Who is really building East Africa’s digital knowledge economy

East Africa’s digital transformation is often told as a simple start up success story, yet beneath the surface two very different architectures are shaping who really builds the region’s knowledge economy and who benefits from it. This thought piece sketches an emerging research agenda on transnational founders as people based infrastructure and on donor scaffolding as a quiet force that can both open and close doors, inviting readers to look again at power and inclusion in “Silicon Savannah” and beyond.