Tweet

The Quandry: Building Web Apps in Africa

Guest post by: Erik Hersman

Article Overview: One of the debates that rages amongst the developers, designers, and strategists across the African blogosphere is what types of web and mobile applications are being built in Africa. When we look at the available web applications and mobile offerings around the continent, we generally ask ourselves two questions:

The Quandry: Building Web Apps in Africa

One of the debates that rages amongst the developers, designers, and strategists across the African blogosphere is what types of web and mobile applications are being built in Africa. When we look at the available web applications and mobile offerings around the continent, we generally ask ourselves two questions:

Why are there no new ideas coming out of Africa?
Should we be developing applications for Africa, or should we be building applications for the global market?

These are very important questions, for they represent the overall web application direction within Africa. They should also raise the question amongst developers of whether or not they are really trying to meet the demands of African web and mobile users.

1) Why are there no new application ideas coming out of Africa?
Background reading:
Uno de Waal

It really isn’t that I’m negative about South African webdevelopment, it’s just that we’re producing crap clones of products that are already out there, while I think we can do much better.

John Wesonga

Africa and Kenya specifically cannot be empowered using technology when the mindset we have adopted is one of reuse rather then revolution. If we are truly to be the next frontier of untapped technology then we must strive to build skill and nurture innovation from the onset.

Both Uno and John are concerned that we have a culture of copying and customizing not of invention and innovation. Are we? By and large the answer is “yes”. But that leads to the second question, because there might be a real reason for the direction that we see things going.

2) Should we be developing applications for Africa, or should we be building applications for the global market?
Some examples of this would be:

Muti - an African Digg/Reddit
Afrigator and Amatomu - African Technorati-type applications
Zoopy - an African YouTube
Sometimes repurposing of a good idea and customizing it for a local demographic is just what is needed.

All of the examples listed above do an outstanding job of allowing a local community to own their own web-space, with content and conversations specific to them, instead of just being a tiny voice on a much bigger platform, lost in all the noise inherent to the web.

However…

While there is a need for region-specific applications, there is no reason why African developers cannot create global products.

For instance, I read a great article by John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing. In it he talks about the need for an application that marries up the best parts of a CMS/CRM/Accounting stystems in order really create and utilize a marketing plan. Something like this is needed for small and medium-sized businesses.

What you have here is someone stating that there is a possible need (do your own analysis first) and outlining the types of workflow and application tie-ins necessary to achieve it. It’s basic, but it’s an idea.

There is no reason that a web application developer in any city in Africa could not develop this type of application just as well as their counterparts sitting in the US or Europe.

While I want to see continued development of applications that might repurpose ideas from well established web apps for Africa, I too would like to see some real original work being done that is for a global audience.

Related Articles
  Mobi Apps Help Increase Your Bottom Line
  SME's - collectivism yes or no
  SMEs - opportunities in Africa
  Offline is the New Online is the New Offline
  Wall Street, “Africa is Investing’s Final Frontier”

Article Tags: Africa, Africa, Africa, Africa, Africa, Africa, African web, application, application, application, application, Digg Reddit Afrigator, global market, global market, John Jantsch, John Wesonga Africa, out of Africa, web application, web application developer, web applications



Related Forum Posts
Re: need advice - Africa is a pretty big place I think it is a question of where in Africa you would like to open a call centre. South Africa for example actually has plenty of call centres already operating, so it would very much depend on what part of Africa you are considering. MichelleJ
Type of business with building - If you owned a building and Wal-Mart was opening its doors across the street in a previously unoccupied area (along with 12-14 small shops), what type of business would you start? Here are the considerations: 1. Money is a non-factor 2. Building is fairly large (10,000) square feet 3. Building is on the corner of a busy intersection (about to get much busier)
Re: Newbie from Africa - Hello Biiyke Welcome to the forum. Which part of Africa are you from it is quite a big continent? I live in South Africa. MichelleJ
Adventure travel to Africa. - Africa is a place where adventure is taking place. If you are a travel who loves adventure, nature, culture you should visit Africa. Safari Village operator is a .leading tour operator in Kenya who are offering marvelous tour packages to Africa. Saffari Villages Online is a trusted name for africa travel.
Re: Newbie from Africa - [quote="Evan":22gvtxlq]Welcome to the forums Biiyke! You asked if we know any sellers who were trying to reach the African market... I think you'd honestly have more luck going the other way - try to find sellers in Africa and sell to the rest of the world.[/quote:22gvtxlq] Hello Evan, You are absolutely correct.Thank you for your advice.That's actually the whole idea,Africa to the world and the world to Africa. So I will throw more weight on that area.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Is the iPad useful? One CEO tells all ....

Too Many Sales Reps Are Wimps

Work at Home Moms and Their Bad Rap?

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.