lack of financial inclusion in Africa, there are still number of companies who have been able to create new ways of using mobile devices as a medium in carrying out different financial transactions. This simple movement alone can generate interest among investors that can contribute to the economic growth of Africa.

With the increasing popularity of mobile banking in Africa, small businesses in the country find saving, budgeting and controlling their money much easier that also enables them plan in the future. As people learns to properly save their money, mobile banking has also encouraged greater investments in the long run that could help in increasing the productivity gains.

According to the World Bank, Africa is going to be able to grow their economy by 5.2 percent in 2014 if they are able to improve their science and technology training and modernize most of their services, these are aside from the other factors (e.g. strong household spending, investment in natural resources and infrastructures) that Africa needs in order to drive economic growth in the country. In a statement made by the World Bank, they said, “Modern services, such as software development, call centers, and outsourced business processes, can be traded like value-added, manufactured products, enabling developing countries that focus on such services, innovation, and technology to leverage services as an important driver of growth.”

While the integration of technology in the economic and business processes in Africa may seem simple, the African government would still have to deal with the basic kinds of infrastructural problems for it to succeed such as, transportation system, power generation or water supply. In addition to this, Africa would also have to find new solutions that could help in solving their issue or finding other alternatives to their slow broadband subscriptions.