The Buzzwords Startups and the Brain-Drain Game by the Millenial Techies

Not by my Words but by Ade Abayomi Olufeko’s where he said in There is no (tech) ecosystem in Nigeria, there are just societies and clubs! Let’s dive first to the meaning, Society: the aggregate of people living together in a more or less ordered community: Club: an association or organization dedicated to a particular interest or activity. These are so big words, Yes, although he *had to back them up* still it raised eyebrows all over. I believe Nigeria is a mirror of Africa, Kenya, Uganda, South Africa, and so as many other countries, They all reflect the ecosystem to a certain point.

Now to this point, we have the Nigerian Tech Club, Kenyan Tech Club, SA Tech Club, all these clubs have different people with different ranks, According to Ade although still, I don’t get his meaning of the ecosystem he kinda shifted away to buzzwords which powered up the show on Smooth Fm.

Although he dug in some points of which I want to give honest opinions to and also add on a few, First of All, the Buzzword Startups , all over from Silicon Valley to Europe to Africa to China we have words that smoke the startups scene, every founder wants to vape and create a startup in a certain area, Fintech, Ride-Sharing ( who even still needs this? ), Healthcare, Social, E-Commerce and many more you name them. I am not into a war with these things I actually support but Just like Ade says, ” These people jump on a certain buzzword get done with it then flee to the next” making the fields a cliche.

Taking into Example the Ride-Sharing side. Quoting David Okwii’s Medium “With over 55 ride-sharing companies according to this Techcabal report, major cities in Africa will not remain the same again. Mid this year, the big bull in this kraal, Uber launched in Uganda. Even though there were already about 3 ride-sharing startups in the country, it was Uber that seriously validated this market segment in Uganda.”  So Ubers’ Competition is 4 Companies, Careem, Ousta, Little and Taxify that is by 2016,  over now 56 companies clustered in the field because Uber perhaps had Income and they thought why not do it Local, the Locals will love it.  This statistics rendering almost 90% of the startups null or failed.

The Other major Clustered Buzzword is E-commerce: Now everything is shopped Online Bruh! even your Neighbour is about to e-commerce salt for you to borrow on credit Eeey Man! Recently developing stories emerged in the scene Jumia Market was closing down, due to unknown reasons yet, maybe if you have kindly share!  With the different challenges being faced in Africa from Electricity, Funding, and Infrastructure.

We still don’t want to be versatile or maybe we have no reason yet, Quoting the Wired ” E-commerce – You don’t need a smartphone, let alone a PC, to shop online. The American startup SlimTrader runs a service called MoBiashara, which lets African consumers shop by mobile on basic cellphones. And there are half a billion of those in Africa.”  Now, that’s not the funny thing, the Title is “Want to become an internet billionaire? Move to Africa”, hey Fam even our billionaires still struggle to maintain the state!  Quartz states the E-Commerce is the rise of startups.

Secondly is the Brain-Drain Game by the Millenial Founders, Just because you stepped and stayed in SF doesn’t mean you can bring in some ideas that you think can work, even the local developed ideas have failed. Recently or maybe since a far many startups have been funded, acquired by the VC firms from the away country, we really don’t know the math behind the funding but we ride along, its Africa’s, it’s hitting the waves but sooner or later we don’t hear of the startups, seriously what does the Funding money do? is it scum or what? We still don’t get it but anyway soon or later we might find out.

I am so tired of the away-based Africans hoarding our genius minds for their beneficial thoughts then later claim Africa doesn’t have this or that, fam! you stole from home to develop away. I don’t want to name startups or founders that I know , you and your founder are based away, no impact in your country but because you are of our origin you jump into Incubations, Funding pitches, get the funds then disappear, back to the VC drawing board of Africa-Only startups Kudos to Seedstars, Y’all an Impact to the Ecosystem.

Quoting Ade – “There is a disconnect between Africans in the diaspora and on the continent. For example, there are inferiority and superiority complexes, and returnees tend to ignore the pain points of the environments they return to.” anyway this statement is a big hit but according to the Comment on the Image, Clearly it’s a pingback to Ade – Who is Ade? what has he done, thanks for the message and ‘eye-opener’. “Technologists should not hoard information. Share. There is great benefit in sharing information.

We are just Tired of ya’ll trying to paint shades on African Ecosystem, yes we know we are struggling, we are still far but abeg, please if you can’t join us in making us grow stay with your shades, we are still young to face negative energy from our deserted own, But in the mean time buzzword startups need strategy let us just not flow with the rythm and get lost in the dance , help your neighbour as much as you want to compete with him, ie Samsung and Apple, we all know they are big rivals but they depend on each other for the least we know or don’t.

Featured Image by Eric Palma