People are at the center of everything we build

The mobile Internet is transforming life across Africa through growing connectivity, mobility, and a young, increasingly urban population. The e-Conomy Africa 2020 report, a collaboration between Google and IFC, an arm of the World Bank Group, highlights opportunities for growth throughout the continent.

The report describes the African Internet economy as “one of the largest investment opportunities of the past decade” and one that, despite setbacks from COVID-19, is on track to expand and further transform lives in the coming decade.

For more than a year, Google researchers have been following new internet users in five countries to learn about their perceptions of technology, their aspirations, and their challenges and achievements using their first smartphones.

By 2025, a billion more people will have their first smartphone. Their reasons for wanting these devices are very similar to those who came before: information, entertainment, empowerment, convenience, connection. But in important ways, the context of these new users is quite different.

The newest internet users tend to have lower incomes, less formal education, and live in less developed areas with more unreliable internet. Their exposure to technology is more limited than those already using smartphones, and many lack confidence in how to use their devices.

Gender inequity exists online, just as it does in the physical world.

In many cases, women aren’t able to access the internet when, where and how they want – even if they own their own device. Many don’t have enough free time, while others don’t have permission. Where women can access the internet, many don’t find meaningful content.

And for many women, harassment – online and offline – creates a space where they don’t feel fully in control of their online identities. Cyberstalking, malicious editing, and the fear of strangers sharing personal content without consent can result in destroyed reputations and even physical harm.

To understand more about why gender inequity exists and how to address it, Google spent one year conducting interviews and surveys with nearly 4,000 participants across seven countries.

Around the world, 1.7 billion adults – most of them women – either don't have bank accounts or must rely on alternative banking services for their financial needs. Known as the unbanked or underbanked, this group’s lack of access has huge implications for individuals, their families, and for economic development globally.

Digital innovation has the power to inject dynamism into economies that are currently held back by formal structures and lack of credit. Instead of waiting years for incomes to rise and banks to extend their reach, countries can use mobile technology to rapidly expand access and provide a wide set of financial tools to everyone.