Tech innovation in Africa needs to rise above digital serfdom
In the rapidly evolving digital landscape, Africa finds itself at a critical juncture. Much of the continent's digital success story rests on a fragile foundation, built on dependency rather than autonomy. To address this, African nations are striving for digital sovereignty - a goal that entails owning digital infrastructure, governing platforms, and protecting the digital rights of its people.
Egypt, for example, has an AI strategy, but it requires more than just a plan. Local datasets, African language models, open-source alternatives, and ethics frameworks are essential components that Egypt, and many other African countries, need to prioritise. Kenya's data protection law (2019) is promising, but enforcement remains weak, and foreign platforms dominate digital transactions, communications, and content consumption.
One of Kenya's most revolutionary forces in mobile finance, M-Pesa, was developed by Vodafone UK in partnership with Safaricom, with the IP and core infrastructure remaining abroad. This highlights the need for indigenous technologies that reflect Africa’s diverse languages, cultures, and social realities.
Rwanda's Irembo platform delivers over 100 public services online while keeping citizen data under national jurisdiction, providing a model for other African countries to follow. Senegal is building a national data center to host government services locally, another step towards digital sovereignty.
However, the African Union's Data Policy Framework and the Smart Africa Alliance are only the first steps. Stronger regional regulation, shared standards, joint infrastructure projects, and enforcement mechanisms are needed to ensure that African data serves the continent’s interests, rather than being extracted for external profit.
Nigeria, for instance, has a National Centre for Artificial Intelligence, but local investment in AI is a continental priority. Despite the 2023 Data Protection Act in Nigeria, most of the infrastructure remains externally owned and governed. This raises concerns about privacy, freedom of expression, and access to information, whether the threat comes from Big Tech or Big Brother.
Avoiding digital feudalism - the economic and political dominance of African digital spaces by external actors or a few powerful companies - is crucial. This involves not only technological independence but also legal, political, and economic policies that diversify control and foster open, competitive digital ecosystems.
Strategies for achieving digital sovereignty include developing local AI and digital technologies, creating robust data governance frameworks and ethical AI policies, building and expanding local digital infrastructure, and including transparent and accountable governance structures. These actions collectively enable African nations to shape their digital futures, retain economic and political agency, and prevent domination by foreign or private digital empires.
Currently, there is no legal power for African countries to challenge biased AI systems that may reinforce inequality. Digital infrastructure in Africa is often built and owned by outsiders, governed by foreign laws, and monetized for offshore shareholders, rather than serving the public good, creating local jobs, protecting rights, and building institutional capacity.
Embracing digital sovereignty means empowering citizens with the infrastructure, skills, and policies to ensure African data works for African development, without falling into new forms of digital dependency or "feudalism."
- To achieve digital sovereignty, Egypt needs to prioritize local datasets, African language models, open-source alternatives, and ethics frameworks, beyond just having an AI strategy.
- Kenya's data protection law is promising, yet enforcement remains weak, and foreign platforms dominate digital transactions, communications, and content consumption.
- Rwanda's Irembo platform, which delivers over 100 public services online and keeps citizen data under national jurisdiction, serves as a model for other African countries.
- Senegal is building a national data center to host government services locally, another step towards digital sovereignty.
- For Nigeria, local investment in AI is a continental priority, despite the Nation's National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and the 2023 Data Protection Act.
- In order to avoid digital feudalism, African countries need to focus not only on technological independence but also on legal, political, and economic policies that diversify control and foster open, competitive digital ecosystems.
