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The developing world represents the best chance of growth for large internet companies, and today one of the very biggest set out its strategy for how it plans to tackle that.

Google said that it would be investing $1 billion to support “digital transformation” across Africa. This will include landing a subsea cable into the continent to enable faster internet speeds, low-interest loans for small businesses, equity investments into African startups, skills training and more.

The plans were unveiled today at an event led by Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai — putting the most senior executive at the company at the top of the event being a mark of the priority that the company is placing on the bet it’s making here.

“We’ve made huge strides together over the past decade — but there’s more work to do to make the internet accessible, affordable and useful for every African. Today I’m excited to reaffirm our commitment to the continent through an investment of $1 billion over five years to support Africa’s digital transformation, to cover a range of initiatives from improved connectivity to investment in startups,” said Pichai.

Google said it will inject the investment in projects to be implemented in countries across the continent, including Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda and Ghana.

The subsea cable will cut across South Africa, Namibia, Nigeria and St Helena, connecting Africa and Europe. It will provide approximately 20 times more network capacity than the last cable built to serve Africa, said the managing director for Google in Africa, Nitin Gajria.

“This will lead to a 21% reduction in internet prices and increase internet speed in Nigeria and almost triple in South Africa,” said Gajria.

The company said it will additionally disburse $10 million in low-interest loans to small businesses in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and South Africa, to alleviate hardships brought about by the COVID pandemic. This will be done in partnership with Kiva, a San-Francisco based nonprofit lending organization. It pledged $40 million to nonprofits improving lives in Africa.

“I am so inspired by the innovative African tech startup scene. In the last year we have seen more investment rounds into tech startups than ever before. I am of the firm belief that no one is better placed to solve Africa’s biggest problems than Africa’s young developers and startup founders. We look forward to deepening our partnership with, and support for, Africa’s innovators and entrepreneurs,” said Gajria.

Key Points

• Google is shuttering its bank account product nearly two years after announcing ambitious plans to take on the retail finance industry.
• One key factor: The new head of the business, Bill Ready, decided that he’d rather develop a digital banking and payments ecosystem instead of competing with banks, according to a person with knowledge of the decision.
• Google may have ultimately decided it wasn’t worth antagonizing current and prospective customers for its various businesses, including cloud computing, according to a Friday research note from Wells Fargo banking analyst Mike Mayo.

At least one tech giant has decided it’s better to serve banks rather than taking them head on.

Google is shuttering its bank account product nearly two years after announcing ambitious plans to take on the retail finance industry. One key factor: The new head of the business, Bill Ready, decided that he’d rather develop a digital banking and payments ecosystem instead of competing with banks, according to a person with knowledge of the decision.

For the past few years, bank executives and investors have shuddered whenever a tech giant disclosed plans to break into finance. With good reason: Tech giants have access to hundreds of millions of users and their data and a track record for transforming industries like media and advertising.

At least one tech giant has decided it’s better to serve banks rather than taking them head on.

Google is shuttering its bank account product nearly two years after announcing ambitious plans to take on the retail finance industry. One key factor: The new head of the business, Bill Ready, decided that he’d rather develop a digital banking and payments ecosystem instead of competing with banks, according to a person with knowledge of the decision.

For the past few years, bank executives and investors have shuddered whenever a tech giant disclosed plans to break into finance. With good reason: Tech giants have access to hundreds of millions of users and their data and a track record for transforming industries like media and advertising.

While much of the world is looking at how it can use more green energy and cut C02 emissions ahead of the COP26 climate summit, across Africa the challenge is somewhat different.

For many across the continent, it’s the challenge of accessing any energy supply at all. Some 600 million people in Africa don’t have access to energy – limiting their ability to start and run businesses.

Even in the mega-cities of South Africa and Nigeria, businesses have to deal with rolling power blackouts. So governments, entrepreneurs and innovators are working to fix this.

In Ghana, the country’s Ministry of Power says more than 80% of the population has access to electricity on the national grid. But reaching those in remote communities has been a challenge.

