Across Africa, entrepreneurial activity is booming, particularly when it comes to high-tech companies. As a result, major African cities, such as Lagos, Nairobi, Accra, Johannesburg and Cape Town, are competing to become the most important tech start-up hubs in Africa.
In Nigeria, the Co-Creation Hub (or CcHub) has been established in the vicinity of the University of Lagos as a collaborative work space for entrepreneurs and coders. In addition, a project has been undertaken to turn the Tinapa Resort, a failed commercial project, into Tinapa Knowledge City, which could serve as an alternative tech hub to Lagos. The project, which is supported by the government, a private university and an oil company, aims to create a campus and gas plant that could employ 10,000 people.
Nairobi has created a similar type of collaborative space, known as the iHub, with the support of companies like Google, Intel and Samsung. In addition, the Kenyan government has plans to build Konza Techno City 40 miles south of Nairobi. It is hoped that this project will create 100,000 tech jobs by 2030.
Similarly, Ghana’s capital Accra has announced that it will spend $10 billion on the Hope City project, whose goals are to house 25,000 residents and create 50,000 jobs by 2016, in addition to erecting the tallest building in Africa.
In South Africa, the JoziHub in Johannesburg was launched in February of 2013. Meanwhile, Cape Town has implemented a non-profit, community owned infrastructure to support start-ups.
These types of collaborative spaces and hubs allow aspiring entrepreneurs to share ideas with like-minded individuals. In addition, they make it easier for venture capitalists or angel investors to find new projects to invest in.
All of these projects show the potential of Africa’s economy. There are certainly still many challenges in the way of their success, and only time will tell whether all or even any of them manage to live up to their potential. Let’s hope that these tech start-up hubs in Africa are able to capitalize on the momentum driving the current success of the African economy.
– Caroline Poterio Martinez