January 13, 2025 • 65 mins
Join us as Faith Kilonzi, a trailblazing full-stack software engineer and Master's student in Big Data Technology, shares her transformative journey from studying business to embracing the world of computer science. Faith opens up about her experiences at a liberal arts college in Ghana that ignited her passion for technology, setting her on a path of academic and professional excellence. Her candid narrative is a testament to the power of discipline and adaptability in navigating the fast-paced tech industry, offering valuable insights into balancing multiple roles and pursuing one's true interests.
The vibrant tech landscape in Africa takes center stage as we explore the indispensable role of tech communities in fostering innovation and collaboration. Contrary to the myth of instant success, Faith and I discuss the patience and gradual progress that characterizes genuine achievement in tech. We shine a light on Africa's burgeoning tech scene, where startups are emerging at a remarkable pace and attracting substantial funding, making significant strides toward integrating technology across various sectors. Our conversation underscores the collaborative spirit that drives these tech communities, providing essential support and camaraderie to aspiring tech professionals.
Aspiring entrepreneurs will find inspiration as we address the challenges and opportunities of building tech startups in Africa. From angel investors to the nuances of startup fundraising, we explore the intricacies of transforming innovative ideas into successful ventures. The discussion touches on the benefits and pitfalls of incubation centers, the vital understanding of equity agreements, and the potential of customer-driven revenue as a sustainable growth path. With a focus on localizing tech products to resonate with African audiences, we imagine a future where technology enhances traditional industries and unlocks new levels of development across the continent.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
All right, welcome to today's meetup to our online
and physical audience.
We are at Africa's Talkingheadquarters in Lovington.
Africa's Talking being acompany that powers
(00:34):
communication solutions allacross Africa, do this by
providing communication APIs inthe form of SMSs, voice airtime
and USSD.
With us today we have a lovelyguest and we'll be delving deep
(00:57):
into the topic of empowering theAfrican tech evolution.
Tech evolution.
We'll get to hear nuggets andinsights about bridging the gap
and seizing the future For ouraudience following along online.
Feel free to ask your questionsand we'll be able to get to
(01:22):
them and answer.
That being said, let us getstarted.
Before we begin, we'll do asimple introduction of the
voices.
You'll be hearing a lot thisevening.
Myself, I am Sylvia Jabet, fromAfrica's Talking in Developer
Relations.
I will now hand over to ourcommunity lead, who will
(01:44):
introduce himself and introduceour guest.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Oh, hi everyone.
I'm Josphat Mwangi, africa'sTalking Community Lead, nairobi,
and I'm a foster active.
Yeah, so we'll hand over to ourlovely guest, who will
introduce themselves, tell uswhat she does and tell us more
(02:08):
about her.
Speaker 4 (02:09):
Okay, thank you.
So my name is Faith Kilonzi.
I am a full-stack softwareengineer.
I'm currently working withKenya Oasis.
I'm also a student.
I am a Master's of Science inBig Data Technology student at
(02:31):
the University of East London,currently on my final semester,
and I'm also a podcaster.
I host the Global Tech Sellerspodcast where we talk about all
things tech and very muchexcited to be here.
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Awesome.
You are a podcaster, so thisshould be something you will
particularly enjoy.
But it's interesting to hearthat you are working and you are
also studying in the tech field.
Tell us a bit about that.
How's that juggle for you rightnow?
Speaker 4 (02:57):
Definitely not easy, but very much doable.
Actually, when I started, I wasa full-time software engineer
actually, but at some point Iwas like I've always wanted to
do masters because I have somelove for research and also
academia, a bit of that.
(03:17):
So I was always I'm alwaysdoing multiple jobs or multiple
things at the same time.
So school was just one of thosethings that I felt like I had
some extra time Then.
Yeah, it requires a lot ofdiscipline also to balance, but
very much doable so far, butit's self-paced so it's not so
(03:39):
hard.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Yes, that's a very interesting angle to it.
School is what you do when youhave some free time.
That's quite a statement forsome of us, school was because
we started, we had to finish,and here you are, using your
free time in school.
Speaker 4 (03:57):
I think it depends on where you thrive at.
I think I thrive best in anacademic background.
I think I thrive best in anacademic background, so school
is one of those places thatmakes me, I think, validates me
to some extent.
So I feel like school bringsout the best in me.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Yes, that's a very good way to put it.
And you said you're doing yourmaster's right now.
Yes, yes.
So what did you do in yourundergraduate?
Speaker 4 (04:31):
I actually did a bachelor's of science in
computer science as well.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Yes, in the country.
No, no, no, I did it in AshersUniversity in Ghana.
Ah, in Ghana, yes, wow, tell usa bit about that experience.
You've been an internationalstudent ever since you finished
high school or even before atthis point.
Speaker 4 (04:41):
No, no, no.
I actually did my high schoolin Kenya.
I did my high school in Kenya.
Then after that I was very sureI didn't want to study in this
country.
I wanted to study outside.
So one of the things that I didimmediately after high school
was take community serviceprojects, just anything that
would put me in the spotlight ofgetting a scholarship, and also
(05:03):
just doing SATs to apply to mein the spotlight of getting a
scholarship and also just doingSATs to apply to schools in the
US, in the UK, yeah.
But then Ghana happened firstand I was like this is a good
opportunity so I might as welltake it.
Yeah, so that's how I ended upin Ghana.
Yes, Interesting.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
so you studied in Ghana.
You're currently working inKenya and studying for a
university that's UK-based, ifI'm not wrong.
Yes, it's UK-based.
Ah, wow, quite the globalcitizen we have over here.
Really, love to see it, love tosee it, yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
So you said you're a full-stack.
Yes, yes Can you just tell us,basically like a synopsis about
the journey how has it been?
Speaker 4 (05:47):
Okay, so I was actually a business student at
some point when I moved to Ghana.
I was a business administrationstudent but just happened to go
to a university that was aliberal arts college.
That, in the first year, givesyou opportunity to explore
(06:07):
different fields, so I wouldexplore different subjects.
I did a bit of engineering, Idid a bit of entrepreneurship,
calculus, programming.
Then, in the course of thatdiscovery, I realized that I
actually loved coding more.
So that's actually how Istarted getting into computer
(06:27):
science.
So I switched in my second yeartowards my third year.
I had to do multiple courses atthe same time to just keep up
with the rest of the people andgraduate around the same time.
But then, while still in school, I did a bit of projects, then
some internships.
I would actually come back toKenya and do a bit of
(06:48):
internships.
My first internship was actuallyin a payment and fintech
company.
Yes, so that's actually how Ihad of Africa stocking at the
time.
It was actually somewhere in2017.
I mean, I wasn't so good at theprogramming at the time.
It was actually somewhere in2017.
I mean, I wasn't so good at theprogramming at the time.
I was just doing basics of HTML, css and JavaScript, but I knew
(07:12):
I wanted to be a developer.
After that just built projectson the side.
Then, immediately after schoolactually before I graduated I
got a job to work in aconsultancy firm in Ghana and
that's how I now became anassociate software developer in
the company, and since then I'veworked in banking, I've worked
(07:32):
in majorly consulting and rightnow in the airline business.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Yes, Wow, that is quite the journey.
I love that if there's adeveloper who's listening in and
they just have just writtentheir first HTML script, they
have a page with zero CSS andjust their name there, or hello
world.
And they're now thinking thisis possible.
This is very doable, right?
Very doable.
Speaker 4 (07:59):
Yeah, we all start somewhere.
Yes, we do, we do.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
We do, please we do.
That's very nice.
It's also very interesting thatyou had the chance to explore
and try out a few things andrealize that this programming,
this is the one.
I think this is the one.
Speaker 4 (08:13):
Actually, I think that's one of the best things
that happened to me in my career, because if I didn't have that
exposure, maybe I would haveended up I mean, I wasn't a bad
business student but I don'tthink I would have enjoyed it as
much as I enjoy my current role.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Yes, so, for you, the tech field lured you in and,
specifically since at the timeyou were in Africa, africa's
tech field, at that time, whatexactly?
Was very intriguing.
Speaker 4 (08:40):
I think at the time we were just doing a bit of
Facebook developers communitygroup in Accra.
Those were some of the thingsthat we would do.
A Google developers clubstarted in our school around the
same time, but a lot of theconversation at the time was
mostly just web.
(09:01):
I was interested in the webdevelopment.
I would get excited about othertechnologies, but not mostly.
I was more focused on the web.
It was very much exciting.
I actually thought I would endup in FinTech because that was
some of the main companies Iworked with in the first first
(09:21):
times and that's how I ended upin banking.
Yes, that was your area.
Ended up in banking yes, thatwas your area.
Yes, that was my area.
I enjoy a bit of paymentsintegration and all the API
aspect of things.
I'm actually I like to say I'mnot a full stack developer, but
if I had to choose, I alwayschoose backend, so that's why
(09:42):
that's my area.
Yes, so this story of that's myarea yes, so this story of
aligning divs buttons, Centeringdivs, like today.
I had such a hard time trying tochange a date picker in
TypeScript and I was like Ican't be doing this.
They wanted a 24 format, then Iwas doing it in 12 hours and
(10:09):
now they actually want to editit in text field and I was like
it's so mundane.
Yes, that's one of the thingsthat the repetitiveness of the
front end is where the issue isat.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Yes, it's good to know where your strength lies
and what you prefer.
Yes, makes work a lot easierfor you.
Yes, yes, and it's veryinteresting that in your journey
you've mentioned communities.
Here at Africa's Talking, wehave quite the community.
Yes, it's ranked top 1%developer community engagement
in the world Wow.
So if we were ranking on globalstandards, they would say that
(10:47):
the engagement in our communityis at the top 1%.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
Actually, I think at the time when I started out, I
think almost every developerplans on buildings and apps that
can make them some money andone of the things we were
working with at the time wastrying to do some SMS
integrations and that's how Iactually discovered Africa's
Talking, because I think at thetime was trying to do some SMS
integrations and that's how Iactually discovered Africa's
Talking, because I think at thetime, people thought around 2017
(11:09):
, 2018, people are so much intobulk SMS integration, so that's
one of the things.
That's how I discoveredAfrica's Talking.
So, yes, I've heard of them.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
So you are part of our dev community.
Speaker 4 (11:25):
At least I've used the documentation.
Wow, so you are part of our devcommunity.
At least I've used thedocumentation.
How was it?
Speaker 3 (11:29):
How was the documentation?
Speaker 4 (11:31):
How was the documentation Easy to follow?
I'm actually a technical writer, so I am able to follow through
a lot of these things because Iwrite documentation on the side
.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Yes, Ah, that's very good to hear because it shows
that the community is actuallyyes, the community is actually
working.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
Please, your job is safe.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Wow, wow.
So you can attest tocommunities being part of the
reason why the tech industry inAfrica is really booming and is
growing at a faster rate.
Speaker 4 (12:09):
Yes, yes, yes.
I think when people preach techthey just preach it as a make
money quick scheme kind of thing, with a lot of boot camps
coming up, people making courseshere and there and all that.
But it's also quite a lonelyjourney.
If you're doing it on your ownand sometimes it's very it
(12:33):
requires a lot of mental tensionand the exhaustion that comes
with that makes you feel veryalone if you don't have someone
to help you debug, for example,or if you're facing issues and
you don't have someone to walkthe journey with you.
So I think communities justgive you that support to know
(12:55):
that you're not going throughthis alone.
You can always consult, you canalways get to hear what other
people are building.
If you've run out of ideas andyou also, you can come together
and create something greattogether.
So it's communities.
Communities have helped me alot personally and I think they
are very helpful in this journey.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
Yeah, and you've said a very key thing Most people
get into tech and just imaginethat the first app you build
will boom.
Yeah.
It will be the next Facebookand the next.
Meta and you'll be abillionaire, a bazillionaire
overnight, yes, which reallydoes not happen.
There's a lot of patienceinvolved, that's true.
There's a lot of learning andgrowth and seeing progress.
(13:35):
Progress is not becoming asuperstar overnight.
Yes, seeing one step that haschanged tomorrow.
Yes, seeing two steps you'vemoved the next day.
Speaker 4 (13:44):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
And, yeah, that's where community comes in People,
hold your hand, people guideyou through and you do not feel
alone.
That's true.
Speaker 4 (13:51):
That's very important .
Speaker 3 (13:52):
So how many years can you say you have been in the
tech field?
Speaker 4 (13:58):
Okay, so I would actually just say four to five
years professionally, like sinceschool.
But since school I'd say likesix, Six solid, when I knew what
I was doing, not when I wasdoing Hello World, my App and
all those other tutorial-basedapplications that we always put
(14:22):
on our learning.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
I've seen you being in at least a good century, a
good time, in the tech field.
So the big question that one ofour audience previously asked
in the last meetup is Africabehind in terms of tech?
Speaker 4 (14:43):
That's an interesting question, but I think Africa
Africa is where it's supposed tobe, but it's making strides.
