How African Technologies Improve Society Essay

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Briefly discuss some technologies (at least 7) that can be apportioned to or attributed to Africa and their applications in the contemporary world. The discussion is not only limited to historical and geographic inclination of the identified technologies but you may also include the pros and cons, it’s acceptability and applicability in the modern world as well as ethical issues associated with that technology .Technology has become a integral to the economic development initiatives of Africa. For one it has helped improve the overall quality of life for Africans by enabling a higher level of productivity within its economy. It has provided a higher quality of life to help sustain growing population and demands on natural resources. These technology innovations have also enabled Africa to embrace globalization by opening up the world to its products, goods and services. This has ultimately improved the ability of African to lift its citizens out of poverty by allowing to sell goods to the rest of the world while also improving productivity capacity internally (Austen, 1983).The first technological innovation from Africa is Mellowcabs. As it relates to innovations from Africa directly to the world, the technology used in many renewable energy vehicles originated from this product. The first innovation from Africa directly to the world is that of V2G. This innovation occurs with electronic vehicle charging management, enabling a two-way energy exchange between the cab and the grid. This innovation helps to supply electric vehicles with energy during peak usage times throughout the day without placing unnecessary strain on the electricity grid, which in Africa, is very fragile. The cabs use kinetic energy to power the vehicle, on-board tablet computers, electric vehicle technology, and hydrogen fuel cell technology, and are made out of recycled materials. Mellowcabs using a fleet of fully electric buses to aid in the transportation of Africans in urban areas. This innovation is unique in that it helps lower the overall carbon footprint of African while also helping to improve the infrastructure of Africa. Interesting all of the rides are free, with the cabs instead relying on advertisements to maintain profitability. This initiative is helpful to society for a number of reasons. First it helps improve the ability of Africans to transport themselves within urban and rural areas. This is critical as infrastructure in Africa is lacking thus alienating the poor who often live in rural areas of the country. Their inability to find jobs and income is partially attributable to their inability to efficient transport themselves to more populous urban areas. Through the use of Mellowcabs transportation is much more efficient allow both poor and middle-class families to access more urban markets cheaply and efficiently. Having the trips be free significantly helps the poor and middle class by reducing frictional costs associated with transportation. This allows the access to the improved infrastructure at a lower cost, thus enabling them to more readily access urban markets (Burrows, 2016).This system can also be applied to the other nations looking to embrace sustainable solutions within its infrastructure programs. These programs are designed primarily to reduced carbon emissions, improve sustatinability options, and ultimately provide convenience to consumers. The technology and business model of Mellowcabs allows countries to accomplish this. The con is that the technology will require large investments in further infrastructure such as charging stations and investment in personnel who can fix electronic vehicle’s.

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Second, Jumia is the largest e-commerce retailer in Africa. As it relates to innovations from Africa directly to the world, this company was the first to develop real-time, location based mobile selling. This innovation was required as Africa does not have the large infrastructure investments required for large scale delivery. Instead the company leverages location based mobile selling to help determine the best products goods and services that can be delivered to customers in a cost-effective manner. This innovation has since been copied by Alibaba in China along with many other Asian ecommerce websites. Another innovation from Africa directly to the world, is that of voice powered shopping which is required due to the many different…

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…platform in America. Launched in 2011 in Kenya, the online portal leverages technology to allow visitors to use safe and secure lodging solutions. These solutions cover hotels, private hosts, resorts and other elements of lodging. The technology also allows users to pay directly to the host via mobile, cash, card or transfer. This technology is important as it allows consumers to reduce information asymmetry and find the best lodging solutions that fit their needs. It also provides a much more cost-effective means for visitors of Africa to leverage the vast network of lodging solutions. These benefits can allow consumers to find compelling value propositions when visiting the continent of Africa. The con of this technology is related to the security of the home or private residence being provided. It also is important to properly gauge the users of the application to make sure they are not using lodging in a nefarious or criminal manner (van der Merwe, 1987).As gleamed above, a majority of these innovations are heavily related to mobile proliferation throughout the continent of Africa. Here, many consumers now have access to a mobile phone and the benefits derived from ownership of the devices. Many of the benefits are also sustainability oriented and heavily reduce carbon emission from their adoption. Likewise many of these innovations are designed to help the lower- and middle-class consumer better compete in a much more beneficial fashion. For example, innovation in mobile payments help to protect consumers from the rapid decline of African currency relative to currencies around the world. In addition, the emergence of infrastructure and transportation innovations allow consumers to quickly move goods and services between urban and rural areas. This ultimately improves the overall efficiency in which consumers can engage with one another. This also reduces the friction costs associate with transportation. Likewise, e-commerce and logistics operations further enhance the ability of consumers to received goods and services that are relevant to them in a cost effective and efficient manner. Each of these enhancements ultimately saves the consumer money which can….....

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