How African Technologies Improve Society Essay

PAGES
7
WORDS
2029
Cite

Briefly discuss some technologies (at least 7) that can be apportioned to or attributed to Africa and their applications in the contemporary world. The discussion is not only limited to historical and geographic inclination of the identified technologies but you may also include the pros and cons, its acceptability and applicability in the modern world as well as ethical issues associated with that technology .

Technology has become a integral to the economic development initiatives of Africa. For one it has helped improve the overall quality of life for Africans by enabling a higher level of productivity within its economy. It has provided a higher quality of life to help sustain growing population and demands on natural resources. These technology innovations have also enabled Africa to embrace globalization by opening up the world to its products, goods and services. This has ultimately improved the ability of African to lift its citizens out of poverty by allowing to sell goods to the rest of the world while also improving productivity capacity internally (Austen, 1983).

The first technological innovation from Africa is Mellowcabs. As it relates to innovations from Africa directly to the world, the technology used in many renewable energy vehicles originated from this product. The first innovation from Africa directly to the world is that of V2G. This innovation occurs with electronic vehicle charging management, enabling a two-way energy exchange between the cab and the grid. This innovation helps to supply electric vehicles with energy during peak usage times throughout the day without placing unnecessary strain on the electricity grid, which in Africa, is very fragile. The cabs use kinetic energy to power the vehicle, on-board tablet computers, electric vehicle technology, and hydrogen fuel cell technology, and are made out of recycled materials. Mellowcabs using a fleet of fully electric buses to aid in the transportation of Africans in urban areas. This innovation is unique in that it helps lower the overall carbon footprint of African while also helping to improve the infrastructure of Africa. Interesting all of the rides are free, with the cabs instead relying on advertisements to maintain profitability. This initiative is helpful to society for a number of reasons. First it helps improve the ability of Africans to transport themselves within urban and rural areas. This is critical as infrastructure in Africa is lacking thus alienating the poor who often live in rural areas of the country. Their inability to find jobs and income is partially attributable to their inability to efficient transport themselves to more populous urban areas. Through the use of Mellowcabs transportation is much more efficient allow both poor and middle-class families to access more urban markets cheaply and efficiently. Having the trips be free significantly helps the poor and middle class by reducing frictional costs associated with transportation. This allows the access to the improved infrastructure at a lower cost, thus enabling them to more readily access urban markets (Burrows, 2016).

This system can also be applied to the other nations looking to embrace sustainable solutions within its infrastructure programs. These programs are designed primarily to reduced carbon emissions, improve sustatinability options, and ultimately provide convenience to consumers. The technology and business model of Mellowcabs allows countries to accomplish this. The con is that the technology will require large investments in further infrastructure such as charging stations and investment in personnel who can fix electronic vehicles.

Second, Jumia is the largest e-commerce retailer in Africa. As it relates to innovations from Africa directly to the world, this company was the first to develop real-time, location based mobile selling. This innovation was required as Africa does not have the large infrastructure investments required for large scale delivery. Instead the company leverages location based mobile selling to help determine the best products goods and services that can be delivered to customers in a cost-effective manner. This innovation has since been copied by Alibaba in China along with many other Asian ecommerce websites. Another innovation from Africa directly to the world, is that of voice powered shopping which is...…Airbnb with its launch of its platform in America. Launched in 2011 in Kenya, the online portal leverages technology to allow visitors to use safe and secure lodging solutions. These solutions cover hotels, private hosts, resorts and other elements of lodging. The technology also allows users to pay directly to the host via mobile, cash, card or transfer. This technology is important as it allows consumers to reduce information asymmetry and find the best lodging solutions that fit their needs. It also provides a much more cost-effective means for visitors of Africa to leverage the vast network of lodging solutions. These benefits can allow consumers to find compelling value propositions when visiting the continent of Africa. The con of this technology is related to the security of the home or private residence being provided. It aso is important to properly gauge the users of the application to make sure they are not using lodging in a nefarious or criminal manner (van der Merwe, 1987).

