Data Sovereignty: A Pathway to Tech Growth in Africa
It's more than just numbers 🫡🫡
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✨ A New Tech Era… ✨
The conversation around data sovereignty in Africa has intensified as African tech companies increasingly question a critical issue on everyone’s mind: who owns the continent’s data?
Annnnd when people speak of data sovereignty, they’re essentially asking, “Where does the control lie, and who truly benefits?”
That’s also why 🫵 you’re here now, Innovator. To understand the what and how of this discourse.
Legggooo!
Where tech companies are concerned, data is the cornerstone for tech growth and competitive advantage. It’s the holy grail for anyone that operates in the tech world. This is so because data gives tech companies the ability to understand what their customers want before even asking—it’s the bridge between raw potential and impactful innovation.
Data also provides insights into how services are used, where opportunities are, and what users need, which innovators can then leverage by providing solutions to fulfill that need. This kind of data is usually sourced through customer interactions, online behaviours, mobile usage, and even social media engagement. The more businesses can tap into this goldmine of information, the more they can refine their strategies, create tailored products, and stay ahead of the curve.
Why data sovereignty should matter to African Tech Innovators
Data sovereignty—ensuring that African data remains in African hands—has far-reaching implications for tech development on the continent.
Consider this: if most African data is held by foreign tech giants, do African innovators have any real control over their growth? Also does this arrangement create barriers to accessing data that is rightfully generated by Africans?
The truth is control over data fundamentally impacts who can access, manage, and derive value from it. According to a report from McKinsey, the African data economy could add $180 billion to Africa’s GDP by 2025 if data is effectively leveraged and localised1, buuuut in reality, much of Africa's data is stored, processed, and controlled by foreign companies.
This imbalance of data control creates a scenario where the benefits of Africa’s digital footprint are enjoyed disproportionately by entities outside the continent.
When foreign companies own and control data generated within Africa, they effectively gatekeep access to this data. This situation raises questions about data accessibility, as local innovators may need to navigate complex permissions, potentially pay fees, or even face restrictions imposed by foreign-owned platforms and cloud providers.
Take Nigeria’s tech industry as an example.
Despite being one of the continent’s leaders in fintech and digital services, Nigerian tech companies often depend on int’l cloud services for data storage and processing. To buttress this point, a report by the African Digital Rights Network shows that a significant portion of Nigeria’s tech data is stored on foreign servers2
Dependence on an external source is a precarious position for anybody to be in, and regarding data accessibility and sovereignty, it’s an especially dicey one as it inadvertently leaves innovators at the mercy of external decisions, which could limit their ability to innovate or compete on a global scale.
What happens if these foreign companies decide to tighten this access or increase their fees? 🤔
Without a doubt, data sovereignty is a critical enabler of economic self-reliance. By retaining control over African-specific datasets, tech innovators can develop products tailored to regional contexts. Whether in agriculture, healthcare, or financial services, access to local data enables companies to design solutions that reflect African lifestyles, environments, and priorities.
A concrete example of data-driven growth can be found in Kenya.
The country’s mobile payment system, M-Pesa, illustrates the impact of data localisation. By retaining local control, Safaricom, M-Pesa’s parent company, was able to scale the service to suit Kenyan market dynamics, making it a cornerstone of the country’s economy3
How Data Sovereignty Can Shape The Future Of Tech innovation In Africa
There are various ways that this can play out. Some of them include:
1) Building trust through Consumer Privacy:
As data privacy awareness grows, African consumers are increasingly concerned about where and how their data is stored and used. For African tech companies, prioritising local data storage and compliance can build consumer trust, providing a competitive edge.
Privacy regulations such as Nigeria’s NDPR and South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) demonstrate this shift towards greater accountability. These policies not only protect consumer data but also encourage companies to store data locally, thus creating a more trustworthy digital environment.
According to a 2023/2024 Africa privacy report, a good number of African consumers feel uneasy about sharing data with companies based outside the continent4. Clearly, there is an opportunity for African companies to differentiate themselves as privacy-first brands by embracing data sovereignty.
2) Advancing AI:
For African tech innovators working in AI and big data, access to African-specific data is crucial. Training AI models on African data enables more accurate, culturally relevant applications that resonate with local consumers.
Africa is home to over 2,000 languages, and training AI models to understand these languages requires extensive, locally relevant datasets. If African data is controlled by foreign entities, local innovators lose the opportunity to develop solutions that are inclusive of Africa’s linguistic diversity. Data sovereignty can empower African tech companies to create AI that accurately reflects African languages, creating room for innovation that truly represents the continent.
3) A skilled workforce in data management and security
Data sovereignty isn’t just about owning data; it’s about having the skills to manage, secure, and analyse it effectively.
Developing a skilled workforce in data science, AI, and cybersecurity is crucial for Africa to fully benefit from the tech ecosystem and having data sovereignty will encourage more ed-tech companies to offer courses in data science, cloud computing, and cybersecurity, giving students practical experience and insights into the needs of the African tech industry.
Programs like Altschool Africa and Moringa School in Kenya are already helping build a tech-savvy workforce, but scaling such initiatives is key.
In Conclusion…
The journey towards data sovereignty in Africa is multifaceted, and will require coordinated efforts across policy, infrastructure, education, and collaboration.
There’s no doubt that Africa can pave the way for a future where its data drives economic and tech growth from within.
P.S.S: The national grid issue has been affecting the delivery of our trusty newsletter too. If this gets to you late, we’re sorry 🥺🥺
M-Pesa’s contribution to Kenya’s economy