There’s no shortage of ways to frame what technology is. For some, it’s entertainment or more bluntly, a distraction that helps pass the time. For others, it’s a creative playground, a simulation lab, or a blank canvas you can shape however you like. It’s an unavoidable part of our lives either way. But eventually, you start to see a different side of it. You realize that once something you build becomes part of someone else’s daily routine, it stops being just a tool or a novelty. It carries weight that you must shoulder. It creates habits, expectations, and dependencies you didn’t always anticipate. That’s the part I keep coming back to: the quiet obligation to treat what you’re building with more care, because someone, somewhere, will rely on it to work exactly the way you promised.

Technology needs a purposeful, ethically based core. An underlying demographic you cater to and reorient your development toward. In that same breath, purpose-driven technology isn’t just about solving a problem. It’s about doing it in a way that respects the people you’re hoping to help and avoids creating new issues in the process. The stakes are higher because the consequences are real.

The Role of Permission in African Tech

One of the most consistent dynamics I’ve observed in African technology ecosystems, and in emerging markets more broadly, is the subtle expectation that innovation must be preceded by some kind of formal authorization. You see it in funding conversations, where founders feel they need an international grant or a Western accelerator’s blessing before moving forward. You see it in product development, where teams hesitate to test ideas without first securing buy-in from institutions or experts. And you see it in the way local innovators sometimes question whether they have the right to solve big problems at all.

The reality, I’ve come to find, is more straightforward and far less glamorous: progress and permission are rarely linked. Infrastructure gaps, education challenges, and uneven connectivity won’t wait around for a perfect consensus. If you care about improving them, you can.

This is a theme that shows up over and over in purpose-driven work. The willingness to begin without consensus. It doesn’t mean dismissing experience or disregarding investment. It means accepting that you probably won’t get a unanimous green light to proceed. You can still choose to proceed carefully, with humility and respect for the communities you serve.

I’ve seen this dynamic firsthand in my own small efforts, like when I started YegnaNet. But it extends far beyond any one project. Many of the most impactful initiatives in African tech have been built by people who decided to work with what they had rather than wait indefinitely for perfect circumstances. Whether it’s a digital literacy tool, a connectivity platform, or a simple app to make daily life easier, the same principle applies. If you wait for permission, you will almost always wait too long.

Dream Big, Ship Small

If there’s anything I’ve learned, it’s this. Purpose-driven tech requires dual vision. One eye on the mission. One eye on reality. You have to learn to toggle between them without losing heart or drifting into denial. To creators and innovators alike, your first product will almost always feel limited compared to the idyllic images your mind may present you. Ship it anyway. If it garners even the least bit of attention, lean into that audience and adapt. There is no other path forward. When you operate in the paradigm of purpose, this approach is not optional. It is the baseline. It is the standard for anyone building solutions in an environment where resources, time, and infrastructure are constrained.

Pessimistic in Thought, Optimistic in Action

When I speak to people about their thoughts on an African tech hub, there is a recurring concern that technology needs to be simple and thoughtful. A companion rather than a new order. The theme of preserving culture without creating dependency is prevalent among young Africans who want progress without erasure. This is not an abstract principle, rather It actually has concrete implications. When you build something, you have to ask whether you’re introducing unnecessary complexity, whether you’re solving the right problem, and whether you’re prepared to support people who don’t adapt to your solution at the same pace. Frankly that’s the only way what we do will matter. It will only amount to anything if we are stubborn about our purpose and increasingly flexible in our methods. More often than not, your approach will have to evolve or pivot entirely. That doesn’t mean the mission was wrong. It means you’ve learned something useful.

Innovation is Slow by Design. Impact is Even Slower.

Keeping things simple is not a concession. It is a discipline. Not everything needs to be sleek or modern. Often, what people value most is something familiar enough to trust and clear enough to use without friction. It is easy to underestimate how long it takes for a good idea to prove itself. In reality, the timeline is almost always longer than you expect. The first version will look limited. The feedback loops will be slow. The incentives to quit will show up at every stage. Yet there is also a moment when simplicity alone is no longer enough. There comes a time when you have to step past what is comfortable and put your work into the world before you feel completely ready. That’s the paradox: progress requires you to keep things grounded and clear, but also to take calculated risks when the path forward is uncertain.

“Hauwezi kuvuka ziwa hadi uwe na ujasiri wa kutouona urefu wa pwani.”

You can never cross the ocean until you dare to lose sight of the shore.

This Swahili proverb captures exactly what this work requires. Counter-balancing the discipline of simple solutions with the willingness to leave familiar ground. You cannot measure success by how safe it feels to stay where you are. For me, purpose-driven tech isn’t a niche interest or a branding exercise. It is the only kind of technology that is worth building. Not because it is automatically inspiring or transformative, but because it starts with the discipline to solve real problems without inflating expectations or undermining trust. If there is any consistent thread in all of this, to my fellow Africans across the continent and beyond, it is that progress belongs to the builders who can stay skeptical enough to question their assumptions and still choose to act. The work begins the moment you commit to moving forward, even when you can no longer see the shore behind you.