Africa is getting left behind… Again
Africa — the cradle of humankind. The epicenter of warmth and compassion. If you are looking for warmth and affection then come to Africa.
Africa is on the rise after being left behind by the industrial revolution. The revolution in Africa has been marred by civil wars and chaos which are the exact ingredients that are not needed for progress.
The Gross domestic product
If Africa was a country its GDP would be $3.1 trillion (nominal; 2023 est) $8.86 trillion (PPP; 2023 est) ¹, Gross domestic product (GDP) is the market value of all final goods and services from a nation in a given year. It comes as no surprise that South Africa is leading the charge in terms of GDP in Africa (373.233bn) as South Africa is Africa’s most industrialized country in Africa.
Look it is hard to industrialize. Maintaining an informal market is difficult enough but if you factor in infrastructure, exporting, resourcing, marketing, pricing, and scale just makes the problem worse.
A look across Africa at night shows a clear picture of the rate of electrification, which is a key ingredient for industrialization. Without electricity things like manufacturing electronic components and products become a pipe dream.
Africa has the resources but GDP is the market value of all final goods and services.
Even with its limitations, Africa has still been able to leapfrog other more advanced economies in certain areas. Africa’s smartphone adoption has been second to none. South Africa (the most industrialized African economy) spends 56.8% of their awake hours a day looking at screens, at 9 hours and 24 minutes ²
The next revolution
We are on the brink of a new revolution. Some would call it Industrial Revolution 4.1 and others would call it the 5th Industrial Revolution. Artifical intelligence has come and taken over.
ChatGpt was the first app to reach 100mill users in 2 months, making it the fastest-growing consumer application in history ³ (okay threads broke this record but it launched to an existing base)
Tesla has stacked its future on Self-Driving cars and robotaxis, repositioning itself as an AI that just happens to make cars.
Sora has made Tyler Perry put a hold on building a new studio, Perry stated that he has put a halt to his planned $800 million expansion of his Atlanta studio, a decision influenced by the advancements in artificial intelligence, particularly OpenAI’s Sora. ⁴
Another interesting point that Tyler Perry made was that an amateur armed with Sora could potentially produce a credible TV show or film without hiring any human crew.
Africa has the potential to properly build out its film and TV industry by fully leveraging AI. A young African with a vision and no resources for a TV show can produce a pilot that they can market to get funding or even produce the whole TV show. AI-wood here we come.
South Africa has one of the highest screen times in the world and might as well use that screen time to good use by leveraging AI
It's time to build!
Information is power
Information is everything, conversations lead to more conversations which lead to transactions that lead to relationships
One of the key resources I use to keep track of the developments is Futuretools.ai
Every week academics from all over the world are collaborating, publishing papers, and releasing AI products. The area is still fragmented and there is some consolidation going on. The iron is still hot and now is the time to strike.
I have also created a Google Sheet where all of Africa’s AI companies can be found, entered, and updated. So if you are doing something cool in the AI space then let us know and let us help you scale.
References
1-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_African_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)
