This archive report was first published on 6 June 2020.
June 6, 2020, marked the 31st anniversary of the internet's global launch, but its impact on Africa was felt much later. It was only in the early 2000s that the continent began to seriously explore the potential of the internet to drive business growth.
One of the earliest adopters of the internet in Africa was a Zanzibari woman who, in 1998 or 1999, was approached by the British Council to explore the possibility of using the internet to expand her handicraft business.
At the time, the woman, whose name is not known, was a leading maker of handicrafts for tourists. She had a small but successful business, selling the same quantities of handicrafts every year to tourists who visited the island.
However, with the help of the British Council, she was able to tap into the internet's potential and transform her business. She was told how to get a computer, a dial-up modem, and access the internet, and how to use this information to tailor her products to the preferences of tourists from different countries.
For example, if British tourists were in the mood for short-brimmed hats with yellow bands, she would make straw hats with short brims to sell to them when they came to Zanzibar. If German tourists preferred bigger-brimmed hats with purple bands, she would make a few of those too.
Her business exploded, and she became one of the first small businesswomen to use a computer and the internet on the island. Today, we would likely ask for her Facebook and Pinterest pages, but at the time, her name was not important - she was simply a pioneering digital entrepreneur from Zanzibar.
Charles Onyango-Obbo is a journalist, writer, and curator of the 'Wall of Great Africans'.
