Designing Africa’s digital future

Africa’s digital transformation is accelerating at an unprecedented pace. Yet for millions of people across the continent, digital progress is not defined by cutting-edge apps, venture-backed startups or innovation hubs.

Instead, it is measured by something far more fundamental – access. Namely, access to healthcare, education, markets, government services and economic opportunity.

While digital innovation is essential for economic growth, it cannot succeed in isolation. If inclusion is not intentionally designed into digital systems, technology risks reinforcing existing inequalities rather than reducing them.

This challenge is particularly acute in Africa, where a significant share of the population still lives outside major urban centres and digital access remains uneven.

As of 2024, only about 38% of Africans were using the internet, with usage dropping to as low as 23% in rural areas, reflecting deep disparities in affordability, infrastructure and reliability. (ITU, 2024; World Bank, 2023)

Digital systems built for urban, always-connected users often exclude those navigating expensive data costs, intermittent electricity, and limited digital literacy.

The critical question, therefore, is not whether Africa is going digital, but who Africa’s digital future is being designed for.

Designing for Africa’s realities

Africa’s digital journey is distinct. It is young, largely rural, multilingual, and deeply diverse. Millions of people interact with technology primarily through basic mobile phones, shared devices or community access points rather than personal smartphones or high-speed broadband.

Effective digital transformation must start from these realities, not from assumptions shaped by high-connectivity environments. Inclusive digital systems need to be human-centred, context-aware and often offline-first.

This means designing solutions that function with low bandwidth, tolerate intermittent connectivity, and align with how people live, work, and transact.

Just as importantly, adoption depends on trust and usability. Even the most advanced technologies will fail if people do not understand them, trust them, or see clear value in their daily lives.

Persistent inequalities also shape access. Across low-and middle-income countries, women remain significantly less likely to use mobile internet than men.

The GSMA Mobile Gender Gap Report shows that women are approximately 14% less likely than men to use mobile internet, with affordability, digital skills and socio-economic barriers particularly pronounced in Sub-Saharan Africa (GSMA, 2025; ICASA, 2023).

Digital identity and e-government as enablers

Digital identity systems form a critical foundation for inclusive transformation. Without formal identification, millions of Africans remain excluded from amongst others, healthcare, education, financial services and social protection programmes.

Estonia offers a useful global reference point. The country’s national digital identity system enables citizens to access nearly all public and private services online from healthcare and taxation to business registration and digital signatures through a single, secure digital identity.

Today, more than 99% of Estonians use digital ID services, demonstrating how interoperable systems, simplicity, and trust-based design can transform governance and service delivery. (e-Estonia, 2024).

In the South African context, the lesson is not replication, but principle. Treating digital identity as public infrastructure, integrated with e-government platforms and mobile wallets, could significantly improve service delivery.

Social grants and other state payments could be deposited directly into secure digital wallets linked to verified identities, reducing fraud, duplication, and administrative leakage. Citizens could access home affairs, SASSA, healthcare and municipal services digitally, minimising long queues, repeated visits and the high cost of travel.

For rural South Africa, inclusive design is essential. USSD-based services. A simple technology that allows users to interact with digital services via basic mobile phones by dialling short codes (e.g., *123#) can support access even without internet connectivity.

Community digital hubs and targeted digital skills training can also serve citizens without smartphones or reliable connectivity. Designed this way, digital identity systems have the potential to meaningfully improve access for rural and marginalised communities rather than deepen existing divides.

Digital health: Beyond platforms to physical access

Healthcare access remains one of the most pressing challenges in deep rural and underserved areas. Digital health platforms including telemedicine, electronic health records and AI-assisted diagnostics are improving efficiency and reach, but they are not sufficient on their own.

Physical access to medicine and medical supplies is often the missing link. In countries such as Rwanda and Ghana, drones are already being used to deliver blood, vaccines and essential medicines to remote clinics.

In Rwanda, drone-enabled delivery has reduced blood product delivery times by up to 61% and cut blood unit expirations by approximately 67%, significantly improving emergency response capacity. (Zipline, 2024) In Ghana, drone networks now serve over 2 300 health facilities, reducing vaccine stock-outs and strengthening supply chain reliability. (Zipline, 2024)

When combined with digital health records and AI-supported decision tools, drone-enabled logistics ensure healthcare workers have timely access to critical supplies. This demonstrates that inclusive digital health requires digital intelligence and physical delivery working together, rather than platforms operating in isolation.

AI in agriculture and education: Supporting everyday livelihoods

Agriculture and education underpin livelihoods and long-term development across Africa. AI-enabled tools can support smallholder farmers with weather forecasting, pest alerts, soil insights, and market pricing, enabling better decision-making and income protection.

In education, AI can help personalise learning, identify students at risk of falling behind, and support teachers managing large or under-resourced classrooms. However, impact depends not on technological sophistication, but on delivery.

High-tech platforms designed for smartphones and constant connectivity often exclude those who need them most. In contrast, low-tech, mobile-first solutions using WhatsApp, USSD, voice services or community digital hubs frequently achieve greater scale and impact.

The goal is not innovation for its own sake, but practical usefulness embedded in everyday realities.

Connectivity: The foundation of inclusion

Across every sector, connectivity remains the most critical enabler of digital transformation. Without affordable data, reliable networks, and stable electricity, even the most thoughtfully designed systems will fail.

Closing the digital divide requires intentional investment in low-bandwidth design, offline functionality, and locally relevant digital literacy programmes. Connectivity must be treated as essential infrastructure on par with roads, water, and electricity. (World Bank, 2023; ITU, 2024)

Conclusion: Inclusion as a growth strategy

Africa’s digital future will not be defined by technology alone, but by how inclusive its systems truly are. Digital identity, AI-enabled services, drone logistics and e-government platforms all have the potential to transform lives but only when they are designed around the realities of marginalised communities.

Inclusion is not a social add-on but a growth strategy. Systems built for access, trust and usability reach more people, deliver better outcomes and create more resilient digital economies.

The defining question remains: Are we designing Africa’s digital future for everyone including the marginalised or only for the connected few?

At Nerdware, this question is not theoretical. It informs how digital systems are scoped, designed, and delivered in practice. A

s a client success manager at Nerdware, I play a hands-on role in ensuring that inclusive digital principles are translated into execution across client projects.

This includes working closely with multidisciplinary teams to ensure that software and platforms are:

Lightweight and mobile-first, capable of operating reliably on low-bandwidth networks and in environments with intermittent connectivity.
Compatible with feature phones, shared devices and conversational interfaces, enabling access beyond smartphones and app-based ecosystems.
Designed with accessibility and usability in mind, prioritising clear user journeys, simple interactions and context-aware UX rather than complexity.

Beyond systems delivery, inclusion is embedded at a strategic level. Through digital transformation strategy engagements, Nerdware partners with governments, NGOs and private sector organisations to assess digital readiness, design scalable architectures and implement human-centred workflows aligned with local realities.

This ensures digital transformation does not simply digitise existing barriers, but actively lowers them.

Inclusive digital transformation succeeds when principles are enforced at the point of delivery. By embedding access, usability and context into both strategy and execution, Nerdware contributes to building digital systems that serve broader populations and support sustainable growth across Africa.

Lerato Mothopeng, client success manager at digital marketing agency Nerdware is an optimistic and result-driven digital marketing consultant with over 10 years of experience in strategic digital marketing, account management and team leadership. With a strong record of delivering successful projects, she has worked with high-profile clients such as MOTUS, ABSA Bank, Google SA, City Power, NEF, EU (EDSE), and PRASA. You can connect with Lerato on her LinkedIn profile, or visit the Nerdware website.

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