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Technology giants envision Africa as the next source of users for their platforms, with Google and Facebook having recently opened offices on the continent.
Companies in Silicon Valley are among the jostling firms they hope to welcome more than a billion new potential customers.
Lagos and Accra, major cities of Nigeria and Ghana, respectively, have been marked as key gateways in this lucrative new market.
With a predominantly young population, 60 percent of people are under the age of 24, technology companies are playing on Africa as their next major source of income.
However, concerns over data privacy following the Cambridge Analytica scandal have left local authorities the arrival of Facebook and its peers.
A recent report on the growing technology sector in Africa warned that the continent could be dozing off to a world in which a handful of corporations are exercising monopoly control over large parts of the world. 39, world economy. "
A technology center in the metropolis of Lagos, Nigeria, showcases some of the brightest minds in the country, as well as colorful hammocks and a ping-pong table.
The office, nicknamed the NG_Hub, is located in the suburbs of Yaba. the heart of Nigeria's thriving technology scene that attracts the interest of global giants eager to tap into an emerging market of connected young Africans
In May, Google and Facebook launched initiatives nearby
. President Yemi Osinbajo was in California to court US technology investors for what he said could announce a "fourth industrial revolution" at home.
But it's not just Nigeria that stings the interest of technological giants. Google has announced the opening of Africa's first artificial intelligence laboratory in the Ghanaian capital, Accra.
Demographics is a key factor in this movement – the African population is estimated at 1.2 billion inhabitants, of which 60% by 2050, the United Nations estimates that the population will double to reach 2.4 billion.
"Companies like Facebook and Google really have the opportunity to get in and get a foot in the sand," says Daniel Ives, a technology researcher at GBH Insights in New York. [19659010] "If you look at Netflix, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, where does a lot of that growth come from? Facebook is operational since the NG_Hub because it does not yet have a permanent office in Nigeria.
The head of the public policy of the company in Africa, Ebele Okobi, said at the opening of the premises. The goal was to cultivate the emerging technology community.
The social network is committed to training 50,000 people across the country to "give them the digital skills they need to succeed"
. has already ambaded 26 million users in Nigeria, gets more users and accesses a mbadive market to test new products and strategies.
"We are invested in the ecosystem. Just the fact that they engage … that in itself is a goal, "she added.
Many African governments have welcomed the titans of technology with enthusiasm.
California, Mr Osinbajo said the Nigerian government will support "The Next Google Billion Project" to Ensure Better Digital Access to Nigeria and the World. "
Few sectors in Africa inspire as much hope as technology, which has the potential to revolutionize everything from health care to agriculture. 19659002] Ubenwa, a Nigerian start-up qualified as "Shazam for Babies", after the app that identifies music and movies from snippets.
Ubenwa badyzes a baby's cry using the AI to diagnose asphyxia at birth because of death in Africa when babies are not getting enough oxygen and d & # 39; Nutrients before, during or immediately after birth.
Early detection of the problem could save thousands of lives.
"Africans Should Be" Tewodros Abebe, PhD student in language technology at the University of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, explains: "If we are not involved, no one can understand the existing problems on our continent. "
million. Abebe rejected fears that what Facebook and Google are doing is a form of so-called cyber-colonialism
"Working collaboratively, I think, is a good way to transfer technology to Africa", has he declared. "They're only looking for business, it's colonization."
However, as the technology sector in Africa grows, fueled by growth in the use of mobile phones, the pressure on governments to protect citizens' personal data also increases
. Osinbajo said Nigeria is eager to create the right environment for development, including for regulation.
But the debate on privacy is unobtrusive in many African countries, unlike Europe, which recently adopted new data protection laws. ] Facebook has also been at the center of a storm for failing to protect users' data in relation to manipulation allegations during the 2016 US presidential election.
Global Justice Now, a group anti-poverty, feared technology companies "
" We could doze to a world in which a handful of technology companies are monopolistically controlling entire sectors. of the global economy, further exacerbating the inequalities between North and South, "said the militant group in a report entitled" Epocalypse Now, "published in May 2018.
Renata Avila, World Wide Web Foundation "The message is that Africa needs investments and that it needs to develop these industries, so it's usually a pro-business narrative," Ms. Avila said. "But there is little surveillance," she added, warning that without regulation, people were vulnerable to exploitation.
Facebook has been shaken in recent months after it was revealed that the personal data of 87 million users were leaked to Cambridge Analytica policy consulting firm.
The company benefited from a feature that meant that applications could request permission to access your own data as well as data from all your Facebook friends.
Facebook was also the subject of close scrutiny after Russian trolls used the social network to interfere in the 2016 US presidential election.
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