We live in a space-enabled age.

NewSpace, or Space 2.0, is a new era of private commercialisation in the space industry based on declining costs of satellites and launchers. This drop in costs has lowered the barriers to entry and enabled innovation to flourish

Despite the economic and socioeconomic advances made on the African continent over the past decades, much work still remains to be done, and several societal challenges need to be overcome. While the economic and socio-economic returns of space-based applications have been well documented in space-faring nations[1][2][3], African nations still lag behind the rest of the world and have failed to leverage space assets effectively.

We see space as the best tool to address these issues, and believe that the African populace are capable of effectively using space services and technologies for the betterment of their communities.

Necessity is the mother of invention, and while Africa’s poor infrastructure has previously restricted its growth and development, it can now be a catalyst for innovation.  As evidenced by the mobile boom on the African continent, it is possible for new technologies to bridge the gap in infrastructure and bypass barriers facing entrepreneurs and local businesses.

Similarly, new technologies can also address inequalities in income and gender and be used to achieve more inclusive economies. This ability to bridge the gap has the secondary effect of allowing entrepreneurs in Africa to focus less on pursuing exit strategies in running their start-ups, but rather focusing on sustainable social and economic development of their local environments. Space-based technologies, such as remote sensing, satellite-based telecommunication and global navigation satellite systems are the new technological frontier capable of enabling African communities to push forward in leaps and bounds.