DCA Digital Digest: The rise of African startup cities: Drivers and trends

1. The rise of African startup cities: Drivers and trends

The geographical focus of innovation and entrepreneurship is shifting and cities in the United States are no longer the predominant location for high-tech startups. Instead, they have spread globally and the past decade has witnessed a dramatic growth of startup ecosystems around the world (Florida, Hathaway 2018). This is true also for Africa, where lively startup scenes have emerged in cities such as Nairobi in Kenya, Lagos in Nigeria, Cape Town and Johannesburg in South Africa, Accra in Ghana, as well as Cairo in Egypt.

2. Embassy boom indicates Africa leapfrogs in tech

THE unprecedented embassy-building boom in Africa is an indication the global community is positioning itself to make the most of the ability of the continent to leapfrog the rest of the world with innovation.
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3. Cheap internet access for Africa, but at what cost?

Initially, the web was an opportunity to democratize public spaces, Kwet says. But within a short period of time, it changed into a technological system controlled by a handful of companies. Their collection of user data amounts to constant surveillance.
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4. Spiking sophistication and impact of cyber attacks across the globe

PwC is seeing an escalation in the sophistication and impact of cyber attacks across the globe. This, coupled with the fact that organisations need to protect themselves against a plethora of attacks while attackers only require a single vulnerability in an organisation’s defences to be successful, is a scary prospect for business leaders charged with the security and sustainability of large organisations.
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5. The Unbanked in Africa Could Be One of the Biggest Opportunities in Fintech History

It’s been estimated that by 2020, there will be 525 million smartphones in Sub-Saharan Africa. Small merchants will have the capabilities to expand their business across Africa, developer their brand, and tap into the rise of online purchases. With this modernization, new opportunities for African Fintech startups will emerge at a rate of knots
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