👨🏿🚀TechCabal Daily – Another Moonshot Day!
In partnership with Share this newsletter: Lire en Français اقرأ هذا باللغة العربية Happy Moonshot Week Thank you so much for joining us on Day 1 of the Moonshot Conference! Day 2 promises more excitement, with keynotes from Sabi’s Anuoluwapo Adedoyin Adasolum, PiggyVest’s Josh Chibueze, and Flutterwave’s Olugbenga Agboola, and panels with Fisayo Fosudo, Jola Ayeye, and Korty EO. There’s also the announcement of the winner of TC Battlefield! Check out the full schedule to find out what’s coming up. P.S. If you came over yesterday, please don’t forget to come along with your access card so you can breeze through registration. In today’s edition Nigeria has new leaders in tech and innovation Kenya declines to renew Bolt’s licence Nigeria shares plans to train tech talents Meta launches $500,000 grant programme to support AI Payhippo appoints new CEO The World Wide Web3 Opportunities Policy Nigeria appoints new leaders in tech and innovation Image source: ZikokoMemes Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved the appointment of new and returning CEOs across multiple tech agencies. According to the statement issued by the special adviser to the President on media and publicity, Chief Ajuri Ngelale, on Wednesday, October 11, President Tinubu approved appointments under the ministry of communications, innovation, and digital economy. Who’s in? Here’s a list of who we’ll expect to see leading tech regulation and policy: Aminu Maida assumes leadership as the EVC/CEO at the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). Nkechi Egerton-Idehen assumes leadership as the MD/CEO of Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited (NIGCOMSAT). Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, who was at Moonshot yesterday, has been reappointed as the DG/CEO National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA). Vincent Olatunji also returns as the National Commissioner/CEO Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC). Tola Odeyemi assumes leadership as the Postmaster General/CEO of the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST). Furthermore, a special adviser to the President on technology and digital economy, Idris Alubankudi, has been appointed. Zoom out: These appointments are effective immediately, marking a significant step in President Tinubu’s vision for a digitally empowered and economically inclusive Nigeria. Get a working card from Moniepoint With the Moniepoint personal banking app, you get reliable payments every time and a card that always works. Enjoy seamless payments powered by the infrastructure that 1.5 million businesses trust. Download the app. Mobility Kenya halts Bolts licence renewal Image source: ZikokoMemes Kenya`s National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) isn’t renewing the licence of the ride-hailing platform, Bolt, just yet. Why? According to the law, ride railing platforms in the country should receive 18% commission from drivers. However, Bolt defaulted by charging additional booking fees, and higher commissions than the NTSA benchmark. The clock is ticking: Bolt had written for a renewal of its operating licence with only 17 days left to its expiry. However, the NTSA deputy director and head of licencing, Cosmas Ngeso, informed Bolt that the ride-hailing company would lose its license unless it addressed the breaches. Bolt told TechCabal that it is working with the regulator to get its licence. The NTSA has asked Bolt to explain the rationale behind its commission structure, and also stop its “ïllegal” booking fee. Per Bolt, the booking fee is an additional fee that “covers support and enhanced technological features that ensure an even more efficient service on our platform”. The regulator says it has received several formal complaints from drivers on the non-adherence of Bolt to regulations, and says these complaints must be addressed before the company’s licence can be renewed. Zoom out: Bolt is not the only ride-hailing company in Kenya that charges booking fees; Uber does too but Uber has explained that its booking fees are used to cover taxes such as VAT. Without charging the booking fee, the charges would reduce driver earnings, the company explained. Economy Nigeria share plans to train tech talents Minister Bosun Tijani at TechCabal’s Moonshot Last week, the Nigerian minister of comms, innovation and digital economy, Bosun Tijani, announced plans to equip 3 million early-to-mid-career Nigerians