I think every time we usedifferent, or we read about
Africa, or we talk about Africaand Africa's development in
various sectors.
We talk about Africa andAfrica's development in various
(15:03):
sectors.
We never really give credit tothe fact that when people were
starting out, we were like 10steps behind.
So where we are at right now Imean how many startups have come
up since tech started boomingin Africa?
So many, so much funding isbeing pumped in Africa.
(15:24):
So many startups are coming up.
So many people are gettingemployed within and outside
Africa.
So I don't think we are actuallybehind.
We could do better, for sure,and we're making the strides,
but we have to give the creditto ourselves because people are
working out here.
I mean when you hear and alsosomething else is that because
(15:45):
of our economic situation in ourvarious countries, we never
really get enough exposure andalso the enough capital and
funding to even, I mean, someonemight have a very good
application or product lying intheir GitHub repository because
they don't have the right meansto take it out there.
(16:07):
So I feel like we're makingstrides.
We could do better with a bitof support, and I'm sure all
these things are coming together.
I'm very positive.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
There are three things you have mentioned.
Let's start with one.
Like that, we can do better.
Speaker 4 (16:22):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
So the big question is what are the steps for us to
do better?
Speaker 4 (16:28):
What are the steps to do better?
Speaker 3 (16:30):
I was actually.
What's the roadmap?
Speaker 4 (16:32):
What's the roadmap?
What's the roadmap?
Yeah, okay, so I think, for astart, one of the things that we
can start with is in oureducation, in our education
system.
Sometimes I think we weretalking about is in our
education, in our educationsystem sometimes.
I think we were talking aboutthis in our podcast.
There we were talking aboutdigital literacy in Africa and
(16:52):
one of the things that came upwas that right now, in as much
as people like there's someonestill in the tech scene or in a
corporate environment that hasnever even used chat, gpt since
we started talking about it,they don't even know what it's
about.
Like, they think of tech asTikTok.
Yes, you remember when Facebookcame out and someone was like.
(17:17):
Someone was like yo, if you getinto Facebook, if you sign up,
they're going to use your data,they're going to take you to
Shakaola.
It was painted as somethingdemonic.
I mean, that's an example I'mgiving, but one of the things
(17:39):
that I think what I'm trying tosay is in our education system,
people are not curious enough.
But that's not for study inschool.
I think when you're taught toget into finance, you're just
focused on the books, thebalancing of the books.
If you're a medical doctor,you're more focused on treating
(18:02):
the patient and going home.
People are so focused in theirindividual fields that they
never think about how they canapply tech in those fields.
So I am thinking that one ofthe steps that we can do is
expose tech and apply tech inalmost every aspect, because you
don't need to be a softwaredeveloper to be talking about
(18:22):
tech.
You can be coming up with thenext solution using technology
in your field of work, in youraccounting business, in your
medical business or something ofthat sort.
So I think one of the steps thatwe can make is I mean, when you
watch Shark Tank, you alwaysfind people that are in totally
(18:44):
unrelated fields applyingtechnology.
You're like, oh so we canactually Now imagine someone who
came up with a washing machine.
I mean, that's technology beingused right there, right, but
let someone sat down realizethat this washing dishes is so
redundant or it's so annoyingtedious.
So let me find a way.
(19:04):
How can I make it better?
So I don't think we are taughtto be problems of us from day
one.
We are taught to go throughthis path finish, get a job and
spend 10 years in that careerand get pension, go home right,
so we don't like figuring analternative of making our work
easier, so I hope that that canbe accommodated in our education
(19:28):
system, but also even as adults.
You don't need to be a softwaredeveloper to come up with the
next big thing.
You can come up with it ifyou're a plumber.
How can you make it moreefficient?
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Yes, I love that approach that tech transcends
every field.
Speaker 4 (19:45):
yes, it transcends every industry, and so you do
not have to write code toactually bring tech solutions
yes, because right now, imagineif we had to rely on software
developers and CTOs and devroles and people in the tech
scene to actually come up withthe solutions.
But we didn't go far, becausethe things that actually need
(20:08):
innovation are not within thetech sector, they are beyond the
tech sector.
So we actually I think peoplejust need to open up their minds
and realize okay, there's thisthing called technology, how can
I apply it in my day-to-daywork and how can we move from
here?
You don't need to think aboutthe how to implement it.
(20:30):
You can think about okay, I'm anormal user, I'm come out in
the workshop, how can I makesure that this workshop will run
efficiently with the use oftechnology?
I don't need to think about thehow.
I can always consult atechnologist X, y, z and all
that.
Yes, I think almost when youthink about our.
(20:52):
Every time you're creative oryou're trying to come up with
something, every time you thinkabout the how it stops there.
But if you block every kind ofdoubt and imagine all the
wildest in your wildest dreamswhat you can come up with, you'd
actually come up with a verygood solution to almost anything
(21:15):
that you're thinking about bythe moment you start thinking if
I want this UI to look likethis and I don't know, maybe
material UI then you won't do.
You won't go far.
So don't think about the tool,think about the final result.
You figure out the journey asyou go that's an interesting way
of looking at it.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
And now, since you mentioned education and you said
that's one of the ways that wecould improve, that, we could
work on just implementing it inour education system right from
a younger age.
Let's do something interesting,let's make it fun, let's play,
pretend so to say you are nowthe cabinet secretary Woo In
charge of education, or evenscratch that there is a global
(21:59):
parliament and you are theminister of education in the
global.
Speaker 3 (22:04):
All the climate summits.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
You're now giving your suggestions in the
education field, how we canincorporate tech better or a
better, or to increase the paceat which the tech revolution is
happening.
What are random ideas you wouldhave?
Speaker 4 (22:21):
Wow, please, can we IP whatever I'm about to say
because I might use it as mynext solution, but one of the
things that I think, one of thethings that I think should be
put in our curriculum right now,is I want I envision a world
(22:42):
where the industry is workingwith the education system hand
to hand.
Let it not be academic sectorand now industry, you finish
school, maybe.
I think let's start with.
Let me give an example of rightnow in uni there's someone
doing Visual Basic or C++.
Oh, yes, yes, very true, andthey get out of here and they
(23:04):
realize that I actually need tolearn Python.
Python is what is needed.
How can we reconcile the two?
The industry comes and saysthis is actually the skills that
I need for this particular role.
Then the school is like okay,how can I match up to what is
needed in the industry?
Or how can we work together tocome up with a curriculum that
(23:25):
works best for both of us?
Because I think a lot of usspend so much time trying to
learn to keep up with theindustry, when we could have
actually learned that in school.
And it will also be very usefulto ensure that, if this is what
I'm learning in school and it'swhat's expected in the industry
, it gives me more room toactually innovate around what
the industry needs, more thantrying to keep up with what is
(23:48):
in the industry.
The industry also, it's notlike the ultimate measure.
It also needs some improvement.
But I'm spending so much of mytime trying to keep up with what
the industry needs and lessabout how I can improve the
industry, which should be theultimate job.
So please, in this summit what Iwould say is the industry can
(24:11):
work together.
The job industry should worktogether with the academia
industry to come up or reconcilethe curriculum to make sure
that both of them can match upto what each other need.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
So make it as relevant as possible.
Speaker 4 (24:26):
Yes, yes, yes.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
Aside from education, in what other ways can Africa
help increase its pace ofevolving?
Speaker 4 (24:37):
I think a lot of Africans are very brilliant and
we come up with a lot of goodsolutions, but what we like is
exposure, like I mentionedearlier, and this exposure comes
with money and capital andfunding.
So I think in Africa there'sjust a handful of the tech or
the startups that actuallyprovide funding the tech or the
(24:58):
startups that actually providefunding.
So one of the things that Ithink should help improve the
African state of technology isto provide more platform for
startup incubation, includingfunding, and access to this
funding does not necessarilymean that I need to have a white
(25:22):
person in my team to get thefunding, because there's been a
lot of that yeah, there's been alot of that that almost every
startup that's coming up has tohave some sort of inclusion,
quote-unquote and diversity forit to attract the kind of
funding.
Let the idea be validated onits own, without necessarily
(25:43):
having to know person X, y, z tobe on that team.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
Yeah.
So the startup industry whichyou had mentioned earlier, that
Africa does have a lot ofstartups?
It does.
Yeah, if you were to draw agraph and we were starting from
zero point of origin.
A yes my math teacher islistening a graph and we were
starting from zero point oforigin.
Speaker 4 (26:04):
My math teacher is listening.
Point of origin.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
And if you draw your graph on startups, maybe we're
towards the peak because it'sgetting to a lot of them as the
day goes by, right.
Speaker 4 (26:20):
Yes.
Trying to find a way to exposethem to give them funding Angel
investors even Doesn't alwayshave to be a venture capital.
Oh yeah, it doesn't have to bea venture capital.
It can be an angel investor.
Yeah, and those of us who arelistening and can be angel
investors.
What are we waiting for?
There we go, yeah, the Africawe want, because sometimes we
(26:42):
think that we need some milliondollar account balance for us to
support an idea that we areinterested in.
Yeah, then also, something elsethat I can also mention in this
same context is that we need tocollaborate more.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
Yeah, true, you can't be the only person that comes
up with that idea context isthat we need to collaborate more
.
Speaker 4 (27:02):
You can't be the only person that comes up with that
idea and brings it to life.
You have people in your team,in your circle.
Someone knows someone who cancome together and we can bring
this idea to life.
Maybe you're just the developerbut you don't know the business
aspect of it.
(27:22):
You need someone in finance,you need someone in strategy,
you need someone in branding.
So if you can collaborate more,we could actually have, we
could succeed more.
But sometimes we want to getthe $100,000 funding and pocket
it on our own.
We don't want to share the100,000 US dollars funding and
pocket it on our own.
We don't want to share theequity.
(27:44):
Sometimes, sometimes.
Back we were talking with somedevelopers how sometimes someone
approaches you to work on theirstartup.
They don't want to offer youequity, but you're I mean at the
very early stage of an idea, ofa startup.
They don't have much to pay youmaybe your worth.
Why is equity not a point ofdiscussion as part of my
(28:08):
percentage for pay?
This way I'm able to actuallypull my weight and give my all
to this idea.
Then you can actually growtogether.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
That makes a lot of sense.
Let me try and coin it in astory, right?
So here I am.
I am trying to provide asolution that solves an African
problem.
Maybe particularly not in thetech field, but I have an idea
that can be solved with tech.
You said I should not thinkabout how.
(28:38):
I know the goal, but for thehow I'm not very sure.
Yes, so what you've said so faris first of all, let me look
for communities around me.
Right, let me find peoplearound that.
Maybe in that sort ofinteraction or in that
networking, I'll get someone whoknows the how, the
technological part.
Yes.
So here I am, trying to startthis up.
I found my person in thecommunity and we're ready to
(29:01):
build this, to scale it and todeploy this solution so that it
can help as many people aspossible.
So I can now call myself astartup founder, something of
the sort Entrepreneur, techentrepreneur, entrepreneur we
like using the term CEO andfounder.
Ceo and founder.
Speaker 4 (29:19):
Yeah, I heard it attracts a lot of connections on
LinkedIn.
Go on Good point.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
So here I am, ceo and founder.
Yes, now I want to scale up.
What are avenues you can maybeyou think you could use to?
You know, get in touch withpeople who can help me get
started with the funding, withthe investment, and also, tying
to what you have said, how can Inot work in a silo?
(29:49):
Where can I get other solutions?
Or how do I get started?
How do I get to that point?
Because we don't want to workin silos, we want to help each
other get funding.
So how do I get to that?
Speaker 4 (29:59):
point.
How do you get to that point?
Okay, so you have an idea, youhave identified the people you
want to work with, or some ofthe people that you want to work
with.
I think sometimes an idea isjust an idea before it's tested
the viability of it.
So come up with an MVP.
Mvp is very under-resourced.
(30:19):
Like you don't need a lot ofresources to create a prototype
of what you're trying to come upwith or the product you're
trying to build.
Then, second step, this issomething proprietary to you, so
you need to protect it first.
So can you consult a lawyer?
Because there are a lot ofpeople that you're going to
(30:40):
bring to your startup in thecourse of your growth journey,
so you need to make sure thatwhoever you bring on board is
bound by a contract such thatthey can't quote unquote steal
your idea.
That's the first step.
We're actually buildingsomething with a friend of mine.
It's still in the incubationstage, but that's one of the
(31:03):
things that we were.
Actually.
That's the first thing we did,because we need to protect our
IP.
So the next thing I think youneed to do now.
Let's say now you have theprototype.
This prototype is what is goingto convince an investor that
whatever you're trying to comeup with is useful or it's
(31:24):
something that solves a realproblem and test the viability
of it.
So go and take it out there.
Get real data, because I don'tthink anyone can put their money
somewhere that has not beenvalidated, otherwise they will
lose it.
So for me, that would be thesecond step when you're finding
(31:45):
an investor.
