By Chioma Okoye

Ade Olufeko brings a rare economic lens to Africa’s digital development, shaped by his early career implementing foundational internet technologies during previous waves of globalization. His warnings about digital colonialism, first articulated in his 2025 CNBC Africa interview, reflect a sophisticated understanding of how deglobalization trends are reshaping the digital economy and what this means for African nations.

Olufeko’s experience deploying ISDN and ADSL solutions at Ameritech alongside peer Arlen Stebbins during the late 1990s coincided with the peak of economic globalization. Today, however, he observes a shift in the opposite direction: the rise of digital borders. Increasing data localization requirements, fragmented cloud infrastructure, and diverging technology standards are redefining digital participation across the globe. Economically, this new terrain calls for a rethinking of sovereignty in the digital age. The rising costs of technological dependence are pressuring nations to build value internally, rather than outsourcing critical services. For Africa, this means owning infrastructure, nurturing technical talent, and designing systems that reflect local realities.

Olufeko’s work with transitional technologies revealed several economic insights that now hold relevance for Africa’s digital ascent. His understanding of path dependency costs, how early ISDN/ADSL implementations created long-term infrastructure commitments is particularly instructive, as similar dynamics reappear today with emerging platforms. He also underscores the importance of value chain positioning: who builds and controls digital infrastructure ultimately determines who captures the economic benefits. Further, his grounding in transition economics provides a useful framework for analyzing both the costs and opportunities that accompany technological shifts. These insights offer policymakers and innovators a deeper understanding of how today’s digital decisions echo far into the future.

Drawing from his cross-sector experience, Olufeko advocates a pragmatic approach to digital independence. African nations must build local digital capital by investing in infrastructure literacy and technical education. They need to negotiate from a position of strength, leveraging the continent’s growing market size to attract equitable partnerships. At the same time, they must prepare for a fragmented future by maintaining interoperability and developing contingency plans for global supply chain disruptions. These efforts lay the foundation for long-term digital sovereignty.

Where some see only risk, Olufeko identifies a window of opportunity. Deglobalization allows African countries to renegotiate unfavorable digital trade arrangements, build more resilient local ecosystems, and develop Africa-specific technological solutions. His vision merges hard-won infrastructure expertise with clear economic analysis, charting a roadmap for navigating today’s rapidly changing digital terrain.

In 2012, Olufeko participated in a private exhibition in Washington, DC, where his digital paintings were featured alongside visual works by artist Benjamin L. Jones. The event marked their second collaboration following a Visual Collaborative exhibition in San Francisco’s Mission District, where Jones had previously been featured. Talks were delivered by all three participants, Olufeko, Jones, and Net Neutrality advocate Marvin Ammori, who offered a keynote-style address. Blending visual art with informal discussions on technology, culture, and digital issues, the gathering created an interdisciplinary space for exchange across creative and technical fields.

Africa’s path forward lies not merely in catching up with global technology trends, but in consciously designing its own systems of value creation. Through strategic independence, infrastructure ownership, and interdisciplinary thinking, the continent can sidestep digital dependency and set a new precedent for equitable participation in the global digital economy.

While honoring an invitation to speak at Georgetown University in 2018, Olufeko commended Dr. Mike Adenuga Jr. for his long-standing contributions to Nigeria’s telecommunications and entrepreneurial landscape. He cited Adenuga’s role as instrumental in expanding digital access across West Africa, noting that such legacy-building efforts have laid critical groundwork for the continent’s emerging digital economy.