But in March, not long after its valuation was slashed from $510 million to $260 million, the company pulled the plug on its Zanzibar campus as it merged with Egyptian company MaxAB. Wasoko consolidated its tech outfit in Egypt to “optimize on the resources between the two companies,” Yu said in an email. And though the company told Fast Company via email that it was still “fully dedicated to establishing Zanzibar as the leading destination for Africa’s tech talent to thrive” as a private-sector ambassador, though a big part of its role was an exemplar of what Silicon Zanzibar could be.
But even without Wasoko in Zanzibar, the island’s potential as a haven for tech companies remains. For one, it’s part of one of Africa’s fastest-growing economies. By 2028, the IMF projects Tanzania’s GDP to reach $136 billion from the current $85.9 billion. The key will be diversifying beyond its thriving agricultural and fishing sectors, and adding industries that are less unpredictable than the country’s tourism market. Though it’s driven by the roughly 50,000 climbers who attempt to summit Mount Kilimanjaro every year, the pandemic highlighted its unpredictability. As smaller companies move into Zanzibar, educational institutions are also moving in, setting up a pipeline of educated workers to companies that relocate there.
In November 2023, the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras), known as a top-tier technological institution in India, established its first international campus in Zanzibar. The 200-acre campus marks a significant development that bolsters Zanzibar’s role as a burgeoning tech education landscape. Another feather in Zanzibar’s tech education cap is the expansion of African School of Economics (ASE) to Zanzibar, marking the university’s first location in East Africa where it will deliver degree programs focused on STEM and social science.
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