Get a prototype that is alreadyprotected.
Then another thing I think thereare a lot of incubation centers
that have come up in Africa interms of.
I think I've heard of ArdenianLabs, I've heard of Mest Africa.
Mest Africa was very popular inGhana and, I think, in Nigeria.
I think they even had someKenyan startups at some point.
(32:08):
But there are a lot ofcompanies that are incubating
startups.
But those ones, you also haveto be very careful with them in
terms of what are they offeringand at what cost, in terms of
equity and all that.
So those are some of the thingsthat, personally, those are the
first steps I'll do.
Sometimes, if I don't need aventure capital for incubation,
(32:28):
I've already identified my team.
If I get an angel investor, whynot?
I can get started.
Speaker 2 (32:33):
Yes, yeah, that makes sense.
And now that you've mentionedabout incubation hubs and
incubation centers, yes, how canyou tell us more about?
How do they contribute to thistech evolution, especially in
Africa?
Are they enough?
Do we have a long way to go?
Are they serious?
Or, like you've said, you haveto be careful?
What do you mean by that?
Speaker 4 (32:54):
Yes.
So I have a couple of friendswho have been in some of these
incubation companies, and one ofthe things that I realized with
them was there's a lot ofgrowth that you encounter as a
person.
Let's give an example.
Right now, maybe I'm in school,I've come up with an idea.
(33:15):
I don't have enough resourcesto implement the entire solution
end-to-end and take it tomarket, so I need a bit of help
in terms of design thinking,branding, strategy, all these
things that bring a product tolife.
So one of the things thatincubation centers help you with
(33:36):
is that journey from ideationto actual products delivery.
It helps you to actuallystrategize and position your
product for the market.
That is one thing that, if youdon't have enough resources, you
might not be able to afford it,so the incubator comes in handy
(33:58):
.
They also give you a supervisorto work with you in the journey
to make sure that they ask youenough questions, the product
delivery is on course and allthose deliverables are met.
And another thing that I seehappening is I think there's one
in Kenya, I don't want tomention names one of them is
(34:20):
that you just get hired alone.
You have an idea, then theyjoin you, they combine you with
other like-minded people.
You get to choose your team.
So during the incubation stage,the entrepreneurship incubation
stage you guys can maybe zerointo an idea and work together.
So maybe we are maybe a classof 20 people, so five people can
(34:45):
just come together and come upwith an idea.
So that's actually how people,how incubation helps you, gives
you a team, gives you resourcesin terms of strategy and
branding and also work thejourney with you in the entire
design thinking process, andalso give you the funding.
So the part where I was sayingthat you should be careful is
(35:06):
when it comes to someone helpingyou.
Like I said, I've listed acouple of things that they can
help you with, but it comes at acost.
Some of them give you funding,maybe one million, one million
US dollars for 20%.
It looks so.
Let's work with 100,000 USdollars because we can easily
(35:28):
convert.
So, for a start, it looks likea lot of money, looks like a lot
, a lot, a lot of money, but 20%, 20% is a lot.
Imagine now the three of ushere.
We are the founders and we'vealready.
But 20%, 20% is a lot.
Imagine now the three of ushere we are the founders and
we've already given out 20% ofour company, so it means that we
(35:49):
are left with 80%, and 80% youcan easily say, yeah, 80%,
you'll get Math, the math person.
What's 80% divided by 3?
I don't know what is math.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
I don't know what math is.
Speaker 4 (36:02):
So 80% divided by 3, 80% divided by 3 is around 20
something.
27% there about 27.28.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
Yes, 26 points wow we are getting somewhere, yeah, so
that means maybe we havesomething.
Speaker 4 (36:19):
Wow, we are getting somewhere.
We are getting somewhere.
Yeah, so that means maybe wehave something.
But then 26% for lifetime isvery small because maybe in the
first five years that 100,000will get depleted so quickly.
Because you need to paysalaries, you need to pay, maybe
, for an office space you needlike there are so many expenses
(36:43):
that come up with taking orpicking a startup ground up or
building a startup ground upthat the money that the initial
investor gave you is not enoughto continue or to sustain the
startup.
So when you get anotherinvestor in the future, will you
be able to that?
(37:06):
20% was already taken.
That means that we have to goback to our equity and actually
give out a stake, but the veryfirst initial investor will not
be able to agree to that.
So there are a lot of contractsand fine prints that you have to
look at in the initial stagesof your startup when you're
starting out.
I actually have an example.
(37:27):
There's a friend of mine whomthey got into this startup.
They got the money.
It was good at the start and itwas good.
Took them, I think, one year tovalidate the idea and they got
to market and it was doing well.
But the idea was so good thatit was featured for the in the
Google Startups 2022.
(37:51):
That attracted funding from YCor Y Combinator.
Now, if you know Y Combinator,you know Y Combinator Like
that's one of the best fundingyou can get for your startup.
Yes, now the initial contractthey had signed actually didn't
allow them to get signed on by YCombinator.
(38:15):
Oh, wow, and Y Combinator ishere giving you millions Wow.
But this person just gave yousome 100K and now you can't move
, spent so much money.
They spent so much money goingback and forth with lawyers and
paying per hour, those billingin the US, kind of things.
(38:36):
So they've wasted so much moneytrying to get out of this
contract that they had signedwith the initial investor.
That's not serving them.
And now here they are, spendingthe money they should have used
to scale up and expand to othercountries to resolve a legal
issue.
So it's very, very importantand that's why we say the very
(38:57):
first step is to actually get alawyer on board, consult with a
legal entity and see whatexactly am I signing up for and
how can I protect my idea,regardless of who funds me.
Read the fine print.
Speaker 3 (39:14):
So a big question that you each and every point
you're saying funding, funding,funding.
Speaker 4 (39:19):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (39:20):
We have a community of kids.
Yes, they build good solution,skillable solution.
But as saying funding, fundingeach and every time, why can't
we not just push up and then thecustomer will pay our bills?
Because if we sit down and eachand every time say, funding
(39:43):
mostly, we are not seeking fundsfrom, let's say, africa,
because we are trying to grow,us seeking from outside.
There's that mindset.
We have seen the bigs and thebig tech companies closing yes.
So with huge funding.
Speaker 4 (39:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (40:00):
So, and I think what I think is the funding that
you're getting here, they arediverting your direction.
Speaker 4 (40:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (40:07):
And yet, you know I'm solving this problem, but they
are telling you, telling you,let's pivot.
So how can we, with the talentthat we have, help it to
bootstrap and not fully rely onfunding?
Let it find on the way so wecan decide if we want or drop it
(40:28):
.
Oh, absolutely actually,because I think on the way so we
can decide if we want or dropit.
Speaker 4 (40:30):
Oh, absolutely actually, because I think we are
not saying that you rely onfunding throughout.
We're saying that if you wantscalability or, depending on the
magnitude of your idea, whatexactly, what's the vision?
We say that you have.
You think about your solutionand where you want to go, but
also sometimes, maybe, with theresources that are needed.
(40:53):
The resources that are neededto bring that to life are not,
maybe, something that you canbootstrap, but now that's why I
talked about an MVP Create,maybe, an MVP, validate it in
the market, then work around arevenue stream from that MVP and
see if whatever you are able toplow back can actually help you
(41:14):
scale the company.
Actually, I think it's verymuch about who do you have on
your team and where do you wantto go, because you have an idea.
We are developers.
We've come up with an idea.
We want to strategize around it.
I think the problem with us asdevelopers sometimes is that we
come up with something and boom,we are ready, or we don't even
(41:39):
want to.
It's the same thing that wetalked about on collaboration.
Are we bringing someone else onboard to help us think about?
Okay, you as a developer.
Can you actually come up with abusiness model?
No, no.
Can you identify Now that thediv has been centered and the
API is fetching?
Are you actually can you thinkabout this from a business point
(42:03):
of view?
Because that's actually wherewe miss it, because sometimes, I
mean, there's been also thatstory of people coming up with
ideas and and now here we are,you're getting the funding, you
misuse the money, you failedafter two years, right yeah.
So, as a developer, if you wantto scale this further, you need
to think about, okay, thebusiness aspect of it.
(42:25):
Is it sustainable?
Is it viable?
How can we scale it?
How many streams of income canwe get out of this and how can
that sustain the business in thelong run?
I think that's very, veryimportant.
So forget about the funding.
The business aspect of thatproduct needs to be very much
viable for you to scale,regardless of whether you have
(42:46):
funding or not.
Speaker 2 (42:48):
Yes, that's a very good point that I think even
most devs overlook.
Yes, you think that againbecause the div is centered and
your API is fetching responses.
Pub success.
Speaker 4 (43:00):
All of them 200.
Okay.
Speaker 2 (43:04):
All of them.
Yeah, yes, yes, yes, we tend toassume a lot of things.
Speaker 4 (43:09):
Yes, we do.
Speaker 2 (43:09):
Especially the business aspect and the legal
aspect.
Those two we do not look at asmuch.
Speaker 4 (43:14):
We actually don't think about them, we don't.
Speaker 2 (43:16):
They're very important.
Yes yes.
So if you were to give thistech space three main arms,
Mambo ni Matatu, if you were togive it three main arms that are
very essential in growth and inscaling, yes, maybe, such as
collaboration and the like.
So it would be three mainaspects or arms.
Speaker 4 (43:40):
Hmm, If I get your question, you're saying the
three main factors or arms.
Speaker 2 (43:52):
Yeah, there are definitely more but maybe three
that you think are very key.
Maybe one which has come up alot has been collaboration.
That could be one aspect thatis very key in order to grow the
tech field?
Speaker 4 (44:03):
Yes, so two others, the two others so collaboration.
The other one is viabilitystroke sustainability, because
it's not enough for you to buildsomething once it's about the
future of it.
(44:23):
Is it sustainable?
Is it something?
Then?
The other thing I would say isflexibility.
It ties more into thesustainability of it, because
times are changing.
Maybe the products you hadyesterday is not something
that's needed today.
I was talking with one of mymentors the other day and one of
(44:43):
the things that came up wasI've been constantly consulting
in data analytics and technicalwriting, and one of the things
that has come up now with the AIis how can I then position
myself in the face of AI tostill deliver what I was
delivering, but with a morefocus?
So I shouldn't treat this as athreat, or AI as a threat or a
(45:08):
competition.
I should treat it as a tool.
A threat or AI as a threat or acompetition?
I should treat it as a tool andso, as a business, I need to
think about, then how do Ireposition myself or my products
to fit into this new market orto these new changes in the
industry, such that it can besustainable even with the
changing times.
(45:28):
Let's take an example right now.
Let's take an example right now.
Let's say you are working as ae-rotech company that is
offering land cables physicalland cables to connect to the
internet directly from theserver to people's desks, to
(45:52):
connect to the internet, forexample.
Wow, okay, so then COVID hashit.
Covid has hit and people haveto work from home.
Do you go home as?
Speaker 2 (46:01):
a business.
Do you increase the length ofyour land cables?
Do you increase?
Speaker 4 (46:05):
the length.
Do you increase the length ofyour land cables to get to
Kinovo?
Yes, so that's one of theexamples I'll give in terms of
flexibility and also how fastyou're able to keep up with the
market and what is needed,because right now things keep
changing your products.
There's a way you can actuallywork with.
(46:27):
You can reposition your productto make sure that, regardless
of the changing times, then youcan still offer the value that
you are offering.
Okay, you are doing land cables.
Let's talk about wirelessconnectivity.
Yeah, how then can youaccommodate that in whatever you
are having?
What part of your product canyou pivot to make sure that it
(46:48):
accommodates this new change inthe market?
So I would say collaboration,sustainability and business
viability.
And the other one is theflexibility to keep up.
Speaker 2 (46:58):
Alright.
So those three Collaboration,sustainability and flexibility
yes, and seeing as you have beenin the tech industry for a
minute couple of years, howwould you say in each of the
three the trends have been sofar?
Are we getting better, poorer?
What are some things that havebeen working and what has not?
You can start one at a time.
Speaker 4 (47:19):
Okay.
So collaboration I feel like wedefinitely have a long way to
go in terms of collaboration,because people want to eat the
money alone.
So I feel like this is purelymy personal opinion I feel like
people could collaborate a bitmore to be able to get the
expertise that they want intheir team, without necessarily
having to rely on funding or anexternal person to come and help
(47:42):
them with that.
You don't need to wait to fail.
You can always pivot and findways of working around that.
I feel like we could do betterwith that.
We could do better with thecollaboration to just get expert
support to build with a dreamthat we wanted to build.
Then the other part onflexibility I don't know.
(48:07):
I feel like, in terms of peopleare not really willing.
A lot of people are not reallywilling.
A lot of people are not willingto let go of their original
idea.
If you wanted to build a shopas part of your generational
wealth, you believe that maybethe supermarket is the way to go
, maybe e-commerce could dobetter for the next generation
(48:30):
in your family, but you're notwilling to let go of that idea
that your great-grandmother hadfor this shop.
