I believe that development of the following underlying factors is what will eventually drive the development of the eCommerce environment in East Africa. The major factors include making technology accessible to all people, giving the people skills to be able to utilize the technology at hand, making the technology cheap and affordable to the users, and lastly but not the least, developing applications that address local challenges and problems. I have discussed the ideas in detail below;

Making technology accessible

In Uganda, for example, there are 4 major wireless telecommunications companies that double as internet service providers, these have more subscribers than all other players whether in voice or data services combined. These include MTN, Airtel, Orange and Uganda Telecom. Among them, they have over 20 million subscribers, and they have been able to cover all the major towns and districts. This rollout is repeated throughout the region in neighboring countries that are politically stable such as Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Burundi, but some of the very players in Uganda or different players. We can therefore be able to conclude that a majority of East Africans have access to a mobile phone or a computer and many of them use data services.

Bridging the skills gap

This is called technology capacity building, no its called bridging the digital divide, where people gain skills to completely utilize the information and communications tools that they already posses. East Africa has one of the world’s youngest populations, many of which have attained some education and a considerable number can read and write, and for the youth at least over 20, every 4 in 5 has a mobile phone or access to a mobile phone. They do posses basic skills on how to use a phone and many of them can carry out basic activities online such as search on platforms like Google and yahoo, and a considerable number is signed up to social networking platforms like Facebook and twitter. With a little investment in awareness, many of these people will be able to utilize the many available online tools to better their lives.

Making Tech Affordable

When I look at this, ISPs (it means internet service providers) in Uganda have been sending mixed signals. For example MTN Uganda gives each and every subscriber free 15Mbs every month, and to me, this strategy basically aims at making subscribers who would otherwise not pay for data services to realize how important being online really is and then eventually start buying, which increases the lifetime bottom line value of the subscriber which is good for MTN. I just feel that data is still expensive across the board. ISPs should continue working on how to bring these prices a down a bit. This will not only increase subscriptions, but will also spur increased use, both contributing to growth. I am not sure about the data prices in Kenya, Burundi, Tanzania and Rwanda, but it is my belief that they should be lower in Rwanda than anywhere else in the region because their government is working on turning major cities into technology hubs, and this can only happen with affordable data services.

Developing Local Digital Content

The last factor of developing digital content that people can easily connect to and use, which comes with innovative solutions to local problems, could be the most critical, but it is still very wanting, at least here in Uganda, this is because there is no effort whatsoever from the major stake holder (see ISPs and government) to drive local content development through media campaigns or sponsoring of internet based companies.

Therefore, increased use of data services in Uganda, East Africa, or Africa for that matter will depend on the factors described above, but to a large extent, will hinge on the development of Information and communication technology solutions, specifically designed for solving local problems.

Don’t be afraid to comment, tell me what you think.