Usually, the articles that we see on Setit and other news websites are more about the politics concerning Eritrea, as well as the Horn. Articles are written about the boiling point of diaspora Eritreans fueled by a lack of dialogue, as well as why change needs to happen in Eritrea. It sometimes feels like insanity to talk about the things we know over and over again. An article that has already been written about our plight has brought no substance. Perhaps I could offer a change, and that is envisioning Eritrea as the future hub for technology (of course, when change does occur). I hope this article can also inspire others to share their dreams of what Eritrea can be when there’s better leadership in the future.
While Eritrea is blessed to not be landlocked and to have a port, we are also blessed to have a skilled workforce that resides in the diaspora. Many Eritreans that I have personally interacted with are working in technology, employed by Fortune 500 companies such as Capital One, Amazon, Microsoft, and so on. These people range from software developers and DevOps engineers to system administrators, among other roles. The aforementioned roles are critical to ensuring the well-being and stability of systems. Without software developers, there would be no new software or security and software patches. Without system administrators, servers would not be properly maintained and would go down, bringing the whole system offline. Without DevOps engineers, there would be poor collaboration between teams to create the most reliable system for the company. Thus, without them, we would be in the dark—especially considering how everything we do has moved to the cloud. From banking to going to the library to making purchases, everything is done digitally in the 21st century. Relying on paper and pen is incredibly outdated in the age of technology.
There are many Eritreans in the diaspora who work in technology, and it has always made me wonder if Eritrea could become the hub for technology in Africa in a future where there is finally a structured government and perhaps a more economically liberalized system in place. One idea that I have in mind is that Eritrea could very well be a place where data centers are hosted, as well as a provider of internet connectivity to neighboring African countries—on the condition that Eritrea has stable electricity and is interlinked with underwater fiber optic cables. By hosting data centers that offer virtual private servers (VPS) for companies engaged in e-commerce or other digital services, Eritrea could experience economic growth and job creation. The establishment of just a single data center in Eritrea could encourage the development of a local IT industry and create high-skilled jobs in IT, networking, and maintenance. If the government were properly reformed and rectified any negative policies that deter foreign direct investment, it could encourage the once-discouraged Eritreans to return and invest in the country.
Before Eritrea considers building a data center for commercial use, it must obviously have reliable internet. Fortunately, we are blessed with ports in both Massawa and Assab, where a fiber landing port could be installed to interlink the country via underwater fiber optic cables. This would not only reduce the network congestion that the country currently faces but also increase bandwidth and internet speed. Another consideration is that Eritrea could help Africa by hosting CDN services, which may alleviate some of the network congestion issues on the continent.
For those who aren’t technologically savvy, you may wonder, “What is a CDN?” In short, a CDN (Content Delivery Network) is a system of distributed servers designed to deliver content to end users (which is us) efficiently while reducing load times. Instead of retrieving data directly from the main server, a CDN caches and serves content from the server geographically closest to the user’s location. For example, if you were to stream a movie from Netflix, the content is delivered from a nearby CDN server rather than Netflix’s main servers, thus improving speed and reducing buffering time. Implementing CDNs in Eritrea—and hopefully across Africa when other nations stabilize and eventually follow suit—could not only offer economic benefits but also address one of the continent’s major challenges: slow and unreliable internet access.
Conclusion
Needless to say, before a venture like this can be feasible in Eritrea, the country must have a sound macroeconomic policy, as well as proper institutions in place to give foreign and local investors confidence in doing business there. Additionally, robust infrastructure such as water and electricity is a necessity. These foundational elements must take precedence over any ideas for Eritrea’s growth and development; otherwise, such ideas would quickly crumble due to being unimplementable, unfeasible, or too risky given the current situation. However, this article serves as a symbol that technology is the backbone of any modern economy. Without a robust ICT infrastructure, Eritrea cannot have an economy that is competitive in the global market. Hopefully, within our lifetime, we will witness the rapid industrialization of Eritrea that will propel it into the modern world.
Thank you,
