FREEBIES KILLING AFRICAN TECHNOPRENUERS

BY: DOMINICK MWAMBUI

You must have seen a notification on facebook that so and so is using free services, right? How appetizing it looks and you definitely want a share of the freebies but before you do that, do you know what implication it has on the African technoprenuers?

The freebies campaign in Africa by offshore companies is on the verge of killing technoprenuers in Africa if something is not done soon, thanks to you and many others using their free services.

Like the infamous sell of slaves, mobile service providers are in partnership with the big giants to canjole African internet users into tech slavery. This is through free zones. Like in the past when chiefs would sell people to the whites, Facebook and Google are currently busy courting mobile service carriers across the continent such as MTN, Vodacom, Bharti Airtel and Safaricom among others to give free services to some of their subscribers.

Some critics say they are operating like drug pushers; give potential customers free ‘hits’in small dosages just to get them feel  ‘high’. The minute they become addicted, start craving for more and can’t do without, you start charging and being in control of their fate.  This is a far fetch plan and it will have drastic effects on African tech talent. 

The African continent is made up of 1 billion people and by 2013, the internet penetration on the continent was at 16% with 67 million smart phones in use.  The Mckinsey consultants’ data estimates that by 2025, internet penetration will have reached 50% and by then there will be 360 million smart phones on the continent.

What offshore companies are interested in is this surge in internet users and controlling them so that they can have a big share of the cake leaving African technoprenuers with nothing. How will you go for an African solution when there are freebies for you?

The move by the giants is killing African’s home grown solution, innovations and entrepreneurship. This is by creating a no level ground in digital franchise.

Therefore it up to the African governments to set up oversight bodies to regulate just how much influence Google and Facebook have on the digital market.