Joseph Nsengimana is director of the Mastercard Foundation's Centre for Innovative Teaching and Learning, which works with technology hubs, entrepreneurs and policymakers to integrate technology into education across the African continent.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What is the most valuable lesson you have learned working in Africa's tech ecosystem?
There is incredible talent among young edtech entrepreneurs on the continent and that's one of the things people misunderstand – they just need support, a supportive policy environment and investment backing to thrive.
What do you see as the next five years of tech innovation in Africa?
The tech ecosystem is growing on the continent. Tech hubs are popping up. More people are graduating from university and going straight into tech entrepreneurship. Confidence in African tech innovators is growing and they are starting to create real solutions to the continent's biggest challenges. The policy environment is also improving, with some governments realizing they need to work on policy. Investment in African startups is on the rise. All of this is coming together to make Africa a surprise in the next five years.
What is the perception about innovation in Africa that you strongly want to correct?
When you talk to people outside of Africa, they seem to think that there is no innovation on the African continent. But there are very young and talented people on the African continent. Of course, they need support in terms of capacity building. But the talent is here. If I were an investor or a big company looking to open an office, I would look to the African continent. Part of that is happening with the African Institute of Mathematical Learning Machine Learning and AI program, backed by Meta and Google. People are starting to notice the talent on the African continent and are trying to develop it.
