It has always been the dream to give back to Africa to support its development to make significant global impacts. There are so many untapped opportunities and resources other than minerals and animals in Africa the world need to know and benefit from. Africa is the youngest continent given that an estimated 60% of the entire African continent is below age 25 years. In 2015, 19% of the world’s youth aged 15 – 24 years resided in Africa and expected to grow to 42% in 2030. This shows a huge available human resource that can do anything if tapped and managed well. Moreover, benefits associated with the African Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) launching in July 2020 is projected at 42 trillion USD in 2030. AfCFTA objective is to catalyze Africa’s swift development. This is a single market that will require sustenance.
In a 3-year span i.e. 2016 to 2019 innovation and technology hubs across Africa have grown by 97% i.e. 314 to 618 and expected to grow even more. A general outlook of the existing innovation and technology hubs across Africa shows these hubs are skewed towards some few areas of the innovation value chain and also located at some few regions of Africa. This past statement suggests gaps exist aligning the existing innovation and technology hubs offerings on an innovation value chain. The existence of the rigid boundaries that impeded easy movement across Africa, flow of information as well as connectivity of likeminded key people to form a critical mass to bring about the needed change are issues which AfCFTA is addressing. Moreover, there are numerous donors, investors and experts all looking to invest in Africa and want to find reliable and trustworthy conduits and avenues develop Africa.
While innovation is one of the sure ways pertinent to promote and sustain Africa’s development, it is pursuing structured innovation will the impact of innovation be much more and promise a better future. Moreover, pursuing all aspects of a structured innovation value chain processes with excellent management where all aspects of processes are made accessible in strategic locations across Africa will harnessing and investment worth the efforts. While equipping African innovators and inventors with the right tools to innovate more reliably to grow Africa in a more exponential manner. The reasons being processes in an innovation value chain interacts and complement one another to provide a stronger foundation, hence, the need.
Upon the above motivation was i2iMegaHub born after some likeminded African professionals in USA, Canada and UK joined forces together with the aim to give back to Africa to catalyze its growth by closing the existing innovation gaps, network with some of the existing innovation and technology hubs across Africa to better equip them, while serving as a platform for inventors and innovators of African origin to work with experts in the diaspora and on the continents, to ensure harnessing the right inventions/innovations for donors and investors investment which in the long run all the parties win while contributing to the quota of change using i2iMegaHub structured frameworks and tools.