So it's one of those thingsthat people need to be flexible
enough to.
I mean, I'm not saying thatjump onto every trend that's
coming up, but we're also sayingbe flexible enough to know
what's going on and how we canaccommodate it in that same
(48:56):
wavelength of building yourbusiness.
So I feel like in all thosethree sectors, we can actually
do better.
We are making strides, peopleare collaborating a bit more,
but I'm hoping to see you see,when you talk about tech
startups, I want to see more ofmaybe a tech person
(49:18):
collaborating with someone in antech field.
Okay, how can we combine thisfinance with tech?
How can we have maybe someonein law combining with someone in
tech Like that?
There's something unique thatevery industry brings.
We have maybe someone in lawcombining with someone in tech.
There's something unique thatevery industry brings.
And that's why we started bysaying that let's think about
how we can apply tech beyond.
Speaker 3 (49:42):
But one of the big problems is when you are going
to as techies, you're going tocollaborate in different spaces
like in different industries,you find that the people of
other industries are resilientto release information.
Speaker 4 (50:00):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (50:01):
Because they are saying I'm trying to eradicate
this, I'm running you arereplacing them, yeah.
I'm in one of the startupscalled Kair Insurance, so in
that startup we called KairiInsurance.
In that startup we want torevitalize insurance.
When they are trying to do that, it becomes difficult because
(50:22):
when you go to the people whohave been there, they're saying
you want to take off my job,where will I take it?
We are trying to make it easier.
There's one big question that Iask each and every time I leave
the community and have adiscussion with them.
I'm not mentioning names, but Ithink Posta can do better.
Speaker 4 (50:44):
Posta there, posta there Way, way better.
Speaker 3 (50:47):
We don't even hear of them anymore, but I think with
the people there and differentgenerations there, this
generation thing, that theybring in Gen Z their focus is
this Sometimes they are right,but it's more of these people
(51:09):
like yes, they are ahead of GenZ, yes, but at least give them
guidance, not restricting them,because at least that will make
things grow.
But no one wants to do that.
And how can we, like, tell them, like, even if you're trying to
show them the future, they arelike this is the future.
Speaker 4 (51:28):
Yeah.
And not that's the future Ithink change is difficult to
embrace, very difficult, and Ithink now, when you think about
traditional, when you look attraditional corporate,
traditional corporate is weird.
It's one of those corporateenvironments that has a lot of
(51:50):
gatekeepers, yeah, yes, and Ithink a lot of gatekeepers, yes,
and I think a lot ofgatekeepers in corporate, and
I'm talking about gatekeepers interms of growth, and people are
resistant to change, resistantto change in terms of technology
and the adoption of it, thereof.
They are doing it out of fear.
Yeah.
And the fear is based off oflack of knowledge.
(52:13):
Yeah, I mean, you remember thevery first time we started
talking about GPT?
Yeah, it was more of somethingthat was.
Even developers were afraid.
I mean, we all don't want toaccept yes.
Speaker 3 (52:26):
Yes.
Speaker 4 (52:27):
Almost every time you think about something that's
going to replace you, so ofcourse, you'll be afraid.
True, true, true.
So these guys in traditionalcorporate are also very much
afraid of being replaced.
So it's the knowledge that welack.
It's the knowledge that theylack.
So I'm thinking about the guysat the insurance you mentioned
(52:50):
and how we can communicate thatthe technology that we are
trying to bring here, maybe weare reducing paperwork.
For a start, I need to educateyou more on why we are doing
this, why the paperwork is notserving us anymore, and how you
can use this technology as atool and not something that
(53:13):
replaces you.
How can you use it to youradvantage?
True, because it's the samething that we said.
Right now, maybe in my line ofwork, I print papers or I send
out insurance copies for peopleto sign.
How can then?
How can then?
How can we?
How can I tell you, as aninsurance broker inside the
(53:35):
company, that you know you cando this from your computer
without necessarily having to goout there to look for this
person to sign and coming backto print again and send it back
to me and scan and all that.
So I'm giving it to you, I'mexplaining this technology to
you from a place of how it canhelp you and not necessarily how
it can replace you.
(53:56):
So let's focus more onpreaching tech or automation of
any manner from a place of atool, more than something that
replaces people, because that'swhat brings the fear.
But we have a long way to go.
I know I've developed systemsand waited for people to use
(54:18):
them and still taking some time,but I've been paid for it.
Speaker 3 (54:24):
So how has the experience been?
Like You've said, you've beenbuilding solutions, yes, and no
one has been using.
Speaker 4 (54:31):
Oh people there's a lot of resistance Every time you
automate things in a workenvironment.
There's that resistance that itfaces in the first, maybe three
months, before someone actuallyembraces it or an authority
figure comes from the top andsays that you guys have to use
this.
It's a whole changeover processthat I think every company
(54:56):
should have.
Have, maybe, a change advisoryboard that makes sure that once
a system is built, you're ableto follow through, because
people are afraid of using thesystem or they are used to their
own.
There's someone who told me thatI find writing easier.
Why should I just keep typing?
They actually want to handwriteto fill a form when they can
(55:19):
actually fill that form from mycomputer or from their computer.
So it's because they're used tothat.
They're used to that.
So that resistance that comesis very normal.
I'm so used to it right now.
But I think it requires somesort of people are in charge of
ensuring that, whateverdirection that we want to go as
(55:39):
a company or as an organization,that someone is enforcing that
to ensure that people canactually use the tools that we
are building for them, becausewe never move forward.
Maybe this is just the firstleg of automation and it can
help us achieve more results.
Speaker 2 (55:57):
That's very true because, you see, as humans,
naturally we fear change.
Yes, we do, and technology is afield that is always changing,
it's ever-changing andeverything is new.
It's sort of this picture thatI once saw somewhere, where
there was someone on the cliff.
So you can imagine standing onthe cliff, you really do not
want to look at the bottom, butthen I don't remember if it was
(56:18):
someone telling them was it God?
Was it internal?
I have no idea, but someone wassaying jump and the person was
asking what if I fall?
And then the other response wasbut what if you fly?
So we keep on looking attechnology from this angle of
hey, what if?
But what if you fly?
So we keep on looking attechnology from this angle of
hey, what if we fall?
What if we fail?
What?
If it ruins everything.
Yet this could be the very keyto unlock levels of development
(56:39):
that we have not seen so far,yet we have the capacity to.
So we should try to look at itfrom an angle of what if we fly,
what if we take off andsuddenly, from now, using the
Kenyan shilling and not thedollar?
We could do a lot.
We really could do a lot.
I love that tick.
There's a question Question.
(57:02):
Yes, yes, maybe you canintroduce yourself and then ask
your question.
Speaker 1 (57:08):
Hello, my name is Edward.
I'm an engineer in AfricaStocking.
I would like to ask for thingslike cryptocurrency.
Do we see a situation wherebyin Africa, we use cryptocurrency
in a transactional manner, notfor the purpose of buying and
(57:29):
selling, basically not forspeculative purposes like?
How do you see that?
Speaker 4 (57:35):
So far?
How is the speculation going?
Because I think I think, whenit comes to cryptocurrency,
there's a lot of governancearound it, and I mean anything
currency.
Anything currency is very muchinvolved within the government
and has a lot of bureaucracy interms of policy making.
(57:59):
And I think tech is like whatyou were saying with corporate
world We've done some smallproducts.
It's not being pushed, it's notbeing used because people are
gatekeeping that.
But when blockchain, um, all thetime came around, people are so
focused on like it was such abuzzword that everyone wanted.
(58:21):
I mean, I even wrote an articleabout how to use uh, ethereum
and web3 and all that.
I mean we were all ready tojump onto this Web3, right, and
it has become for me, most ofthe blockchain companies that
I've interacted with, all thepeople that work there.
It has been more of therelations aspect of it, the
(58:45):
community aspect of it, and lessabout the practicality of how
to use it.
I mean there was someconversation around I don't know
, using it to count livestock inKenya.
There was something about that.
Sometimes back it was neverused.
Speaker 3 (59:03):
But I know a startup that is basically using it to.
It's like they are raising.
You see, these dead assets.
Speaker 4 (59:12):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (59:13):
Like you can maybe use that you go as to the bank
to use it as collateral.
Speaker 4 (59:18):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (59:18):
And then they can get loan instead of selling you or
maybe your goat to pay, maybesome fee.
Speaker 4 (59:24):
They can use a security, a loan security.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeahyeah, wow, please introduce me
to them.
I have some $200 somewhere.
Speaker 3 (59:34):
But the big issues come in, is they're saying it is
immutable, yeah.
And what is built by man, wecan do it.
Yeah, to make matters worse, weare the one who are creating
the nodes.
Speaker 4 (59:45):
Yes, yes.
So it's not secure enough,because I think, when it came,
the whole concept ofdecentralization was very much
like oh yeah, it's a globalcurrency, you can do it, you can
transact from anywhere, and allthat governance and policies
(01:00:08):
was, I think, sometimes inNigeria, sometimes back, I think
2021, 2020.
In Nigeria, the central banktheir version of central bank of
Kenya, central bank of Nigeriabanned it, so you actually can't
use it as a currency.
So you see, it's already facinga lot of backlash from the
people actually supposed toauthorize it to be used as a
(01:00:30):
currency.
So I mean, I want to bepositive, but the volatility of
it also doesn't help, becausetoday things are up and running,
tomorrow things are shaky.
So even you can't trust becauseif you make the transaction
today, what happens tomorrow?
But what I'm actually moreinterested in right now is the
(01:00:51):
tokens, the token, anything,tokenization and how you can
apply the concept of tokens totransact.
That's actually something thatI see will attract a bit more
stability as compared tocryptocurrency because of the
volatility of it.
Now, backlash from thegovernment, I think the
(01:01:12):
government unless they cometogether, and I think the
problem in Africa right now isthe fact that we really don't
make decisions on our own.
Our governments don't makedecisions alone.
There's some sort of I mean, wecan't control the shilling
right now and all these things.
(01:01:33):
All these things the dollarrate, all this, the pound rate,
all this currency issues withcurrency are very much affected
by governance, and it's not justinternally within a country.
It has to be global.
So those are kind of globalsolutions that are needed for it
to be a global currency, forexample.
Speaker 2 (01:01:57):
So that's evolution in the currency side.
Yes, We've seen currency movefrom.
If we're going way back, wecould start with from butter
trade Butter trade.
Speaker 4 (01:02:06):
Please bring your goat.
Speaker 2 (01:02:07):
I bring my coffee From grains and cereals and
exchange of goods to actuallypaper.
We are thriving in the M-Pesaera, and then there's
cryptocurrency that's now comingup.
What are maybe two othersectors that you would love to
see evolve with time in theAfrican setting?
Currency is maybe one of themthat has gone through the test
(01:02:30):
of time.
So two others that would beinteresting to see change with
time.
Speaker 4 (01:02:39):
I think when you talk about the internet, just the
internet, the power of it, thesocial media, the globalization,
the interconnectivity of it.
I mean right now, when you lookat the social media and how
people are able to create jobsfrom TikTok and all these other
areas, you can see that there'ssomething there.
(01:03:00):
The problem is, I've never seena social media application
coming from Africa Do we have.
And whenever we have social orsocial based or product based
tech products, we never really,you see, like the way Twitter is
paying people, you can see howTikTok is paying people,
(01:03:22):
sometimes the Facebookmarketplace, all these
applications they found a waythat the users are not just
users, they are users that arealso benefiting from.
Like there's a revenue streamthat is also benefiting the user
.
So I think one of the thingsthat I'm hoping to see in Africa
is someone actually coming upwith ways, and that's why I
(01:03:46):
mentioned the issue of, or theconcept of, tokens.
Like what else can you come upwith that actually like you're
not just begging us to sign upto your application there's a
subsidy to it or there's anadvantage to it.
so I think people should startthinking more into your.
Users are not just your user,they are your customers, but
(01:04:08):
they can also benefit from yourapplication.
So make that two-way revenuestream and let's see how best we
can build something that'sglobal but also very sustainable
, something built by us for us,something by us for us, for sure
.
Speaker 3 (01:04:25):
This lovely product that Africa's talking is yet to
give us.
Speaker 2 (01:04:32):
Watch this space.
Speaker 4 (01:04:33):
Watch this space.
Watch this space.
I'll be here.
Speaker 2 (01:04:36):
There's a good product built by us, for us, and
soon when you see the name inplaces.
Please, I'm looking forward.
It sounds just like the productyou've described, wow.
Speaker 3 (01:04:47):
Yeah, exactly that would be so nice.
I think the who and the who ofAfrica's Talking should hear
exactly that would be so nice.
I think the who and the who ofAfrica's talking should hear him
.
That would be nice.
And basically we put you inPlease.
Speaker 4 (01:04:59):
Is my employer listening, but that would
definitely be.
Yeah, that would actually bevery, very, very good yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:05:08):
Yeah, we're looking forward to seeing that day, but
you said a very interestingthing.
