From hacker spaces to full-fledged ICT business incubators offering office space for start-ups, Africa’s inventory of tech hubs is growing almost by the week, World Bank reports.
Unlike African mining and agriculture, where wealth is extracted and knowledge imported, the African digital revolution is home grown.
The continent’s 700 million mobile subscribers use services that are provided locally to solve local problems, and they’re downloading apps developed locally.
Tech hubs are one of the main sources of locally developed apps. World Bank worked with the Botswana Innovation Hub, iHub in Kenya and BongoHive in Zambia, to create a map of tech hubs.
As of September, the continent has 117 tech hubs, up from 90 a year-and-a-half ago. Twelve countries in Africa account for 93 of them. That means about 80 percent of all African tech hubs can be found in just 12 countries.
Of the tech hubs formally recognized by World Bank, the majority — 79 — are led by citizens. Ten are led by governments, nine by universities and 19 are hybrids, made up of a combination of the three.
Tech hubs come and go, World Bank reports. There’s a high failure rate — an inevitable consequence of innovation and testing ideas. On the other hand, iHub in Kenya with 13,000-plus members lists more than 150 companies that can trace their origins to ideas incubated there.
Governments like getting involved in funding tech hubs, partly because of the potential for job creation, especially for youth, and partly because hubs could harbor the next MPesa, World Bank reports.
Ditto for investors, financiers and funding institutions. Botswana Innovation Hub is an example of a government-driven initiative that’s transitioning to a more sustainable model with assistance from the World Bank.
Check out African tech hubs at a glance plus the 12 top countries in Africa for innovation hubs.
Sources: World Bank, Crowdmap
Number of tech hubs: 3
These include the following:
Sky Hub Initiative Civ
Hypercube Hub
Muzinda Umuzi Hub
Number of tech hubs: 3
These include the following:
kLab
The Office
THINK Technology Incubator
Number of tech hubs: 4
These include the following:
Jokkolabs Abidjan
W Hub
Akendewa
AMN Co-working Space
Number of tech hubs: 4
These include the following:
Jokkolabs Casablanca
New Work Lab
Girls in Tech (GIT) Morocco Chapter
OCP Entrepreneurship Network
Number of tech hubs: 4
These include the following:
Kinu Innovation and Co-Creation Space
TANZICT
Dar Tekinohama Business Incubator (DTBI)
Buni Hub
Number of tech hubs: 5
These include the following:
Jokkolabs Dakar
CTIC Dakar
Africa Living Lab
Mobile Senegal
Jiguene Tech Hub
Number of tech hubs: 7
These include the following:
HIVE colab Civ
@TheHub
Outbox Hub
Grameen Foundation AppLab
Hive Colab
Mara Launchpad
Women in Technology Uganda (WITU)
Number of tech hubs: 8
These include the following:
Cairo Hackspace
The District
Flat6Labs
IceCairo
Fab Lab Egypt
The Greek Campus
Technology Innovation
Entrepreneurship Center
Alexandria Hackerspace
Number of tech hubs: 9
These include the following:
mFriday
Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) Incubator
gSpace
iSpace
Ghana Multimedia Incubator Centre
Mobile Web Ghana
Kumasi Business Incubator
Oguaa Business Incubator
Hub Accra
Number of tech hubs: 11
These include the following:
L5 Lab
Co-creation Hub
Wennovation Hub
Technology Incubation Centre
Minna Tech Incubation Centre
Information Developers Entrepreneurship Accelerator (IDEA)
Focus Hub
Enspire Incubator
Calabar Technology Incubation Center
88 MPH (400 NG)
Grindstone
Number of tech hubs: 11
These include the following:
Hub
m:Lab East Africa
GrowthHub
NaiLab
C4D Lab
Akirachix
Lake Hub
iBiz Africa
iLab Africa
FabLab Nairobi
88 MPH/Start-up Garage
Number of tech hubs: 24
These include the following:
Jozihub
Capetown Garage
Black Girls Code
ThoughtWorks
TechinBraam
Jozihub
Silicon Cape Initiative
Impact Amplifier
Codebridge
Angel Hub
Eastern Cape Information
Technology Initiative
Cape Innovation and Technology
Initiative (CITI)
Smart Xchange
CodedinBraam
SoftStart Technology
The House 4 Hack
mLab Southern Africa
Start-up Garage/98MPH
The Hub
Rlabs
Invo Tech incubator
The Innovation Hub (TIH)
Startup 90