TECH & INNOVATION: There’s No Such Thing As ‘Township Tech’

Wesley Diphoko is the Editor-In-Chief of FastCompany (SA) magazine talks about A few years ago, a technology incubator in Cape Town decided to establish a version of itself in a township based on pressure to advance transformation in the technology sector and potential to access funding. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> This incubator became just another entrepreneurship programme and office space for all kinds of businesses and less about advancing technology in a township environment. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Lately, it has (together with other so called tech startup organisations), coined the term “township tech”, to potentially access funding targeted for tech projects designed to serve township communities. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> How do you even begin to term a part of tech as just tech for a certain sector of society? It is disrespectful to single out tech-solving township challenges as “township tech” as if it's different from solving the same issues for the country, continent and the world. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Here’s why such a term is problematic. <br /> <br /> Firstly, it limits the ability of a startup labelled as township tech to grow and access funding from investors. Which investor in his right mind will invest seriously in a startup that is labelled “township tech”? <br /> <br /> Whoever coined this may have done so with good intentions, but unfortunately the unintended consequences will not do justice to young people in townships solving real challenges in society. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> The truth of the matter is that there’s no such thing called township tech in the same way that there’s no “yuppie tech”. <br /> <br /> <br /> What we have are edu tech, health tech, fintech startups that are solving education, health and financial challenges in the township environment. <br /> <br /> A health or education challenge in a township may have minor differences with a similar challenge elsewhere, but it is still a health or education issue. To categorise health solu