Cape Verde bets on technology to reverse decades of brain drain
Emigration has always been a defining feature of Cape Verde. For centuries, this archipelago off the west coast of Africa has watched its people leave. First as victims of the Atlantic slave trade, when the islands served as a waypoint between the African continent and the Americas. Later, as a consequence of a fragile economy that pushed talented people toward other countries in search of opportunities that simply did not exist within the archipelago.
But something is changing over there.
The Cape Verdean government has decided to go all-in on technology and the digital economy as tools to rewrite that story. The idea is simple but extremely ambitious: build a tech ecosystem so attractive that people start thinking twice before packing their bags. Or better yet, that those who already left want to come back. 🌍
With bold goals like making the tech sector account for 25% of GDP by 2030, and concrete initiatives like TechParkCV, Cape Verde is trying to turn things around once and for all. And the most interesting part is that this movement goes far beyond infrastructure or numbers. It is a shift in narrative, identity, and destiny for a country that carries centuries of departure stories and now wants to build solid reasons to stay. 💡
An economy that needed a new story
Cape Verde is an archipelago of 10 islands in the Atlantic with roughly 529,000 residents, but its diaspora is estimated at three to four times the size of the population living on the islands. That number alone says a lot about the country’s historic relationship with emigration, which is one of the highest in the world relative to population. For decades, the economic model was basically held up by two pillars: tourism and remittances sent by Cape Verdeans living abroad, mainly in Portugal, the United States, and France. Those two pillars worked for a while, but they were never enough to create a virtuous cycle of development capable of keeping young talent on the archipelago.
When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, tourism plummeted practically overnight. That economic blow acted as a catalyst for plans that had already been in the works. The government accelerated economic diversification through technology and, in 2021, officially created the Ministry of Digital Economy with the clear goal of turning the sector into a quarter of GDP by the end of the decade.
Pedro Fernandes Lopes, Secretary of State for the Digital Economy, is one of the central figures in this strategy. In an interview at his office in the capital Praia, overlooking a large mural of Cape Verdean poets painted on a rock face, Lopes explained that Cape Verde had been developing digital governance services aimed at the Portuguese-speaking countries of Africa for decades. The pandemic simply provided the urgency that was missing to turn those initiatives into a robust state policy.
The bet is no small one. Turning an island nation with infrastructure still under development and historically dependent on traditional sectors into a technology hub is a huge challenge. But examples from around the world show it can be done. Estonia’s digitization program, frequently cited as a global benchmark, is one of the models Cape Verde is watching closely. The archipelago wants to follow similar paths but with its own identity and its own conditions. 🚀
Receive the best innovation content in your email.
All the news, tips, trends, and resources you're looking for, delivered to your inbox.
By subscribing to the newsletter, you agree to receive communications from Método Viral. We are committed to always protecting and respecting your privacy.
TechParkCV and the ecosystem being built
One of the most tangible initiatives within this plan is TechParkCV, a technology park valued at around 44.78 million British pounds, which houses a startup incubation center, a training center for young people, and a conference auditorium. Most of the funding came as a loan from the African Development Bank, and the complex also includes a smaller campus in the city of Mindelo.
Jessica Sanches Tavares, an advisor to the TechParkCV board, is a living example of the dynamic the government wants to encourage. Born in Cape Verde, she moved to France as a baby and spent most of her life there. From childhood, though, she dreamed of returning to the archipelago, and she finally managed to do so in recent years.
There is an energy, an ambition, a desire to build, and it is really exciting to be part of it, Tavares said. There are still challenges, but I think we are on the right track.
The core idea behind TechParkCV is to create a space where the ecosystem can develop in an integrated way. Companies benefit from being close to one another, from shared infrastructure, and from access to mentorship and funding programs. According to Tavares, the park has already attracted about two dozen companies looking to take advantage of its location in a special economic zone with tax incentives.
Companies can run their operations from Cape Verde, work remotely with clients anywhere in the world, and do it under conditions that are both technically and economically competitive, she explained. None of this works in isolation. The talent that gets trained can then rely on the data center, set up in the business center, or even launch their projects through the incubation center.
And there is more: in December of this year, TechParkCV will host the Web Summit, one of the largest tech events in the world, making its first appearance on the African continent since it was founded in 2009. This kind of international visibility is exactly what Cape Verde needs to put the archipelago on the global map of innovation. 🎯
Connectivity and education as the foundation
Beyond the tech park, the government has been investing heavily in connectivity, which is the absolute prerequisite for any serious digital ambition. The internet penetration rate across the archipelago has already reached 75%, double the African average. New submarine cables are being installed in the Atlantic to expand that capacity even further.
