I was a panelist at the African MBA summit held in Sandton this week, talking about Technologies that is changing Africa. Fascinating topic and specifically with fellow panelist from Vodacom, Telkom, Uber, Google and Microsoft.

Africa is an interesting landscape for technology. Up until a decade ago, their was little in the form of technology skills, development and innovation on the continent (excluding South Africa), mainly due to low access to connectivity, power and knowledge. But the advent of cellular communications has radically transformed this, and with renewable energy a core focus on the continent, with the likes of Google running experiments with creating tech hubs using wind and solar, this will just accelerate. This is leading to a massive growth in tech innovators and entrepreneurs on the continent, solving local issues through clevel technology solutions. From farming to health care and education, great strides are being made to have the continent catch up with the online commercial world.

I believe that there is 3 key areas where technology will change the way we work and play in Africa.

1. With the cost of connectivity coming down and access reach increasing, more rural people will be engaging in online activity, including doing business online.
2. With the emergence of Internet 3.0, the internet of value, being driven by cryptocurrency, cross border trading will increase in Africa, given what it can do in a region with so many currencies that are so volatile. The move from mainly technology savvy people using it to the general populace could be faster in Africa than elsewhere as they are already used to using mobile money.
3. Online Gaming and socialisation, reaching across borders and nationalities will further break down borders and as it is people rather than governments connecting, we could see a social revolution like the Arab spring in countries where we have a few corrupt, powerful leaders.

It is very likely that Africa will deliver the next Billion $ startup. With the hunger and lack of fear of failure, as well as surprising high levels of skill and government support and deregulation in countries like Kenya, there is a wave of tech entrepreneurs dreaming about exactly that. Africa may not have the startup biosphere like Silicon Valley or India, but there definitely is an emerging group of tech entrepreneurs that has been moderately successful, and can help the youngsters along the way. I believe that with the advent of technology like Blockchain and emergence of Cryptocurrency, this will make a success out of Africa more likely.

It is early days, but definitely an exciting time to be involved in technology in Africa. Just perhaps Africa can skip the need to first industrialise before they move into the knowledge economy.