I'd love to see a social mediaplatform.
For us by Africans For Africans.
Yes, we know what we like.
Let's actually have the emojis.
Do things.
Speaker 4 (01:05:22):
Can.
Speaker 2 (01:05:23):
I have an emoji with the three fingers, like because
Mambo is a tattoo.
Speaker 4 (01:05:26):
Yes, I mean yeah Because yes and how they.
I mean yeah, yes, and how they.
I think when you think aboutthe concept of localization.
I was recently researching moreon that and I realized that
sometimes some of the productsthat do well are the ones that
are contextual to theenvironment they're built for.
(01:05:47):
Because, I mean, originallyTikTok was built for the country
it comes from.
It had to be.
All right, welcome to today's meetup to our online
and physical audience.
We are at Africa's Talkingheadquarters in Lovington.
Africa's Talking being acompany that powers
(00:34):
communication solutions allacross Africa, do this by
providing communication APIs inthe form of SMSs, voice airtime
and USSD.
With us today we have a lovelyguest and we'll be delving deep
(00:57):
into the topic of empowering theAfrican tech evolution.
Tech evolution.
We'll get to hear nuggets andinsights about bridging the gap
and seizing the future For ouraudience following along online.
Feel free to ask your questionsand we'll be able to get to
(01:22):
them and answer.
That being said, let us getstarted.
Before we begin, we'll do asimple introduction of the
voices.
You'll be hearing a lot thisevening.
Myself, I am Sylvia Jabet, fromAfrica's Talking in Developer
Relations.
I will now hand over to ourcommunity lead, who will
(01:44):
introduce himself and introduceour guest.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Oh, hi everyone.
I'm Josphat Mwangi, africa'sTalking Community Lead, nairobi,
and I'm a foster active.
Yeah, so we'll hand over to ourlovely guest, who will
introduce themselves, tell uswhat she does and tell us more
(02:08):
about her.
Speaker 4 (02:09):
Okay, thank you.
So my name is Faith Kilonzi.
I am a full-stack softwareengineer.
I'm currently working withKenya Oasis.
I'm also a student.
I am a Master's of Science inBig Data Technology student at
(02:31):
the University of East London,currently on my final semester,
and I'm also a podcaster.
I host the Global Tech Sellerspodcast where we talk about all
things tech and very muchexcited to be here.
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Awesome.
You are a podcaster, so thisshould be something you will
particularly enjoy.
But it's interesting to hearthat you are working and you are
also studying in the tech field.
Tell us a bit about that.
How's that juggle for you rightnow?
Speaker 4 (02:57):
Definitely not easy, but very much doable.
Actually, when I started, I wasa full-time software engineer
actually, but at some point Iwas like I've always wanted to
do masters because I have somelove for research and also
academia, a bit of that.
(03:17):
So I was always I'm alwaysdoing multiple jobs or multiple
things at the same time.
So school was just one of thosethings that I felt like I had
some extra time Then.
Yeah, it requires a lot ofdiscipline also to balance, but
very much doable so far, butit's self-paced so it's not so
(03:39):
hard.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Yes, that's a very interesting angle to it.
School is what you do when youhave some free time.
That's quite a statement forsome of us, school was because
we started, we had to finish,and here you are, using your
free time in school.
Speaker 4 (03:57):
I think it depends on where you thrive at.
I think I thrive best in anacademic background.
I think I thrive best in anacademic background, so school
is one of those places thatmakes me, I think, validates me
to some extent.
So I feel like school bringsout the best in me.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Yes, that's a very good way to put it.
And you said you're doing yourmaster's right now.
Yes, yes.
So what did you do in yourundergraduate?
Speaker 4 (04:31):
I actually did a bachelor's of science in
computer science as well.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Yes, in the country.
No, no, no, I did it in AshersUniversity in Ghana.
Ah, in Ghana, yes, wow, tell usa bit about that experience.
You've been an internationalstudent ever since you finished
high school or even before atthis point.
Speaker 4 (04:41):
No, no, no.
I actually did my high schoolin Kenya.
I did my high school in Kenya.
Then after that I was very sureI didn't want to study in this
country.
I wanted to study outside.
So one of the things that I didimmediately after high school
was take community serviceprojects, just anything that
would put me in the spotlight ofgetting a scholarship, and also
(05:03):
just doing SATs to apply to mein the spotlight of getting a
scholarship and also just doingSATs to apply to schools in the
US, in the UK, yeah.
But then Ghana happened firstand I was like this is a good
opportunity so I might as welltake it.
Yeah, so that's how I ended upin Ghana.
Yes, Interesting.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
so you studied in Ghana.
You're currently working inKenya and studying for a
university that's UK-based, ifI'm not wrong.
Yes, it's UK-based.
Ah, wow, quite the globalcitizen we have over here.
Really, love to see it, love tosee it, yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
So you said you're a full-stack.
Yes, yes Can you just tell us,basically like a synopsis about
the journey how has it been?
Speaker 4 (05:47):
Okay, so I was actually a business student at
some point when I moved to Ghana.
I was a business administrationstudent but just happened to go
to a university that was aliberal arts college.
That, in the first year, givesyou opportunity to explore
(06:07):
different fields, so I wouldexplore different subjects.
I did a bit of engineering, Idid a bit of entrepreneurship,
calculus, programming.
Then, in the course of thatdiscovery, I realized that I
actually loved coding more.
So that's actually how Istarted getting into computer
(06:27):
science.
So I switched in my second yeartowards my third year.
I had to do multiple courses atthe same time to just keep up
with the rest of the people andgraduate around the same time.
But then, while still in school, I did a bit of projects, then
some internships.
I would actually come back toKenya and do a bit of
(06:48):
internships.
My first internship was actuallyin a payment and fintech
company.
Yes, so that's actually how Ihad of Africa stocking at the
time.
It was actually somewhere in2017.
I mean, I wasn't so good at theprogramming at the time.
It was actually somewhere in2017.
I mean, I wasn't so good at theprogramming at the time.
I was just doing basics of HTML, css and JavaScript, but I knew
(07:12):
I wanted to be a developer.
After that just built projectson the side.
Then, immediately after schoolactually before I graduated I
got a job to work in aconsultancy firm in Ghana and
that's how I now became anassociate software developer in
the company, and since then I'veworked in banking, I've worked
(07:32):
in majorly consulting and rightnow in the airline business.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Yes, Wow, that is quite the journey.
I love that if there's adeveloper who's listening in and
they just have just writtentheir first HTML script, they
have a page with zero CSS andjust their name there, or hello
world.
And they're now thinking thisis possible.
This is very doable, right?
Very doable.
Speaker 4 (07:59):
Yeah, we all start somewhere.
Yes, we do, we do.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
We do, please we do.
That's very nice.
It's also very interesting thatyou had the chance to explore
and try out a few things andrealize that this programming,
this is the one.
I think this is the one.
Speaker 4 (08:13):
Actually, I think that's one of the best things
that happened to me in my career, because if I didn't have that
exposure, maybe I would haveended up I mean, I wasn't a bad
business student but I don'tthink I would have enjoyed it as
much as I enjoy my current role.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Yes, so, for you, the tech field lured you in and,
specifically since at the timeyou were in Africa, africa's
tech field, at that time, whatexactly?
Was very intriguing.
Speaker 4 (08:40):
I think at the time we were just doing a bit of
Facebook developers communitygroup in Accra.
Those were some of the thingsthat we would do.
A Google developers clubstarted in our school around the
same time, but a lot of theconversation at the time was
mostly just web.
(09:01):
I was interested in the webdevelopment.
I would get excited about othertechnologies, but not mostly.
I was more focused on the web.
It was very much exciting.
I actually thought I would endup in FinTech because that was
some of the main companies Iworked with in the first first
(09:21):
times and that's how I ended upin banking.
Yes, that was your area.
Ended up in banking yes, thatwas your area.
Yes, that was my area.
I enjoy a bit of paymentsintegration and all the API
aspect of things.
I'm actually I like to say I'mnot a full stack developer, but
if I had to choose, I alwayschoose backend, so that's why
(09:42):
that's my area.
Yes, so this story of that's myarea yes, so this story of
aligning divs buttons, Centeringdivs, like today.
I had such a hard time trying tochange a date picker in
TypeScript and I was like Ican't be doing this.
They wanted a 24 format, then Iwas doing it in 12 hours and
(10:09):
now they actually want to editit in text field and I was like
it's so mundane.
Yes, that's one of the thingsthat the repetitiveness of the
front end is where the issue isat.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Yes, it's good to know where your strength lies
and what you prefer.
Yes, makes work a lot easierfor you.
Yes, yes, and it's veryinteresting that in your journey
you've mentioned communities.
Here at Africa's Talking, wehave quite the community.
Yes, it's ranked top 1%developer community engagement
in the world Wow.
So if we were ranking on globalstandards, they would say that
(10:47):
the engagement in our communityis at the top 1%.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
Actually, I think at the time when I started out, I
think almost every developerplans on buildings and apps that
can make them some money andone of the things we were
working with at the time wastrying to do some SMS
integrations and that's how Iactually discovered Africa's
Talking, because I think at thetime was trying to do some SMS
integrations and that's how Iactually discovered Africa's
Talking, because I think at thetime, people thought around 2017
(11:09):
, 2018, people are so much intobulk SMS integration, so that's
one of the things.
That's how I discoveredAfrica's Talking.
So, yes, I've heard of them.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
So you are part of our dev community.
Speaker 4 (11:25):
At least I've used the documentation.
Wow, so you are part of our devcommunity.
At least I've used thedocumentation.
How was it?
Speaker 3 (11:29):
How was the documentation?
Speaker 4 (11:31):
How was the documentation Easy to follow?
I'm actually a technical writer, so I am able to follow through
a lot of these things because Iwrite documentation on the side
.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Yes, Ah, that's very good to hear because it shows
that the community is actuallyyes, the community is actually
working.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
Please, your job is safe.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Wow, wow.
So you can attest tocommunities being part of the
reason why the tech industry inAfrica is really booming and is
growing at a faster rate.
Speaker 4 (12:09):
Yes, yes, yes.
I think when people preach techthey just preach it as a make
money quick scheme kind of thing, with a lot of boot camps
coming up, people making courseshere and there and all that.
But it's also quite a lonelyjourney.
If you're doing it on your ownand sometimes it's very it
(12:33):
requires a lot of mental tensionand the exhaustion that comes
with that makes you feel veryalone if you don't have someone
to help you debug, for example,or if you're facing issues and
you don't have someone to walkthe journey with you.
So I think communities justgive you that support to know
(12:55):
that you're not going throughthis alone.
You can always consult, you canalways get to hear what other
people are building.
If you've run out of ideas andyou also, you can come together
and create something greattogether.
So it's communities.
Communities have helped me alot personally and I think they
are very helpful in this journey.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
Yeah, and you've said a very key thing Most people
get into tech and just imaginethat the first app you build
will boom.
Yeah.
It will be the next Facebookand the next.
Meta and you'll be abillionaire, a bazillionaire
overnight, yes, which reallydoes not happen.
There's a lot of patienceinvolved, that's true.
There's a lot of learning andgrowth and seeing progress.
(13:35):
Progress is not becoming asuperstar overnight.
Yes, seeing one step that haschanged tomorrow.
Yes, seeing two steps you'vemoved the next day.
Speaker 4 (13:44):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
And, yeah, that's where community comes in People,
hold your hand, people guideyou through and you do not feel
alone.
That's true.
Speaker 4 (13:51):
That's very important .
Speaker 3 (13:52):
So how many years can you say you have been in the
tech field?
Speaker 4 (13:58):
Okay, so I would actually just say four to five
years professionally, like sinceschool.
But since school I'd say likesix, Six solid, when I knew what
I was doing, not when I wasdoing Hello World, my App and
all those other tutorial-basedapplications that we always put
(14:22):
on our learning.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
I've seen you being in at least a good century, a
good time, in the tech field.
So the big question that one ofour audience previously asked
in the last meetup is Africabehind in terms of tech?
Speaker 4 (14:43):
That's an interesting question, but I think Africa
Africa is where it's supposed tobe, but it's making strides.
I think every time we usedifferent, or we read about
Africa, or we talk about Africaand Africa's development in
various sectors.
We talk about Africa andAfrica's development in various
(15:03):
sectors.
We never really give credit tothe fact that when people were
starting out, we were like 10steps behind.
So where we are at right now Imean how many startups have come
up since tech started boomingin Africa?
So many, so much funding isbeing pumped in Africa.
(15:24):
So many startups are coming up.
So many people are gettingemployed within and outside
Africa.
So I don't think we are actuallybehind.
We could do better, for sure,and we're making the strides,
but we have to give the creditto ourselves because people are
working out here.
I mean when you hear and alsosomething else is that because
(15:45):
of our economic situation in ourvarious countries, we never
really get enough exposure andalso the enough capital and
funding to even, I mean, someonemight have a very good
application or product lying intheir GitHub repository because
they don't have the right meansto take it out there.
