By: Jesse Amamgbu

Digitalization in Africa has brought about a positive transformation and has the potential to improve millions of lives. This is largely due to the technology-driven innovations from various evolving industries that have contributed significantly to the educational, healthcare, and financial sectors. However, this digital revolution could be disrupted by certain infrastructural challenges ranging from power supply to cybersecurity threats.

This is why there must be a strong, adaptable tech ecosystem that’s capable of sustaining this digital growth by adopting modern engineering practices that can potentially facilitate efficiency, scalability, and security. This is where DevOps and cloud engineering come into the picture. They are seen as the next big tech revolution to look out for in Africa.

These technologies have the potential to enable operational resilience for African businesses and could lay the foundation for a more scalable and robust digital economy on the continent.

I believe that as cloud providers’ presence continues to grow in Africa, more organizations will likely embrace DevOps methodologies to streamline their operations.

The ecosystem of Africa’s technology shouldn’t continue to rely on outdated development and operational models, as this may limit its growth. DevOps integrates cultural practices, philosophies, and tools that can help African businesses deliver applications and services at high velocity to a wide range of users. DevOps plays a significant role in the elimination of bottlenecks that could slow down innovation, such as:

• Building security into every stage of development
• Improving system reliability
• Enabling faster software deployment.

In Africa, where there are tech infrastructure and connectivity problems, any tech startups that adopt DevOps will likely drive technological progress but will also be better equipped to scale, adapt, and provide innovative solutions. Nigerian fintech giant Flutterwave uses DevOps practices to automate security testing and deployment pipelines, enabling it to securely process millions of transactions daily across 30+ African countries despite intermittent connectivity, which helps ensure seamless payment solutions for SMEs and gig workers.

In simple terms, cloud computing or engineering has to do with the provision of computing resources such as databases, storage, servers, networking, and software on the internet. With this, users are allowed to access these resources without the need for physical infrastructure.

Interestingly, popular cloud providers are gradually investing heavily in African data centers such as AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud. Rwanda’s Zipline, a medical drone delivery startup, leverages Google Cloud’s infrastructure in South Africa to optimize flight routes and store real-time health data, enabling it to deliver blood and vaccines to millions of people in remote areas across Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria, showcasing how cloud engineering could help bridge infrastructure gaps. However, several organizations in Africa are still reluctant to embrace cloud computing due to concerns surrounding security and regulatory issues. But the truth is that for Africa to remain competitive globally in the tech world, businesses may need to let go of outdated systems and carefully consider embracing cloud engineering tech for viable digital growth.

Various challenges may still hinder DevOps and cloud engineering from being fully implemented in Africa. These include:

• Lack of skilled professionals and engineers
• Regulatory uncertainties
• Unstable infrastructure
• Poor internet connectivity

What you must understand is that they are simply challenges, but not roadblocks. Thankfully, some tech companies have recognized these obstacles and have started leveraging the benefits of these technologies. This is not the time for African tech companies to hesitate, but rather to explore the advantages of training programs, government incentives, and local data centers to be a part of the next big digital revolution in Africa. With a unified effort and strategic investment in modern technologies, Africa could be well-positioned to lead the next wave of global digital transformation.

About the Author

Jesse Amamgbu is a DevOps and Data Science specialist with over five years of experience solving complex technical challenges. At Dojah, he architects resilient cloud infrastructures while contributing to open-source projects. With expertise spanning Kubernetes, machine learning pipelines, and scalable solutions, Jesse bridges the gap between infrastructure and analytics to deliver real business value.

For more information, check out their LinkedIn profile.