Building startups in Regions that favour the growth of the EcoSystem
FEarlier this year in March, Startup Genome,a company that has dedicated itself to loving and researching about startups: for the past few years, it has done some great profiling of startups and cities that are manured sufficiently for the startups. Startup Genome had some of the best regions in Africa From the West to South then East: Jo’burg, Lagos and Capetown were among the countries listed in the 2017 global report with a greater and potential soil for startup growth.
This week atleast someone thought to dig deeper, Nestpick, the American apartment finder, recently researched the top 85 cities in the world for those looking to work in tech startups. Scores were calculated based on salary, social security, affordability, quality of life, and the ecosystem. Johannesburg was ranked the highest (71st) of the African cities listed, followed by Cairo(80), Tunis(83), Nairobi(84) and Lagos(85). With many factors put into consideration from skill manpower, education governmnet involvement in the industry, social security, coast and quality of living.
It’s so funny the numbers shifted somehow for Lagos, for some reason I beleive in Lagos perhaps Nigeria as a whole more than any country or maybe the culture is so silent where I come from, or maybe the innovation level and the conditions for enable startup flourish is different ? At this era and age everyone is struggling to be stable by their own, self employed, self sustainable and just to be honest being a techy coming up with the revolutionary idea to disrupt the ecosystem is quite a mayhem!
For some reason, i think some of my fellow people were or are right … we have this lot of founders and startups based and operate in the ‘west’ but claim to be African born. I am not against that maybe it’s the greener pasture maybe its our African cost of living and useless taxes and propagandas that make them go away, but here is the main deal, the founder maybe of our DNA yes, but that startup is not on our ecosystem’s DNA, we are proud of the startups that take their time and grow in this ‘so poor state’ that we are in. ( I am open for argument ) We should disband these foreign startups with ‘local founders’ from our African ecosystem, they are a reason we think we are growing but not!
Afria is still a hotbet and will always be if we wake up and strategise on how to unite and make us better , the revolutionary minds out here have solutions be it whatever your country is facing, quoting Techpoint
“The many challenges the country has faced and is facing as had Nigerians convinced that we need an intellectual to fill the presidential seat of the country. We have tried military men and politicians, how about we try a smart guy, a techie maybe? Techies over the years have been stereotyped as intensely smart, socially awkward and a “know-it-all.” While this may not be true of all techies, this stereotype definitely exists for a reason. But how will a techie survive Nigerian politics?”
Our Ecosystem is just clouded by very many reasons to fail and grow but we all love growth, thats what we want to preach. “Certain cities may offer bigger paychecks, but after considering taxes and living expenses, the return may not be so high. Similarly, professionals should consider quality of life: will vacation days be adequate to visit home? Is healthcare as accessible as you would like it to be?” said Ömer Kücükdere, managing director of Nestpick
With over 173 Hubs in Africa we really need to be somewhere, not forgeting, congrats to CCHUB inconjunction with Google for Entrepreneurs for making it a success to the 14 African startups that are touring Europe and telling tales while finding Investors, we hope ya’ll catch up with the bus if you have not!
So, #PitchDrive Day 2 got real & exciting! A stop at @facebook, pitching at @CDCgroup & more😃#TalesFromPitchDrive! https://t.co/fZULK8MJBE
— Co-Creation Hub (@Cc_HUB) August 17, 2017
Perfect end to the #London leg of #PitchDrive – @AfricaAPPG roundtable with the amiable MP of Newcastle @ChiOnwurah. #Inspiring cc: @Cc_HUB pic.twitter.com/tx271BbITC
— Dr. 'Bosun Tijani (@bosuntijani) August 17, 2017
With th eLikes of Jack Ma, Sundar Pichai Leveraging into Africa for some reasons best known to them and good know for us, we should consider puting a fore front step in where they stepped for those are the regions which can try elevate Africa to highest places. Quoting TC,
‘Alphabet will also increase its funding to African startups, provide $20 million in grants to digital nonprofits, and offer modified versions of products (such as YouTube) in Africa ― where internet users can face costlier data plans and slower download speeds than other Google markets. “A lot of what we’re doing is making it easier for the average person to take advantage of the web,” Bunmi Banjo, Google’s Growth Engine and Brand Lead for Sub-Saharan Africa, ‘
Let’s build our Africa as they want to build on us too, I am yes in considertaion of the statistics of the cities and startup rankings say but we can overdo what they Say! we have it all in us if we focus and unite rather than compete, we model the world as Techies thats what I know, almost everything is now dependant of Technology and if we don’t rush for the VC money, we might grow and double our Valuation, maybe. Some are in for the money with opts out some are in for revolution. Let no numbers by statistics drag you down to othe rcomplaints of Africa’s cost of living too damn high! yes it is but did you die?
