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Africa’s next generation of major technology companies may not necessarily come from newly formed startups. Some could emerge from sophisticated technology platforms and intellectual property already developed inside the continent’s largest banks, telecommunications companies, healthcare organisations, universities and public institutions.
That is the central argument in an analysis by Olayinka Oni, Group Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer of Sterling Financial Holdings Company Plc, who argues that Africa’s established institutions may be sitting on technology capabilities with significant commercial potential.
Beyond the Startup Narrative
Africa’s technology story has largely centred on startups, venture capital and emerging founders. However, large institutions have quietly spent years developing digital systems capable of serving millions of customers and solving complex operational challenges.
Banks, for instance, have built payment infrastructure and digital banking platforms, while telecom operators have developed large-scale connectivity systems. Similar technological capabilities are emerging in sectors such as healthcare, energy, education and government.
The question, according to Oni, is whether some of these internal projects have already developed into technologies capable of becoming standalone businesses.
Building Technology Is Only the First Step
The analysis draws a distinction between developing technology and creating a technology company.
Cloud computing, open-source software, artificial intelligence and the growing availability of technical talent have made it easier for organisations to build sophisticated systems.
But transforming a successful internal system into a commercial technology business requires a different set of capabilities, including identifying markets, developing sustainable economics, establishing distribution channels and creating appropriate governance structures.
This difference can leave large organisations with valuable technology assets that remain locked inside their internal technology departments.
When Internal Technology Becomes Commercially Valuable
Many enterprise technologies begin with a straightforward objective: solve a problem within the organisation.
A bank, for example, may develop a platform to modernise legacy infrastructure, reduce reliance on external vendors, improve customer experience or lower transaction costs.
As the technology matures, however, it may begin addressing challenges faced by other organisations.
At that point, the strategic question changes from whether the technology works internally to whether it can create value for a wider industry.
The challenge is that the governance structure often does not evolve at the same pace.
A technology platform may have become reliable, gained years of institutional expertise and developed features with wider market relevance, while still being managed as an internal IT project whose budget competes with unrelated technology priorities.
Five Stages of Enterprise Innovation
Oni proposes a five-stage framework for understanding how internal technology can evolve into broader commercial opportunities:
Solve: An organisation identifies a genuine internal problem and develops a solution.
Build: Continued use turns the solution into a reliable and differentiated capability.
Escape: The technology demonstrates usefulness beyond the organisation that created it.
Reconfigure: Management changes governance, investment, partnerships or operating structures to enable expansion.
Amplify: The technology begins generating value across multiple organisations, industries or potentially national systems.
The critical challenge, according to the analysis, is recognising when an internal capability has reached the point where its governance needs to change.
Not Every Technology Needs to Become a Startup
The proposed approach does not suggest that every successful internal platform should be spun out into an independent company.
Some technologies may be better retained internally. Others could be licensed to third parties, commercialised through partnerships, developed as shared industry platforms or established as separate businesses.
The important consideration is that leadership should deliberately choose the structure capable of unlocking the technology’s full potential rather than allowing it to remain an internal asset by default.
A New Question for African Boards
The argument also challenges how boards traditionally assess technology investment.
Technology spending is commonly viewed through areas such as operational efficiency, cybersecurity, compliance, resilience and digital transformation.
Oni believes boards should increasingly ask whether their organisations have developed technology capabilities that constitute strategic intellectual property.
They should also consider whether those capabilities solve problems beyond the organisation, whether they could generate value across an industry and whether existing governance arrangements are helping or limiting their potential.
Africa’s Existing Institutions Could Be a Hidden Innovation Pipeline
African institutions have spent decades developing solutions around difficult operating conditions, fragmented markets, infrastructure limitations and complex distribution challenges.
As a result, some organisations have developed payment systems, digital channels, identity solutions and financial platforms capable of operating at considerable scale.
Yet many of these technologies remain relatively unknown outside their parent organisations because they were never built with external commercialisation in mind.
The analysis suggests this could represent an overlooked source of future technology businesses across the continent.
The Bigger Picture
Africa will continue to need startups, entrepreneurs and venture capital to drive technological innovation. But the continent’s next technology giants may not all begin life as startups.
Some may already exist as internal platforms, intellectual property and technology capabilities within established institutions.
The opportunity for African businesses, therefore, may increasingly lie not only in building new technologies but also in recognising when an existing internal capability has matured enough to serve a much larger market.
Oni is the author of Built Inside: Why Great Enterprises Build Great Technologies But Rarely Build Great Technology Companies, which explores this institutional innovation challenge and the potential for established African organisations to turn internal technology assets into wider ecosystem value.