with tech skills by 2027 as part of the ministry’s strategic blueprint. At TechCabal’s Moonshot Conference, the minister revealed plans for how the country will achieve that goal. A 1-10-100 model: According to Tijani, the ministry will kick off with a pilot phase of training 1%—about 30,000 people—of the 3 million target within the next three months. Tijani hinted that the 30,000 learners will be spread across each state of the country. After that, it will commence training 300,000—or 10%—of the 3 million target. According to Tijani, the 1-10-100 approach is a good route to reach its 3 million target and bridge the talent gap in the Nigeria tech ecosystem. Applications for learners and tutors will open by Friday, October 13. Zoom out: The ministry’s approach to training tech talents in the country is not a one-off model. Per the minister, the model will replicated to achieve the ministry’s goal to position Nigeria in the top 25% percentile in research globally across six pivotal Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). Accept payments fast with the Paystack Virtual Terminal Paystack Virtual Terminal helps businesses accept blazing fast in-person payments at scale, with ZERO hardware costs. Enjoy instant transfer confirmations via WhatsApp, multiple in-person payment channels, and more. Learn more. Funding Meta launches $500,000 grant programme to support AI-Powered solutions GIF source: Zikoko Memes Meta is offering $500,000 in grants to projects that use its open-source AI model. The Llama Impact Grants programme, initiated by Meta, is offering $500,000 in grants to projects using Llama 2, its open-source large language model to address challenges in education, environment and social innovation. Meta and Microsoft released Llama 2 as an open-source program in July, making it available to researchers and developers around the world. Llama 2 is a powerful AI model that can be used for a variety of tasks, including generating text, translating languages, and writing different kinds of creative content. Yesterday, at TechCabal’s Moonshot event, Adaora Ikenze, Meta’s public policy director for Anglophone West Africa, expressed that AI should not be monopolised, echoing Meta’s
Read MoreHow startups can scale across Africa
An easy way for startups to offer returns on dollar investments is to operate in multiple markets. The chief operating officers at Flutterwave, Paystack and Autochek share how startups can scale across Africa. For most African startups, achieving the right level of scale means being present in multiple countries. But expansion comes with a lot of challenges; a startup must consider the legal and regulatory requirements, the market size, and finding product market fit for each country. Speaking at a panel session at Moonshot by TechCabal on Wednesday, October 11, the chief operating officers of Flutterwave, Paystack, and Autocheck, startups in multiple African countries, shared how their startups were able to expand. One thing a startup must get right before expanding from their home country is a paying customer base. Mayokun Fadeyibi, the COO at Autocheck, said that a startup should have found a product market fit in a country before considering expansion. She added that an operator should also have “self-awareness” and a good grasp of the metrics of the business and that by scaling their technology as they scale the business, startups could avoid a common pitfall that might hinder their expansion drive. Bode Afobarin, the COO at Flutterwave, said that for Flutterwave’s expansion, the company developed a playbook covering business development, regulatory requirements, and information the startup had gathered since its inception. Likening the effect of the playbook to how Catholic churches are similar despite location, she advised all startups to create something similar. Last month, Axel Peyriere, the CEO of Auto24, an Ivorian startup that expanded into four countries simultaneously, told TechCabal that he leveraged his company’s documentation process to start the expansion process months before and that he was already preparing to launch in more countries because of this documentation. One issue with expansion is finding a cost-effective approach to entering multiple markets. Amandine Lobelle, the COO at Paystack, advised startups to make tradeoffs and find a balance between expansion and cutting costs. She added that because of the year’s funding challenge, startups should not take the “growth at all costs” approach.
