For centuries, when technology penetrates into societies, the outcomes have been predictable: From the steam engine to information and communication technology (ICT), technological advances have increased productivity, changed commerce, and improved living standards. But across human history, none has crossed geographical boundaries as effectively as ICT.

ICT has created unprecedented linkages between public and private institutions, governments, citizens and corporations. It has changed nearly all aspects of modern society, and seen a redesign of traditional structures, leading to developments such as eGovernment and digital education.

But ICT cannot exist in isolation. It is not synonymous with technology, and African governments that consider their ICT policy a technology policy should think again. While ICT is vital for development, it is not a substitute for technology advancement in a broader sense.

Problems like the lack of clean water or lighting cannot be solved by ICT. For all the farm mobile apps, Africa still needs seeds for agriculture. Policymakers are wrong to focus almost exclusively on ICT and neglect long-standing development needs.

ICT is a Consumptive Technology

ICT is a consumptive technology that requires other, more traditional technologies to function and flourish. For example, it cannot progress without advances in microelectronics, which supply microprocessor pipelines that help improve the performance of computing devices.

ICT is unique in being an enabler or enhancer, improving the speed and efficiency of operations. It does this so well that it overshadows the operations it is expected to facilitate — mobile apps or SMS systems that power eHealth in African villages, for example, taking attention away from medical practice. Besides, ICT is the platform for promoting its own benefits.

Some African countries have created federal ministries solely for ICT. Kenya and Nigeria, for example, now have ICT-focused ministries as well as commissions and agencies. The lens of technology is now seen from ICT

And from Kenya to Ghana, the governments of many African nations have redesigned school curricula to position ICT as the gateway to a tech career — a trend not likely to change any time soon.

There is nothing wrong with teaching ICT. The problem is that no other emerging technology — alternative energy, biotechnology, or nanotechnology — has received the same attention. This risks introducing school children to a ‘narrow’ view of technology at the expense of the technological diversity nations need for economic growth.

For a continent with inadequate electricity and clean water, where transportation networks are often poor and agricultural productivity faces many challenges, governments need to nurture talent in more areas than ICT.

Unlocking the Value

Africa’s progress for sustainable development depends on countries’ capacity to benefit from scientific advancements through policies that set out a broadly based technology roadmap.

The continent needs to modernise its technical education to encourage highly competent, independent thinkers. This will help not just in making ICT a creative industry (African countries are mainly distributors of existing technologies), but also in providing the skills necessary to develop other technology sectors.

To jumpstart other sectors, funding for startup companies will be crucial. ICT has penetrated the market because the seed funds needed to start ICT firms are relatively smaller than those required in other sectors like energy, water and electronics.

An investment exit strategy, such as vibrant stock markets, will also be important: without a path that shows how investors will recoup investments, capital-intensive areas like biotechnology, nanotechnology and alternative energy will have poor chances of taking off.

The continent also needs to modernise its legal system so that intellectual property rights (IPRs) are better enforced. In any knowledge economy, the competitive weapon is the idea — and when that cannot be protected, advancement stalls. Africa’s pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors will not develop without a strong IPRs system.

Africa has untapped potential in its global diasporas, which could help introduce new ideas. Diaspora communities should be encouraged to establish firms back in their homelands to support enterprises across industrial sectors.

Basic infrastructure and services such as electricity and water will be vital to the success of these efforts. Without a working refrigerator, a biotechnology specimen will be lost; and power failure during microfabrication will damage silicon wafers.

If Africa provides the right environment with the right policies, more opportunities will open up in areas other than ICT, helping to diversify the technology ecosystem.

We need to have a strategy that makes it clear that ICT is neither synonymous nor substitute for technology. In the scheme of technology, ICT is vital, but it can only work if other technologies are supporting it.

More than 2,500 years ago, Heraclitus, the Greek philosopher, postulated the timeless words: “Change is the only constant in life”. In business, change is what we deal with daily. We experience change and live change. Change brings disruption, dislocation and glory.

I know of only one insurance policy against the irrelevance change can bring in markets. The policy is Innovation. With innovation, you overcome commoditization and possibly outgrow your industry. Innovation unlocks new elements in firms, delivering better processes which drive productivity gains, at both public and private institutions.

Innovation hates bureaucratic institutions with their conformance working management systems.  Lacking organic renewal, those institutions with their systemic failures die, over time.

How do you build a firm?

Think of what happens in bureaucratic institutions. In those firms, one person makes most of the decisions. Ideas emerge from different quarters but they have to be ratified by one person who is the judge, the jury and the executioner. If he does not like the idea, nothing happens. Then contrast with how it happens in places like London, Silicon Valley and Paris. There, the idea could have many routes to funding and then products emerge. In that case, many people –thousands- would be making decisions on the ideas.

Management is nothing but “managing” things. The foundation of management is designed to give order in the industrial age economies where the management systems advanced. Bosses manage – they bring order, discipline, focus, efficiency, alignment and control. Interestingly, most management systems were not designed to help people to create, adapt and innovate.

Your challenge in leadership is to find a way to take out “management” (yes, the bureaucracy) which exists in your firm while retaining the great benefits of management which include coordination, order and control. I want you to unbundle the thinking where only you can be the jury, the judge and the executioner.

That was what killed Kodak which invented digital photography but failed to adapt. The management did what was supposed to be done [controlled resources to create digital photography], but it needed another layer to make the leap. That layer is unlocking the mindset out of products and services in order to critically understand the elements of the markets. Those elements are the frictions which the firm exists to fix.

The liturgy of management may put you into the loop of products and services but that layer would give you the higher call. Kodak thought the business was making film photography. Unfortunately, Facebook helped it to understand that the business was really about sharing moments and memories.

Build a business where your staff members are like the Silicon Valley entrepreneurs who have different paths to make ideas become products. They become innovators within the firm, helping you make great things. I call it the Loop Management System where everything revolves around all talents, irrespective of the levels of the positions. It is like a loop where every part matters. In that ecosystem, the jury, the judge and the executioner are now structured to be the team, and not just the boss.