Growth in
Africa

In October of 2021, Google announced a US$1 billion investment over the next five years to support the expansion of digital transformation efforts across the continent.

Since 2017, Google has trained 6 million young Africans and businesses in digital skills, supported more than 50 nonprofits across Africa with over $16 million of grants, and enabled 100 million more Africans to access internet services for the first time. This investment by Google, which includes laying of subsea cable to enable faster internet speeds and lower connectivity costs and low-interest loans to help small businesses and equity investments in African startups, represents a doubling down on our belief in the tremendous future of the African continent.

Since 2000, the number of people with access to the internet in Africa has grown to over 520 million, or almost 40% of the population. Sixty percent of Africa’s internet population accesses the internet through mobile phones, and an increase of 10% in mobile internet penetration can have a direct impact on the per-capita GDP of 2.5%, compared to 2% globally. This kind of growth is both crucial and self-perpetuating — promoting increased internet access, which fuels economic growth, which fuels more transformation and so on.

Africa’s developer community is also growing, particularly in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt, and Morocco. Using a combination of formal and informal education methods, these coders — including a notable number of women — are gaining the skills that give them access to well-paying jobs and an avenue for new opportunities.

In addition to our latest commitment, we’re continuing to make our products more relevant and helpful to people throughout Africa with better features and information. We’re also working to ensure African languages work well with Google products, enabling more people to use them. Google Search, for example, is now available in 37 African languages, and YouTube and Google Maps both have versions in Swahili, Amharic, Afrikaans, and Zulu.

With our Gboard app, we had the very unique opportunity to meet and work with Abdoulaye and Ibrahima Barry. In 1989, the two brothers invented the AdLaM alphabet to represent the West African Fulani language — a tongue which had been spoken but never written for hundreds of years. Because AdLaM wasn’t on Gboard, it was difficult for its native speakers to represent the true sounds of their language when they were typing. To fix this, we worked alongside Abdoulaye and Ibrahima to design and test an AdLaM layout, and it’s currently live on Gboard today. (Learn more about the story behind the Barry brothers’ inspiring work at Talk at Google).

The AdLaM Alphabet.

Abdoulaye and Ibrahima Barry invented the AdLaM alphabet to represent a West African language that had been spoken but never written for hundreds of years. We worked with the brothers to incorporate AdLaM into the Gboard app.

Meanwhile, Read Along by Google, a gamified reading and language-learning app we introduced in India, is now available to children throughout Africa. And Task Mate, our app that lets people complete small tasks and get paid for them, after being beta-tested in India and Mexico, rolled out in October of 2021 for Africa as well.

Helping children enjoy reading.

A young learner in Nigeria struggles with reading until his mother discovers Read Along by Google, which gamifies reading in 10 different languages.

Building A Better Biobank with 54gene

Most people don’t realize that about 80% of the human DNA currently used in genetic studies comes from people of European descent. Beyond being grossly unrepresentative, that also means that genetic researchers are often unable to address diseases and medical conditions that affect global ethnicities.

Enter Abasi Ene-Obong, PHD. In 2019, this young tech engineer from Nigeria founded 54gene, a startup dedicated to increasing the availability of, and access to, African genomic data, which currently accounts for less than 3% of the total available record. By late 2020 — less than two years after it began — 54gene had already successfully completed two rounds of funding, and created a fully resourced biobank in Lagos, supporting much-needed academic research, drug development, and disease detection.

All over the African continent, talented entrepreneurs like Ene-Obong are creating similar opportunities. By 2025 — even in the face of setbacks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic — the digital transformation occurring in Africa, and the booming startup ecosystem it’s ignited, is on track to contribute $180 billion to the African economy, helping improve agriculture, health care, financial services, education, supply chains, and more, all in places where those systems are in desperate need.

For what has historically been one of the most impoverished and overlooked continents on earth, investing in accelerating the digital transformation in Africa has world-changing potential and the power to completely reshape how the internet will look in the future. There is so much opportunity ahead, and we look forward to partnering with more African governments, policymakers, educators, entrepreneurs, and businesses to shape the next wave of innovation.

Access

Internet access is a basic human right. But the goal of providing equitable and inclusive internet access to everyone remains unmet.

Building inclusive products

Conducting user research, whether it’s on-the-ground or virtual, helps designers better understand the people they aim to serve.

Content

Everyone should be able to find the info they need online, but not everyone can. Find out why.

Designing for confidence

Inclusive digital design can help novice internet users grow their digital confidence.

Ecosystems

Everybody who works in tech can help create a more inclusive, equitable internet for everyone, everywhere.

Financial inclusion

Financial inclusion goes beyond financial access. It’s about empowering, creating opportunities, and accelerating progress.

Growth in Africa

The growth of Africa’s internet economy will shape how everyone uses the internet in the future.

Hardware

The next billion internet users are mobile-first or mobile-only, which makes their smartphone a key part of their digital experience.

Immersion

Teams who immerse themselves in the communities they aim to reach are more likely to build successful products.

Jobs

Tech has the potential to fundamentally change the way employers and job-seekers interact in every kind of market.

Knowledge

It’s the tech community’s responsibility to support novice internet users as they learn how to be online.

Language

Most internet content is published in English. Learn how tech innovations are changing that.

Motorcycle Mode in Maps

Built for the next billion users, Motorcycle Mode in Google Maps shows how developers Google can improve existing services to meet evolving user needs.

Navigating a smartphone

From tapping, to pinching, to swiping, and more—developers can help unlock the value of a smartphone.

Optimizing for Offline

Novice internet users can better access the benefits of the internet with offline capabilities and “lite” versions of apps.

Privacy

We’re developing new ways to protect people’s privacy when they share devices with friends and family.

Questions

It’s our responsibility to help answer the questions of novice internet users—so they’re empowered when they go online.

Reality vs Perception

We’re helping educate novice internet users in order to prevent misconceptions and empower people when they spend time online.

Google Search is a key part of a novice internet user’s experience—providing access to everything from news, medical services, recipes, entertainment, and more.

Teaching

Novice internet users often learn how to use the internet and their smartphones through their friends and family. Learn more about their experiences.

Upboarding

Many novice internet users don’t know common digital symbols and functions. Upboarding helps grow digital literacy by meeting users where they are.

Voice

Developing enhancements for voice tools can help grow the internet and bring more people around the world online.

Women

The barriers women face are disproportionately higher compared to their male counterparts. We have the opportunity to empower women and help close the gap.