Strategic African alliances: success drivers in platform economies

Abstract

High expectations exist for Africa’s ability to harness the digital wave, while simultaneously making vast developmental strides forward as a result. This qualitative study establishes the key drivers of success in understudied African platform economies and ascertains the developmental contribution of these platform economies to the continent. Findings from engaging twelve established and emerging African platforms with a total operational coverage in twenty African countries reveal the following: African platform definition of success is shifting gradually towards a shared prosperity model. The underlying African business environment in which platforms exist is largely inhibitive due to infrastructural and regulatory inadequacies, hence the key success drivers for platforms lie in the contextual capabilities of the platform. African platforms are internally motivated to contribute to continental development, typically as a business imperative, and are not uninfluenced by external developmental agendas such as the UN SDGs. African platform contribution to sustainable development is limited, by topic and by continental impact, and will meet high developmental expectations in the current inhibitive business environment. While a few platforms are strategically committed to developmental outcomes, the developmental impact of African platforms is, overall, inadequately monitored