How not to build a digital economy

Tech hubs multiply, but broadband is patchy and regulation is weak. Hype alone won’t build inclusion.

Silicon Valley loves a good narrative, and lately, so does Africa. From fintech startups in Lagos to blockchain pilots in Kigali, the continent’s digital ascent has become a favourite subject of venture capital decks, TED Talks, and glossy government brochures. Tech hubs are multiplying. Startups are pitching. Apps are launching. By all appearances, the revolution is underway. Except it isn’t. Or at least, not everywhere, and not for everyone.

Scratch beneath the surface, and the picture is far less tidy. Most African countries continue to struggle with limited broadband access, unreliable electricity, and significant digital skills gaps. Mobile data costs in sub-Saharan Africa remain among the highest in the world relative to income. Vast rural populations remain offline, not metaphorically, but literally. Meanwhile, regulatory frameworks limp behind, creating bottlenecks where clarity should enable scale.

The irony is sharp: digital inclusion is now a global development goal, yet the infrastructure and governance needed to support it often remain stuck in analogue mode. To be clear, the problem is not a lack of innovation. It’s a lack of systems. A digital economy is not built solely on pitch decks and pilot projects. It requires regulation that moves as fast as markets, institutions that understand platforms, and infrastructure that reaches beyond election cycles. Until those pieces are in place, Africa’s digital promise will remain just that, a promise.

The missing pieces of the digital economy

Beneath the surface of this digital enthusiasm lies a quieter, less glamorous truth: building a digital economy is not the same as launching a digital startup. It requires far more than ambition or buzz. It demands functioning infrastructure, clear rules of the game, and a plan for broad-based participation. And on these fronts, the continent’s progress has been uneven at best. We will examine some of these missing pieces below.

1. Infrastructure still lags well behind ambition: The idea of a borderless digital economy often skips over a brutal reality: many Africans can’t afford to get online in the first place. According to the Alliance for Affordable Internet, only 28% of sub-Saharan Africans have access to mobile broadband that meets basic affordability thresholds. In countries like Chad and the Democratic Republic of Congo, that figure drops to single digits. Power remains unreliable in many secondary cities. Even in Nigeria, Africa’s largest tech hub, the national grid supplies barely four hours of electricity per day in some states. Meanwhile, governments announce digital strategies with ambitious targets but vague delivery plans. Laying fibre and building cell towers may not be glamorous, but without them, even the most brilliant app will never scale. In a sense, Africa is coding the roof before laying the foundation.
2. Regulation is reactive, not enabling: Innovation tends to move faster than policy, but in Africa, it often moves without it altogether. Regulatory uncertainty remains one of the biggest risks facing startups and investors alike. Nigeria’s Central Bank famously restricted cryptocurrency transactions in 2021, only to soften its stance under pressure from a growing fintech sector. In Kenya, ride-hailing services expanded rapidly before running afoul of fragmented transport laws. And across the continent, data protection rules remain patchy, often copied from foreign models but rarely enforced or adapted to local realities. Without agile, consultative regulation, startups are left to navigate grey zones or legal minefields. Worse, governments risk swinging between overreach and underreach, stifling innovation one day, failing to safeguard consumers the next.
3. Inclusion remains a buzzword, not a blueprint: The digital economy is often described as a great leveller. But so far, it has replicated many of the inequalities it promised to disrupt. Urban, English-speaking, tech-savvy populations have benefited most, leaving rural users, women, and marginalised communities further behind. According to GSMA, women in sub-Saharan Africa are 36% less likely than men to use mobile internet. Meanwhile, many digital financial services require formal IDs or literacy levels that exclude precisely those they aim to empower. Digital skills are another barrier. Coding bootcamps and accelerator programmes exist, but they are tiny compared to the scale of the problem. Most public education systems still lack the curriculum, hardware, or teacher training needed to prepare students for the digital workforce. A handful of countries, including Rwanda, Ghana, and Kenya, are experimenting with national digital ID systems, regulatory sandboxes, and rural broadband schemes. But these efforts remain uneven and, in many cases, underfunded.

From hype to hardware

At Havilah Strategies, we do not believe in digital optimism for its own sake. A digital economy is not made of apps and slogans. It is built, deliberately, slowly, and structurally, through institutions that govern fairly, infrastructure that reaches everyone, and policies that learn as fast as the technologies they regulate. To get there, we propose three imperatives.

First, treat infrastructure as the digital economy’s backbone, not its backdrop. Public investment must prioritise broadband access in rural and peri-urban areas, paired with electrification. This is not just an issue for the Ministry of ICT; it’s a national economic policy. Governments should move beyond pilot projects and adopt universal service funds and rural access targets with the same urgency as roads or ports.

Second, build smarter regulation through engagement, not enforcement. Rather than clamp down or look away, regulators must become partners in innovation. This entails creating agile frameworks, regulatory sandboxes, consultative forums, and rapid feedback loops that enable businesses to scale without compromising consumer protections or market integrity. Rwanda’s fintech sandbox and Ghana’s data protection authority offer promising models.

Third, put digital inclusion at the centre, not the margins. No strategy is serious if it doesn’t close the gender gap in mobile access or embed digital literacy in public education. Local language platforms, assistive tech for people with disabilities, and affordable access bundles should be seen not as CSR but as market development. Inclusion isn’t charity. It’s scale.

The digital economy will not thrive on hype. It will thrive when hardware meets human capital, when policy matches pace, and when access is treated not as a reward for the connected but as a right of the citizen. Africa doesn’t need another startup pitch. It needs a system that works for everyone.

Key References

1. GSMA. (2023). The State of Mobile Internet Connectivity 2023. Retrieved from GSMA
2. GSMA. (2023). The Mobile Gender Gap Report 2023. Retrieved from GSMA
3. Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI). (2022). Africa Regional Affordability Report. Retrieved from A4AI
4. Central Bank of Nigeria. (2023, December 22). Circular on Cryptocurrency Transactions. Retrieved from CBN
5. Business & Human Rights Resource Centre. (2023). Kenya: Govt authority confirms enactment of long-awaited digital taxi regulation. Retrieved from Business & Human Rights
6. National Bank of Rwanda. (2022). Regulatory Sandbox Regulation. Retrieved from BNR
7. Data Protection Commission – Ghana. (n.d.). Who We Are. Retrieved from DPC Ghana
8. World Bank. (2024, January 18). Digital Transformation Drives Development in Africa. Retrieved from World Bank
9. The Guardian. (2025, March 20). Women in business held back by mobile data’s cost in developing world – report. Retrieved from The Guardian
10. Reuters. (2023, December 23). Nigerian central bank lifts ban on crypto trading. Retrieved from Reuters