Earlier today the inaugural Google For Africa event kicked off with a virtual keynote presentation that involved the Alphabet CEO, Sundar Pichai, who announced that $1 billion would be invested in digital transformation across the continent over the next five years.
While the full breakdown of the sizeable investment has not been detailed at this stage, Pichai did note that it would be aimed at enabling fast, affordable internet access for more Africans, as well as building helpful products, supporting entrepreneurship, small business and helping non-profits to improve lives across the region.
“We’ve made huge strides together over the past decade — but there’s more work to do to make the internet accessible, affordable and useful for every African. Today I’m excited to reaffirm our commitment to the continent through an investment of $1B over five years to support Africa’s digital transformation to cover a range of initiatives from improved connectivity to investment in startups,” Pichai outlined.
Looking at some of the elements involved in empowering digital transformation, the Alphabet CEO explained that, Google is building global infrastructure to help bring faster internet to more people and lower connectivity costs.
This will take the form of the subsea cable Equiano, which will run through South Africa, Namibia, Nigeria and St Helena to connect the continent with Europe.
The company is also looking at how it can more closely collaborate with carriers and networks when it comes to the issue of connectivity and the digital divide.
“Google has collaborated with Kenya’s largest carrier Safaricom to support the launch of the first “Device Financing” plan in Kenya, and will expand this initiative across Africa with partners like Airtel, MKOPA, MTN, Orange, Transsion Holdings and Vodacom, and more. These partnerships will help millions of first-time smartphone users gain access to quality, affordable Android smartphones,” explains a press release sent to Hypertext.
Another initiative is Plus Codes, which is a free and open-source addressing system. “Plus codes will expand to South Africa, Kenya and other countries in partnership with governments and non-governmental organisations,” the press release adds.
The final project worth noting is focused on arts and culture across Africa in the form of the Cradle of Creativity project, which is a dedicated platform that will highlight creative history and heritage.
“In collaboration with the Yemisi Shyllon Museum of Art in Nigeria and the Origins Centre in South Africa, people across the globe can explore more than five hundred high-resolution images, sixty expertly-curated stories with audio narrations, as well as Street View virtual tours, helping to showcase Africa’s creative talent and heritage,” the release concludes.
[Image – Photo by Alex Dudar on Unsplash]
