Africa's Information Revolution

"This book changes the discussion slightly. It goes back to the discussion we had earlier about the role of ICTs (information and communications technology) in development—ICT4D as we call it. The book discusses at a very concrete level how the diffusion of ICTs affects small-scale firms in Africa. They talk about two particular sectors, tourism and the wood industry/furniture industry in South Africa and Tanzania. What they’re trying to understand is, firstly the limits of ICT in bringing economic development. They’re trying to test this idea of technological determinism, that technological diffusion will automatically lead to some modernization. The message that comes from the book is that African firms still face a lot of challenges. Local small firms are attempting to use ICTs for their own transformational purposes, but it’s not happening for a number of reasons. They are part of a global market where the leading firms are mostly foreign and are exercising increasing control over the value chains within which they exist. They use the example of tourism in South Africa, where firms are increasingly using ICT for business purposes and relying heavily on Booking.com or TripAdvisor in order to gain access to customers. But there is a sense of monopolization as well. The rise of these foreign intermediaries also raises critical concerns regarding the structures of the African tourism sector where value is being extracted from local firms (e.g. through high commissions). Get the weekly Five Books newsletter In the wood sector, it is a similar story. The firms are becoming part of global networks, where the use of ICTs does not necessarily lead to smaller firms capturing higher value. They are unable to compete with foreign imports because the furniture that is coming from other countries, especially Asian countries, is cheaper. It becomes unprofitable for people to source that furniture locally. Overall, the book showcases that this ICT effect, which was expected to have a transformational impact on local firms and to be a key element in the development of African economies, isn’t there, or at least is not as transformational as we thought it would be. Exactly."