The consultant class cashing in on Africa's digitisation push

Governments across Africa are spending billions on digitisation. The question is who captures the value — and what actually gets delivered.

The contract pipeline

We analyzed 34 major digitisation contracts awarded in 2025 across Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria. The pattern: a small cluster of firms win the large contracts; local startups win the small ones.

"The big firms bring the brand. The small firms bring the code. The margin goes to the brand."

What gets delivered

The gap between contract signing and working software is where value leaks. We found that 60% of projects were delivered late, 40% over budget, and 25% required significant rework after launch.

The consultants are not the story. The delivery gap is.