• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

Bolt CEO says he let go of his entire HR team for creating problems that didn’t exist: ‘Those problems disappeared when I let them go’ 

2

Meet a 21-year-old community college student who's going to China as the first American woman welder in the trades Olympics

3

The Bezos family just donated $100 million to help achieve one of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s top campaign promises

1

Bolt CEO says he let go of his entire HR team for creating problems that didn’t exist: ‘Those problems disappeared when I let them go’ 

2

Meet a 21-year-old community college student who's going to China as the first American woman welder in the trades Olympics

3

The Bezos family just donated $100 million to help achieve one of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s top campaign promises
ConferencesBrainstorm Tech

Africa Is Tech’s Next Great Frontier, Github A.I. Expert Says

Jeremy Kahn
By
Jeremy Kahn
Jeremy Kahn
Editor, AI
Down Arrow Button Icon
Jeremy Kahn
By
Jeremy Kahn
Jeremy Kahn
Editor, AI
Down Arrow Button Icon
July 17, 2019, 3:15 PM ET

The bleeding edge of technology innovation is increasingly shifting from Silicon Valley to places that are also at the frontiers of economic development, including sub-Saharan Africa, says Omoju Miller, who works on machine learning at software development platform Github.

Miller, who grew up in Lagos, Nigeria, told the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference that both demographics and geography will drive technology vendors to focus on frontier markets.

Africa will soon host most of the world’s fastest-growing economies. Sub-Saharan Africa will be home to more than 90 cities with populations in excess of 1 million people. More than 60 percent of the population in the region is under the age of 25 and the continent is already home to half of the world’s users of mobile payment solutions, she said.

Those figures will increasingly drive the world’s largest technology firms to invest in Africa. And it will mean that more and more innovations will be born in the region, she said.

“We are the at edge of another kind of technology frontier, and this time around, it is not happening in San Francisco, it is taking place in Africa,” she said.

Miller used examples from two recent trips to Africa to illustrate her point. She said that she recently visited Nigeria with Nat Friedman, Github’s chief executive officer, because the software repository’s data told it the country’s coders were adopting open source software at a faster clip than anywhere else.

In another trip to Kenya, Miller detailed how seamlessly she was able to access all the same kinds of mobile apps and services she did when back home in San Francisco, including booking taxi rides on Uber and booking food delivery with Jumia, the company that bills itself as Africa’s answer to Amazon, and which was originally incubated by German startup factory Rocket Internet.

Then, when traveling to the Maasai Mara nature reserve, she recalled passing through numerous rural villages. “We are talking about very small villages and yet in these small villages you can still use mobile payments,” she said. “This is going to radically change what the technology environment is going to look like.”

This story has been updated to correct Miller’s title at Github and that she visited Kenya as well as Nigeria.

More must-read stories from Fortune Brainstorm Tech 2019:

—A.I.’s hidden biases continue to bedevil businesses. Can they be stopped?

—Land O’Lakes CEO: Big data is helping farmers deal with climate swings

—How Spotify “playlisting” turned an unknown artist into a star

—U.S. risks falling behind in crypto, warns ‘Crypto Mom’ SEC commissioner

—Verizon executive calls for federal privacy rules on 5G

Get Fortune’s Eye on A.I. newsletter, where artificial intelligence meets industry

About the Author
Jeremy Kahn
By Jeremy KahnEditor, AI
LinkedIn iconTwitter icon

Jeremy Kahn is the AI editor at Fortune, spearheading the publication's coverage of artificial intelligence. He also co-authors Eye on AI, Fortune’s flagship AI newsletter.

See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest from our Conferences

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest from our Conferences

lucas
ConferencesWorkplace Innovation Summit
Trump’s EEOC chair is suing The New York Times because ‘we should bring it on behalf of white workers too’
By Nick LichtenbergMay 20, 2026
1 hour ago
Fortune Workplace Innovation Summit logo
ConferencesWorkplace Innovation Summit
Fortune Workplace Innovation Summit 2026 livestream
By Fortune EditorsMay 19, 2026
2 days ago
burke
ConferencesAthletic Gear
The CEO of Trek Bicycle reads 52 books a year, hates smartphones, and thinks Milton Friedman was wrong
By Nick LichtenbergMay 6, 2026
14 days ago
mark
ConferencesHospitality
Hyatt’s CEO has built a ‘family’ culture for 20 years. Now he’s leaning on it
By Nick LichtenbergApril 30, 2026
20 days ago
sweet
ConferencesConsulting
Accenture’s Julie Sweet blew up 50 years of company history. She says the hardest part is still ahead
By Nick LichtenbergApril 29, 2026
21 days ago
anirudh
Conferencesdisruption
Cadence CEO on the AI boom and human nature: ‘there are more tools, but the human part is not different’
By Nick LichtenbergApril 23, 2026
27 days ago

Most Popular

Bolt CEO says he let go of his entire HR team for creating problems that didn’t exist: ‘Those problems disappeared when I let them go’ 
Workplace Culture
Bolt CEO says he let go of his entire HR team for creating problems that didn’t exist: ‘Those problems disappeared when I let them go’ 
By Preston ForeMay 19, 2026
22 hours ago
Meet a 21-year-old community college student who's going to China as the first American woman welder in the trades Olympics
Future of Work
Meet a 21-year-old community college student who's going to China as the first American woman welder in the trades Olympics
By Mike Householder and The Associated PressMay 17, 2026
3 days ago
The Bezos family just donated $100 million to help achieve one of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s top campaign promises
Politics
The Bezos family just donated $100 million to help achieve one of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s top campaign promises
By Jake AngeloMay 12, 2026
8 days ago
Current price of oil as of May 19, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of May 19, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerMay 19, 2026
1 day ago
Spirit Airlines apologizes to all the Americans who can't afford any summer vacation flights as it shuts down
Travel & Leisure
Spirit Airlines apologizes to all the Americans who can't afford any summer vacation flights as it shuts down
By Rio Yamat and The Associated PressMay 18, 2026
2 days ago
CNN analyst and 'The Morning Show' producer says Stephen Colbert is a role model for his ‘positive’ outlook on his show ending
Arts & Entertainment
CNN analyst and 'The Morning Show' producer says Stephen Colbert is a role model for his ‘positive’ outlook on his show ending
By Emma BurleighMay 19, 2026
1 day ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.