Kathy Gibson reports from Google for Africa – Google has committed to invest $1-billion in Africa over the next five years.
Making the announcement, Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, says the funds will be used for initiatives ranging from improving connectivity to supporting startups.
It will help to offer affordable access to SMEs and build new products; will help businesses with their digital transformation; will be used to increase investment in entrepreneurs; and will support non-profit organisations.
“There is so much momentum happening in Africa,” Pichai says.
“There are also significant challenges, with the pandemic continuing to deeply impact communities on the continent. But we have seen how technology can be a lifeline.
“Being helpful in these moments is at the core of our mission to organise the world’s information and make it useful.”
Among the projects Google is investing in is a collaboration with Kenya’s largest carrier Safaricom to support the launch of the first “Device Financing” plan in Kenya.
This initiative will be expanded across Africa with partners like Airtel, MKOPA, MTN, Orange, Transsion Holdings and Vodacom, and more.
It is also involved with Plus Codes, a free and open-source addressing system to provide addresses for everyone. The government of The Gambia has adopted this in providing addresses for residents and businesses across the capital Banjul and are now scaling to the rest of the country. Plus codes will expand to South Africa, Kenya and other countries in partnership with governments and non-governmental organisations.
Through a Black Founders Fund, Google will invest in black-led startups in Africa by providing cash awards and hands-on support. This is in addition to Google’s existing support through the Google for Startups Accelerator Africa, which has helped more than 80 African startups with equity-free finance, working space and access to expert advisors over the last three years.
Google also announced the launch of an Africa Investment Fund. Through this fund, the company will invest $50-million in startups and provide them with access to Google’s employees, network, and technologies to help them build meaningful products for their communities.
In collaboration with the non-profit organisation Kiva, Google is providing $10-millio in low-interest loans to help small businesses and entrepreneurs in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa get through the economic hardship created by Covid-19.
Renewed funding for nonprofits.org is expanding its commitment to support nonprofits working to improve lives across Africa, with $40-million to help more partners who are responding to challenges they see first hand in their communities – innovators like the Airqo team at Makerere University, who use AI and sensors to monitor poor air quality, a leading cause of premature death.
Google is also providing $3-million in new grant funding to expand this pioneering work from Kampala across 10 cities in five countries on the continent.
Today’s announcement expands Google’s ongoing support for Africa’s digital transformation and entrepreneurship. In 2017, Google launched its Grow with Google initiative with a commitment to train 10-million young Africans and small businesses in digital skills. To date, Google has trained over 6-million people across 25 African countries, with over 60% of participants experiencing growth in their career and/or business as a result.
Google has also supported more than 50 non-profit organisations across Africa with over $16-million of investment, and enabled hundreds of millions of Africans to access internet services for the first time through Android.
Pinchai believes people can harness technology for good. “There are so many examples of this in Africa. We have seen so many innovations begin in Africa and then spread throughout the world. For instance, Africa was the first place where people accessed the internet via a mobile phone; and mobile money was ubiquitous in Kenya before it took off anywhere else.
“It has been incredible to see such rapid change in such a short space of time. Since we opened our first office in Africa, Google has enabled 100-million Africans to access the Internet for the first time, and we have had a big focus on expanding opportunities through digital skills.”
Nitin Gajria, MD: sub-Saharan Africa at Google, adds that 330-million African will come online for the first time in the next few years, and Google will help to enable this through its investment in the Equiano subsea cable connecting Africa to Europe.
“Equiano will provide 20-times the network capacity than the last cable built to serve Africa,” Gajria says. “This will lead to lower internet prices and increased speed.
“This access should indirectly create 1,7-million new jobs in South Africa and Nigeria.”