BY AWAKHIWE KHUMALO
Google will be investing US$1 billion in Africa over the next five years to ensure access to fast and cheaper internet while backing startups to support the continent’s digital transformation.
The unit of US tech company Alphabet Inc South Africa director Alistair Mokoena made the announcement at the inaugural marketing conference hosted by Marketers Association of Zimbabwe.
Mokoena said Google will invest US$50 million in start-
ups, providing them with access to its employees, networks and technologies.
He told journalists in an interview that the company would among other things, target start-ups focusing on fintech, e-commerce and local language content.
“Africa’s digital transformation needs to be supported,” Mokoena said.
“That’s why we as Google have announced that we are going to spend billions of dollars across the African continent over five years to ensure that we invest in infrastructure to build capable, fast, reliable and fast internet.
“That way, it will power our economy and help small businesses but most importantly it’s going to make sure Africa has access to the internet.”
Small businesses in Africa often struggle to get capital because they lack the necessary collateral required by banks in case they default.
When credit is available, interest rates are usually too high.
“We know that we have youth in the continent where more than 60 percent of the continent is youth and are into content creation and that’s why fantastic platforms such as YouTube allows them to express their creativity,” Mokoena added.
“We also have a couple of funds that we are using to power small business,
“We’ve got the Africa Investment Funds which is US$50 million that will power African start-ups and we also have the Google’s small business Black Founder’s Funds which is a US$3 million that’s already being taken up across the continent weather it’s in the agro- space, financial inclusivity space, transport and logistics, food production and so on, so there’s lots of resources there.”
Mokoena said the project is being done in collaboration with not-for-profit organisation Kiva.