Review : Mobile Phones Revolution In Africa

Mobile phone Revolution in Africa

Mobile phone technology in Sub-Saharan Africa is taking the continent by storm. Global tech companies like IBM, Google, Facebook, & even China’s Tencent are hoping to get a piece of the giant African Info tech cake.

Hundreds of tech start-ups have popped up across Nairobi, Lagos and Johannesburg and elsewhere seeking innovative breakthroughs. Mark Essien, creator of the first hotel-booking websites in Nigeria said the future of Africa isn’t in playing catch-up, but in inventing something to leapfrog the rest of the world. Cellphones are the first big leap, the next will be advances in high-speed internet and smartphones.

They’ve already developed many Africa-based apps:
1.herding cattle in Kenya (i-Cow)

iCow is an SMS (text message) and voice-based mobile phone application for small-scale dairy farmers in Kenya.

According to forbes in 2011 iCow is The Best African Mobile Apps

It’s something of a virtual veterinary midwife, helping farmers track the estrus stages of their cows, while giving them valuable tips on cow breeding, animal nutrition, milk production efficiency and gestation. Each text message costs about 10 Kenyan shillings, or 10 U.S. cents.

2.private security in Ghana (Hei Julor!)
Hei Julor is phone-based security alert system allows users in distress to send a blank SMS to the Hei Julor! emergency number at which point the service will alert a private security company as well as friends and relatives, trigger a radio announcement and notify the police.

3.Remotely monitoring patients in Zimbabwe (Econet).

4. Nigeria's Largest Online Mall Konga

According to Forbes
To comprehend Konga.com ’s phenomenal growth story is to understand the dynamics at play and the man and the team driving the vision behind Konga.com. Nigeria today and indeed much of Africa is very similar to the United States at the end of the 19th century; the U.S. was undergoing rapid transformation and economic growth characterized by expansion of the railroads, initial deployment of the federal highway system and rush of technological innovations and inventions. As the country industrialized and expanded, a middle class started to emerge even though poverty was still pervasive. Additionally, the traditional retail business as we know it today in the U.S was practically non-existent then. At that time, consumers patronized small independent retailers and bought goods from these locals merchants who offered a limited selection. “Sears, Roebuck & Company rose against this backdrop. The story of Sears spans a hundred years and in many ways, it rode the growth of the United States,” said Shagaya as we talked about the ascendancy of online retail that is poised to leapfrog and disrupt the brick-and-mortar retail business models in Africa. “I really believe that the Sears-U.S. story is analogous to the Konga-Africa story. It will take time and effort but we have an opportunity here to tell the story of the rise of Africans out of poverty aided by powerful information technology. Sears rode the steam engine, electricity and the rise of U.S. manufacturing. Konga will ride information technology, electricity and growing African manufacturing."

About 70% of Africa’s urbanising population is under and the first thing they want is a phone and then information.