The initiatives powered by the U.S. tech firms are matched by President Joe Biden’s administration, which, at the December 2022 U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, launched the Digital Transformation with Africa Initiative (DTA), prioritizing $350 million in investments while mobilizing $450 million to expand digital access across the continent.
Ramin Toloui, the assistant for the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs at the Department of State spoke to VOA during the 2023 Africa Fintech Summit, where he said the DTA is creating links between the continent and Washington’s public and private tech firms.
"When we hosted the U.S.-Africa Leaders' Summit we had an innovators gathering at State Department. The convening power of the U.S. government was an opportunity to gather young entrepreneurs (from Africa) and have them meet representatives from Google [and] MasterCard, who are also in attendance of events like this," Toloui said.
Afrotech, a U.S. based company with links to institutions working in Africa, last week concluded its second Afrotech Executive Summit in Washington D.C., where tech executives spotlighted their contributions towards the growth of Africa’s tech sector.
Simone White, the senior vice president of Afrotech, told VOA her organization has partnerships across the continent that are boosting the tech sector.
“We know U.S. based organizations that also have locations mostly in Ghana and Nigeria where we have been negotiating the most. South Africa- a little bit, [and] some [in] Cape Town, but thinking about how do we partner with organizations that are already there,” White said.
"We want to make sure that we are engaged with people in a deep way that allows them (Africans) to have access to the capital we have access to, access to jobs and sponsorships," White added.
White’s sentiments were echoed by Ronnie Kwesi Coleman, the founder of Meaningful Gigs, a U.S. based tech company whose mission is creating over 100,000 skilled jobs for Africans by linking them to reputable companies such as Google.
Coleman said his company strives to "build Africa’s middle class" through tech.
"One of my main missions is to build a middle class in Africa. In order to build [it], you need people to make money and you need them to invest that money back into the economy," he said.
"The reason we have a high number like 100,000 is because we are a tech company and we build technology with a platform that allows us to scale in different countries and markets faster than you would if you did it by hand," he added.
Collaborative data released in 2020 by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Google reported Africa’s digital economy potentially contributing $712 billion towards the continent’s overall Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Omi Bell, the founder of Black Girl Ventures and a member of Rising Tide Africa, a network of "angel investors" [persons who provide money in exchange for equity] focused on empowering African women in tech, echoed the findings produced by IFC and Google.
Bell told VOA the inclusion of minority groups has led to the growth of the global technology industry.
"We are at a place economically as a country, as a society and a world where we can’t afford to have people who are not welcome to the table. There is this idea that has been bred overtime that says we only need these people and forget those other people. We are no longer there," Bell said.
She added "By 2044, 2045 we will be majority - people of color - and it’s important that everybody gets to economically participate."
