Surge in tech hubs give African startups a place to grow

When Startup Garage Nairobi opened its doors last month in the Kenyan capital, it became the latest such facility to launch in Africa.

According to the crowdsourced BongoHive's "Hubs in Africa" map, there are 45 tech hubs, tech labs, business incubators and hacker spaces on the continent. Although the Innovation Hub in Pretoria, South Africa opened in 2002 and the Botswana Innovation Hub opened in Gabarone, Botswana in 2006, the overwhelming majority of Africa's hubs have launched since 2010. Why this surge in hacking and the commensurate creation of support facilities for them? It's time. Africa is experiencing a perfect storm of young people, maturing education systems, and growing mobile phone services and use. A few noteworthy achievements, including Safaricom's M-Pesa mobile payment service, have attracted the attention of investors, both inside the continent and outside.

Startup Garage Nairobi embodies this trend.