According to a report commissioned by Google, Nigerian developers earned $13 million (N777/$; N10.1 billion) from the Android app economy in 2023. The report, titled “Nigeria’s Digital Opportunities,” conducted by global research firm Public First, also found that the Android developer ecosystem supports more than 24,500 jobs across the country.
This means that of the estimated $700 million earned by sub-Saharan African developers in 2023, Nigerian developers earned 1.86%. The region’s growing and youthful developer community ensures a rich developer pipeline of over 500,000 people. South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya each have more than 50,000 developers.
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Google believes its mobile ecosystem, including Android and the Google Play Store, is critical to supporting this growth and provides critical resources that enable domestic developers to distribute their apps and services. I emphasized.
Android is especially important in this country because most Nigerians access the internet through mobile devices running Android.
The tech giant pointed out that Android’s standard compatibility across different devices eliminates the need to develop multiple versions of apps, helping developers maximize their productivity. “Android is estimated to have saved Nigerian app developers more than 144,000 days, which equates to $2.4 million in reduced development costs.
“Google Play Store’s extensive global reach allows Nigerian developers to market their products to a vast market of 2.5 billion users worldwide. It has been downloaded over 100 million times.
Many of these developers are driving the success of some of the continent’s leading technology startups, including Flutterwave, Chipper, and Paystack. Google’s West Africa Director Olumide Balogun said this rich developer pipeline is essential to building a more successful business.
“Only about 500 developers have created Nigeria’s popular unicorns. Now imagine what we could achieve with more,” he said while launching the report.
Also read: Nigerian, other developers made $700 million in revenue from Android — Google
In addition to supporting developers, Google highlighted the broader economic benefits of investing in technology. The company noted that every $1 invested in technology in Nigeria generates more than $8 in economic returns.
It added that the company’s suite of services contributed an estimated $1.8 billion to the economic activity of businesses, non-profits, publishers, creators and developers in Nigeria in 2023. ”
