There was, however, more usage for foreign platforms compared to the local ones.

“Uber is the most widely used application in Africa with services in the Arab Republic of Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, and South Africa, among others. Foreign platforms are more likely to operate regionally than at the country level,” the World Bank wrote in its latest Africa’s Pulse report.

The digital platforms, according to the report, allow SMEs to supply goods and services by alleviating location constraints and cutting once-prohibitive marketing costs. The increased market efficiency arising from the digital revolution is expected to result in jobs for the rising youth population in Africa.

Countries like Nigeria and Angola remain fragile for being reliant on oil while South Africa’s policy uncertainty pushed it into recession which it emerged from in the third quarter of 2018. This fragility, according the World Bank, is costing sub-Saharan Africa over half a percentage point of growth per year. This adds up to 2.6 percentage points over five years.