Read MoreHow tech businesses can win in an African market
Investing in the tech industry can be dicey. Startup investors share how they navigate the market. Investing in any business comes with its own risks and rewards, and the African tech space is no different. Per Statista, the average startup failure rate in Africa stood at 54% in 2020. However, no investor takes a bet on a business expecting losses or risks, according to Olumide Soyombo, a partner at Voltron Capital. Soyombo made the assertion at the ongoing Moonshot conference, a flagship conference by TechCabal which has gathered players and builders in the African tech space to network, collaborate, share insights, and celebrate innovation on the continent. “When I am investing, I am optimising for the upside not down sides,” Soyombo said during a panel on “Thinking about risk and reward in Africa.” It is important to note that the investing landscape of African startups has transformed over the past decade from very few players to a plethora of venture capital funds. A Disrupt Africa 2022 report alluded to this growth, noting that total annual funding for African tech startups has increased by over 1,000% since 2015. Founder & MD at Ingressive Capital, Maya Horgan Famodu, another contributor on the panel, admits that the African tech startup ecosystem had changed since 2014 when she began to invest in the sector. “This is my 10th anniversary in tech since I started out in 2014—straight out of college,” she added. The risks Nonetheless, the risks in the tech ecosystem are as many as they come. The tech landscape can be quite daunting. The sector seems to be in a recovery mode this year as it opened with sober tales of a funding downturn. This has been exacerbated with the currency devaluation, corporate governance issues, and economic reforms which have stretched the Nigerian masses. The rewards Two other panellists, senior associate, Verod-Kepple Africa Ventures, Oliva Gao, and Dolapo Morgan of Ventures Platform said that rewards abound in investing. However, Morgan said it is vital that when funds are raised via Venture Capital, they are returned at a 10 times rate. To achieve that, Morgan explained that the startup receiving the fund must be solving a huge problem that can earn it a lot of revenue. One of the major goals of establishing a startup is to see it exit. Paystack’s acquisition by a US-based global payment company Stripe has demonstrated what is possible. However, the reality of that billion-dollar exit is quite grim. Morgan states that exits won’t look like Silicon Valley billion-dollar ones. “Sometimes, exits can take three years for a company to mature to a $100 million to $300 million exit,” Morgan said.
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Exclusive: Meta-backed 45,000km subsea cable to land in two Nigerian locations in November
The 45,000 km long undersea cable will land in 32 other African countries. The new deep-sea cable project will encircle Africa when complete and is expected to land in Lagos and Kwa Ibo, a river town in Nigeria’s southeast this November, TechCabal has learned. 2Africa is the brainchild of a consortium led by Meta, China Mobile International, and several telecom companies. When completed it will be the world’s longest undersea cable built to primarily serve Africa. It also holds the title of being the largest undersea cable project constructed in the cost-effective capacity category, thanks to new technology from Alcatel Submarine Networks. 2Africa begins from Genoa in northern Italy and encircles Africa with landings in Spain, France, the Middle East, Pakistan and India. The 45,000 km undersea cable system terminates near the southern tip of the UK. Photo: Screengrab from Submarine Cable Map More than 1.2 million kilometres of undersea cables keep the Internet alive. Most of them were laid and owned by telecommunications companies, especially at the turn of the last century during the dot com boom. The more recent surge in internet use that followed the rise of social media and streaming services (known as Over-the-top (OTT) platforms) forced companies like Netflix, Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Meta to begin to move down the internet value chain and build deep sea networks to handle the growing internet traffic. Meta and Google are reported to be behind roughly 80% of recent investments in transatlantic deep sea cable projects.
