Twitter reignites jollof wars, Amazon lands in South Africa and Uber drivers revolt | The Round-up5/16/2021
It has been another awesome month in the world of African tech, not just because two of the biggest companies in the world opened offices in Africa, but there also continues to be incredible displays of innovation and impressive moves being made by founders on the continent. Here’s a roundup of some of the great things that happened in the ecosystem in April. Global tech companies building an African presence
With the world slowly returning to a semblance of normality and businesses slowly resuming service, one key trend expected to continue is the accelerated adoption of ecommerce globally. Mobile penetration is also increasing across Africa so it's no surprise that Twitter and Amazon are setting up bases on the continent. As part of its growth strategy, Twitter announced plans to open an office in Ghana explaining that Ghana is “a champion for democracy, a supporter of free speech, online freedom, and the Open Internet”, which hugely resonated with Twitter. The tech giant also said that Ghana’s recent appointment to host The Secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area aligned with their overarching goal to establish a presence in the region and support their efforts to improve and tailor their service across Africa. Amazon also announced a new African base in Cape Town, South Africa. This is projected to create 19,500 jobs across Africa, which will allow the company to tap into the continent’s fast-growing middle class of more than 300 million, estimated to be the biggest in the world. We know there are many innovators who just need the right support in the ecosystem. Hopefully the arrival of both of these global tech giants will lead to not just more employment in Sub Saharan Africa but also genuinely support the tech start up hubs across the region. Here is a round up of other news stories from the African startup scene in April:
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