Africa’s economy is receiving a boost from tech innovations such as the startups being created by the master’s students at Strathmore University’s campus in Nairobi.
One of the most popular creations has been Valuraha, a training app that uses the Nairobi Stock Exchange. The research center is supported by such companies as Google, Samsung Electronics Ltd, and Safaricom Kenya Ltd.
The technology push has helped Africa’s already-growing economy.
A report by the African Economic Outlook put together by the African Development Bank Group, OECD development center and the United Nations Development Program says the continent’s growth is projected to accelerate 4.8 percent this year and another five or six percent in 2015. In order to create growth, the report said that African countries need to tap global markets more effectively to strengthen their economies.
Africa’s Pulse, a bi-annual analysis of issues shaping Africa’s economic future published by The World Bank, notes that sub-Saharan Africa is growing moderately. Investing in public infrastructure, rebounding agriculture and services are drivers of the region’s growth.
According to Bloomberg Businessweek, Angola, Mozambique and Kenya are improving their roads, railways and airports which will make trade much easier. There are plans for an 1,800-mile rail between Rwanda and port Mombasa in Kenya, a hydroelectric dam in Ethiopia and two coal-fired power plants in South Africa.
However, there are risks that could endanger Africa’s economic growth. The still-uncontained Ebola virus, which has claimed thousands of lives, threatens the growth of the main infected countries and the regions around it. Transport, cross-border trading and supply chains could be slowed down because of the epidemic, says the African Pulse report.
External risks of increased global market volatility and low growth in emerging market economies could also have a negative effect on economic growth. Bloomberg Businessweek also cites conflicts with Boko Haram rebels in Nigeria, civil wars in South Sudan, the Central African Republic and al-Qaeda militants in Kenya as other factors weighing down economic growth.
Sub-Saharan Africa is growing faster than many economies around the world, but it is still behind on its Millennium Development Goals. The global target was to cut in half the proportion of people who make less than $1.25 a day, but sub-Saharan Africa fell short and only reached 35 percent of that goal, according to the African Pulse report.
