Africa to Asia

Four years ago, I moved to Johannesburg with my wife and two boys - then 1 and 3. Over these years, I’ve had the joy and privilege of having a ringside seat in Africa’s digital transformation journey as the Managing Director for Google in Sub-Saharan Africa. The only memories my boys have now is of a childhood growing up in and traveling around Africa. 

Now, it’s time for my family and I to be back in Singapore. And a time of change is always a great time to reflect and so here are some observations from the past 4 years.

1. Africa isn’t one story - it’s a billion stories. One of the most striking things from these past four years of living and traveling on the continent is that the Africa that my family and I have experienced has been richer, more diverse, more colorful, more optimistic, more entrepreneurial and way cooler than the Africa I read about and saw on the news before I came here. In a way it reminds me of this incredible Ted Talk by the amazing Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - the danger of a single story. I’ve also observed a sense of pride in being African and there’s a certain quality to this pride - it’s founded in joy mixed with an understanding of the weight of history - and devoid of the jingoism we see in the brand of nationalism all around the world today. But Africa’s narrative in the eyes of the world needs to change. Yes the sunsets are beautiful, yes the lions are aplenty, yes there’s strife, yes there’s poverty. But there are also stories about the music, the food, the fashion, the tech innovation and so much more that don’t get talked about as much. Over the next decade it will be critical to empower storytellers - content creators, film makers, authors, podcasters, game publishers, musicians... anyone that’s building contemporary stories about Africa. 
2. Technology and the internet will play a much bigger role in Africa than elsewhere. Technology can be a powerful disruptor. In most parts of the world, tech has disrupted existing industries or paradigms - eg - eCommerce and physical retail, ride-sharing and traditional taxi companies and so on. In Africa, the opportunity for tech is to disrupt the lack of existing paradigms - disrupting dysfunction. Whether that's the dysfunction of access to schools, or reliable electricity, or transport, or sanitation. This is why I'm excited about the work young tech entrepreneurs in Africa are doing. No one is better placed than Africa’s young entrepreneurs to solve some of the continent's most profound challenges. I'm so proud of the work our amazing teams at Google are doing in this space.
3. Pan Africanism is a strength and we must leverage it. Africa is not a country and it’s grating when the continent gets talked about as one homogenous mass. It takes about as long to fly from Cairo to the Cape as it takes from London to Bangkok. Now think about the breadth of cultures, ways of life, economic conditions and socio-political contexts that you’re flying over between London and Bangkok. You see the same diversity between Cairo and the Cape or between the islands of Cabo Verde and the horn of Africa. However, the investment pitch for the continent is far stronger when we talk about it as one - reflecting the sheer scale of Africa and her youth. We have the frameworks to make some of this happen - in AfCFTA or through the various regional blocs. What’s needed is more deliberate, more aggressive approaches in policy making, creating the conditions for easier and more secure flow of talent, capital, goods and services, intellectual property and harmonization of regulations in several key industries. It’s very very hard to do, but the payoff, undoubtedly, is worth it.
4. Africa and Asia is a marriage that ought to happen. I’ve often found businesses, entrepreneurs, policy makers and investors in Africa look north or west for inspiration, partnerships, frameworks and so on. I think this is a missed opportunity. There is a need to bring Africa and Asia - specifically South and South East Asia - closer together. There are so many more shared challenges and opportunities - diverse landscape, fragmented populations, financial inclusion, cost of access, access to education, young populations and so on. An entrepeneur from Lagos solving for logistics in Africa probably has more in common with their counterpart in Karachi than say someone in Berlin or San Francisco. And this logic probably extends to every vertical. Even for policy makers - the policy context in Indonesia or the Philippines operates in probably has a lot more in common with Tanzania or Senegal than anywhere in the EU. You get the drift.
5. In the end, it’s about leadership. The next 5-10 years in Africa’s digital transformation journey will determine whether Africa is NOW or continues to be this idea for the future - something business and political leaders around the world can postpone thinking about. Business and political leadership on the continent will be instrumental in determining how the cards fall. Efforts must be redoubled in the following areas: Access (solving for network access, cost of devices and cost of data). Skills (basic digital literacy for everyone, growing the developer population), Harmonization (harmonization of regulations in key verticals eg FinTech) and Capital (remove barriers for investors - almost all well-funded startups and funds in Africa are domiciled outside of Africa).

Even as I move back to Asia, I remain long on Africa. I will continue to invest in young entrepreneurs disrupting dysfunction in Africa, in African story-tellers presenting a more contemporary and representative view of the continent to the world. I will look for ways to bring Asia and Africa closer together. And yes, I will return for the sunsets and the lions as well!

I’m not from Africa. But I will always be of Africa.