(16:07):
So I feel like we're makingstrides.
We could do better with a bitof support, and I'm sure all
these things are coming together.
I'm very positive.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
There are three things you have mentioned.
Let's start with one.
Like that, we can do better.
Speaker 4 (16:22):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
So the big question is what are the steps for us to
do better?
Speaker 4 (16:28):
What are the steps to do better?
Speaker 3 (16:30):
I was actually.
What's the roadmap?
Speaker 4 (16:32):
What's the roadmap?
What's the roadmap?
Yeah, okay, so I think, for astart, one of the things that we
can start with is in oureducation, in our education
system.
Sometimes I think we weretalking about is in our
education, in our educationsystem sometimes.
I think we were talking aboutthis in our podcast.
There we were talking aboutdigital literacy in Africa and
(16:52):
one of the things that came upwas that right now, in as much
as people like there's someonestill in the tech scene or in a
corporate environment that hasnever even used chat, gpt since
we started talking about it,they don't even know what it's
about.
Like, they think of tech asTikTok.
Yes, you remember when Facebookcame out and someone was like.
(17:17):
Someone was like yo, if you getinto Facebook, if you sign up,
they're going to use your data,they're going to take you to
Shakaola.
It was painted as somethingdemonic.
I mean, that's an example I'mgiving, but one of the things
(17:39):
that I think what I'm trying tosay is in our education system,
people are not curious enough.
But that's not for study inschool.
I think when you're taught toget into finance, you're just
focused on the books, thebalancing of the books.
If you're a medical doctor,you're more focused on treating
(18:02):
the patient and going home.
People are so focused in theirindividual fields that they
never think about how they canapply tech in those fields.
So I am thinking that one ofthe steps that we can do is
expose tech and apply tech inalmost every aspect, because you
don't need to be a softwaredeveloper to be talking about
(18:22):
tech.
You can be coming up with thenext solution using technology
in your field of work, in youraccounting business, in your
medical business or something ofthat sort.
So I think one of the steps thatwe can make is I mean, when you
watch Shark Tank, you alwaysfind people that are in totally
(18:44):
unrelated fields applyingtechnology.
You're like, oh so we canactually Now imagine someone who
came up with a washing machine.
I mean, that's technology beingused right there, right, but
let someone sat down realizethat this washing dishes is so
redundant or it's so annoyingtedious.
So let me find a way.
(19:04):
How can I make it better?
So I don't think we are taughtto be problems of us from day
one.
We are taught to go throughthis path finish, get a job and
spend 10 years in that careerand get pension, go home right,
so we don't like figuring analternative of making our work
easier, so I hope that that canbe accommodated in our education
(19:28):
system, but also even as adults.
You don't need to be a softwaredeveloper to come up with the
next big thing.
You can come up with it ifyou're a plumber.
How can you make it moreefficient?
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Yes, I love that approach that tech transcends
every field.
Speaker 4 (19:45):
yes, it transcends every industry, and so you do
not have to write code toactually bring tech solutions
yes, because right now, imagineif we had to rely on software
developers and CTOs and devroles and people in the tech
scene to actually come up withthe solutions.
But we didn't go far, becausethe things that actually need
(20:08):
innovation are not within thetech sector, they are beyond the
tech sector.
So we actually I think peoplejust need to open up their minds
and realize okay, there's thisthing called technology, how can
I apply it in my day-to-daywork and how can we move from
here?
You don't need to think aboutthe how to implement it.
(20:30):
You can think about okay, I'm anormal user, I'm come out in
the workshop, how can I makesure that this workshop will run
efficiently with the use oftechnology?
I don't need to think about thehow.
I can always consult atechnologist X, y, z and all
that.
Yes, I think almost when youthink about our.
(20:52):
Every time you're creative oryou're trying to come up with
something, every time you thinkabout the how it stops there.
But if you block every kind ofdoubt and imagine all the
wildest in your wildest dreamswhat you can come up with, you'd
actually come up with a verygood solution to almost anything
(21:15):
that you're thinking about bythe moment you start thinking if
I want this UI to look likethis and I don't know, maybe
material UI then you won't do.
You won't go far.
So don't think about the tool,think about the final result.
You figure out the journey asyou go that's an interesting way
of looking at it.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
And now, since you mentioned education and you said
that's one of the ways that wecould improve, that, we could
work on just implementing it inour education system right from
a younger age.
Let's do something interesting,let's make it fun, let's play,
pretend so to say you are nowthe cabinet secretary Woo In
charge of education, or evenscratch that there is a global
(21:59):
parliament and you are theminister of education in the
global.
Speaker 3 (22:04):
All the climate summits.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
You're now giving your suggestions in the
education field, how we canincorporate tech better or a
better, or to increase the paceat which the tech revolution is
happening.
What are random ideas you wouldhave?
Speaker 4 (22:21):
Wow, please, can we IP whatever I'm about to say
because I might use it as mynext solution, but one of the
things that I think, one of thethings that I think should be
put in our curriculum right now,is I want I envision a world
(22:42):
where the industry is workingwith the education system hand
to hand.
Let it not be academic sectorand now industry, you finish
school, maybe.
I think let's start with.
Let me give an example of rightnow in uni there's someone
doing Visual Basic or C++.
Oh, yes, yes, very true, andthey get out of here and they
(23:04):
realize that I actually need tolearn Python.
Python is what is needed.
How can we reconcile the two?
The industry comes and saysthis is actually the skills that
I need for this particular role.
Then the school is like okay,how can I match up to what is
needed in the industry?
Or how can we work together tocome up with a curriculum that
(23:25):
works best for both of us?
Because I think a lot of usspend so much time trying to
learn to keep up with theindustry, when we could have
actually learned that in school.
And it will also be very usefulto ensure that, if this is what
I'm learning in school and it'swhat's expected in the industry
, it gives me more room toactually innovate around what
the industry needs, more thantrying to keep up with what is
(23:48):
in the industry.
The industry also, it's notlike the ultimate measure.
It also needs some improvement.
But I'm spending so much of mytime trying to keep up with what
the industry needs and lessabout how I can improve the
industry, which should be theultimate job.
So please, in this summit what Iwould say is the industry can
(24:11):
work together.
The job industry should worktogether with the academia
industry to come up or reconcilethe curriculum to make sure
that both of them can match upto what each other need.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
So make it as relevant as possible.
Speaker 4 (24:26):
Yes, yes, yes.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
Aside from education, in what other ways can Africa
help increase its pace ofevolving?
Speaker 4 (24:37):
I think a lot of Africans are very brilliant and
we come up with a lot of goodsolutions, but what we like is
exposure, like I mentionedearlier, and this exposure comes
with money and capital andfunding.
So I think in Africa there'sjust a handful of the tech or
the startups that actuallyprovide funding the tech or the
(24:58):
startups that actually providefunding.
So one of the things that Ithink should help improve the
African state of technology isto provide more platform for
startup incubation, includingfunding, and access to this
funding does not necessarilymean that I need to have a white
(25:22):
person in my team to get thefunding, because there's been a
lot of that yeah, there's been alot of that that almost every
startup that's coming up has tohave some sort of inclusion,
quote-unquote and diversity forit to attract the kind of
funding.
Let the idea be validated onits own, without necessarily
(25:43):
having to know person X, y, z tobe on that team.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
Yeah.
So the startup industry whichyou had mentioned earlier, that
Africa does have a lot ofstartups?
It does.
Yeah, if you were to draw agraph and we were starting from
zero point of origin.
A yes my math teacher islistening a graph and we were
starting from zero point oforigin.
Speaker 4 (26:04):
My math teacher is listening.
Point of origin.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
And if you draw your graph on startups, maybe we're
towards the peak because it'sgetting to a lot of them as the
day goes by, right.
Speaker 4 (26:20):
Yes.
Trying to find a way to exposethem to give them funding Angel
investors even Doesn't alwayshave to be a venture capital.
Oh yeah, it doesn't have to bea venture capital.
It can be an angel investor.
Yeah, and those of us who arelistening and can be angel
investors.
What are we waiting for?
There we go, yeah, the Africawe want, because sometimes we
(26:42):
think that we need some milliondollar account balance for us to
support an idea that we areinterested in.
Yeah, then also, something elsethat I can also mention in this
same context is that we need tocollaborate more.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
Yeah, true, you can't be the only person that comes
up with that idea context isthat we need to collaborate more
.
Speaker 4 (27:02):
You can't be the only person that comes up with that
idea and brings it to life.
You have people in your team,in your circle.
Someone knows someone who cancome together and we can bring
this idea to life.
Maybe you're just the developerbut you don't know the business
aspect of it.
(27:22):
You need someone in finance,you need someone in strategy,
you need someone in branding.
So if you can collaborate more,we could actually have, we
could succeed more.
But sometimes we want to getthe $100,000 funding and pocket
it on our own.
We don't want to share the100,000 US dollars funding and
pocket it on our own.
We don't want to share theequity.
(27:44):
Sometimes, sometimes.
Back we were talking with somedevelopers how sometimes someone
approaches you to work on theirstartup.
They don't want to offer youequity, but you're I mean at the
very early stage of an idea, ofa startup.
They don't have much to pay youmaybe your worth.
Why is equity not a point ofdiscussion as part of my
(28:08):
percentage for pay?
This way I'm able to actuallypull my weight and give my all
to this idea.
Then you can actually growtogether.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
That makes a lot of sense.
Let me try and coin it in astory, right?
So here I am.
I am trying to provide asolution that solves an African
problem.
Maybe particularly not in thetech field, but I have an idea
that can be solved with tech.
You said I should not thinkabout how.
(28:38):
I know the goal, but for thehow I'm not very sure.
Yes, so what you've said so faris first of all, let me look
for communities around me.
Right, let me find peoplearound that.
Maybe in that sort ofinteraction or in that
networking, I'll get someone whoknows the how, the
technological part.
Yes.
So here I am, trying to startthis up.
I found my person in thecommunity and we're ready to
(29:01):
build this, to scale it and todeploy this solution so that it
can help as many people aspossible.
So I can now call myself astartup founder, something of
the sort Entrepreneur, techentrepreneur, entrepreneur we
like using the term CEO andfounder.
Ceo and founder.
Speaker 4 (29:19):
Yeah, I heard it attracts a lot of connections on
LinkedIn.
Go on Good point.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
So here I am, ceo and founder.
Yes, now I want to scale up.
What are avenues you can maybeyou think you could use to?
You know, get in touch withpeople who can help me get
started with the funding, withthe investment, and also, tying
to what you have said, how can Inot work in a silo?
(29:49):
Where can I get other solutions?
Or how do I get started?
How do I get to that point?
Because we don't want to workin silos, we want to help each
other get funding.
So how do I get to that?
Speaker 4 (29:59):
point.
How do you get to that point?
Okay, so you have an idea, youhave identified the people you
want to work with, or some ofthe people that you want to work
with.
I think sometimes an idea isjust an idea before it's tested
the viability of it.
So come up with an MVP.
Mvp is very under-resourced.
(30:19):
Like you don't need a lot ofresources to create a prototype
of what you're trying to come upwith or the product you're
trying to build.
Then, second step, this issomething proprietary to you, so
you need to protect it first.
So can you consult a lawyer?
Because there are a lot ofpeople that you're going to
(30:40):
bring to your startup in thecourse of your growth journey,
so you need to make sure thatwhoever you bring on board is
bound by a contract such thatthey can't quote unquote steal
your idea.
That's the first step.
We're actually buildingsomething with a friend of mine.
It's still in the incubationstage, but that's one of the
(31:03):
things that we were.
Actually.
That's the first thing we did,because we need to protect our
IP.
So the next thing I think youneed to do now.
Let's say now you have theprototype.
This prototype is what is goingto convince an investor that
whatever you're trying to comeup with is useful or it's
(31:24):
something that solves a realproblem and test the viability
of it.
So go and take it out there.
Get real data, because I don'tthink anyone can put their money
somewhere that has not beenvalidated, otherwise they will
lose it.
So for me, that would be thesecond step when you're finding
(31:45):
an investor.
Get a prototype that is alreadyprotected.
Then another thing I think thereare a lot of incubation centers
that have come up in Africa interms of.
I think I've heard of ArdenianLabs, I've heard of Mest Africa.
Mest Africa was very popular inGhana and, I think, in Nigeria.
I think they even had someKenyan startups at some point.
(32:08):
But there are a lot ofcompanies that are incubating
startups.
But those ones, you also haveto be very careful with them in
terms of what are they offeringand at what cost, in terms of
equity and all that.
So those are some of the thingsthat, personally, those are the
first steps I'll do.
Sometimes, if I don't need aventure capital for incubation,
(32:28):
I've already identified my team.
If I get an angel investor, whynot?
I can get started.
Speaker 2 (32:33):
Yes, yeah, that makes sense.
