4. Digital healthcare

Only a handful of countries in Sub-Saharan Africa can provide basic healthcare to all their citizens.

With less than one doctor per 20,000 persons in countries like Ethiopia and Tanzania, the healthcare industry in Africa is in a perilous state.

But entrepreneurs across Africa are taking on these challenges by creating innovative digital healthcare solutions.

These innovations, which include telemedicine, e-prescriptions and m-Health applications, are helping to free up congested health facilities from dealing with non-life-threatening conditions so they can provide better care to patients who require more critical care.

In Uganda, Brian Turyabagye – a young entrepreneur – and his team have developed a biomedical kit for early diagnosis and continuous monitoring of pneumonia, a disease that kills half a million children in Sub-Saharan Africa every year, according to UNICEF.

This kit, named “Mamaope” eliminates most human error, and diagnoses pneumonia at a rate three to four times faster than a doctor.

In Nigeria, Redbank is a new service that helps hospitals and patients quickly and easily search and find safe blood supplies in real time via SMS. This could potentially save thousands of lives especially in emergency situations and for patients in need of critical blood transfusions.

Across Africa, there is a growing trend of pharma firms looking to discover, support and partner with digital health startups. Last year, Merck – the global pharma giant – expanded its digital health accelerator program for the first time outside Germany to Nairobi, in East Africa.

I anticipate 2018 will be another interesting year for digital healthcare in Africa.

5) Renewable Energy

With a growing global bias for climate-friendly energy solutions, Africa has become an international test bed for innovative renewable energy solutions.

According to a recent World Bank study, only one in three people in Sub-Saharan Africa has access to electricity. And up to 80 percent of households on the continent use firewood and charcoal as a primary energy source for cooking, endangering the continent’s fast-depleting forest resources.

In Ghana, one company is harnessing the force of crashing ocean waves from the Accra coastline to generate electricity. Yam Pro Energy has secured a power purchase agreement (PPA) that allows it to sell the electricity it generates, and the project could provide up to 10,000 households with electricity.

Across the continent, the solar energy revolution is in full swing. In East Africa, businesses such as M-Kopa Solar, Off Grid Electric, StemaCo and several others are lighting up Africa by using the power of the sun to provide low-cost electricity to unconnected households.

In West Africa, where sewage collected from households is often dumped into rivers and the ocean, this business in Accra, Ghana, converts smelly human waste into an odourless and energy-efficient fuel which looks exactly like charcoal and can be used for cooking.

This year, the $5 billion Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam will open in East Africa. This 6,000-megawatt power plant will be the largest dam and hydropower plant in Africa. Though a government-owned asset, this dam will be a major milestone in Africa’s progress toward a renewable energy-dependent future.

6) Urban Transportation

The effects of rural-urban migration and natural population growth have overwhelmed transport systems and infrastructure in major cities and towns across Africa.

According to the AfDB, Africa has experienced the highest urban growth in the developing world. During the last two decades, Africa’s urban population grew by 3.5 percent per year and this rate of growth is expected to hold into 2050, with some African cities accounting for up to 85 percent of the national population.

While government authorities and urban dwellers are frustrated by the congestion, inefficiency and disorganized nature of urban transport systems on the continent, a growing number of businesses are exploring the business opportunities behind this underserved market.

Uber, a highly successful multinational ride hailing business, is one of the big players harvesting the opportunities in Africa’s urban transport market.

Now present in 12 cities across the continent, including Johannesburg, Lagos, Kampala, Nairobi, Rabat and Cairo, Uber has created a powerful platform for entrepreneurs and investors to reap the lucrative rewards of serving urban transport needs in Africa.

Hundreds of entrepreneurs now earn recurring monthly revenues by putting cars on the Uber network, whose value proposition of convenience, affordability and comfort has created a loyal and fast-growing customer base of urban commuters.

Magic Bus is another business that presents an interesting solution to urban transport needs in Nairobi, Kenya. It uses an SMS-based system that allows urban commuters, especially in slum areas, to pre-book their bus tickets using basic mobile phones.

The startup, which attracted $1 million from the Hult Foundation, has the potential to increase bus availability, and reduce the frustrations caused by adhoc bus systems in urban areas.

In 2018, more entrepreneurs and investors will be advancing innovative solutions to the urban transport problems in Africa. It’ll surely be an interesting industry to watch.

7) Pay TV

There are over 100 million TV households in Sub-Saharan Africa.

However, at the moment, just about 15 million of these households are pay-TV subscribers, and this number is expected to reach 30 million by 2021.

According to a study by Dataxis, the five biggest pay-TV markets account for 65.4 percent of total African pay-TV subscriptions. These are: South Africa (35.8%), Nigeria (14.5%), Angola (6.5%), Tanzania (4.4%), and Kenya (4.2%).

Currently, the biggest players in these markets are South Africa’s MultiChoice, China’s StarTimes, East Africa’s AzamTV, Safaricom and Zuku TV. In Francophone Africa, Canal Plus Overseas remains the dominant operator.

Africa’s large population and its youthful demographic makes the continent a very attractive market for the pay-TV industry. With annual revenues estimated at over $4 billion, there is still a lot of room for new players in this market.

Just a few weeks ago, Econet Media, owned by Strive Masiyiwa – one of Africa’s most successful entrepreneurs – entered the pay-TV market with the launch of Kwesé TV. The service has gone live in Ghana, Rwanda and Zambia, and plans to roll out to more countries by April 2017.

Africa’s growing internet penetration, rising smartphone adoption, and digital migration will be the key growth drivers of the pay-TV market in Africa as niche offerings such as video-on-demand (VOD) and Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) evolve.

In 2018, more households on the continent will become pay TV subscribers, generating more revenue for new and existing players in Africa’s fast-emerging pay TV market.

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