Africa’s 2′s
Africa’s 2′s is a new phrase coined by by Vijay Mahajan that describes people who are not desperately poor (Africa’s 3′s) or obnoxiously rich (Africa’s 1′s) and the phrase is taken from this Washington Post Article on Africa’s rising middle classes.
The article also has some interesting stats on Nakumatt’s expansion across Africa. It’s projected sales this year are going to be around $350 million dollars (not bad, although I’d like to see how much of that is actual profit).
It also includes an interesting profile on this ugandan entrepreneur who owns a business that develops text-messaging products for cellphones. As I was reading about this entrepreneur, I thought that this is the kind of new wealth that African countries have to create if they hope to get out of poverty.
It’s becoming increasingly clear that this “new wealth” is not being created from traditional industries like farming. It is been fueled largely by the growth of cell phones across Africa. It is technologically based and the question is, will this continue especially as mediums such as the internet continue to expand across the continent.
So, I want to use this post to talk about cell phone technology in Africa and it’s fueling of this new wealth and what opportunities you see developing as a result of this.
I so agree with you.
Anyone who sets their sights on these new emerging Web 2.0 and mobile technologies will be laughing all the way to the bank in the not-so-far future.
Just look at Safaricom with their obscenely huge profits?
France Telcom, Zain and all the other Telcomms are not crazy when they eye Kenya and Africa as a whole.
There is awesome potential in Kenya especially. Now is the time to invest.
Looking forward to your article.
Safaricon: It was a duopoly. Little competition as mobitelea protected safcon vs Econet & other competitors. Not so easy going forward.
IT is where its at & Paul Kagame knows this. He plans to convert Rwanda into the IT hub of Africa. Once the undersea cables hit Kenya…. the terrestrial connection to Rwanda can be done in 1 year if not already in progress…
Even though Rwanda has alot of potential, Kenya will still remain the dominant player in East Africa for the next several decades.
Kenya has the skilled manpower and the market to shake up the IT sector in the region. Infact, alot of the Rwandese manpower comes from Kenya!
I met a Rwandese man over the weekend who is interested in investing in some properties I am involved in Nairobi. They are truly serious businessmen. This is the kind of culture that needs to be nurtured in Kenya – especially among the youth.
There should be training courses offering basic business skills and development – even if they are to be funded by the government.
I have this strange feeling that Kenya is about to take off economically.
NB: Watch out for Uganda though – they have discovered substantial oil and gas deposits in one of their lakes. This could boost their income levels if the money is invested wisely.
Building an African middleclass (the A2s referred to in the article) is key to getting some African economic giants. Some will come out about due to redistribution of wealth from natural resources. But it’ll mainly be service-driven companies, IT, and Biotechnology.
Kei O-Ug has got oil (I think the discoverers are trying to figure out if its enough to warrant a pipeline to Momba). Its problem now is M7. He is in his early 60s (i.e. can choose to be president for life), knows a bit of economics (can steal smartly), owns the army having created it and is wanting to run the country like a private business.
true cell phone technology and technology as a whole is fuelling a generation of african innovators and consumers and also creating new wealth from non traditional income generators , its all fantastic but to really be able to compete in a growing global economy african govts need to go along way in developing and enforcing laws that protect against intellectual property theft , go further and develop seriously competitive IT schools or create scholarship programs that send kenyans out of country to learn and develop these skills , supporting private sector investors or even better supporting the local innovation/starups in so many ways and hugely investing in IT infrastructure so we can consume locally and export. what we have to realize is people are developing these same products or jumping on the african IT band wagon with alot more govt support making it cheaper for them . Until some of these things start happening well keep hearing of one off success stories that dont impacting much coz its either bought and rebranded or cannot be developed to full potential .
Before any of the numerous stumbling blocks we currently experience until we have POLITICAL stability . any serious impacts by such an industry remain DIM . Laws governing theft and prosecution through telephone technology for both companies offering these technologies and consumers is also a must , because in africa especially where you start talking about a whole continent transferring money through phone you can be sure how much interest that will attract from unsavory characters from all corners of the world .