Read MoreHow to build the rails for the growth of Nigeria’s digital economy
Nigeria’s digital economy will record impressive growth in the coming years. Experts at Moonshot by TechCabal said this can only be achieved if stakeholders collaborate. Depending on who you ask, Nigeria’s digital economy is on course to record impressive growth. The last decade has seen the emergence of multimillion-dollar startups like Paystack and Flutterwave and billions of dollars flowing into the tech ecosystem. In 2019, the World Bank predicted that Nigeria is “well-positioned to develop a strong digital economy, which would have a transformational impact”. But it will take strategic efforts to build a thriving digital economy in Nigeria, according to Juliet Ehimuan, immediate past director of Google West Africa. Ehimuan, who spoke during a panel session at Moonshot by TechCabal on Wednesday, October 11, highlighted four key things needed to build the rails for the growth of Nigeria’s digital economy. “The first is access to the marketplace. Second, it’s important for us to have locally relevant content and ensure that we have use cases, tools, and solutions that address the various gaps in the market. And the third is capacity—making sure we have the talent who can build these solutions and people who can use them. And the final is funding for tech entrepreneurs,” she said. Another panelist, Oswald Guobadia, former senior special assistant on digital transformation in Nigeria’s last administration, opined that some of the challenges of Nigeria’s digital economy are tied to a lack of collaboration between policymakers and practitioners, leading to a drawback in policymaking. “When a practitioner creates an idea to disrupt things, the policymaker sees displacement. The only way to solve that problem is through collaboration. The Nigeria Startup Act provides a framework for collaboration between the government and private sector to deliver value,” he said, adding that the appointment of tech stakeholders like Bosun Tijani into government is a good starting point. Like Guobadia, Ehimuan said partnerships between startups are necessary to scale greater impact. “We have celebrated a few unicorns in the continent. For every unicorn out there, there are probably 1,000 more businesses in that space doing great work, but they don’t have visibility. They don’t have the support that they need. And this is when the ecosystem needs to pull together to provide that level of support,” she said. Despite the generational shift to tech jobs in the past decade, the Nigerian tech ecosystem still grapples with a talent gap. At the same time, it is losing tech workers to companies in developed economies as part of a brain drain wave. Speaking earlier at the event, Nigeria’s minister of communications, innovation, and digital economy, Bosun Tijani shared how he intends to achieve the ministry’s goal of training 3 million tech talents over the next four years. Ehimuan said that beyond the ministry’s ambitious goal, the government needs to work toward building the capacity of the teeming number of graduates produced by universities annually to join the tech workforce. “We need to ensure that we’re creating opportunities where a lot of our very talented and vibrant learners can get support,” she said.
Read MoreAI offers opportunity to digitise African culture
Microsoft principal programme manager Nnanna Orieke calls for digitisation of Africa’s culture at Moonshot by TechCabal. A quick search of something of African origin on ChatGPT or any other generative AI system gives a scant or inadequate answer. Current generative AI systems are not equipped with enough data to adequately reflect Africa’s diversity, but this provides an opportunity for Africans to digitise their rich and diverse cultures and languages, according to Nnanna Orieke, principal programme manager at Microsoft. Orieke made this observation at the ongoing Moonshot conference, a flagship conference by TechCabal, which has gathered players and builders in the African tech space to network, collaborate, share insights, and celebrate innovation on the continent. Artificial intelligence (AI) has become an integral part of our lives, transforming various aspects of human existence, from healthcare to finance to manufacturing. Its ability to simplify systems and enhance productivity is evident. However, AI’s application in Africa has been hampered by the lack of adequate data, resulting in biases and inaccurate representations of Africans. Orieke notes that generative AI systems often fall short because they lack comprehensive data on African cultures. “Nobody is documenting all of our culture,” he said, highlighting the pressing need for greater representation in AI technology. Despite the challenges, Africa is making strides in digitising its own culture. “The work is being done,” says Fatima Tambajang, head of developer relations for Africa at Nvidia. Initiatives like Indaba aim to address the data gap, providing a platform to document and preserve African languages and traditions. These efforts show promise in bringing authentic African voices to the world of AI. But barriers such as poor electricity access, limited internet penetration, and the high costs associated with AI technology pose a challenge. In many African countries, electricity is a scarce resource. Data from the PwC show that only 58% of the continent’s population have access to electricity and two-thirds of Africa’s existing grids are considered unreliable. Asides electricity, internet quality on the continent is faint. When compared to most other world regions, fibre networks have a limited reach in Africa. Also, AI is an expensive technology to implement and maintain. The costs associated with infrastructure, software, and hardware can be prohibitive for many African communities and governments. To overcome these barriers, Tambajang is of the opinion that collaborative efforts between governments and private stakeholders are crucial.
