Experts: Help small businesses in Africa access technology
An entrepreneur displays his dairy products during the Nyeri County Jua Kali and SMEs Exhibition at Dedan Kimathi Stadium on June 27, 2015. Experts involved in training and financing small businesses said restrictive regulation had delayed the segment from growing and utilising technology.
What you need to know:
- The groups, which are involved in training and financing small businesses, said restrictive regulation had delayed the segment from leading Africa’s digital revolution.
- The African forum has already charted a shortcut to industrialisation that will see the continent ride on digital revolution to leapfrog its current challenges.
Experts and financiers gathered in Kigali called for policy reforms to enable small and micro-enterprises (SMEs) to grow and make use of technology to speed up Africa’s industrialisation.
The groups, which are involved in training and financing small businesses, said restrictive regulation had delayed the segment from leading Africa’s digital revolution.
“While SMEs already account for most of the new jobs being created in Africa, it is the segment that is most sensitive to administrative controls,” said Mr Tarek Sultan Al Essa, chief executive of Kuwait-based Agility and co-chair of the World Economic Forum-Africa.
“I am certain that the lowest hanging fruit for Africa is to make it easier for SMEs to register and operate.”
The African forum has already charted a shortcut to industrialisation that will see the continent ride on digital revolution to leapfrog its current challenges.
Under the short route, the continent, where only 24 per cent have access to electricity according to the World Bank, will use technology to side-step stages that rich countries underwent on their way to industrialisation.
The rich countries used water and steam power to mechanise their production before turning to electricity and later used information technology to automate production.
The forum envisages a scenario where Africa jumps these stages to what it calls fourth industrial revolution, which fuses physical, digital, and biological spheres.
“Most firms in Africa fall under the SME category because their annual sales do not exceed $500 million. E-commerce has given these firms a platform to grow by linking up Africa’s market with developed economies,” said Mr Dominic Barton, chief executive of McKinsey & Company, a US consulting firm.
“Africa still remains the world’s fastest growing region and investors are looking at it.”
The forum’s organisers have clashed with development agencies that have warned that rapid adoption of technology could lead to massive unemployment and put economic benefits in the hands of a clique of well-trained professionals.
The African Development Bank used the platform to announce a $5 billion fund to finance youth entrepreneurship across the content.