And now that you've mentionedabout incubation hubs and
incubation centers, yes, how canyou tell us more about?
How do they contribute to thistech evolution, especially in
Africa?
Are they enough?
Do we have a long way to go?
Are they serious?
Or, like you've said, you haveto be careful?
What do you mean by that?
Speaker 4 (32:54):
Yes.
So I have a couple of friendswho have been in some of these
incubation companies, and one ofthe things that I realized with
them was there's a lot ofgrowth that you encounter as a
person.
Let's give an example.
Right now, maybe I'm in school,I've come up with an idea.
(33:15):
I don't have enough resourcesto implement the entire solution
end-to-end and take it tomarket, so I need a bit of help
in terms of design thinking,branding, strategy, all these
things that bring a product tolife.
So one of the things thatincubation centers help you with
(33:36):
is that journey from ideationto actual products delivery.
It helps you to actuallystrategize and position your
product for the market.
That is one thing that, if youdon't have enough resources, you
might not be able to afford it,so the incubator comes in handy
(33:58):
.
They also give you a supervisorto work with you in the journey
to make sure that they ask youenough questions, the product
delivery is on course and allthose deliverables are met.
And another thing that I seehappening is I think there's one
in Kenya, I don't want tomention names one of them is
(34:20):
that you just get hired alone.
You have an idea, then theyjoin you, they combine you with
other like-minded people.
You get to choose your team.
So during the incubation stage,the entrepreneurship incubation
stage you guys can maybe zerointo an idea and work together.
So maybe we are maybe a classof 20 people, so five people can
(34:45):
just come together and come upwith an idea.
So that's actually how people,how incubation helps you, gives
you a team, gives you resourcesin terms of strategy and
branding and also work thejourney with you in the entire
design thinking process, andalso give you the funding.
So the part where I was sayingthat you should be careful is
(35:06):
when it comes to someone helpingyou.
Like I said, I've listed acouple of things that they can
help you with, but it comes at acost.
Some of them give you funding,maybe one million, one million
US dollars for 20%.
It looks so.
Let's work with 100,000 USdollars because we can easily
(35:28):
convert.
So, for a start, it looks likea lot of money, looks like a lot
, a lot, a lot of money, but 20%, 20% is a lot.
Imagine now the three of ushere.
We are the founders and we'vealready.
But 20%, 20% is a lot.
Imagine now the three of ushere we are the founders and
we've already given out 20% ofour company, so it means that we
(35:49):
are left with 80%, and 80% youcan easily say, yeah, 80%,
you'll get Math, the math person.
What's 80% divided by 3?
I don't know what is math.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
I don't know what math is.
Speaker 4 (36:02):
So 80% divided by 3, 80% divided by 3 is around 20
something.
27% there about 27.28.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
Yes, 26 points wow we are getting somewhere, yeah, so
that means maybe we havesomething.
Speaker 4 (36:19):
Wow, we are getting somewhere.
We are getting somewhere.
Yeah, so that means maybe wehave something.
But then 26% for lifetime isvery small because maybe in the
first five years that 100,000will get depleted so quickly.
Because you need to paysalaries, you need to pay, maybe
, for an office space you needlike there are so many expenses
(36:43):
that come up with taking orpicking a startup ground up or
building a startup ground upthat the money that the initial
investor gave you is not enoughto continue or to sustain the
startup.
So when you get anotherinvestor in the future, will you
be able to that?
(37:06):
20% was already taken.
That means that we have to goback to our equity and actually
give out a stake, but the veryfirst initial investor will not
be able to agree to that.
So there are a lot of contractsand fine prints that you have to
look at in the initial stagesof your startup when you're
starting out.
I actually have an example.
(37:27):
There's a friend of mine whomthey got into this startup.
They got the money.
It was good at the start and itwas good.
Took them, I think, one year tovalidate the idea and they got
to market and it was doing well.
But the idea was so good thatit was featured for the in the
Google Startups 2022.
(37:51):
That attracted funding from YCor Y Combinator.
Now, if you know Y Combinator,you know Y Combinator Like
that's one of the best fundingyou can get for your startup.
Yes, now the initial contractthey had signed actually didn't
allow them to get signed on by YCombinator.
(38:15):
Oh, wow, and Y Combinator ishere giving you millions Wow.
But this person just gave yousome 100K and now you can't move
, spent so much money.
They spent so much money goingback and forth with lawyers and
paying per hour, those billingin the US, kind of things.
(38:36):
So they've wasted so much moneytrying to get out of this
contract that they had signedwith the initial investor.
That's not serving them.
And now here they are, spendingthe money they should have used
to scale up and expand to othercountries to resolve a legal
issue.
So it's very, very importantand that's why we say the very
(38:57):
first step is to actually get alawyer on board, consult with a
legal entity and see whatexactly am I signing up for and
how can I protect my idea,regardless of who funds me.
Read the fine print.
Speaker 3 (39:14):
So a big question that you each and every point
you're saying funding, funding,funding.
Speaker 4 (39:19):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (39:20):
We have a community of kids.
Yes, they build good solution,skillable solution.
But as saying funding, fundingeach and every time, why can't
we not just push up and then thecustomer will pay our bills?
Because if we sit down and eachand every time say, funding
(39:43):
mostly, we are not seeking fundsfrom, let's say, africa,
because we are trying to grow,us seeking from outside.
There's that mindset.
We have seen the bigs and thebig tech companies closing yes.
So with huge funding.
Speaker 4 (39:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (40:00):
So, and I think what I think is the funding that
you're getting here, they arediverting your direction.
Speaker 4 (40:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (40:07):
And yet, you know I'm solving this problem, but they
are telling you, telling you,let's pivot.
So how can we, with the talentthat we have, help it to
bootstrap and not fully rely onfunding?
Let it find on the way so wecan decide if we want or drop it
(40:28):
.
Oh, absolutely actually,because I think on the way so we
can decide if we want or dropit.
Speaker 4 (40:30):
Oh, absolutely actually, because I think we are
not saying that you rely onfunding throughout.
We're saying that if you wantscalability or, depending on the
magnitude of your idea, whatexactly, what's the vision?
We say that you have.
You think about your solutionand where you want to go, but
also sometimes, maybe, with theresources that are needed.
(40:53):
The resources that are neededto bring that to life are not,
maybe, something that you canbootstrap, but now that's why I
talked about an MVP Create,maybe, an MVP, validate it in
the market, then work around arevenue stream from that MVP and
see if whatever you are able toplow back can actually help you
(41:14):
scale the company.
Actually, I think it's verymuch about who do you have on
your team and where do you wantto go, because you have an idea.
We are developers.
We've come up with an idea.
We want to strategize around it.
I think the problem with us asdevelopers sometimes is that we
come up with something and boom,we are ready, or we don't even
(41:39):
want to.
It's the same thing that wetalked about on collaboration.
Are we bringing someone else onboard to help us think about?
Okay, you as a developer.
Can you actually come up with abusiness model?
No, no.
Can you identify Now that thediv has been centered and the
API is fetching?
Are you actually can you thinkabout this from a business point
(42:03):
of view?
Because that's actually wherewe miss it, because sometimes, I
mean, there's been also thatstory of people coming up with
ideas and and now here we are,you're getting the funding, you
misuse the money, you failedafter two years, right yeah.
So, as a developer, if you wantto scale this further, you need
to think about, okay, thebusiness aspect of it.
(42:25):
Is it sustainable?
Is it viable?
How can we scale it?
How many streams of income canwe get out of this and how can
that sustain the business in thelong run?
I think that's very, veryimportant.
So forget about the funding.
The business aspect of thatproduct needs to be very much
viable for you to scale,regardless of whether you have
(42:46):
funding or not.
Speaker 2 (42:48):
Yes, that's a very good point that I think even
most devs overlook.
Yes, you think that againbecause the div is centered and
your API is fetching responses.
Pub success.
Speaker 4 (43:00):
All of them 200.
Okay.
Speaker 2 (43:04):
All of them.
Yeah, yes, yes, yes, we tend toassume a lot of things.
Speaker 4 (43:09):
Yes, we do.
Speaker 2 (43:09):
Especially the business aspect and the legal
aspect.
Those two we do not look at asmuch.
Speaker 4 (43:14):
We actually don't think about them, we don't.
Speaker 2 (43:16):
They're very important.
Yes yes.
So if you were to give thistech space three main arms,
Mambo ni Matatu, if you were togive it three main arms that are
very essential in growth and inscaling, yes, maybe, such as
collaboration and the like.
So it would be three mainaspects or arms.
Speaker 4 (43:40):
Hmm, If I get your question, you're saying the
three main factors or arms.
Speaker 2 (43:52):
Yeah, there are definitely more but maybe three
that you think are very key.
Maybe one which has come up alot has been collaboration.
That could be one aspect thatis very key in order to grow the
tech field?
Speaker 4 (44:03):
Yes, so two others, the two others so collaboration.
The other one is viabilitystroke sustainability, because
it's not enough for you to buildsomething once it's about the
future of it.
(44:23):
Is it sustainable?
Is it something?
Then?
The other thing I would say isflexibility.
It ties more into thesustainability of it, because
times are changing.
Maybe the products you hadyesterday is not something
that's needed today.
I was talking with one of mymentors the other day and one of
(44:43):
the things that came up wasI've been constantly consulting
in data analytics and technicalwriting, and one of the things
that has come up now with the AIis how can I then position
myself in the face of AI tostill deliver what I was
delivering, but with a morefocus?
So I shouldn't treat this as athreat, or AI as a threat or a
(45:08):
competition.
I should treat it as a tool.
A threat or AI as a threat or acompetition?
I should treat it as a tool andso, as a business, I need to
think about, then how do Ireposition myself or my products
to fit into this new market orto these new changes in the
industry, such that it can besustainable even with the
changing times.
(45:28):
Let's take an example right now.
Let's take an example right now.
Let's say you are working as ae-rotech company that is
offering land cables physicalland cables to connect to the
internet directly from theserver to people's desks, to
(45:52):
connect to the internet, forexample.
Wow, okay, so then COVID hashit.
Covid has hit and people haveto work from home.
Do you go home as?
Speaker 2 (46:01):
a business.
Do you increase the length ofyour land cables?
Do you increase?
Speaker 4 (46:05):
the length.
Do you increase the length ofyour land cables to get to
Kinovo?
Yes, so that's one of theexamples I'll give in terms of
flexibility and also how fastyou're able to keep up with the
market and what is needed,because right now things keep
changing your products.
There's a way you can actuallywork with.
(46:27):
You can reposition your productto make sure that, regardless
of the changing times, then youcan still offer the value that
you are offering.
Okay, you are doing land cables.
Let's talk about wirelessconnectivity.
Yeah, how then can youaccommodate that in whatever you
are having?
What part of your product canyou pivot to make sure that it
(46:48):
accommodates this new change inthe market?
So I would say collaboration,sustainability and business
viability.
And the other one is theflexibility to keep up.
Speaker 2 (46:58):
Alright.
So those three Collaboration,sustainability and flexibility
yes, and seeing as you have beenin the tech industry for a
minute couple of years, howwould you say in each of the
three the trends have been sofar?
Are we getting better, poorer?
What are some things that havebeen working and what has not?
You can start one at a time.
Speaker 4 (47:19):
Okay.
So collaboration I feel like wedefinitely have a long way to
go in terms of collaboration,because people want to eat the
money alone.
So I feel like this is purelymy personal opinion I feel like
people could collaborate a bitmore to be able to get the
expertise that they want intheir team, without necessarily
having to rely on funding or anexternal person to come and help
(47:42):
them with that.
You don't need to wait to fail.
You can always pivot and findways of working around that.
I feel like we could do betterwith that.
We could do better with thecollaboration to just get expert
support to build with a dreamthat we wanted to build.
Then the other part onflexibility I don't know.
(48:07):
I feel like, in terms of peopleare not really willing.
A lot of people are not reallywilling.
A lot of people are not willingto let go of their original
idea.
If you wanted to build a shopas part of your generational
wealth, you believe that maybethe supermarket is the way to go
, maybe e-commerce could dobetter for the next generation
(48:30):
in your family, but you're notwilling to let go of that idea
that your great-grandmother hadfor this shop.
So it's one of those thingsthat people need to be flexible
enough to.
I mean, I'm not saying thatjump onto every trend that's
coming up, but we're also sayingbe flexible enough to know
what's going on and how we canaccommodate it in that same
(48:56):
wavelength of building yourbusiness.
So I feel like in all thosethree sectors, we can actually
do better.
We are making strides, peopleare collaborating a bit more,
but I'm hoping to see you see,when you talk about tech
startups, I want to see more ofmaybe a tech person
(49:18):
collaborating with someone in antech field.
Okay, how can we combine thisfinance with tech?
How can we have maybe someonein law combining with someone in
tech Like that?
There's something unique thatevery industry brings.
We have maybe someone in lawcombining with someone in tech.