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🚀Entering Tech #43 – How Smarketers Hub helps marketers
Every marketing talent is welcome here! 11 || October || 2023 View in Browser Brought to you by Issue #43 How Smarketers Hub helps marketers Share this newsletter Greetings ET people We’re presently celebrating African innovation at the Moonshot Conference. If you’re not here with us, please enjoy this #EnteringTech edition on a community that helps marketing talents grow. Please pretend that this was planned as part of the marketing talent editions we’ve had over the past four editions. Happy reading. Timi Odueso Tech trivia Some tech trivia to get the brain juices flowing. What was the name of the first computer mouse? What is the name of the search engine that was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin in 1998? What is Smarketers Hub? Smarketers Hub was founded by Aisha Owolabi, a seasoned digital content marketer with seven years of experience simplifying complex ideas into easily digestible content. Aisha Owolabi In the early days of her career, Aisha longed for a supportive community to navigate her digital marketing journey, especially while pursuing a Chemistry degree simultaneously. To provide this support to others, in January 2020, she launched Smarketers Hub, uniting aspiring African marketers with stories, resources, and opportunities to inspire and enable them to build successful global careers. Smarketers Hub is a thriving community of bright marketers, committed to mutual learning and daily improvement in their craft. The Hub focus on nurturing creative talents across Africa, delivering valuable content, resources, and diverse opportunities that drive careers and foster engagement within the marketing industry. Its mission is to become the ultimate destination for African marketers seeking the resources and support to forge successful global marketing careers. How does Smarketers Hub work? Product marketers, growth marketers, content marketers, digital marketers, content creators, social media managers 1,500 Nil. Absolutely free X(Twitter), Instagram , LinkedIn, Threads If you’re a marketer and you’re considering joining Smarketers Hub, here are some perks to ginger you. A. Smarketers’ Twitter Spaces: Each month, the community hosts digital events featuring subject matter experts from global marketing industries. These events are open to both generalist and specialist marketers at all career levels especially mid and entry-level marketers. Past speakers include prominent figures such as Tamilore Oladipo, Olabinjo Adeniran, Peace Obinani, and many others. A Smarketers Hub Twitter Space B. Job opportunities: Smarketers Hub has established partnerships with organizations to provide exciting job opportunities for marketing professionals. Its latest collaborations with Blurpe and Talentpoel were aimed at assisting marketing professionals in discovering excellent job prospects both within and outside Africa. C. Skill development: Through its various communication channels, including social media, our website, and email, Smarketers Hub regularly shares valuable resources. These resources include career-boosting tips for marketers. Additionally, the Hub conducts interviews and shares stories from accomplished marketers across various marketing disciplines, with the aim of inspiring the next generation of marketers. The Hub guides them on how to refine their skills and choose the right paths to build successful global marketing careers. As part of its commitment to empowering community members, Smarketers Hub offers a feature that enables writers within its community to submit articles. This opportunity not only helps them establish themselves as thought leaders but also allows them to diversify their portfolios. What people say about Smarketers Hub Speaking of community, here’s what a few people have to say about Smarketers Hub: Want to learn more about Smarketers Hub? Sign up for the Hub’s newsletter here. You can alsocheck out their website at at www.smarketershub.com. Hangout with Testify Testify is celebrating 22 veteran software testers with impactful years of experience. To read more, click here! Join the first-of-its-kind tech hangout on November 11 at The Zone, Lagos State featuring games, food, and networking with tech professionals.RSVP now! Here’s where to find your first tech job If you’re interested in kicking off your career in tech, here’s a list of job boards that regularly upload their platform with African tech jobs. The TechCabal Job Board The Fuzu Job Board Plenty Tech Jobs Kaleta Job Consultancy Careers in Africa Remote Africa AOJ: Africa on Jobs Tech trivia answers The first computer mouse was called the “XY Position Indicator for a Display System” and was invented by Douglas Engelbart in 1964. It was made of wood and had two wheels on the bottom to track its movement. The search engine that was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin in 1998 is Google. Google is the most popular