Is software eating Africa?
Marc Andreessen famously said that software is eating the world. The dinner served currently for banks since 2010.
Cryptocurrency is eating the Banks.
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2020 looked like that year the world was on a factory reset. Almost every sector of the economy ate software through remote work. But what caught my eye is that the African governments celebrated holding Zoom meetings and video calls look like a great deal for them.
Covid-19 is not only a virus that killed many Africans, but it’s also an epiphany of how redundant our political institution is towards technological development.
The actuality of software business in Africa is far from eating up the system, unlike what we see in the western world.
The Software industry is still at a micro-level in Africa. So very micro that everything looks like who is building Slack or Zendesk for Africa? Every time this question is asked, we hastily forget about policies and the kind of political institutions we have here.
Let digress a bit. In Europe, industrialization played a big part in the lives of those living in the nineteenth century. Railways were built, connecting areas of the country and creating the beginning of national and regional economies.
Although the change was slower in many parts of Europe, competition forced the creation of some factories, followed by the demise of the skilled artisans who were previously employed in trades. This change occurred first and most dramatically in the textile industry.
Increasing industrialization affected the family economy, or the cottage industries, as traders found they could increase their profits by buying from factories. Since it drove prices down, it also made it more and more difficult for cottage industries to find enough work and make enough money to survive. The breakdown of the family economy helped to create major cultural changes for the working class, as the families began to have less control over all aspects of one’s life.
Many in rural areas began to supplement their income by becoming seasonal migrant workers in the construction industries. During the height of the construction season, they would travel around the country building railways and buildings, and digging canals.
Also, the shift to industrialization created uncertain economic prospects for skilled artisans during the nineteenth century.
Let me finish this up, a little peek into the industrial revolution it came with changes and social reset, what I can only say — that railways won’t be possible if they had a government that is backward when it comes to technology, African leaders, and blind financial exclusion policies are the main risk of every startup founder and investors in Africa. Most innovation that tries to change how they operate seems alien to them.
Software is not eating Africa. African leaders are chewing both the software and the continent.
