The future of the Internet, mobile phones, and jobs in Africa

Abstract

The nexus between internet adoption and infrastructure, foreign direct investment (FDI), financial development, economic growth and job creation in African countries and elsewhere is clear. FDI provides the capital needed to build and grow businesses and the infrastructure on which they depend. Rising incomes and population growth fuel increased consumption and drive economic growth. Information technology, in the form of the Internet and its links to mobile data services accessed by smartphones, provides African consumers with new value, generates increased demand for existing products and services, paves the path for last-mile order fulfillment, and by using real-time information to match the supply of and demand for labor, enables entirely new forms of employment such as those labeled as the gig economy. Subsequent sections of the paper highlight the internet-driven opportunities, the factors driving them, and the challenges and constraints for stakeholders. The paper concludes with recommendations on how Africans, their governments and key local and global stakeholders, can manage these variables effectively and sustainably for economic growth and job creation.