search engine in the world. Opportunities Access Bank ART X prize for early career African artists returns for its 2023/2024 edition. Applications are open for artists who have dedicated at least three years to their practice. The winner gets a $10,000 grant. Apply by October 18. Applications are open forthe Ocean Country Partnership Programme (OCCP) Scholarship (fully funded), aimed at students from Ghana who wish to develop a career in Marine science. Each successful recipient will be entitled to tuition fees, a living allowance and a research support grant. Apply by October 17. Calling all emerging conservation photographers and storytellers! Applications are open for the Ocean Storytelling Photography Grant 2023($2,000 prize). Four successful grantees will receive a fully-funded assignment to choose a conservation photo story on location (including day rate and travel), under direct mentorship from the Ocean Storytelling Grant team. Apply by October 13. Applications are open for the Aurora Tech Award 2024. The Award is an annual global prize for women founders of tech startups. Winners of the first prize get $30,000, the second prize gets $20,000 and the third prize gets $10,000. Apply by December 1. Jobs NGX Group – Team lead- Technology Listings – Lagos, Nigeria (On-site) RAD Resources – Project Manager – Cape Town, South Africa (Unspecified) HyperionDev – Global Head of Marketing – Cape Town, South Africa (On-site) Electrum – Project Manager – Cape Town, South Africa (On-site) Jumia – Senior Engineering Manager – Nairobi, Kenya (On-site) Sun King– Senior Graphics Designer – Lagos, Nigeria (Unspecified) Media Trust Group – Digital Marketer – Abuja, Nigeria (Unspecified) Gomoney–
Read MoreDefaulting on your loans has more far-reaching consequences than you think
Defaulting on loans for most people means being on the receiving end of a barrage of calls and messages from creditors, but that’s not all. In the last couple of years, there has been a steep increase in the number of loan platforms in Nigeria. These apps are geared towards filling the credit gap left by traditional banks in the country, and unlike traditional banks, they do not require collateral or tedious paperwork to approve a personal or payday loan application, which has made them popular. Despite how popular lending apps are now, a good number of them are still unprofitable as users have a hard time repaying loans due to low purchasing power driven by soaring inflation and stagnant salaries. In 2022, Kuda Bank lost about ₦2.6 million ($2.6 million) to non-performing loans. Beyond the inability to repay loans, lending platforms also report an unwillingness to repay these loans on the part of their borrowing clients. For a lot of Nigerians, the consequence of defaulting on loans is harassment by these platforms, something they believe they can bypass. There are a lot of steps that go into the lending process in Nigeria, and the first is determining how much to lend the user via credit profiling. The financial organisation assesses the customer’s credit history and commitment patterns to loans. According to Damilare, who has about six years of experience working in the fintech space, checking for commitment patterns is important. “It’s not enough to pay back all the loans you took. We have to ensure that you paid them back on time,” he shared. Some fintechs also do credit scoring, although Damilare insists that the credit scoring isn’t thorough enough as some fintechs are in a rush to acquire a high number of users and disburse more loans, causing them to overlook red flags in some individuals’ financial history. The first consequence of not repaying a loan is usually countless messages and calls from the institution’s loan recovery team. For some individuals, this isn’t much of a consequence as they purposefully ignore such messages and calls. After some time, these calls and messages stop as the loans get written off. Different financial institutions have different timelines for writing off loans, according to Damilare. “There is a category of loans that are irrecoverable and these organisations cannot keep wasting resources trying to reach out to customers. In most cases, the loans are covered by insurance, so they can effectively wipe off the loans of the customers and close the accounts without incurring a lot of loss,” he shared. Although the defaulter is no longer contacted when their loans get written off, their details are still associated with that debt which eventually affects their credit history. Financial organisations are mandated by the CBN to provide all details of their lending to at least two credit bureaus in the country on a monthly basis. This means that as long as you do not repay your loan, your profile will repeatedly be sent to the bureaus monthly. Nigeria has only three credit bureaus: CreditRegistry Plc, FirstCentral Credit Burea, and CRC Credit Bureau. Their focus is to help lenders assess the creditworthiness of borrowers by providing accurate and up-to-date