DRONELIFE Exclusive Op-Ed: Unlocking Africa’s Skies – Why Drones Need More Than Innovation to Bridge the Infrastructure Gap

DRONELIFE is honored to feature this op-ed from Oivier Defawe, Director at VillageReach, an organization pioneering the integration of drones into public health.  DRONELIFE neither makes nor accepts payment for guest posts.  

All images credit Henry Sampangi Sanyulye, used with permission.

Unlocking Africa’s Skies: Bridging the Infrastructure Gap with Drones

By Olivier Defawe

Africa’s infrastructure faces a $90 billion annual funding gap, hindering access to essential products and services. Bold, innovative ideas are needed to drive development and transform communities.

Drone technology unlocks innovative opportunities. A drone can fly where roads do not go, and evidence has shown its effectiveness in getting products to people reliably and efficiently compared to traditional ground transport. Drone networks bring vital products for health care,  agriculture, environmental monitoring and disaster response to hard-to-reach communities.

But an innovation alone cannot generate value. To date, most drone investments are for the innovation itself, not the enabling innovation ecosystem required to scale and sustain operations. This way of thinking must shift to realize the full value of drones.

An Innovation Without an Ecosystem

African countries have been early adopters of drone technology, particularly in health care logistics. Rwanda and Ghana’s success with Zipline drone delivery programs demonstrate how drones can improve health care outcomes by reducing the delivery time of critical health products. Similarly, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has used drones to transport laboratory samples more quickly respond to disease outbreaks like polio.

However, despite initial successes most drone programs in Africa remain fragmented donor-funded pilot projects that only adopt the innovation without investing in the necessary supportive innovation ecosystem. In the article, “Rethinking Africa’s Infrastructure Gap: Innovation Ecosystems as the Key to Sustainable Growth,” Efosa Ojomo and Mara Hansen Staples highlight that only through investing in both infrastructure and innovation ecosystems can real infrastructure challenges be addressed. For example, they note that over 100 years ago, entrepreneurs like Henry Ford or Eli Olds built automobiles to address mobility issues in the US. But an automobile alone does not generate economic and social value, which is why Ford and Olds did not just invest in innovation (the car) but also the broader ecosystem to support automobiles (i.e., roads, mechanics, gas stations).

The same is true for drones. We must build a drone ecosystem by bringing together drone manufacturers, operators, finance institutions, government agencies, private sector, communities, training institutions and researchers (in material sciences, navigation and sensor systems, etc.) and work toward:

1. Promoting Agile Regulations: Numerous efforts are being made by regional regulatory bodies, such as the African Civil Aviation Authorities, the African Union, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and development agencies like the World Bank, to shape a cohesive regulatory environment for drone operations. Nonetheless, more work is needed for flexible and harmonized regulations across countries and sectors. For example, Rwanda has adopted performance-based regulations for drones, with support from the World Economic Forum.
2. Shaping Market Dynamics: We must expand drone use cases within and across sectors—such as agriculture, logistics and mining—creating economies of scale and reducing the per-unit cost of drone services. This will help create a competitive environment to improve drone technology through natural cost optimization, whereby spending on research and development goes up while spending on operations and maintenance goes down.
3. Driving Innovative Financing and Market Risk-Sharing Strategies: Development finance institutions (DFIs) are uniquely positioned to drive the development of robust drone ecosystems. They can:

• provide the targeted financial tools and risk-sharing mechanisms reducing barriers to market entry;
• offer financing options such as co-financing, concessional loans or grants to reduce financial risks for investors and/or help drone companies cover high upfront costs for ground infrastructure and technology (i.e., drone ports, software platforms);
• provide volume guarantees ensuring a predictable income stream for drone operators;
• leverage pooled procurement to drive down maintenance costs; and
• enable Drone-as-a-Service (DaaS) models by providing financing to drone operators to offer subscription-based services, making drone transportaffordable for operators and their customers.

4. Building Local Capacity: Thriving innovation ecosystems require strong partnerships between government and the private sector that target capacity-building efforts, such as start-up incubators and training programs that equip people with the tools to advance the ecosystem. Two examples of this are the African Drone and Data Academy in Malawi and The Drone Academy in DRC).

Creating Lasting Value

Through donor and private sector investment African nations can elevate drone technology from an innovation to something that creates lasting economic and social value. On the economic side, by investing in local training programs, new job opportunities can slow the rural exodus of young entrepreneurs. Additionally, with improved drone infrastructure public and private sector companies, local and global, can reach new markets. On the social side, investing in a drone ecosystem means increasing access to critical products such as medicines and vaccines or products that farmers and small business owners need for successful operations.

Africa’s skies are open – now it’s time to come together and invest in drone ecosystems  to address Africa’s infrastructure challenges.

 About the Author

Dr. Olivier Defawe is a global health innovator specializing in private-sector engagement and transformative healthcare solutions for low- and middle-income countries. As a Director at VillageReach, he leads strategic partnerships and pioneered the integration of drone technology into public health, founding the Drones for Health program over a decade ago. His work has enabled successful drone operations in multiple African countries and now extends to market shaping and policy guidance for the drone industry. Dr. Defawe also founded the UAV for Payload Delivery Working Group, fostering global collaboration on drone use in healthcare. He holds a Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Liège, Belgium.

About VillageReach

VillageReach transforms health care delivery to reach everyone. We are driven by a vision of a world where each person has the health care needed to thrive. VillageReach works with governments, the private sector, partners and communities to build responsive primary health care systems that deliver health products and services to the most under-reached. As a locally driven and globally connected organization working across Africa, VillageReach’s primary goal is to reduce inequities in access to quality primary health care for 350 million people by 2030.

Read more:

• VillageReach: Drones are a Hero in Yellow Fever Immunization Campaign
• Wingcopter Drone Delivery in Africa: Lab Samples, Medical Supplies
• Zipline in Kenya: Expanding Medical Drone Delivery Across Africa
• Swoop Aero in Namibia: Africa Continues to Lead the Way in Medical Drone Delivery