Business Times Africa Magazine 2017 /vol 9/ No2 BT2Edition2017_web | Page 21

OPINION: AFRICA'S ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION TO CREATE A THIRD CENTRE OF GLOBAL POWER
Brett Parker
Brett Parker is the Managing
Director of SAP Africa
initiatives are delivering and being
joined by new catalysts every day.
According to Jake Bright, co-author of
The Next Africa: An Emerging Conti-
nent Becomes a Global Powerhouse,
there are already over 200 innovation
hubs on the continent, 3,500 tech-re-
lated ventures and $1bn in venture
capital injected into local startups.
Africa is modernising at an un-
matched rate. Its tremendous mobile
device adoption proves this fact. Af-
rican companies and people simply
accept that new technologies will
improve their lives and if what they
need does not exist, they will create
it. From new solar power systems to
the much-celebrated M-PESA mo-
bile banking, Africa innovates at the
edge. While other countries wonder
about delivering packages with quad-
copters, we are already pioneering
intelligent drone systems sophisticat-
ed enough to track poachers. It was
an African student who developed a
new rocket fuel - in his mother's rural
kitchen!
This culture of innovation leapfrog-
ging is one of Africa's secret weapons,
supported by a rising tide of SMEs.
Though policy and leadership have
been slow to respond, we hear new
voices promoting SME and innova-
tion cultures every day. Rwanda, for
example has reduced new business
registrations from over 18 days to as
little as 6 hours through a series of
reforms that include technology and
paperless processes. As a result, more
companies were registered there in
2009 than the total five years before
that - and it keeps growing.
Skills are central to Africa's future
and I see a lot of promise in the grow-
ing pool of related projects across the
continent. Technology skills are be-
ing brought to schools everywhere
with innovations including contain-
er classrooms and maker hubs. Ter-
tiary skills are also being reinforced
through partnerships with universi-
ties, as well as award-winning pro-
grammes such as SAP Africa's Skills
for Africa and Africa Code Week,
the latter which trained over 86, 000
youngsters in basic coding skills last
year.
But this is not a services revolution.
Africa's resources and agriculture re-
main important. They benefit acutely
from innovation. One example is the
partnership between SAP and GIZ,
developing systems used by cashew
farmers in Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte
d'Ivoire, Ghana, and Mozambique to
better manage their supply chain.
Thanks to the continent's demand
for hardy and meaningful technology,
which is being driven by partnerships
that reinforce Africa’s role in creating
a better world, Africa is where others
will look for the best in new innova-
tion. The SAP Rural Sourcing Man-
agement solution is one direct result
of this. Refined on African farms, it
will serve as a blueprint to meet ag-
riculture and food challenges across
the world.
I believe that Africa will emerge to
be the third centre of global power,
settled in between the worlds of the
East and West. The world needs Af-
rica. It needs its resources, its people,
its skills and its insights and Africa is
rising to meet those expectations. Yes,
it has not been a smooth ride, but the
winds of change are blowing in the
right direction. This will be Africa's
century.
2017 | Business Times Africa 19