African countries have been registering tremendous progress in the adoption of technology. That is a result of many players that included both governments and private sectors initiatives. Essentially there are three sides of the coins: one being the infrastructure to provide backend connectivity, the second one being devices and lastly services providers; all of which have been possible thanks to massive subsidies and low cost financing that were availed by governments. The rapid adoption of technology is itself evident, the question though whether Africa is benefiting enough? Why are very few of these technologies being developed by Africans and will these mimic what happened with the auto and aero-Industries where Africa only consumes?
There are those who believe that when there is a problem, there must be always someone to blame! That is the mindset in professional sport and some antiquated corporate organizations. Certainly most of the time, but not necessarily all the time. If we ask ourselves for example who should be blamed for Africa becoming the dumping ground for cars, airplanes, for televisions, and other high end electronics and automotive products, it would certainly be almost impossible to find what exactly happened. What I think a lot of people mostly know is that the question itself is very complexe. As complex as why can’t someone who just graduated from business school who has regurgitated all business principles and theories can sometimes not be able to manage his/her household finances.
And of course there can be a counter argument to the automotive industry, while a few European manufacturers setting up shop in South Africa and other high GDP countries. Well that is a good step forward, however, in financial terms, the impact and volume are certainly a drop in the ocean and arguably it is rather strategic and cash flow positive for the parent organization both in terms of revenue and access to lower cost in human capital.
Every country in our days has at least one telecom company with massive infrastructure: servers, cell towers, a computing environment that is rather expensive. The question is whether it makes sense to look at the entire supply chain of these massive industries that have merely become public utilities that everyone depends on for survival and business transactions.
After all for some of these companies to exist, they have required subsidies to either build towers, set up the infrastructure, import gadgets at a cheap, affordable price, etc. It can only be right that regulators ensure that the general public is benefiting from the cash flow that is generated while operationalizing the ecosystem that has been in some form financed by tax money or word bank and IMF loans that few knows how they will be paid or if they ever will.
The problem though is that we live in a competitive world: globalization. But yet again the question of who devised the rules that govern all of those transactions, and why can’t whoever is responsible, African Union or regional cooperation figure out a way to at least interject in the supply chain. After all it happened with the airline industry where companies like Boeing and Airbus have had to let some of the countries with major airline supply components and sub-assemblies, just to ensure the cake is equally shared. But that didn’t happen without the entire European union joining force to start a major competitor to at least pressure Boeing to force it on the table of logical discussion.
The question is still who will have to do that? And where will he/she ask considering the technology device manufacturing industry is highly fragmented. In any case, nobody knows, as for who will we blame? We will revisit, as that will be the beginning of the journey to actualization otherwise if noone, no institution to blame, then there is no plan…
Ideas in the article are written for blogging, entertainment and recreation purposes only, this is not a research or scientific publication, quote at your own risk…I am not a professional writer or a journalist or an economist for that matter!
The article was written primarily for Wallas’s upcoming blog wallasplanet.com while in the process of building Standard Gateway. Visit our platforms for more information about what we have in store for you. www.standardgateway.com, edrivingschool.org, www.nationalexamination.com
