The African Gen Y Population Is Driving New Social and Lifestyle Trends

The gross domestic product of the top 10 nations in Africa accounts for around 78% of the continent’s total GDP. In the top 10 are countries such as Nigeria, Ghana, and South Africa. By 2025, Africa’s Gen Y population is predicted to account for 34% of the continent’s total, making it the most significant demographic in terms of setting new social, technical, and economic trends.

Expectations for brands and innovation are high among millennials. They are looking for things that are made just for them and despite being referred to as egotists and libertines, they are conscious of the influence their actions have on others. They value teamwork and want to be a part of developing goods that have a direct impact on society and their daily lives. As the phrase goes, “if it isn’t on social media, it didn’t happen.” With this in mind, the vast majority of Millennials agree that experiences are more important than stuff. The internet continues to dominate the lives of Millennials and most likely will for all the generations that follow.

Social Media Presence

The reported self-obsessed nature of Millennials makes it natural for them to drive development on social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook. Compared to the worldwide average of two and a half hours spent on social media daily, Nigerians, Ghanaians, and Kenyans spend an average of three and a half hours on social media each day. In Nigeria alone, there have been 6 million new users of social media registered in 2020 alone.

A 4.5% rise in internet users in South Africa has been reported in the last year, according to the South Africa Social Media Landscape Report 2021. Since last year, there have been 3 million more people using Facebook and other social networking sites than there were a year before in South Africa (14 percent increase). It’s also worth noting that 24.63 million people use their mobile phones to access social media. In South Africa, 98.5 percent of social media users utilize their mobile devices to access the networks.

Online Gambling in Africa

One of the fastest-growing markets for online gambling can be found in Africa. In 2021, the total gaming income in South Africa alone was over 34 million Rands, but South Africa isn’t the only African nation where the betting sector is a growing one.

There have been significant developments in the betting markets of various nations, including Nigeria, Kenya, and Ghana. Congo is Africa’s next-fastest-growing gambling sector, with Pari-foot, a local slang term for football betting, being the most popular, with more than half of the country’s Millennial population participating in sports bets.

In Africa, bets on sporting events are increasingly being placed through the use of the internet. This shift has been made possible by the rapid adoption of technologies such as smartphones, high-speed internet, and mobile money platforms, which permit payments to be made through a user’s phone even in the absence of a bank account. Despite the fact that there are no regulations governing internet gambling, it is legal to bet on sports in the Congo. In addition, the legislation in the Congo does not restrict its inhabitants from betting strictly via regional or national platforms. It’s up to foreign sites to decide if they allow users from Africa and the Congo to wager there, but the residents are more inclined towards their local casinos in any case.

Aside from the fact that Millennial Congolese players see local African casino platforms as a safer bet, these casinos also give local customer assistance and the general cultural awareness that is lacking on international platforms.

Online Shopping

Many people in Africa have been motivated to experiment with new methods of consuming information and buying products as a direct result of the COVID epidemic. As these consumption changes represent an acceleration of behaviors that began appearing prior to the epidemic, especially for the more tech-savvy and prone to experimentation Millennial segment, it is probable that they will persist long after the pandemic has passed.

For example, McKinsey’s study of Nigerian customers during the pandemic found that 46 percent of respondents had experimented with a new digital form of purchasing since the outbreak, resulting in an increase in online shopping from 30% to 66%.

Three key paths lead to the discovery of these new purchasing options. Over a third (33%) of those polled said that internet advertisements were the most important factor in their decision to purchase online. 23 percent of African internet shoppers were influenced by the suggestions of their family and friends, while 18 percent were inspired by items promoted by social media influencers.

An effective digital advertising strategy, as well as interacting with influencers and engaging people on social media, are now more vital than ever because of these new avenues of discovery. It is possible for new products to flourish quickly online via these channels, which are available to both small and big firms.

Through their use of blogging and social media, African Millennials are seen as having altered the way the rest of the world perceives Africa. They are credited with transforming the continent from a “dark continent” to “culturally enriched. They are now thought of as being mobile, connected, and computer-savvy; as the creators of mobile tech firms; as artists who oppose their harsh regimes and will speak out against them on social media platforms.

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