How Africa’s Surging Technology Sector Can Reach Its Full Potential

How Africa’s Surging Technology Sector Can Reach Its Full Potential
Jumia co-CEO Sacha Poignonnec, left, applauds as Jumia Nigeria CEO Juliet Anammah, center, rings a ceremonial bell on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, April 12, 2019 (AP photo by Richard Drew).

Africa’s technology sector jumped into the global spotlight earlier this year when Jumia, an e-commerce platform that started in Nigeria in 2012 and is often referred to as “the Amazon of Africa,” became the first African start-up to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Jumia’s success underlines the increased prominence of start-up culture and technology entrepreneurs across Africa. For this week’s Trend Lines interview, WPR’s Elliot Waldman is joined by Bitange Ndemo, a professor of entrepreneurship at the University of Nairobi and former official in Kenya’s Ministry of Information and Communication, for a discussion on Africa’s digital renaissance.

If you like what you hear on Trend Lines and what you’ve read on WPR, you can sign up for our free newsletter to get our uncompromising analysis delivered straight to your inbox. The newsletter offers a free preview article every day of the week, plus three more complimentary articles in our weekly roundup every Friday. Sign up here. Then subscribe.

Listen:

Download: MP3
Subscribe: iTunes | RSS | Spotify

Relevant Articles on WPR:
Why Africa’s Young Entrepreneurs Are the Key to Diversified Growth
How to Fix America’s Absentee Diplomacy in Africa
Uganda Expands Its Internet Clampdown, Stifling the Last Space for Free Speech
Picking Up the Slack: Mobile Technologies as Alternative Development Financing

Trend Lines is produced and edited by Peter Dörrie, a freelance journalist and analyst focusing on security and resource politics in Africa. You can follow him on Twitter at @peterdoerrie.

To send feedback or questions, email us at podcast@worldpoliticsreview.com.