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penetration rates are often used to structure ICT policy and to attract investment.” This
further means that Internet user data is important to economic growth.
There is another role that technology plays in Africa as far governments are concerned, and
that is governance. Will Mutua, from Kenya, in his contribution titled “The Influence of
Technology in Governance in Africa” makes the point that technology, led by the Internet, is
giving “power to the people” and assisting with governance by helping the citizens hold the
politicians accountable given the amount of information they have at their fingertips.
Mobile Phones and Advertising Opportunities
It goes without saying that most of the African continent develops for “mobile first” rather
than the desktop / laptop with possibly South Africa being the only exception. Most Africans
interact with the Internet for the first time on their mobile phones, as such, the mobile
phone presents great opportunities for businesses to advertise directly to the consumer.
Jonathan MacDonald from England contributes his perspective on Mobile Advertising and
Marketing as he curiously points out how advertisers up to this day value “reach” over
“specificity” despite the fact that mobile phone increase the chances of “specificity” and
reaching the right potential customers with a very low margin of error. His insight, although
using examples from the United Kingdom, is relevant for Africa given the proliferation of
mobile phones and the mobile Internet.
Jon Hoehler, from South Africa, concludes the contributions by offering his advice on how to
set off in mobile advertising in Africa. He starts with SMS based examples right up to mobile
internet and app based advertising.