Facts about Africa and Tech you should know in 2022

Africa is distinctively unique continent among all 7 continents of the world. Africa has a very diverse culture. It is rich in cultural heritage and diversity, a wealth of natural resources, offers breath-taking tourist attractions.

Here are some Interesting facts about Africa you should know

1. Africa is the second-largest continent in the world both in size and population.

2. Islam is the dominant religion in Africa. Christianity is the second. Arabic is also the most widely-spoken language in Africa.

3. Africa has the shortest coastline despite being the second largest continent in the world.

4. Africa is the most centrally located continent in the world. Both the prime meridian (0 degrees longitude), and the equator (0 degrees latitude) cut across it.

5. Nigeria has the highest population (154.7 million people) in Africa. This represents 18% of Africa's total population.

6. The Richest man every lived is African. Mansa Musa from Mali is the richest man that ever lived. He was worth $300 billion - $400 billion

7. Both the world's tallest and largest land animals both come from Africa. They are the giraffe and African elephant, respectively.

8. Around 2,000 different languages are spoken in Africa and each of them have different dialects while Arabic is the language that is most widely spoken in the African continent.

9. The world's longest river -- the Nile -- and the world's largest desert -- the Sahara -- both are home in Africa.

10. Algeria is the biggest country in Africa by land area.

11. The world's hottest place -- Ethiopia -- is in Africa.

12. The continents terrain was inhabitable and remained unknown for thousands of years, earning it the name of 'Dark Continent'.

13. The equator passes through the middle of the Dark Continent and it receives direct sunlight throughout the year.

14. The major animals in Africa include -- cheetah, African elephant, lion, zebra, Egyptian mongoose, giraffe, addax.

15. The largest waterfall in Africa is the Victoria Falls and it is located on the Zimbabwe and Zambia border. It has a height of 355 feet and the width of the water fall runs into almost a mile.

16. More than 50% of the world's French-speaking population lives here on the continent.

17. Angola has more Portuguese speakers than Portugal.

18. Africa has a pink lake in Senegal.

Other facts about Africa

• Size: 30,221,532 sq km

• Population: 1,216,130,000

• No. of countries: 54

                                                              Countries in Africa and their Population

Tech in Africa

The African tech ecosystem grew exponentially in 2021 with capital investments hitting all-time highs. Africa's young, digitally-literally population is fuelling this rapid technological development. The many successes of 2021 and host of fast-growing tech-companies across the continent is creating hope for more fantastic feats in years to come.

• Africa's tech ecosystem has experienced tremendous growth in recent years, with 2021 seeing a record number of investments.

• Tech start-ups across the continent received $4.77 billion of investments, with the emergence of at least 5 new tech-unicorns (start-ups valued at $1 billion).

• A key feature of this growth is tech talent development and the empowerment of female start-up leaders and developers.

Record funding raises, mega-deals, and new unicorns

The year 2021 was a great one for start-ups globally, and for Africa in particular. The continent saw total venture funding exceed two and a half times what it was in 2020. This figure amounted to an impressive $4.77 billion. This translates to an average of $1 million raised every two hours. As far as distribution is concerned, 30 African nations raised at least $100k in funding across the year.

The ‘Big Four’ countries, Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt, and Kenya, received 81% of the investments. Out of the eight unicorns in Africa, five of them (Flutter wave, Andela, ChipperCash, Opay, and Wave) attained unicorn status in 2021.

While much funding came from global investors, local investors are increasingly funding African innovation. This boost in local venture capital participation will aid the growth and expansion of start-ups in Africa. In 2021, Ventures Platform, an Africa focused early-stage VC fund, announced a $40 million investment fund.

Africa’s untapped tech talent resources                      

Although African entrepreneurs have developed tech-enabled solutions to development challenges, global tech giants sometimes overlook African talent. In 2019 Parag Agrawal (now Twitter CEO) visited Nigeria. He was impressed with the availability of technical skills in the country. During his visit, the company hired Dara Oladosu to help build a native ‘quoted tweet’ feature for the social media platform. This proves African developers’ ability to compete at the global level.

The increase in global start-up space has led to a rise in the demand for young, talented workers. Africa is emerging as a significant source of software engineering talent and is home to the fastest-growing population of developers. Microsoft, in turn, plans to open its first development centres in Africa in 2022 and will hire 100 full-time African developers by 2023.

The demand for a pipeline of software engineers led to the growth of talent accelerators across the continent. Some accelerators include Andela, Decagon, AltSchool, and Univelcity. One of them, Decagon, has an ambitious goal to raise 10,000 software engineers in 6-month batches. These accelerators aim to create new pathways to careers in tech in Africa. Such programmes can turn Africa into a pool for global talent in tech.

More women are getting into Tech and raising more money

According to UNESCO, women represent 30% of professionals in Africa’s tech sector. This is above the global average of 28%. This growth comes from coordinated action to involve women and girls in tech and STEM fields on the continent.

Initiatives such as Women in Tech Africa, She Code Africa, and Africa Code Week are equipping women and girls with skills and opportunities aimed at reducing gender disparity. Last year, Ingressive for Good (I4G) launched a ‘Women in Design' programme, which awarded design scholarships to 1,000 women.

Female-led start-ups have historically raised much less funding than male counterparts. A dive into the investment data shows female CEOs raised about 7% of 2021 tech investments in Africa. 2019 and 2020 saw much lower figures at 4% and 2%.

While women-led enterprises made progress in 2021, there is room for growth. Female-led start-ups like Lami, a Kenyan insurtech firm, and Ejara, a blockchain start-up from Cameroon, raised $1.8 and $2 million, respectively. The launch of FirstCheck Africa, an angel fund for women-founded/co-founded tech start-ups bodes well for female tech empowerment.