The impact of technology on Africa is profound, affecting education, the cultural landscape, banking, business, and more.
Artistic Expression: Contemporary artists, such as Nkiru Oparah, have begun to create digital images of Africa that reclaim and update typical views of the area. Other artists use animation to tell the story of African people now and in the past.
Digital Readers in Schools: David Richer, a former executive at Microsoft, sent millions of Kindle readers to sub-Saharan Africa, including Kenya, Ghana, and Uganda. In schools, e-textbooks serve as visual learning tools that are customizable to the individual student’s learning style.
Online Banking: More and more Africans are banking online. Banks are trying to stand out from the competition by offering digital features, including electronic banking.
Health Services: In South Africa, people have Impilo, which is a service that allows people to find healthcare providers in the country with their mobile phones.
Online Shopping: Slowly but surely Africans are becoming more comfortable with shopping on digital platforms, particularly in Mozambique.
Communicating Activism: The bloody elections held in Kenya were documented by activists who sent text messages to a server so the rest of the world could read what was happening.
Business Productivity: Local firms are increasing in efficiency thanks to technology that provides them with access to global connections. Also, many tech companies are investing in Africa because of local factors like the seemingly unending growth of the mobile phone and better access to education for the middle class.
Training of Teachers: Teachers will have more accessible training once the building of an information and communications center in South Africa’s Lady Frere District is complete. A library and Internet cafe will be on-site for the local community too.
Reconnecting Displaced People: Disaster management efforts benefit from technological advances. Mobile phones have been used creatively in refugee camps to reconnect displaced people with family and friends.
Entertainment Goes Mobile: Africans are using their mobile phones to vote in reality shows, download and share songs, watch videos, and use Facebook.
All of these changes that are happening are no doubt for the good of all people. What really caught my attention and made me thankful is the part where you emphasized about the improvements on education by the training of teachers. It’s always great to know that there’s a progress there.
Communicating activism is the most important here for me. Because there are lots of people who doesn’t know what’s happening in their country due to lack of news services. But with technology, that’s being changed now. This way people can really see a good picture of all the problems that are happening in their country.