If Africa is to ever compete, let alone lead in global innovation, we must start by laying the foundation
By Kwame Gonza – Mechanical Engineer, Thinker, Visionary and Member of the African Continental Unity Party (ACUP)
Much has been said in recent years about Africa’s rising tech ecosystem, with places like Nairobi and Lagos being hailed as new “tech hubs.” But if we are to be brutally honest and historically grounded, these so-called hubs are—at best—shadows of real tech centers, imitations with little substance behind the slogans. They lack the foundational power to produce truly competitive technologies or companies on the global stage like Silicon Valley in the U.S. or Shenzhen in China does.
Why? Because they are built on fragile foundations. These tech environments depend almost entirely on foreign digital infrastructure. They exist in countries with poor access to consistent electricity, limited or no passenger railway transport logistics, no integrated continental market, and fragmented fiber optic communication networks. Add to that a weak financing environment and zero political protection, and what you get are startups trapped in survival mode—not innovation mode.
We’ve seen from history that global success begins at home. Even some of Africa’s most promising innovations—like mobile money transfer systems pioneered in East Africa—have failed to scale across the continent due to these structural limitations. What could have become a unified African digital payment infrastructure was instead copied and scaled by Visa, Mastercard, and PayPal, turning Africa from innovator into footnote.
The Lesson of Imitation: Why China Succeeded and India Has Struggled
Consider this: both India and China have had opportunities to imitate Western technological progress. But it is China—with its clear state direction, infrastructure investments, and political discipline—that has emerged as a global industrial and tech power. India, while ahead of Africa in some respects, has not matched China’s trajectory due to its fragile political environment and lack of centralized infrastructure provision.
Imitation becomes a mockery, not a strategy, without a serious and organized political force to support it. For Africa, it is important to start with:
- Affordable continental transportation (African Railway Triangle Network Master Plan)
- A Reliable continental Fiber Optic communication system along the Proposed Railway Line.
- Constant and affordable electric power and finally:
- Affordable Food for the Majority if not all.
These are not optional—they are prerequisites. And this is precisely where Africa fails most tragically.
Tech Success Must Be Political and Strategic
The rise of technology enterprises anywhere in the world has always been a deliberate political act—driven from the top. Once the infrastructure is in place, the next step is massive and strategic investment in:
- STEM education at a rate of more than 20% of all Diploma and Degree graduates
- Research and development
- Deliberate Incubation and protection of domestic companies not Wishful thinking and Hoping.
- Global market leverage through political diplomacy and pressure
Take the U.S. as an example. The U.S. government doesn’t just watch as tech companies rise—they make it happen. They use state power to secure global markets for their companies. Musk’s Space X (StarLink Internet) has of recent been getting licensed in third-world countries through U.S coercive and blackmail diplomacy. Boeing secures international contracts with U.S. State Department backing and sometimes unashamedly by the Whitehouse itself. Lockheed Martin, Oracle, Google, Halliburton, and many others benefit directly from America’s geopolitical leverage.
France does the same with companies like Airbus, TotalEnergies formerly Total, Alstom the rolling stock and train manufacturing Giant etc. China has followed suit with its conglomerates in energy, construction and train manufacturing, and India is now attempting the same with Adani bidding and taking concessions in African infrastructure like ports in Tanzania and recently attempting to take over East Africa’s biggest and busiest Airport Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Kenya. These are national industrial strategies—not random success stories. Yet amidst all this evidence, Africa’s local champions and mostly clueless drivers who call themselves presidents think everything happens by chance, by leaving everything to the market forces.
Africa has no base infrastructure, industrialists or tech Champions. Without them, what we have is symbolic success—a mockery of the true potential of the continent’s 1.5 billion people.
The Only Way Forward: Build the Base
If Africa is to ever compete, let alone lead in global innovation, we must start by laying the foundation. That foundation is not an app, imitation of apps or startup competition. It is:
- A Continental Railway Transport Backbone
- A Continental Fiber Optic Cable Backbone
- Five to Six Mega-Power Projects of 250 GW, each generating 40 GW, to double Africa’s current energy capacity from 250 GW to 500 GW (compared to China’s 1,800 GW and the U.S.’s 1,200 GW)
Only after that can we meaningfully talk about:
- Real industrialization
- A unified continental market
- Globally competitive African companies
- Entrepreneurial growth rooted in infrastructure, not hope
Without this, everything else is symbolism—nice to hear, but structurally meaningless illusions.
Kwame Gonza
Mechanical Engineer | Continental Visionary & A Member, ACUP (African Continental Unity Party)
