For centuries after its discovery by the Portuguese in the mid-15th century, Cape Verde served as a strategic hub in the transatlantic slave trade, where enslaved Africans were forcibly moved through its islands before being transported across Europe and the Americas.
Now, nearly 150 years after slavery was abolished in Cape Verde and just over 50 years after gaining independence from Portugal, the island nation is attempting to rewrite that legacy this time as a gateway for digital opportunity, diaspora connection and technological innovation.
At the centre of that ambition is Pedro Fernandes Lopes, Cape Verde’s secretary of state for the digital economy, who is helping lead a national push to position the archipelago as a digital hub for West Africa and beyond.
Cape Verde’s strategy is not simply about technology infrastructure it is also about reshaping identity.
Lopes envisions the country as a platform for the free movement of human and financial capital across the African diaspora, drawing inspiration in part from Estonia’s globally recognised digitisation model.
“The routes enslaved people were taken along from Africa are the same routes that the submarine cables pass along in the Atlantic,” Lopes said.
“History repeats itself but each generation has an opportunity to tell their own history.”
The symbolism is striking: pathways once associated with forced displacement are now being reimagined as routes for digital connectivity and economic empowerment.
Pandemic Accelerated A Digital Pivot
Cape Verde had already been building digital governance systems for Portuguese-speaking African countries for years, but the Covid-19 pandemic and the sharp decline in tourism accelerated government efforts to diversify the economy.
In 2021, Cape Verde established a dedicated digital economy ministry with an ambitious target: make the digital sector contribute 25% of GDP by 2030.
Signs Of Progress
Several indicators suggest momentum:
- Internet penetration has reached 75%, roughly double the African average
- Public digital services now serve both Cape Verde’s population of around 529,000 and a diaspora estimated to be three to four times larger
- Schoolchildren are learning robotics and coding, sometimes in converted shipping containers
- New undersea cables are expanding international digital connectivity
For a small island nation, digitalisation is being treated not only as economic reform, but as a survival strategy.
TechParkCV And Diaspora Return
A major pillar of this vision is TechParkCV, a £44.78 million technology facility featuring startup incubation, youth training and conference infrastructure.
The project, largely financed through an African Development Bank loan, aims to attract global and African businesses through a tax-incentivised special economic zone.
In December, TechParkCV is expected to host the Web Summit one of the world’s largest technology conferences for its first event on African soil since launching in 2009.
Jessica Sanches Tavares, a board adviser at TechParkCV who returned from France to Cape Verde, described the country’s momentum as energising.
“There is an energy, an ambition, a will to build,” she said.
Reducing Emigration Through Opportunity
Cape Verde has one of the world’s highest emigration rates relative to population, and the digital strategy is also designed to reverse that trend by creating reasons for skilled citizens and diaspora talent to stay or return.
Lopes says the goal is not dependence on aid or former colonial powers, but participation in a new global economy where Africa can both host and create billion-dollar companies.
“We don’t want to rely on foreign aid or support,” he said.
“What we’re going to do is open the market of Africa for unicorns but also trying to create unicorns of Africa here.”
Challenges Remain
Despite the optimism, barriers persist.
Poor intra-African air connectivity remains a logistical challenge, and recurring reports of extra scrutiny targeting some African travellers particularly Nigerians at Cape Verde’s airports could undermine broader pan-African ambitions.
There are also concerns that parts of the startup ecosystem may currently rely too heavily on government subsidies, raising questions about long-term sustainability.
Cape Verde’s digital experiment is ultimately about more than tech.
It is an attempt to transform a historically symbolic geography from one shaped by colonial extraction and migration into one defined by innovation, return and economic reinvention.
Whether the country can fully become a digital gateway for Africa and its diaspora will depend on execution, inclusivity and whether its ambitious narrative can consistently translate into scalable opportunity.
TNAM
Edited By Egwu Patience Nnennaya
