Africa’s next technology giants may already be hiding inside its largest institutions

Traditionally, discussions around Africa's technology advancements have focused on startups, venture capital, global tech giants, and young entrepreneurs. However, there may be another source of technological innovation that is often overlooked - the substantial intellectual property and technological capabilities being developed within Africa's established institutions.

Banks, telecommunications firms, healthcare providers, energy companies, universities, and public institutions are all creating sophisticated platforms and technologies that serve millions of users. With the advancements in cloud computing, open-source software, artificial intelligence, and technical talent accessibility over the past two decades, building enterprise technology has become easier.

The main challenge appears to be organizational, as creating technology requires expertise in architecture, engineering, delivery, and reliability, while building a technology business necessitates market strategies, distribution, economic models, and governance structures.

The key distinction lies in the fact that one creates capability, while the other generates market opportunities. Large institutions possess significant technical expertise but often struggle to transform their internal developments into thriving external businesses.

Consider the financial services sector. Banks develop technology to address internal problems, such as modernizing legacy systems, reducing vendor dependency, enhancing customer experiences, lowering transaction costs, or increasing product flexibility. Initially, the focus is on solving internal issues. Nonetheless, when the technology matures and starts addressing broader industry challenges, its strategic significance shifts.

The question no longer focuses solely on whether the technology works for the institution, but rather if it can create value for the industry at large.

At this stage, technology transitions from being merely an internal project to becoming a part of the corporation's overall strategy. Governance, however, often remains unchanged. A platform that began as an internal project gradually gains reliability, institutional knowledge expands around it, and its functionality broadens, making its external market potential increasingly apparent.

Yet, many organizations continue to treat it as an internal IT asset, allocating its budget and decisions within the technology function while aligning product decisions with the parent organization's priorities. Investment competes with unrelated internal projects, and governance is still designed to maintain institutional control instead of adapting to market responsiveness.

The evolution of these capabilities typically follows five stages: Solve, Build, Escape, Reconfigure, and Amplify. The challenging phase is often not the initial technology development but rather recognizing when the capability has reached a point where its governance must adapt. Separation is not always the solution; sometimes, some capabilities should remain internal, while others could be licensed, commercialized through partnerships, developed as shared platforms, or established as independent businesses.

The strategic question lies in whether leadership consciously determines the appropriate structure for the asset to realize its full potential. This should influence how boards and executive teams approach technology investments - viewing them not solely through cost, cybersecurity, operational resilience, and regulatory compliance lenses, but also considering if the capability constitutes strategic intellectual property, can solve broader market problems, generate economic value beyond the institution, and if the current governance structures support or impede this potential.