information about their credit history, which includes their payment history, outstanding debts, and credit limits. For a fee, organisations and even individuals can get credit reports of almost any individual in the country. According to Suleiman*, a staff of the Credit Reference Company (CRC), also known as CRC Credit Bureau, outside the financial space, a large number of organisations also use data from the bureau when making hiring decisions or awarding contracts. Most countries also do a background check on credit history before approving visa applications. “There are a lot of cases where people have gotten blacklisted in certain industries or their visa applications got denied due to poor credit histories. They typically come to us to fix it, but we are not in a position to do that. The credit bureaus only collect and share information on credit histories. We’re not the ones who blacklist people,” Suleiman shared with TechCabal. Efua Francis, who works at a visa agency in Abuja, confirms that embassies take credit history seriously, especially in the case of long-term stays or relocation. “If you’re travelling to a place like Dubai for a two-week trip, your credit history doesn’t really matter as long as you can show that you have the funds now. On the other hand, countries like Canada, Germany, the United States, etc take credit history seriously. Your visa won’t be granted if they get the slightest impression that you’re bad with loans,” she shared with TechCabal over a phone call. Despite all of these, Suleiman argues that refusing to take loans is not necessarily the ideal solution; taking the loans and repaying them is, as loans can be healthy and help you build your credit history which can be extremely useful in the case of emergencies. “The first time you take a loan, you only get offered a low amount of money but as you repay, you get offered higher. Everyone needs the option of accessing money from their banks or other financial platforms, and so I advise people to take small loans from reputable institutions and repay in time so they can build a healthy credit history and credit score,” he shared. He also advises individuals to do monthly credit checks to ensure that their credit history is spotless. *Names have been changed to protect the identity of anonymous sources.
Read MoreInside I’m IN Accelerator’s mission to foster inclusivity in SA tech
Palesa Tabai, programme lead at I’M IN Accelerator, expounds on the accelerator’s mission to drive inclusion in South Africa’s tech startup ecosystem. According to reporting by Harvard Business Review, black founders receive roughly 1% of VC funding. The publication further states that one of the reasons for this is that venture capital investors, who are largely white, aren’t good at recognising and developing black entrepreneurs. This is a problem that I’M IN Accelerator is trying to address. Founded in 2015 and based in South Africa, I’M IN Accelerator focuses on launching black-founded, high-growth start-ups into the African technology sector by providing opportunities to technically apt founders with limited access to resources. The accelerator, through its programmes, partners with entrepreneurs to build technology-enabled solutions, facilitating access to various early-stage funding vehicles in conjunction with business development support and one-on-one mentorship from industry specialists. For this episode of Ask An Investor, TechCabal caught up with Palesa Tabai, programme lead at the accelerator, to get more information on its acceleration strategy, challenges and opportunities in South Africa’s early-stage startup ecosystem and much more! Please share more about the work that you do at I’M IN Accelerator. Palesa Tabai: I’M IN Accelerator was established in 2015. One of the co-founders realised that most startups in South Africa were not investment-ready. What we do is that we partner with black tech startups in South Africa with limited resources to help them become investment-ready when they go into the market for fundraising. We engage our in-house fund managers and investors to identify sectors where there are pertinent problems which can be solved via technology. We then identify startups in those sectors and bring them for acceleration and pre-seed funding where we write cheques up to R2 million (~$106,000). We also host various events as part of our pipeline development. During these seminars, we identify potential portfolio companies. We also do calls for applications each year. Why is the sole focus on just black startup founders? PT: What we’ve seen from the research we have conducted is that less than 2% of venture capital goes towards black-owned, and women-owned tech startups because investors deem them not investment-ready. So no one wants to take a risk with these startups. So that’s why that demographic is our main focus. How exactly does the accelerator take a startup to a point of investment readiness? PT: We have outlined criteria for startups to be part of