Africa's Tech Growth Begins at Home

21 years ago, if someone in Lagos wanted to send an email to someone in Abuja, which is about 760 kilometres away, that email would first travel thousands of kilometres to Europe or North America before coming back to Nigeria. Internet traffic in Africa was taking a long detour to reach nearby places.

This detour was both costly and slow. It made it hard for local businesses to keep their costs down. It also left many Internet users in Africa with slow and unreliable connections.

To tackle this issue, the African Peering and Interconnection Forum was established in 2010. The goal was clear: to fix the connectivity problem. Network operators, technical experts, and policymakers came together to create much of the infrastructure needed to keep local Internet traffic within Africa.

Thanks to Nigeria's commitment, collaboration, and energy, a large portion of African Internet traffic now stays on the continent.

Last year, the African Peering and Interconnection Forum took place in Lagos. It aimed to promote the growth of national and cross-border connections. Next week, the energy from Nigeria will move to East-Central Africa, where the Forum will meet again in Kigali.

This meeting comes at an important time. Africa is ready to take advantage of the global digital economy. But to make the most of this chance, three things are necessary.

First, we must keep building a strong, united African technical community. This is why the Forum in Kigali is so important. It gathers everyone who supports our digital ecosystem, from data centre operators and fibre providers to hardware makers. We need to strengthen these connections and grow this vital community within African countries and across borders. This group is essential for Africa’s future economic success.

Second, we need to stick to the goal of making sure everyone has access to affordable, reliable, and strong Internet. About one-third of the world, including many in Africa, still cannot access the Internet. Making infrastructure is useless if people cannot afford the connectivity. The International Telecommunication Union says a smartphone can cost up to 40 percent of the average monthly income in some countries. Plus, mobile Internet is 14 times more expensive in Africa than in Europe. We have to find ways to lower these costs.

Finally, everyone should have a safe and secure Internet experience that protects them online. Threats come in many forms, like phishing scams that steal identities and drain accounts, and some governments use technology to target people through surveillance and intimidation.

In February, our Nigeria Chapter ran one of its biggest national campaigns, teaching over 2,500 Nigerians important skills in cybersecurity, online scam detection, and social media safety.

We must protect the Internet, using the great power of the community that helped build it in the first place. This includes nonprofits, researchers, standards bodies, civil society groups, and public-interest organizations that believe the network should work for everyone.

This unseen ‘global army for good’ gets much of its strength and inspiration from the efforts made by its network in Africa.

Africa’s 1.5 billion people deserve the full benefits of a connected continent. With a young and dynamic population ready to lead the next wave of global innovation, Africa is holding its digital future firmly in its own hands.