Digital transformation: A connected and “disrupted” Africa

Abstract

The concluding chapter not only acknowledges that, across Africa, glimpses of the development and use of new and disruptive innovations are everywhere. It submits that Africa’s reality today goes against the often made assumption that the continent’s contribution to the digitization, AI and the IoT is minimal. More importantly, it argues that Africa has grasped the promise of the 4IR, being home to over 400 tech hubs, with many “disruptions” happening locally as the unique challenges faced on the continent continue to give rise to new and innovative ideas or solutions, a development attracting foreign investors in numbers unimaginable in just a few years. However, since disruptive technologies offer benefits and drawbacks, the challenge is the ability or flexibility required to manage new disruptive technologies and reshape changes. To this end, the chapter affirms the centrality of education and other capacity building measures, transformative leadership, increased investments in telecommunications, and a need to have the requisite infrastructure and related industries in place for the desired benefits of disruptive technologies to be fully realized.