Google announced $1bn of investments in Africa’s digital transformation in its first ever Google for Africa event on Wednesday. Over the next five years, Google’s investments will focus on improving connectivity, backing African tech startups and entrepreneurs, and renewing Google’s non-profit commitments on the continent, Nitin Gajria, Google’s managing director in Sub-Saharan Africa, told the BBC on Wednesday. One of the initiatives is the Google sub-sea cable project stretching to South Africa, Namibia and Nigeria that the company says will improve internet access and affordability by next year. The tech giant will also invest $50m in its Africa Investment Fund aimed at growth stage startups. Africa needs around $86bn in infrastructure investment to support universal internet access, an amount that Lopes argued would be “peanuts” for Google, which he says would benefit handsomely from increased penetration.
SOURCE: AFRICAN BUSINESS