So the country is using microgrids – independent energy systems serving specific areas – to provide low-cost, clean energy, powered by solar and wind power to isolated communities.

In Pediatokope, an island community on the Volta river in Ghana, shopkeeper Eric Pupulampu is delighted. His business has been helped because he is now able to stock and sell cold drinks and perishables – thanks to a microgrid project that gives him the power to keep his freezer going.

Urban challenges

But the challenge is not just rural, as major cities have power problems too.

Approximately 15 million people live in Lagos in Nigeria, making it one of Africa’s busiest cities, but the energy supply in the city is neither stable nor secure.

This unreliability means that the majority of those with access to grid electricity still have to use alternative power sources – mainly petrol and diesel generators.

And according to the Energy Commission of Nigeria, Nigerians spend $22bn (£16bn) a year paying for generators to power their offices and homes. Not surprisingly, companies are looking for solutions that will offer stable power that is also greener.

Many see the gas sector as being kinder to the environment than oil, and therefore a viable proposition alongside renewable energy. Gas-fired plants already account for about 80% of Nigeria’s electricity capacity.

According to some experts, natural gas plants are more than twice as reliable as solar plants and produce four times more energy per acre of land.

“People see gas as a halfway house between fossil fuels like oil, and renewable energy,” says Rolake Akinkugbe-Filani, a member of the Africa Energy Chamber’s Advisory Board.

“Gas has a lower carbon footprint than oil. Nigeria is the country with the largest gas reserves in Africa and the ninth largest in the world, so it makes sense to make use of these resources.

“But gas requires infrastructure for processing and distribution, and somebody has to invest in that, with long-term financing.”

Energy investments

Over the last decade, Olusola Lawson has been responsible for investing more than half a billion dollars in power and infrastructure projects around the continent for the firm African Infrastructure Investment Managers.

His company has made investments in both the gas and solar sectors, and he is clear about the outlook for Africa’s energy future. “By 2050 about half of the new energy installed across Africa is going to be renewable energy.”

In a discussion about Berkshire Hathaway’s future during the company’s annual meeting Saturday, Charlie Munger said, “Greg will keep the culture.”

As I noted in Saturday’s newsletter, that sounded like an unintentional signal that Greg Abel, the vice chairman in charge of everything except the insurance operations and investments, had been designated to be the next CEO of Berkshire when Buffett eventually leaves the post.

This morning on “Squawk Box,” CNBC’s Becky Quick broke the news that “the impression was an accurate one.“

Buffett tells Becky, “The directors are in agreement that if something were to happen to me tonight, it would be Greg who’d take over tomorrow morning.”

And, “If, heaven forbid, anything happened to Greg tonight, then it would be (Berkshire’s insurance chief, Vice Chairman) Ajit (Jain).”

Abel is 59 and Jain is 69. Buffett said that was a factor in the board’s thinking.

“They’re both wonderful guys. The likelihood of someone having a 20-year runway though makes a real difference.”

t’s not an enormous surprise, since Abel is already responsible for so much of the company’s operations.

Buffett says “we’ve always at Berkshire had basically a unanimous agreement as to who should take over the next day. The world’s paying more attention now.”

The already high price of internet access got even more expensive for Africans over the past year.

With internet users on the continent already paying the highest prices for mobile data relative to average monthly income, new data from the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) shows the average price of a gigabyte (GB) of data (relative to income) has increased over the past year in Africa while dropping or staying same in other regions.

It’s the first reversal in price trends seen since A4AI began measuring prices four years ago. A4AI’s latest report measures prices in 100 countries, up from 60 in the last report, and includes price points for several data packages.

As Quartz Africa has previously reported, the high cost of internet access—sometimes as expensive as $35 per gigabyte—puts affordable internet out of the reach of many Africans. Compounding the problem of high cost of access, internet speeds across Africa are also still far below the global minimum standard. In many ways, the progress already made around innovation based on access to internet on the continent, including financial inclusion and payments, serve as evidence of what’s possible if there were fewer barriers to access. For instance, studies show small businesses that use the internet grow twice as fast as those that do not.