A recent piece by Rick Rowden suggests that Africa’s boom is over, and it couldn’t be more wrong. Rick Rowden argues in his article, that because of collapsing commodity prices and the lack of industrialization, the boom is over. Everyone assumes that all Africa has to offer the world is oil, gold, minerals and that industrialization is the only path to a boom. Building an industry is good, and Rick makes some important points about how to do that, but here’s what he’s missed: Africa’s boom is just starting, and it’s a tech boom.
The World Economic Forum is kicking off today with the question “Is Africa leading the innovation revolution?”, Fortune has detailed “Why Africa maybe on the verge of an Internet Boom”, The Wall Street Journal has suggested that Africa may be hiding the next Mark Zuckerberg and Quartz Africa has evidence to support how “African startups are defying the global tech slowdown”.