As gleamed above, a majority of these innovations are heavily related to mobile proliferation throughout the continent of Africa. Here, many consumers now have access to a mobile phone and the benefits derived from ownership of the devices. Many of the benefits are also sustainability oriented and heavily reduce carbon emission from their adoption. Likewise many of these innovations are designed to help the lower- and middle-class consumer better compete in a much more beneficial fashion. For example, innovation in mobile payments help to protect consumers from the rapid decline of African currency relative to currencies around the world. In addition, the emergence of infrastructure and transportation innovations allow consumers to quickly move goods and services between urban and rural areas. This ultimately improves the overall efficiency in which consumers can engage with one another. This also reduces the friction costs associate with transportation. Likewise, e-commerce and logistics operations further enhance the ability of consumers to received goods and services that are relevant to them in a cost effective and efficient manner. Each of these enhancements ultimately…

Sources Used in Documents:

References


1. Austen, R. A., & Headrick, D. (1983). The Role of Technology in the African past. African Studies Review, 26(3/4), 163–184. https://doi.org/10.2307/524168


2. Burrows, M. J., & Scowcroft, B. (2016). TECHNOLOGY WITH DOWNSIDES. In Global Risks 2035: The Search for a New Normal (pp. 28–32). Atlantic Council. http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep03678.9


3. Craft, B., Gama, S., & Namgyel, T. (2017). Least Developed Countries’ experiences with the UNFCCC Technology Mechanism. International Institute for Environment and Development. http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep16600


4. Gaylard, G. (2005). Black Secret Technology: African Technological Subjects. In W. K. Yuen, G. Westfahl, & A. K. Chan (Eds.), World Weavers: Globalization, Science Fiction, and the Cybernetic Revolution (pp. 191–204). Hong Kong University Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt2jc6br.16


5. Graham, R., & Choi, K. S. (2016). Explaining African-American Cell Phone Usage Through the Social Shaping of Technology Approach. Journal of African American Studies, 20(1), 19–34. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44508162


6. Nagar, D., & Nganje, F. (2016). THE AFRICAN UNION: REGIONAL AND GLOBAL CHALLENGES (A. Adebajo & J. Cook, Eds.). Centre for Conflict Resolution. http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep05128


7. Olawuyi, D. S. (2017). Barriers to Technology Assimilation in Africa. In From Technology Transfer to Technology Absorption: Addressing Climate Technology Gaps in Africa (pp. 3–5). Centre for International Governance Innovation. http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep15517.7


8. van der Merwe, N. J., & Avery, D. H. (1987). Science and Magic in African Technology: Traditional Iron Smelting in Malawi. Africa: Journal of the International African Institute, 57(2), 143–172. https://doi.org/10.2307/1159819


Cite this Document:

"How African Technologies Improve Society" (2021, December 12) Retrieved April 25, 2024, from
https://www.paperdue.com/essay/african-technologies-improve-society-essay-2176858

"How African Technologies Improve Society" 12 December 2021. Web.25 April. 2024. <
https://www.paperdue.com/essay/african-technologies-improve-society-essay-2176858>

"How African Technologies Improve Society", 12 December 2021, Accessed.25 April. 2024,
https://www.paperdue.com/essay/african-technologies-improve-society-essay-2176858

Related Documents

Technology in Film Fred Ott was the very first movie star that every existed. His brief starring role in the five-second film that showed him sneezing started the use of technology to make films. Since then, technology both in and out of film has changed immeasurably and what technology is used and is said about technology in these same films has evolved quite a lot and the statements sometimes made are

Creating an effective library social networking platform needs to start with a view of how to create a content management system (CMS) first (Dickson, Holley, 2010). The CMS serves as the system of record of all catalog and collection items, providing valuable statistics on how each book, content and collection item is being used (Shapira, Zabar, 2011). This is extremely valuable information for each department in the library to

Technology Acceptance Model Using Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to Assess User Intentions and Satisfaction on Software as a Service (SaaS): The Value of SaaS Software as a Service (SaaS) was researched by Benlian and Hess (2011) in an effort to determine its value to companies. Among the arguments was that SaaS is already declining in popularity even though it is very new. The majority of the arguments that lean in that direction have

Mobile Device Management Change Initiative Plan With the growing volume of content, number of applications and information accessed via various devices, Mobile Device Management (MDM) initiative is vital in the management of the mobile enterprise. MDM is more than the ordinary management of devices because it includes system-centered functionality to manage and secure applications and data. MDM is a crucial element of the device life circle, encompassing the device software, hardware,

Mobile Device Security Factors and Implementation of Mobile Device Security Mobile devices have become ubiquitous and its usage is only going up from here. With such an extensive usage of mobile devices for personal and business use, its security becomes an important question. Most devices ado not have the security mechanism in place in the case of a theft, loss or intentional breach of the network and this makes the data present

Mobile Devices and Importance of Research The importance of this research surrounds the manner in which mobile devices are transforming modern life -- not just smartphones, but tablets, smaller laptops, integration into automobile and televisions and a commercial transaction that will top $3.2 trillion by 2017 compared to $1.5 trillion in mid-2013. This is astounding when one realizes that a sampling of consumers from some stores show that 80% of their