When I was a child, I remember images on TV of starving children from Africa crying, with flies buzzing around their faces. These images usually represented an impassioned plea from a humanitarian aid agency, encouraging people to donate money to stop starvation in Africa. These pictures of poverty, sorrow, and pain, however, left a permanent mark on my mind, with personal sentiments that I would never want to go to Africa! No matter those reggae songs, with calls and chants of ‘Back to Africa’, I was never moved; why would I want to go there?
Now, roughly 30 years later, my views have changed significantly.
CELL PHONES
While attending the Africa in Transition (AIT) Conference in Accra, Ghana, in October 2025, whenever I wasn’t on the conference bus headed to the University of Ghana, we took Uber taxis as our main transport. This was common practice; persons would order rides using their cell phones, and I was pleasantly surprised, because there is a belief that Africa is backward, with little or no technology in use. I saw many people using cell phones in Accra, and let me tell you, a whole lot of Uber taxis were on the road. You could pay the drivers in cedis (Ghanaian currency) or online with your debit/credit card, and once you ordered a cab, the drivers came on time.
In fact, going through immigration at the airport and while in the baggage area, there were vendors selling SIM cards (pay as you go), indicating the extent of telecommunications in Ghana. So, once my feet touched the streets, I saw for myself how extensive the cell phone reach was.
There has been rapid expansion and growth in the African phone market, more so cell phones than landlines. Africa has the fastest-growing mobile phone market globally, with an annual growth rate of 65%, which is twice that of the Asian market (Business Insider Africa 2024 and the International Telecommunication Union).
The African countries with the highest number of mobile phones are Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Morocco, Algeria, Ghana, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Interestingly, Nigeria has the highest number of mobile subscriptions at 219.3 million, compared to South Africa’s 118.6 million and the Caribbean’s 28 million.
MOBILE MONEY AND TECH START-UPS
The cell phone has certainly transformed Africa. One such example is the well-known mobile money system started by Safaricom in 2007 in Kenya, known as M-PESA. M-PESA has a prepaid structure, with the aim to reach the ‘unbanked’. It supports financial inclusion of the populace, including the Maasai herdsmen (an indigenous people), providing users with a virtual bank account or digital wallet. Anything can be purchased using M-PESA: taxis, rent, coffee, and school fees. All classes of people use this system, and rural farmers have received huge benefits because they get paid directly for their crops through M-PESA. In some cases, this has removed the need for a middleman so that farmers can profit more.
The user opens an M-PESA account at a kiosk, where they also buy a SIM card and credit for their phone. Users deposit money into their M-PESA account and use it to purchase goods and purchase additional credit, as well as transfer money to others with a mobile phone. Interestingly, this mobile money system relies on SMS technology, i.e., text messaging.
59% of Kenya’s GDP flowed through M-PESA in 2023. This is at a value of 20 billion (Forbes 2024), compared to 10 billion in transactions in 2020. M-PESA has also extended its reach to other African countries such as Tanzania, Uganda, and Mozambique. So, M-Pesa continues to innovate and expand its services beyond basic financial transactions.
There are also a lot of tech start-ups, hubs, accelerators, and business incubators in Africa. These tech businesses are working on innovative products for the agriculture, education, health, media, and entertainment sectors, amongst others. Major cities such as Nairobi, Cape Town, Kigali, Lagos, and Accra are home to these tech businesses.
Africa is on the cusp of a technological revolution.
INTERNET PENETRATION AND USE
Interestingly, most Africans access the internet through their mobile phones. However, compared to other regions of the world, internet penetration rates remain relatively low, largely due to infrastructural challenges. Between 2010 and 2021, the internet penetration rate across the region grew from 9.6% to 33%; nevertheless, internet penetration, now at 43.2%, is still below the global average of 68% (Statista 2026). Africa, nonetheless, is bridging that digital divide, focusing on increasing internet penetration by 2030.
So, inspite of the challenges with widespread internet coverage, there have been serious advances in technology in Africa. “Back to Africa”, therefore, remains a forward movement for many. Will the Caribbean region take advantage of this opportunity? We will have to wait and see.
Continue to follow my journey, my sojourn to Accra, Ghana, as I explore the areas of cultural practices, food and dress in the next article.
Chuuwod is a Jamaican geo-scientist who has travelled across Africa, Asia, and the Americas.
Participant at the Africa in Transition (AIT) Conference in Accra, Ghana, October 202