Calling for a More Open Africa on Africa Day

To mark #AfricaDay on Thursday 25 May 2017, Elsie Kanza, head of Africa at the World Economic Forum, is calling on Africans to reimagine the continent open and border-free, and to encourage their country’s policymakers to help make this a reality.

“Africa has a population of some 1.2 billion people, 70% of under the age of 30. We’re a continent populated by young, dynamic people, but our youth can only help lead an economic revival if their ability to trade and travel is not hindered by geopolitical bureaucracy,” says Kanza. “Africa has helped build other countries and continents, now we need to open up to each other.”

Kanza’s call for an open and border-free Africa is backed by Africa’s Global Shapers — a network of around 1000 young change makers across the continent. The African Global Shapers represent some of the brightest, most talented people on the continent who are working to influence the Africa’s future for the better for all who live, work and trade there.

WEF figures show that the continent achieved GDP growth of some 5.4% between 2000 and 2010. But growth has slowed during the past half decade to some 3.3%. Visa-liberalisation has realised strong GDP boost in trust and trade in countries harmonising regulation with their neighbours. For Africa it could similarly be a jumpstart to the continent’s growth.

Although research shows that trade between neighboring countries and regions is a boon for economic growth and development, trade between countries in Africa is low. Inter-Africa trade in goods accounts for only 17.7 percent of the continent’s total trade.

The Africa Integration Index offers a compelling case for integration. Countries that enjoy trade and travel with neighbours realise flows of capital and information across borders, enjoying financial and cultural benefits.

“There’s a massive opportunity to increase the trade of goods and services, and what young people keep telling the change makers who run our hubs across Africa is that trade and travel on the continent is expensive and difficult,” Kanza says.

“It is simpler for a startup founder from Kenya to hop on an airplane and get funding in London, than in Johannesburg. It is easier for an emerging fashion designer in Nigeria to look for opportunities in New York than it is in Accra,” says Kanza, who adds: “This doesn’t make sense in a world where the internet is obliterating boundaries and borders anyway.”

The WEF Africa Competitiveness Report 2017 states: “Africa is full of brilliant, educated young people. Troublingly full. The number of working-age people in the continent is expected to grow to 450 million over the next couple of decades. But Africa's engines of job creation aren't keeping up. If enough new positions aren't created by 2035, Africa may be sailing towards a crisis of youth unemployment.”

The WEF report warns that African leaders have a choice. “Either put into effect structural reforms that improve people's livelihoods, or allow current, not-quite-adequate constitutional policies to unravel towards inequality and civil unrest.”

Kanza -- and her change-making cohort who are #ShapingAfrica -- believe that opening trade and travel is one way to stave off this threat. “To quote Parag Khanna from his latest book, Connectography: Mapping the Future of Global Civilization: ‘Borders are not the antidote to risk and uncertainty; more connections are’,” says Kanza. “The challenge is to connect talent, capital, entrepreneurs and trade — not separate them.” Sharing cultural experiences may be one of the most fundamentally important keys to peace and trust.

Research shows that the movement of people through regions liberalises trade, encourages the flow of capital, increases trust between neighbors, stimulates investment within regions, and lays in new infrastructure. Critically, it also eases transfer of knowledge, reduces cost of research and development of intellectual property.

In the Africa Integration Index, Dr Adrian Saville of the Gordon Institute of Business Science writes about how Africa was historically primed for the extraction of commodities to benefit economies outside the continent, and not to engage in trade that would strengthen and develop Africa.

“This has restricted bilateral trade between African countries and the development of a lucrative consumer market, while rendering the development of value chains or productive economies of scale near impossible,” writes Saville, who adds: “Ultimately, this has undermined the overall competitiveness of the African economies.” Opening up economies, writes Saville, would bring “sustained structural benefit” and economic growth.

“Why is it easier for Americans to travel across Africa, than for Africans to travel across their own continent?” asked Kanza, referencing the Africa Visa Openness Report. “Knowing our over-reliance on commodities and China, and Africa’s slow growth rate, we need to take that next step and liberate potential. We need to make it much easier for young Africans to trade with each other, and to travel across the continent. The benefits are compelling, and this is literally opening the door to future growth.

To join the conversation, follow @AfricaWeShape #OpenAfrica #VisaFreeAfrica

South African Free-Wifi Hero Calls for #Internet4all

Alan Knott-Craig Jnr, Founder of Hero Telecoms

“Should internet access be a basic right?” Alan Knott-Craig Jnr asks in response to whether or not he believes in the notion of #internet4all in Africa. The serial telecomms entrepreneur laughs out loud, and then asks: “What do you think?”

For the past four years, Knott-Craig Jnr’s key purpose has been all about trying to realise the dream that everyone in this country has a basic right to access an internet connection that is affordable, reliable and of good quality.

