Originally published in Cipher, February 3, 2025.
On the bustling streets of Nairobi, Kenya, electric motorcycles weave silently through traffic, their riders ferrying passengers and packages across the city. Meanwhile, in South Africa’s cities, rooftop solar panels glint in the sun, powering businesses that have grown tired of rolling blackouts.
These innovations paint a compelling picture of African ingenuity, as individuals, businesses and communities find creative ways to embrace clean energy technologies while bypassing traditional infrastructure constraints.
But look closer, and you’ll see a more complex story unfolding.
What we’re witnessing isn’t so much leapfrogging constraints as side-stepping them — creative solutions that work around broken systems rather than fixing them. While this entrepreneurial spirit is admirable and the growth of these technologies across Africa is worth celebrating, these democratized workarounds risk perpetuating the very systemic challenges they temporarily address.
Finding robust solutions will mean weaving these quick wins into a broader strategy for long-term development.
Read the full article here.