There's something unique thatevery industry brings.
And that's why we started bysaying that let's think about
how we can apply tech beyond.
Speaker 3 (49:42):
But one of the big problems is when you are going
to as techies, you're going tocollaborate in different spaces
like in different industries,you find that the people of
other industries are resilientto release information.
Speaker 4 (50:00):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (50:01):
Because they are saying I'm trying to eradicate
this, I'm running you arereplacing them, yeah.
I'm in one of the startupscalled Kair Insurance, so in
that startup we called KairiInsurance.
In that startup we want torevitalize insurance.
When they are trying to do that, it becomes difficult because
(50:22):
when you go to the people whohave been there, they're saying
you want to take off my job,where will I take it?
We are trying to make it easier.
There's one big question that Iask each and every time I leave
the community and have adiscussion with them.
I'm not mentioning names, but Ithink Posta can do better.
Speaker 4 (50:44):
Posta there, posta there Way, way better.
Speaker 3 (50:47):
We don't even hear of them anymore, but I think with
the people there and differentgenerations there, this
generation thing, that theybring in Gen Z their focus is
this Sometimes they are right,but it's more of these people
(51:09):
like yes, they are ahead of GenZ, yes, but at least give them
guidance, not restricting them,because at least that will make
things grow.
But no one wants to do that.
And how can we, like, tell them, like, even if you're trying to
show them the future, they arelike this is the future.
Speaker 4 (51:28):
Yeah.
And not that's the future Ithink change is difficult to
embrace, very difficult, and Ithink now, when you think about
traditional, when you look attraditional corporate,
traditional corporate is weird.
It's one of those corporateenvironments that has a lot of
(51:50):
gatekeepers, yeah, yes, and Ithink a lot of gatekeepers, yes,
and I think a lot ofgatekeepers in corporate, and
I'm talking about gatekeepers interms of growth, and people are
resistant to change, resistantto change in terms of technology
and the adoption of it, thereof.
They are doing it out of fear.
Yeah.
And the fear is based off oflack of knowledge.
(52:13):
Yeah, I mean, you remember thevery first time we started
talking about GPT?
Yeah, it was more of somethingthat was.
Even developers were afraid.
I mean, we all don't want toaccept yes.
Speaker 3 (52:26):
Yes.
Speaker 4 (52:27):
Almost every time you think about something that's
going to replace you, so ofcourse, you'll be afraid.
True, true, true.
So these guys in traditionalcorporate are also very much
afraid of being replaced.
So it's the knowledge that welack.
It's the knowledge that theylack.
So I'm thinking about the guysat the insurance you mentioned
(52:50):
and how we can communicate thatthe technology that we are
trying to bring here, maybe weare reducing paperwork.
For a start, I need to educateyou more on why we are doing
this, why the paperwork is notserving us anymore, and how you
can use this technology as atool and not something that
(53:13):
replaces you.
How can you use it to youradvantage?
True, because it's the samething that we said.
Right now, maybe in my line ofwork, I print papers or I send
out insurance copies for peopleto sign.
How can then?
How can then?
How can we?
How can I tell you, as aninsurance broker inside the
(53:35):
company, that you know you cando this from your computer
without necessarily having to goout there to look for this
person to sign and coming backto print again and send it back
to me and scan and all that.
So I'm giving it to you, I'mexplaining this technology to
you from a place of how it canhelp you and not necessarily how
it can replace you.
(53:56):
So let's focus more onpreaching tech or automation of
any manner from a place of atool, more than something that
replaces people, because that'swhat brings the fear.
But we have a long way to go.
I know I've developed systemsand waited for people to use
(54:18):
them and still taking some time,but I've been paid for it.
Speaker 3 (54:24):
So how has the experience been?
Like You've said, you've beenbuilding solutions, yes, and no
one has been using.
Speaker 4 (54:31):
Oh people there's a lot of resistance Every time you
automate things in a workenvironment.
There's that resistance that itfaces in the first, maybe three
months, before someone actuallyembraces it or an authority
figure comes from the top andsays that you guys have to use
this.
It's a whole changeover processthat I think every company
(54:56):
should have.
Have, maybe, a change advisoryboard that makes sure that once
a system is built, you're ableto follow through, because
people are afraid of using thesystem or they are used to their
own.
There's someone who told me thatI find writing easier.
Why should I just keep typing?
They actually want to handwriteto fill a form when they can
(55:19):
actually fill that form from mycomputer or from their computer.
So it's because they're used tothat.
They're used to that.
So that resistance that comesis very normal.
I'm so used to it right now.
But I think it requires somesort of people are in charge of
ensuring that, whateverdirection that we want to go as
(55:39):
a company or as an organization,that someone is enforcing that
to ensure that people canactually use the tools that we
are building for them, becausewe never move forward.
Maybe this is just the firstleg of automation and it can
help us achieve more results.
Speaker 2 (55:57):
That's very true because, you see, as humans,
naturally we fear change.
Yes, we do, and technology is afield that is always changing,
it's ever-changing andeverything is new.
It's sort of this picture thatI once saw somewhere, where
there was someone on the cliff.
So you can imagine standing onthe cliff, you really do not
want to look at the bottom, butthen I don't remember if it was
(56:18):
someone telling them was it God?
Was it internal?
I have no idea, but someone wassaying jump and the person was
asking what if I fall?
And then the other response wasbut what if you fly?
So we keep on looking attechnology from this angle of
hey, what if?
But what if you fly?
So we keep on looking attechnology from this angle of
hey, what if we fall?
What if we fail?
What?
If it ruins everything.
Yet this could be the very keyto unlock levels of development
(56:39):
that we have not seen so far,yet we have the capacity to.
So we should try to look at itfrom an angle of what if we fly,
what if we take off andsuddenly, from now, using the
Kenyan shilling and not thedollar?
We could do a lot.
We really could do a lot.
I love that tick.
There's a question Question.
(57:02):
Yes, yes, maybe you canintroduce yourself and then ask
your question.
Speaker 1 (57:08):
Hello, my name is Edward.
I'm an engineer in AfricaStocking.
I would like to ask for thingslike cryptocurrency.
Do we see a situation wherebyin Africa, we use cryptocurrency
in a transactional manner, notfor the purpose of buying and
(57:29):
selling, basically not forspeculative purposes like?
How do you see that?
Speaker 4 (57:35):
So far?
How is the speculation going?
Because I think I think, whenit comes to cryptocurrency,
there's a lot of governancearound it, and I mean anything
currency.
Anything currency is very muchinvolved within the government
and has a lot of bureaucracy interms of policy making.
(57:59):
And I think tech is like whatyou were saying with corporate
world We've done some smallproducts.
It's not being pushed, it's notbeing used because people are
gatekeeping that.
But when blockchain, um, all thetime came around, people are so
focused on like it was such abuzzword that everyone wanted.
(58:21):
I mean, I even wrote an articleabout how to use uh, ethereum
and web3 and all that.
I mean we were all ready tojump onto this Web3, right, and
it has become for me, most ofthe blockchain companies that
I've interacted with, all thepeople that work there.
It has been more of therelations aspect of it, the
(58:45):
community aspect of it, and lessabout the practicality of how
to use it.
I mean there was someconversation around I don't know
, using it to count livestock inKenya.
There was something about that.
Sometimes back it was neverused.
Speaker 3 (59:03):
But I know a startup that is basically using it to.
It's like they are raising.
You see, these dead assets.
Speaker 4 (59:12):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (59:13):
Like you can maybe use that you go as to the bank
to use it as collateral.
Speaker 4 (59:18):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (59:18):
And then they can get loan instead of selling you or
maybe your goat to pay, maybesome fee.
Speaker 4 (59:24):
They can use a security, a loan security.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeahyeah, wow, please introduce me
to them.
I have some $200 somewhere.
Speaker 3 (59:34):
But the big issues come in, is they're saying it is
immutable, yeah.
And what is built by man, wecan do it.
Yeah, to make matters worse, weare the one who are creating
the nodes.
Speaker 4 (59:45):
Yes, yes.
So it's not secure enough,because I think, when it came,
the whole concept ofdecentralization was very much
like oh yeah, it's a globalcurrency, you can do it, you can
transact from anywhere, and allthat governance and policies
(01:00:08):
was, I think, sometimes inNigeria, sometimes back, I think
2021, 2020.
In Nigeria, the central banktheir version of central bank of
Kenya, central bank of Nigeriabanned it, so you actually can't
use it as a currency.
So you see, it's already facinga lot of backlash from the
people actually supposed toauthorize it to be used as a
(01:00:30):
currency.
So I mean, I want to bepositive, but the volatility of
it also doesn't help, becausetoday things are up and running,
tomorrow things are shaky.
So even you can't trust becauseif you make the transaction
today, what happens tomorrow?
But what I'm actually moreinterested in right now is the
(01:00:51):
tokens, the token, anything,tokenization and how you can
apply the concept of tokens totransact.
That's actually something thatI see will attract a bit more
stability as compared tocryptocurrency because of the
volatility of it.
Now, backlash from thegovernment, I think the
(01:01:12):
government unless they cometogether, and I think the
problem in Africa right now isthe fact that we really don't
make decisions on our own.
Our governments don't makedecisions alone.
There's some sort of I mean, wecan't control the shilling
right now and all these things.
(01:01:33):
All these things the dollarrate, all this, the pound rate,
all this currency issues withcurrency are very much affected
by governance, and it's not justinternally within a country.
It has to be global.
So those are kind of globalsolutions that are needed for it
to be a global currency, forexample.
Speaker 2 (01:01:57):
So that's evolution in the currency side.
Yes, We've seen currency movefrom.
If we're going way back, wecould start with from butter
trade Butter trade.
Speaker 4 (01:02:06):
Please bring your goat.
Speaker 2 (01:02:07):
I bring my coffee From grains and cereals and
exchange of goods to actuallypaper.
We are thriving in the M-Pesaera, and then there's
cryptocurrency that's now comingup.
What are maybe two othersectors that you would love to
see evolve with time in theAfrican setting?
Currency is maybe one of themthat has gone through the test
(01:02:30):
of time.
So two others that would beinteresting to see change with
time.
Speaker 4 (01:02:39):
I think when you talk about the internet, just the
internet, the power of it, thesocial media, the globalization,
the interconnectivity of it.
I mean right now, when you lookat the social media and how
people are able to create jobsfrom TikTok and all these other
areas, you can see that there'ssomething there.
(01:03:00):
The problem is, I've never seena social media application
coming from Africa Do we have.
And whenever we have social orsocial based or product based
tech products, we never really,you see, like the way Twitter is
paying people, you can see howTikTok is paying people,
(01:03:22):
sometimes the Facebookmarketplace, all these
applications they found a waythat the users are not just
users, they are users that arealso benefiting from.
Like there's a revenue streamthat is also benefiting the user
.
So I think one of the thingsthat I'm hoping to see in Africa
is someone actually coming upwith ways, and that's why I
(01:03:46):
mentioned the issue of, or theconcept of, tokens.
Like what else can you come upwith that actually like you're
not just begging us to sign upto your application there's a
subsidy to it or there's anadvantage to it.
so I think people should startthinking more into your.
Users are not just your user,they are your customers, but
(01:04:08):
they can also benefit from yourapplication.
So make that two-way revenuestream and let's see how best we
can build something that'sglobal but also very sustainable
, something built by us for us,something by us for us, for sure
.
Speaker 3 (01:04:25):
This lovely product that Africa's talking is yet to
give us.
Speaker 2 (01:04:32):
Watch this space.
Speaker 4 (01:04:33):
Watch this space.
Watch this space.
I'll be here.
Speaker 2 (01:04:36):
There's a good product built by us, for us, and
soon when you see the name inplaces.
Please, I'm looking forward.
It sounds just like the productyou've described, wow.
Speaker 3 (01:04:47):
Yeah, exactly that would be so nice.
I think the who and the who ofAfrica's Talking should hear
exactly that would be so nice.
I think the who and the who ofAfrica's talking should hear him
.
That would be nice.
And basically we put you inPlease.
Speaker 4 (01:04:59):
Is my employer listening, but that would
definitely be.
Yeah, that would actually bevery, very, very good yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:05:08):
Yeah, we're looking forward to seeing that day, but
you said a very interestingthing.
I'd love to see a social mediaplatform.
For us by Africans For Africans.
Yes, we know what we like.
Let's actually have the emojis.
Do things.
Speaker 4 (01:05:22):
Can.
Speaker 2 (01:05:23):
I have an emoji with the three fingers, like because
Mambo is a tattoo.
Speaker 4 (01:05:26):
Yes, I mean yeah Because yes and how they.
I mean yeah, yes, and how they.
I think when you think aboutthe concept of localization.
I was recently researching moreon that and I realized that
sometimes some of the productsthat do well are the ones that
are contextual to theenvironment they're built for.
(01:05:47):
Because, I mean, originallyTikTok was built for the country
it comes from.
It had to be.
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