 It started in 2012 when he was the CEO of Mxit, and made a deal with the Stellenbosch municipality to enable free WiFi access in public spaces. The effort was organised under the moniker ‘Project Isizwe’, and its biggest installation today, has been in Tshwane, although Knott-Craig reveals that Johannesburg is next. 

 “In the last two years, Tshwane has become the continent’s biggest free public WiFi network,” Knott-Craig Jnr says. “I believe that internet access should be a basic right, it should be viewed as another utility, much the same as water, or electricity.”

 “There are so very many reasons internet access should be a basic right, but aside from education, healthcare or finding out what the Guptas are up to, for me the most compelling motivation for #internet4all in South Africa is economic development,” he says.

 “We see it in all the roll-outs we’ve done. Free or affordable access to the internet sparks economic development. Whether it’s as simple as someone going online to look for a job to start earning money, or listing their newly opened hair salon on Gumtree, people use the internet to access the economy. There’s a WiFi spot in Pretoria that now has a guy selling hot dogs alongside it, the free internet access brings loads of footfall, and the guy sells his buns with viennas in,” Knott-Craig Jnr says with a laugh.

 “There’s a much cited statistic that was put out by the World Bank about the growth effect of broadband, and I’ve seen it in Tshwane. Enable the access and everything flows from there,” he says. That frequently referenced World Bank study found that for each 10% increase in broadband penetration in low and middle-income countries, there was a GDP rise of 1.38%. 

 Knott-Craig Jnr’s call, for internet access to be considered a basic right in South Africa, follows the advocacy by Elsie Kanza, Head of Africa and Member of the Executive Committee for the World Economic Forum who is championing internet for all on the continent.

 “Technology has already helped to bring about vast improvements in the way the region governs, feeds, lives, educates, trades and interacts with itself,” said Kanza. 

Over 1,000 Global Shapers in 94 cities across Africa have joined the  an #internet4all in Africa campaign to advocate for internet access as a basic right at the World Economic Forum on Africa 2016, taking place in Kigali, Rwanda, from May 11 to 13. “We believe that, in the 21st century, this essential infrastructure should be available to everybody,” Kanza says, adding: “All Africans want is the chance to create for themselves the future that they deserve.”

“The reason I approached the government and asked them to start rolling out free WiFi in public spaces and poor communities, is because the telcos are never going to make internet access free. It is not their game, and they’ll never make it cheap enough for someone to not worry about how much they’re spending on data. It’s just not going to happen,” Knott-Craig Jnr says.

In Tshwane the Free Public WiFi project, Knott-Craig Jnr says, was driven by the metro’s mayor, Kgosientso Ramokgopa. “He pushed for the idea that the internet should be a basic service like water and electricity. Ramokgopa and his team are the people who made it happen.” The statistics of the Tshwane network point to its pervasive popularity.

The Jacaranda city’s free public WiFi network has had 1.4 million unique devices connected to it, with average speeds of some 15Mb per second. “It’s not like crappy dial-up -- it sometimes bursts to 30 Mbps,” Knott-Craig Jnr says. The network has 776 sites in public spaces and is available 24/7.

“If you drive to some of the installations in Tshwane, you’ll see people randomly standing in parking lots staring at their smartphone, or sitting in a park, eyes fixed on their laptop screen. The city people who use it call it Sputla WiFi after the mayor, his name is Kgosientso ‘Sputla’ Ramokgopa, Sputla is his nickname,” Knott-Craig Jnr explains, and adds: “The youth love it. It’s a major political win, particularly in a local government election year.”

The feedback from ‘Sputla’ WiFi users is that they now refuse to go to town hall meetings to see how city administration is going down. The Mayor has obliged with an offering called WiFi TV, where once a week a young journalist in Mamelodi interviews His Worship with questions the mod squad have submitted during the week.

And then there’s the narrative of the people who use the service. Mrs Mabhena, a librarian at Eldoraigne Community Library in Pretoria, says people sit outside the library premises for hours. “There is this particular old lady who comes to use the Free WiFi to call her
daughter in Australia,” Mabhena says, adding: “With access to information, anybody can become anything.”

This is true for 21-year-old Mukundwa Ratshikhopa from Rooihuiskraal, Centurion who started his own business on the back of the free WiFi. Mukundwa has an emerging branding company and uses the access for downloading and uploading images, and to update software programs. 

Then there’s Ikageng Mashaba from Itsoseng who is starting out in the music industry as a composer and producer. “I’m always uploading my tracks on iTunes, YouTube and other platforms. I have my own record label so I use WiFi for admin and I communicate with artists and co-workers. Tshwane Free WiFi has been very helpful.”
Jerry Matabula promotes his beauty business, the New Deal JR Salon, while 20-something Nosi Nukwa uses the service to supplement her learning. A poignant story comes from Molebogeng, who is unemployed and used to have to save R100 to go to an internet cafe to browse online and try to find a job. Now he’s at the public WiFi daily to look for opportunities.