Lopes made a remark that carries enormous historical weight about those cables: The routes through which enslaved people were taken from Africa are the same routes where submarine cables run through the Atlantic, which is surreal. History repeats itself, but each generation has the opportunity to tell its own story.
The ecosystem also relies on a strong commitment to training people. School-age children are already learning robotics and coding in shipping containers converted into tech classrooms. Technology education programs and partnerships with international universities are part of the transformation package. The logic is clear: there is no point in having infrastructure and tax incentives if there is no skilled workforce to fill the positions this new sector will create.
Technology and education need to move together for the cycle to truly close, creating an environment where young Cape Verdeans see the archipelago itself as a viable, promising career path connected to what is happening in the rest of the world. 🎓
The diaspora as an ally, not a loss
One of the most interesting aspects of this strategy is how Cape Verde is trying to reframe its relationship with its diaspora. For a long time, emigration was seen almost exclusively as a loss, a bleeding of talent that the country could not stop. But the new approach sees Cape Verdeans living abroad as a strategic asset.
They are skilled professionals, often with experience in developed markets, international networks of contacts, and accumulated capital that could be reinvested in the archipelago. Instead of mourning the departure, the government wants to build bridges to attract that knowledge and investment back.
The ministry already provides digital public services not only to those living on the islands but also to the vast diaspora. Talent return incentive programs, differentiated tax regimes for entrepreneurs looking to start businesses in Cape Verde, and networking initiatives connecting those abroad with opportunities emerging within the country are some of the tools being used in that direction.
Jessica Sanches Tavares’s own story perfectly illustrates this movement. Raised in France, she returned to the archipelago drawn by the energy of building something she found there. And the government hopes stories like hers will multiply.
Lopes was direct when talking about the broader ambitions of the project: We do not want to depend on foreign aid or support. I think today there is a great opportunity for the global south not to depend on former colonizers. What we are going to do is open the African market to unicorns, but also try to create African unicorns right here. 💼
The obstacles that cannot be ignored
Of course, not everything is easy optimism. Turning technology into 25% of GDP by 2030 is a goal that requires far more than political goodwill. Cape Verde still faces serious structural challenges that need to be addressed for the plan to work in practice.
One of the most frequently cited problems is poor air connectivity with destinations within the African continent itself. For a country that wants to position itself as a digital hub for West Africa, having limited flights to the rest of the continent is a contradiction that needs to be resolved. There are also recurring reports that Black Africans, particularly Nigerians — who represent one of the continent’s largest tech markets — are being subjected to extra screening at Cape Verdean airports. This kind of situation undermines the credibility of a country positioning itself as a gateway to the African tech ecosystem.
Within the ecosystem itself, some point to an excessive dependence on government among startups. According to reports, up to 100 startup founders are receiving public funding to cover salaries for at least six employees each, while participation in tech events abroad is fully subsidized by the government. This dynamic raises legitimate questions about the sustainability and autonomy of the ecosystem in the medium and long term.
The question of scale is also a concern. With a small population and a limited domestic market, tech companies setting up in Cape Verde will necessarily need to look outward — whether toward the African continent or toward European or American markets. This is not necessarily a problem and could be a competitive advantage if leveraged well, but it requires the ecosystem to be built from the start with an export-oriented mindset, focused on scalable products and services and with well-established international connections.
The archipelago’s geographic location, at the crossroads of Europe, Africa, and the Americas, could be a major asset in this regard, positioning Cape Verde as a strategic hub for business across these blocs. 🌐
Betting on the future of a generation that wants to stay
Finally, there is the challenge of continuity. Economic transformation policies need time to deliver results, and Cape Verde, like any democracy, lives with electoral cycles that can shift priorities. Ensuring that the bet on the digital economy is treated as a long-term state policy — and not as a specific administration’s project — is critical for the results to materialize.
Investors, entrepreneurs, and diaspora talent need confidence that the rules of the game will remain stable over time. That institutional stability is perhaps the most important asset Cape Verde can offer to anyone considering betting on the archipelago.
Pedro Fernandes Lopes wrapped up his reflections on a note that blends pragmatism and hope: I am sure that this generation does not just want to return the way their parents did when they retired. If we change the idea that people leave the country and also tell bright minds to come back, things will change. But we cannot just have the narrative. We need to turn words into action. And that is what we are doing now.
Cape Verde’s story with technology is still being written. The challenges are real, the goals are ambitious, and the road is long. But the fact that a small archipelago in the Atlantic is positioning itself as a potential innovation hub for all of West Africa is, in itself, a story worth following closely. And if everything goes according to plan, the next generations of Cape Verdeans may have a completely different relationship with the idea of leaving and staying. 🚀
