By Emeka Aginam

Market leader in enterprise application software, SAP, has said that it is increasingly turning its focus to small businesses and technology innovators with cloud computing.

While playing a small part in sparking a small business revolution that can literally change the continent forever, Richard Edet, Managing Director, West Africa, SAP Africa, who believes that Cloud computing is not just a game-changer for big businesses in developed nations, said that in Africa, it is rapidly turning the continent into a place of rich opportunity for bright-eyed entrepreneurs, who are finding they can turn good ideas into market opportunities almost overnight.

The reason for this is just simple. Even with patchy broadband access and high data costs, the cloud, he disclosed, is providing an easy entry point to markets and platforms for entrepreneurs and small businesses across all sectors by reducing the cost and complexity of using technology to grow a business.

Cloud drives job creation:

Importantly for Africa, the cloud, he believes is not only fundamentally changing the way business operates, but is also driving a new wave of job creation opportunities.

According to a recent Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) survey, the world needs to create more than half a billion jobs for people joining the global workforce by 2020.

By harnessing Africa’s natural entrepreneurial spirit, the cloud, he said with optimism, could boost small and medium businesses and stimulate job creation.

Opportunities

“One of the clearest opportunities being created by the cloud is in the technology space, where 600 million cellphone-using Africans are hungry for apps and services.

“Here, the cloud is offering African entrepreneurs almost inconceivable opportunities to explore new business models and even conceptualise, create and roll-out ‘home-grown’ feature-rich mobile apps, be it for social, finance, investment or business or even sports. All you need is an idea, and the world is your oyster.

“A glaring opportunity for our sports-mad continent is the creation of so-called ‘killer apps’ for avid fans. The African continent has a deep-rooted passion for anything sports-related.”