Africa has its Silicon Valley too: here are the cities to keep an eye on
Let's put aside the image of poor countries and fleeing migrants. Of course, Africa is also this. But it’s so much more. The continent is experiencing a period of growth in investments in its tech industries, with the development of innovative hubs in the main cities, which might be the key to a land with a growing young population. From the north to the south of the continent, there are now over 300 hubs. Of which over half in four countries: Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt and Morocco.
A great use of these hubs is the offer of shared work spaces, fast Internet and constant access to electricity. All of which cannot be taken for granted in Africa. Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, is one of the main centers for this type of opportunity. The Nairobi Garage, for example, is a space for organizing conferences on innovation topics and workshops to help aspiring entrepreneurs develop new skills and iHub is an incubator for over 150 businesses in the Kenyan capital.
A great use of these hubs is the offer of shared work spaces, fast Internet and constant access to electricity. All factors not taken for granted in Africa
These centers might be the key to a land with a growing young population
South Africa also offers various opportunities for technological growth. In Durban, SmartXchange helps the development of small and medium-sized businesses, and every month a forum is held with the country's leading entrepreneurs to train young startuppers. In Cape Town, RLabs organizes bootcamps, providing investments of over 20 thousand dollars for the development of social enterprises through their programs.
Further south, Addis Ababa in Ethiopia is also a-buzz and is home to iceaddis, the country's first innovation hub created in 2011 to support startups created by young people and to promote interactions between entrepreneurs, financiers and creatives from the tech world. In Lagos, the most populated city in Nigeria, the so-called tech-In series are held every two days at the Co-Creation Hub. Here developers and designers create new web and mobile solutions for the social changes of everyday life.
Dar Es Salaam, the capital of Tanzania, where the Kinu hub offers its open spaces to creatives and entrepreneurs to collaborate in the search for solutions to social changes, is no less innovative and lively. Attempts to create centers of innovation are also found in Accra, Ghana. And then in Kampala, Uganda, and Monrovia, Liberia. The latter, which is emerging from a bloody conflict, is looking for rebirth by investing in tech. The iLab hub is now the meeting point of many young aspiring entrepreneurs, eager to learn the tech basics and put them into practice.