Inside East Africa’s technology hubs

From Kigali to Kampala, Dar es Salaam to Dakar, Cameroon to Kenya and across the African continent, new collaborative workspaces and technology hubs are emerging as beacons for the hi-tech hopes and dreams of the continent.

As fibre optic cables continue to lay the foundations for a new era of African innovation, the continent is undergoing a dramatic “tech-hub boom”. There are now more than 50 tech hubs, labs, incubators and accelerators across Africa, with a new one springing up nearly every two weeks.

These hubs portray a very different Africa to the one often seen in the media and attract creative, young tech graduates who come in search of opportunity. In most cities, these spaces offer students, programmers, developers, entrepreneurs, creative, investors and techies a place to work, network and create for the first time.

As these spaces become the nerve centres for the tech community, they also become critical international touch-points for those seeking to engage in technology and business in Africa. They are the new points of exchange for long-term expatriates and short-term visitors looking to identify trends, find local talent, and catch the African wave of innovation.

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