our programme. Tantamount to that criteria is that we focus solely on accelerating black South African startups which have some significant traction. By traction, I mean that we need to see that they actually have customers who bring in some revenue. We don’t take anyone who does not have a tried and tested product because we need to have an idea of whether the problem you are trying to solve does exist and is worth solving from a business sense. The acceleration programme itself is 10 months. Initially, after the vetting process, we engage in an intensive due diligence process where we partner with technology experts, market experts, and business experts and take a deep dive into each business to ensure whether this business actually has the possibility to scale. During the acceleration, we have a template called the “Growth Strategy Template”. This actually highlights everything about the businesses; the weaknesses, the strengths, and the plan of what they need to do to actually convince investors to put money into their business. We also have seasoned and matured startups which we pair with mentors or give them the interventions that align with where they are in their lifecycle. For instance, we actually just worked with a startup which graduated and went on to raise R7 million. So the kind of acceleration services that you’d give that particular startup would be completely different from the ones that you’re given to those who are still very new. You stated that you provide up to R2 million (~$106,000) in funding. How much equity do you take for this investment? PT: What we do is use convertible notes with our portfolio startups. So how a convertible note works is that we’re giving you money today, seen as a loan, then after five years, we can convert that loan into equity. So we don’t take equity right away. How much traction have you garnered in your eight years of operations? PT: Since we have been in the market, we have accelerated over a hundred tech startups. So accelerated doesn’t necessarily mean that you are going to get funding. It just means that we have given you the resources to help build your business to be market-ready. So out of those hundred, about 50 of those startups were able to get the pre-seed investment from IDF Capital. The minimum check we’ve given over the years is a minimum of R1 million (~$53,000) and a maximum of R2 million (~$106,000). Out of those 50 startups, 30% were able to raise additional follow-on funding to a combined total of R67 million (~$3.5 million). From your operations, what challenges and opportunities have you identified in the South African tech ecosystem? PT: The challenge we have seen is that we have a lot of tech startups in the ecosystem, but there aren’t as many tech accelerators that are able to help them. Also, there aren’t as many fund managers who are willing to actually deploy capital in these startups. In terms of opportunities, we are in discussions with different corporates to give us as much money as they can so that we can deploy it into these tech startups. We have spoken to the likes of Telkom, PwC, FutureMakers, IDC and many more who have been receptive to our mission. We have also closed a deal with JPMorgan which wants us to go to universities without that much entrepreneurial activity. We are to identify with women entrepreneurs to spot viable ideas and help them from the ideation stage to proof of concept and then
Read MoreMeta offers $500,000 to projects that use its open-source AI model
The Llama Impact Grants program will provide $500,000 in grants to projects using Llama 2, its open-source large language model to address grand challenges in education, the environment and social innovation. “Recent breakthroughs in artificial intelligence demonstrate the potential for AI to help people accomplish incredible things and provide individuals with new ways to express themselves,” a Meta statement read. “We don’t believe that we should be the only ones using AI,” Adaora Ikenze, Meta’s Public Policy Director for Anglophone West Africa said on stage at TechCabal’s Moonshot event. Meta’s Llama 2 grants are open to global organizations focused on providing artificial intelligence-driven solutions for underrepresented communities in education, environment and open innovation which includes AI for research and public interest use cases. Grant applications will be judged for technical feasibility, data privacy responsibility, how the proposed solution would use Llama 2, and impact. Meta and Microsoft released Llama 2 as an open-source program for research and commercial use in July. Meta’s latest grant program is the latest in salvo in its bid to develop a generative AI platform that can rival OpenAI’s GPT series of AI models. According to reporting from the Wall Street Journal, the group behind Llama was only formed this year by Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg to accelerate the development of generative AI tools.
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