The African continent is experiencing a significant boom in its digital landscape, marked by a growing professional developer ecosystem and a rapidly expanding Internet economy. According to the e-Conomy Africa 2020 report, a collaborative effort by Google and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Africa is presently home to nearly 700,000 professional developers. This represents a historical peak for the continent, with forecasts indicating a continuous rise in these numbers. More than 50% of these developers are concentrated in five key markets: Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, and South Africa.

Despite this impressive growth, the developer ecosystem remains nascent when measured by two critical indicators: the experience level and the overall volume of players. The majority of African developers are relatively young and are currently at a junior level. The report highlights that in African countries with smaller and more nascent developer populations, 43% of developers possess only one to three years of experience, a stark contrast to 22% in the United States. This indicates a primary focus for the continent will be cultivating a greater number of experienced and senior-level developers to further mature the talent pool. In terms of volume, Africa's developer numbers are still quite small compared to more established global ecosystems. For instance, Latin America boasted 2,162,461 developers in 2019, with Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina leading the region. Furthermore, the state of California alone had 628,414 software developers, according to data from Daxx.

An encouraging aspect of Africa's developer landscape is the notable representation of women. Currently, women comprise 21% of the total developer population in Africa, surpassing the 15% observed in the US. While still a minority, this figure demonstrates growing opportunities for women coders, particularly in regions like Egypt, Morocco, and South Africa, as the ecosystem expands. African developers are predominantly self-starters, utilizing a blend of both formal and informal education channels to acquire skills and secure well-paying jobs. University programs and self-taught channels, such as online coding lessons and resources, are the top two developer training pathways, accounting for 33% and 31% of software developers in Africa, respectively. Online schools and bootcamps, which continue to grow, contribute another 21% of developers, with on-the-job training making up the fifth pathway at 16%. The pursuit of a software development career often serves as an avenue for social mobility across the continent.

The immense potential of African developer talent is further evidenced by organizations such as Andela, Gebeya, and Decagon. Additionally, pan-African conferences and programs like Deep Learning Indaba and African Masters of Machine Intelligence contribute significantly to the ecosystem’s growth by bringing people and businesses together, sharing discoveries, and creating invaluable connections. Beyond its burgeoning tech talent, Africa's Internet economy is poised for exponential growth. The e-Conomy Africa 2020 report estimates that the continent's Internet economy has the potential to achieve 5.2% of Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP) by 2025, contributing approximately $180 billion to its economy. This projected potential contribution could soar further, reaching $712 billion by 2050.

Several factors are driving this remarkable potential, including increased access to faster and higher-quality Internet connectivity, a rapidly expanding urban population, a growing tech talent pool, a vibrant startup ecosystem, and Africa’s commitment to creating the world’s largest single market under the African Continental Free Trade Area. Stephanie von Friedeburg, Interim Managing Director, Executive Vice President, and Chief Operating Officer of IFC, emphasized the transformative power of the digital economy, stating that it “can and should change the course of Africa’s history.” She highlighted the opportune moment to tap into the power of the continent’s tech startups for much-needed solutions to increase access to education, healthcare, and finance, thereby ensuring a more resilient recovery and positioning Africa as a world leader in digital innovation.

An analysis within the report, conducted by Accenture, found that in 2020, the continent’s Internet GDP (iGDP) may have contributed approximately $115 billion to Africa’s $2.554 trillion GDP (4.5% of total GDP). This was an increase from $99.7 billion (3.9% of total GDP) in 2019, with the potential to grow further as the continent’s economies develop. Digital startups in Africa are driving innovation in fast-growing sectors, including fintech, healthtech, media and entertainment, e-commerce, e-mobility, and e-logistics. All these sectors contribute significantly to Africa’s growing iGDP, which is defined as the Internet’s contribution to the GDP.

At the unveiling of the report, Google Africa director Nitin Gajria stated that Google and IFC created this report “to highlight the role the digital startup sector is playing and other factors driving the continent’s growth, in order to showcase and support the opportunities the continent presents.” Sustaining this digital growth will necessitate crucial investments in infrastructure, increased consumption of digital services, robust public and private investment, and supportive new government policies and regulations. Furthermore, the report notes that investment in digital skills will also need to increase in order to help drive technology usage and continue to grow the continent’s talent pool. The full report is available for review and download for further details.