Digital Entrepreneurship in Africa: How a Continent Is Escaping Silicon Valley’s Long Shadow
Jul 2020 · MIT Press
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336
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About this ebook
The hope and hype about African digital entrepreneurship, contrasted with the reality on the ground in local ecosystems.
In recent years, Africa has seen a digital entrepreneurship boom, with hundreds of millions of dollars poured into tech cities, entrepreneurship trainings, coworking spaces, innovation prizes, and investment funds. Politicians and technologists have offered Silicon Valley-influenced narratives of boundless opportunity and exponential growth, in which internet-enabled entrepreneurship allows Africa to "leapfrog" developmental stages to take a leading role in the digital revolution. This book contrasts these aspirations with empirical research about what is actually happening on the ground. The authors find that although the digital revolution has empowered local entrepreneurs, it does not untether local economies from the continent's structural legacies.
In recent years, Africa has seen a digital entrepreneurship boom, with hundreds of millions of dollars poured into tech cities, entrepreneurship trainings, coworking spaces, innovation prizes, and investment funds. Politicians and technologists have offered Silicon Valley-influenced narratives of boundless opportunity and exponential growth, in which internet-enabled entrepreneurship allows Africa to "leapfrog" developmental stages to take a leading role in the digital revolution. This book contrasts these aspirations with empirical research about what is actually happening on the ground. The authors find that although the digital revolution has empowered local entrepreneurs, it does not untether local economies from the continent's structural legacies.
About the author
Nicolas Friederici is Head of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Group at the Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society in Berlin. Michel Wahome is Responsible Research and Innovation Fellow at the University of Strathclyde. Mark Graham is Professor of Internet Geography at the Oxford Internet Institute.
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