Google To Invest $1-billion In Support of Africa’s digital transformation
Google has announced a plan to invest $1-billion over five years to support Africa’s digital transformation. The investment focuses on enabling fast, affordable Internet access for more Africans, with the aim to build products, support entrepreneurship and small business, as well as help nonprofits to improve lives across Africa
announcement was made at Google’s first-ever Google for Africa event.
The planned $1-billion investment will include:
Enabling affordable Internet access and building helpful products
Google is building a global infrastructure to help bring faster Internet to more people and lower connectivity costs. The subsea cable Equiano will run through South Africa, Namibia, Nigeria and St Helena and connect the continent with Europe.
Internet access is also hampered by the affordability of smartphones. Android has developed a device locking technology as part of the Android platform that will enable partners to offer financed devices.
Google has collaborated with Kenya’s largest carrier Safaricom to support the launch of the first ‘Device Financing’ plan in Kenya, and will expand this initiative across Africa with partners like Airtel, MKOPA, MTN, Orange, Transsion Holdings and Vodacom.
Plus Codes are a free and open-source addressing system to provide addresses for everyone, according to Google. The government of The Gambia has adopted this in providing addresses for residents and businesses across the capital Banjul and is now scaling to the rest of the country. Plus codes will expand to South Africa, Kenya and other countries in partnership with governments and non-governmental organisations.
Investments in entrepreneurship and technology
Through a Black Founders Fund, Google will invest in Black-led startups in Africa by providing cash awards and hands-on support.
This is in addition to Google’s existing support through the Google for Startups Accelerator Africa, which has helped more than 80 African startups with equity-free finance, working space and access to expert advisors over the last three years.
Google also announced the launch of an Africa Investment Fund. Through this fund, the company will invest $50-million in startups and provide them with access to Google’s employees, network and technologies to help them build meaningful products for their communities.
Empowering businesses as they embark on digital transformation
In collaboration with the non-profit organisation Kiva, Google is providing $10-million in low-interest loans to help small businesses and entrepreneurs in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa get through the economic hardship created by Covid-19.
Renewed funding for nonprofits
Google.org is expanding its commitment to support nonprofits working to improve lives across Africa, with $40-million to help more partners who are responding to challenges they see first hand in their communities.
Google is providing $3-million in new grant funding to expand this pioneering work from Kampala across 10 cities in five countries on the continent.
The announcement expands Google’s ongoing support for Africa’s digital transformation and entrepreneurship. In 2017, Google launched its Grow with Google initiative with a commitment to train 10 million young Africans and small businesses in digital skills.
To date, Google has trained over six million people across 25 African countries, with over 60% of participants experiencing growth in their career and / or business as a result.
Google has also supported more than 50 nonprofits across Africa with over $16-million of investment, and enabled hundreds of millions of Africans to access Internet services for the first time through Android.
CEO of Google and Alphabet Sundar Pichai says, “We’ve made huge strides together over the past decade, but there’s more work to do to make the Internet accessible, affordable and useful for every African.”