For Knott-Craig Jnr the big dream is to put internet access within walking distance of everyone who needs it. In Tshwane that dream is becoming real. “The idea is this -- if you can’t afford to get on the internet, we’re not going to put fibre or copper into your house, but we’ll make sure you can walk from your house to the nearest WiFi zone. By 2018 our promise is that every citizen in Tshwane will be in walking distance of free WiFi. Today we already have 23.4% of the buildings within walking distance of free wifi. Pretty cool, eh?”

Pretty cool indeed. Pervasive, free WiFi in public areas for people who need it the most is a no brainer, particularly when one looks at SA’s economic outlook and unemployment figures. 

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Sign the Project Isizwe petition to call on government to provide free WiFi access in public spaces: http://petition.isizwe.com/

Do you think #internet4all would change your life, your work, or the lives of the people on this continent? Support the idea of #internet4all in Africa by taking to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or YouTube and motivating why #internet4all needs to be on the development agenda. Follow @Internet_4All

Support the call for #internet4all

The World Economic Forum calls for #Internet4all

“What would an ecosystem capable of supporting a smarter Africa look like?” Elsie Kanza, Head of Africa and Member of the Executive Committee for the World Economic Forum asks this Thursday 07 April 2016 in a piece headlined "Only 20% of Africans use the internet – we must fix this digital poverty now".

In the article, Kanza details a series of ground-breaking tech innovations from Africa that proves that Africa’s greatest resource is its people. “Technology has already helped to bring about vast improvements in the way the region governs, feeds, lives, educates, trades and interacts with itself,” says Kanza, the former personal assistant and economic advisor to Jakaya Kikwete, the fourth President of Tanzania.

Ahead of the World Economic Forum on Africa that takes place in Kigali, Rwanda, from May 11 to 13, Kanza announces that over 1,000 Global Shapers in 94 cities across Africa will launch the #internet4all in Africa campaign to advocate for internet access as a basic right.

“We believe that, in the 21st century, this essential infrastructure should be available to everybody,” Kanza says, adding: “All Africans want is the chance to create for themselves the future that they deserve.”

http://www.broadbandcommission.org/Documents/publications/davos-discussion-paper-jan2016.pdf

South African Educational Technology Leaders Join the Call

In Cape Town, teacher-cum-internet access champion and entrepreneur Luvuyo Rani is fully behind the idea of #internet4all. Through his business - which takes internet access, computing and technology into emerging and rural communities - Rani has repeatedly seen how access changes people’s future and life.

“What we see in our stores is that people come in with their smartphones but don’t know how to use them, because they are used to only working on feature phones. We help them create Facebook accounts and an email account, and to register for WhatsApp. This literally changes their lives. Being connected means they can interact with friends and relatives regardless of where these people are. They can connect their businesses and they can look for schools or education opportunities. They can even access their banking. Just like water or air or food or the need for safety, a home or family, the internet is a need that should be placed within Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs.”

Meanwhile in Johannesburg, Andrew Barrett, Education activist and co-founder of the academic support non-profit, Olico, also supports the call for #internet4all 

“A lack of access to the internet creates additional barriers to educational growth and to potential development, there is no question about that,” says Barrett, who advocates that internet access in Africa should be a basic right. “The internet is an important enabler for all kinds of factors including education and academic development, but also for growing one’s awareness of your position as a global citizen.”

Olico’s materials and online learning system could revolutionise South Africa’s dysfunctional education system, and improve the lives of many learners, but only if those learners have internet in order to access the open source content.

“Access to freely and readily available information is important to your place in the world, as well as to deciding what you want to do in the future. As more and more high quality open source material becomes available, access to the internet will be the great leveller in many ways,” he explains.

Andrew Rudge, CEO of The Reach Trust, agrees. “#Internet4All is one of the most important policy decisions we can take, because it is about giving individuals the power to make life-altering choices without a dependency on a traditional system. It is about a very real, life-altering freedom.” 

This is not just talk, The Reach Trust, has helped more than 10 million people transform their lives through access to free education, health and counselling services on their mobile phones. Their recently launched LevelUp application even incentivises learners with vouchers that they can use to purchase groceries at South African retailer Shoprite.  

We are only at the beginning of the #internet4all movement. The first 30% of Africans have gotten connected to the internet, and already miracles are happening. When we are all connected, there will be unimaginable opportunity for us all. 

Please support this campaign by adding your voice - take to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube or any other social media of your choice to explain why the #internet4all is a conversation we need to be having with our leaders.