Google’s Bridgette Sexton possesses an optimism that is impossible to avoid. As a programme manager for tech outreach for Google Africa based in Ghana, the United States-born representative of one of the world’s most successful firms says Africa is ripe for innovation.

“I love working in Africa because the opportunity is so massive and the people are incredible,” she explains during an interview with Opportunity in Cape Town. It is one of the last frontiers and it is on the move.

“Skill, desire and opportunity are intersecting with great minds, and a consumer demand of 700 million people make the continent a ripe arena for the technology giant,” says Sexton, who adds that technology is in the appetite of Africa’s young professionals, making it an exciting time to be on the continent.

It has been eight months since she touched down on African soil, but as expected, Google has not wasted any opportunity.

The company “sees Africa as a market that is growing,” explains Sexton, who returns to Cape Town this November for a special two-day seminar aimed at South African start-up entrepreneurs and technology enthusiasts.

“We aim to help strengthen an Internet ecosystem in Africa that is vibrant and self-sufficient in the long-term,” she says.

Google’s conference, aptly named “G-Events” are one way Sexton and her team are scanning the hundreds of millions of entrepreneurial minds and consumers in Africa.

“Through the G-Events, we are helping to strengthen the developer community in Africa and empowering the next generation of developers. The Web has incredible potential at the consumer, business and government levels to open information, open markets and open businesses, and we want to highlight the opportunity.

We’ve had a great response where we’ve run events, including in Ghana, Senegal, Kenya, Uganda,” she says.

Sexton believes the best part of working for Google is the start-up culture and trust given which encourages Googlers to be creative, innovate, try things, test and iterate. It’s a culture she believes is ripe for Africa.

“I work with some of the top thinkers, doers and people. They have become a bit like my family in how we work together and look out for each other,” she adds.

Sexton believes some entrepreneurial Africans do recognise the opportunity available to them on the continent in the technology communications space. “There is proof of it,” she points out.

“Many tech businesses are being run very successfully by guys who see Africa as a burgeoning market. But I think many entrepreneurs do not. I once had a professor tell me: when you reduce a transaction cost, you have a business.

“The costs of doing business, and of many day-to-day activities, are still very high in Africa. This is seen in simple things like paying bills, finding goods, locating services, transportation, reliable postal service, taking census, managing traffic, etc. These are all things that entrepreneurs can solve and they will take unique solutions, but if you look at 700 million people with similar costs, the potential reward is significant,” Sexton adds.

In advising entrepreneurs on the continent, she advises that one of her main criteria for investment would centre on the technology needs of people and the scalability. She would steer clear of focusing on very small segments of the market.

“Mobile apps that can seamlessly target SMS and feature phones” are one type of opportunity. Sexton adds that “technology that brings entertainment quicker and cheaper and allows people to share” has enormous profit potential.

“I see endless possibilities for businesses here, typically with a mobile and Web component. Many of them are simple – like a grocery delivery service via text for market goods, all types of asset tracking, SMS traffic monitoring reports, and outside of the tech realm.

“I love coffee, so I often think of a place for a great cappuccino in Lagos or Accra.

There is an assumption that is often made, that because it isn't there already, people don't want it. History has proven this is not the case,” she says.

So with big potential on the horizon if Africa plays its cards correctly, what does Google offer African businesses?

As expected, Sexton is at no loss for words in detailing what she sees as some of the core offerings that will aid tech development. “We have tools that are applicable to Africa as well. AdWords, AdMob, Analytics, AdSense, Apps, Sites, Google Places and Webmaster Central App Engine, among others. They all provide a way to be visible, track, monitor and make smart money making decisions.”

She adds that the tools are hyper local and vastly global, allowing businesses to expand their market beyond one’s front door to anyone in the world: “I think that is enormous. Many people wonder how applicable these are to these markets, but we have seen business flourish – anything from wedding planners, to mobile SMS aggregators.”

But beyond general global products, perhaps the most telling aspect of Google’s belief in Africa’s market potential is the development of products exclusively for the continent. Among the new developments are Google Trader, an online and SMS-based classified system; and the upcoming Get African Business Online initiative that aims to get small businesses in Africa online.

Understanding the continent is not immune to threats against online business security, PC Security Informer is an application available to African businesses, which helps IT managers prevent avoidable security compromises caused by missing security patches, ineffective antivirus and antispyware software, and inoperative desktop firewalls.

Google’s reasoning for development the software, given the large volume of antivirus and security-related products already available, has emerged given the increased threats online – and the failure of some products to provide an appropriate level of security.

“With the threat of malicious compromises worse than ever, any PC with out-of-date operating systems, antivirus or antispyware is a potential disaster waiting to happen.”

Garreth Bloor