Africa’s “Silicon Savannah” is booming: Kenya’s specialists can strengthen the German IT sector

Africa’s “Silicon Savannah” is booming
Kenya’s specialists can strengthen the German IT sector

By Andrea Sellmann and Mary Abdelaziz-Ditzow

In Kenya, unlike in Germany, paying by mobile phone has long been part of everyday life. Nairobi is sometimes even referred to as “Silicon Savannah” because of its startup scene. Can the German IT sector also benefit?

Kenya is an important economic partner of Germany in East Africa. Almost five million people live in the capital Nairobi alone, which is also the economic center of the country. There are high-rise buildings, co-working spaces and a large startup scene. The IT industry is so strong that it has long since attracted international attention: Nairobi is sometimes referred to as “Silicon Savannah” based on the US original.

The Kenyan IT industry is close to the local people, for example dealing with mobile payment methods for people who don’t have a bank account. “Especially in rural areas, solutions have to be found to make it easy to pay with a cell phone,” says business journalist Julian Hilgers, who lived in Kenya and runs the Africa podcast “55 Countries.”

When Chancellor Olaf Scholz recently visited Kenyan President William Ruto, he announced that he wanted to make it easier for Kenyan IT experts to enter Germany. A win-win situation for Scholz. Critics, on the other hand, rather fear a “brain drain”, meaning that they see the danger that there will be a shortage of qualified workers in the country itself.

Kenya needs strong companies to create jobs, agrees Asmau Nitardy, East Africa expert at the German-African Business Association: “It’s certainly difficult when young, talented people leave Kenya.” IT professionals are already leaving the country – but not to help German authorities set up an IT infrastructure, but rather to work at Microsoft, Google or Apple. With a view to this competition, Nitardy does not believe “that Germany has a good hand there”.

In addition to IT, this episode of “Wirtschaft Welt & Weit” also deals with the topic of energy and geopolitical aspects. Does the German economy in Kenya still have a chance of surviving against the Chinese, who have long since implemented large infrastructure projects? Host Mary Abdelaziz-Ditzow will discuss this with Kenya experts Julian Hilgers and Asmau Nitardy.

Economy World & Wide

What does Germany have to do in order to still play an important role in the economic world of tomorrow? Who are we dependent on? Which countries benefit from the new world situation? Mary Abdelaziz-Ditzow discusses this in the ntv podcast “Wirtschaft Welt & Weit” with relevant experts.

You can find all episodes in the ntv app or wherever there are podcasts: at RTL+ music, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or deezer. For all other podcast apps, you can use the RSS feed.

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