With 900,000 Developers, Here's Where the Next Big Startup Ecosystem Will Be

By Owen Hughes

AFRICA WILL BECOME an innovation hotbed in the next fi ve years as an infl ux of developers turns the continent into a "world-leading start-up ecosystem," according to Gartner.

The analyst predicts that a 30% increase in developer talent in Africa, which has in recent years seen an infl ux of venture capital funding, will see the region evolve into a software development powerhouse rivalling Asia by 2026.

A number of African nations have established innovation hubs in an eff ort to attract coders and tech talent to the region, and draw investment from overseas.

This includes Kenya's $1 billion tech ecosystem – dubbed 'Silicon Savannah' – which continues to attract entrepreneurs, investors and technologists from Africa and further afi eld. "In the next three years, there will be nearly 900,000 professional developers across Africa enabled by the rise of informal education channels," said Gartner. "As this market continues to grow, global investors will reduce their venture investment in China in favour of this emerging market."

The analyst's forecast was part of a series of strategic predictions put forward at Gartner's IT Symposium/Xpo 2021 Americas. www.zdnet.com/article/with900000-developers-hereswhere-the-next-big-startupecosystem-will-be Image credit: Gates Cambridge Scholarship, mybeeponline.com, Al Jazeera English