#siliconsavannah

[visitafrica-today]

Welcome to Nairobi city also referred to as "Silicon Savannah" and "Green city in the sun", the capital of Kenya, founded in 1899 as a railway camp. It is the only capital city in the world with a national park, Nairobi National Park.

Experience Nairobi

Discover Nairobi, Kenya’s bustling capital, famous for its unique national park, vibrant arts scene, and historical sites. Explore Nairobi N

[numicapital-blog]

Thank you for hosting us! @numi_app at the @marswrigleyconfectionery factory talking about their outstanding quality and how to pass that along to the consumer. Both NUMI and MarsWrigley share a commitment to delivering the best experience to you! Order from over 8,000 grocery items today at NUMI.tech, link in bio! . . . . . #NUMI #startup #Nairobi #SiliconSavannah #tech #factory #newfriends #gum #chocolate #food (at Kenya) https://www.instagram.com/p/BvthxkOlLM0/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=veu5wpcdejn

[royking]

Had an amazing morning with a fantastic group from South Africa 🇿🇦 today who were on an @airbnb Experience - Silicon Savannah from Dawn to Dusk run by the awesome @muthurikinyamu of @turnup_travel it was fantastic exchanging learnings from my life in Cape Town to the setting up in Nairobi and the differences in the markets! . All in all met some great guys showed them around the Camouflage Media offices and @thefoundryafrica Nelleon place! #AirBnBExperience . #SiliconSavannah #RoyKingChronicles #TheFoundryAfrica #Nairobi #TurnUpTravel #Kenya #StartUp #Entrepreneurship #TembeaKenya #Whyilovekenya (at The Foundry Africa)

[nairobridge]

Thoughts On My Thesis

Yesterday I sat down with Erik Hersman for a chat about East Africa’s buzzing tech ecosystem. The meeting marked the start of my summer thesis research. Per Fletcher’s graduation requirements, Master’s students must complete a capstone project before May. This deliverable may take the form of a traditional research paper or a more edgy business case study. For my own requirement I hope to bridge the traditional and the creative, exploring the trickle-down effects of innovation hubs in East Africa with a particular emphasis on the continent’s growing middle class. While a lot has been written about Kenya’s romance with the tech world (see here, here, and here), there is a discernible lack of literature on how these innovation shops and tinker spaces are changing the game for everyday Kenyans.

Over fish tacos and quesadillas at Pete’s, Erik helped me layout a roadmap for my upcoming research. He started by underscoring the intersection between hubs and community development, noting, “The iHub was always designed to be a community space first. When you put cool people, in a cool place, cool things will happen.” I wholeheartedly agree. Aligning sharp folks with a valuable, shared mission is step one. And for me, understanding how innovation hubs act as community fabricators is a great starting point as I attempt to determine their impact on Kenya’s economy and overall employment.

While some skeptics will argue community doesn’t equate to GDP growth, I believe that community is an indispensable ingredient when developing a healthy and productive ecosystem. Hubs provide a necessary space for people to connect: Innovators can meet partners. Entrepreneurs can woo investors. And Fletcher students can interact with an impressive cohort of change-makers working out of the iHub—while sucking down kickass cappuccinos (obviously I’m slightly bias).

Keeping the fundamental role of community in mind, the next stage of my capstone research must focus on determining if Kenya’s lauded tech community has the muscle to inspire country- and region-wide systemic change, especially for those individuals living between $2 and $20 per day (the African Development Bank’s hazy definition of the continent’s middle class).

Ultimately, Tuesday’s interview energized me. It provided ample fodder for future conversations with thought-leaders in East Africa’s tech scene. Over the next three weeks before I head back stateside I hope to gain more clarity on my thesis question. Conversation with innovation hub managers in Nairobi as well as the entrepreneurs utilizing their services will help me focus my research. Time to get cracking—I’ve got twenty days.

[lussilogix]

Young techies hunched over laptops in small offices across Africa want to create their own versions of California's Silicon Valley and some are beginning to attract investors prepared to take a risk in the hope of high returns.

[nendoblr-blog]

Mbwana Alliy's post on Silicon Savannah, and sets the record straight that it is from his point of view.

He says, "Let’s not confuse the tech scene with startups: Jessica Colaco of iHub Partnerships once asked me, “what comes after hubs and before accelerator investments?” I found this an intriguing question as it goes to the heart of what many in Kenya working in tech should be asking. I believe the answer is “value added training”.

Many in Kenya are just looking for funding when they should also be  looking to get trained in the necessary skills to absorb capital to build startups- startups are about high impact people. People should not be doing high growth, high impact startups if they can’t bear the risks and aren’t capable of learning on the jobby startups, I mean the real risky stuff- startups = growth. Too many so called startups are really going after grant money or consulting projects and marketing themselves as startups.

In Kenya it is better to say you have a contract with USAID than it is that you have money in the bank from your uncle to shoot for the moon- the former is NOT a startup. A Kenyan who has to feed his family and pay down debts will likely do the later and that’s understandable.It is true that connections matter in fundraising and expats have an advantage over locals as long as locals don’t invest.

Further more, according to our research, Kenya does offer a cost advantage in launching startups, and I believe this can directly be attributed to the presence of donor funded hubs- but scaling a startup is whole different matter if the startup can’t attract and pay for talent to scale or is simply just chasing donor money and not built the right habits and talent, its a problem for growth.

Lots of startups propped up by donor money should not be the end goal if these are really startups that will scale and create high quality jobs.

Investors coming to Kenya are starting to feel the hype and Santa Clause is not real: Sam says that “us investors” revel in the media to get investment exposure like that’s where our money comes from (he should come on one of my serious investor roadshow trips). But has he wondered to ask what happens when serious investors read the media then come to Kenya and then see that hype is beyond the reality? They are not going to put down their money- they are not stupid, I have ZERO incentive to hype up the scene- there is a reason this bloomberg article says “tough love” and I am sceptical of social enterprises.You are just left with the hype money and serious investors is what makes startups scale.

M-PESA is not a startup and Kenya is not the entire Africa tech scene: Sam’s post ends with Africa is not for sissies. I agree- we are pan African fund and have embraced the challenges of investing in 15 startups in 5 countries- what we do is not for sissies. But there is a problem, M-PESA. Yes, the famous M-PESA. It got a grant from DFID UK and the major evidence/point that donor money is responsible for Kenya’s tech scene hype.

Yes, did you also know that World War 2, the Cold War/Space Race helped lay foundation of the internet? Yes, Government funding does help lay down important infrastructure- and M-PESA and broader mobile payments in Africa should be viewed as an important infrastructure. But lets get down to startups. M-PESA is not a startup, it was a project that was actually scaled by Safaricom and Vodafone (IP is held by Vodafone). This is a very well known fact and its very easy for Kenyans and the media to claim it as a homegrown invention founded by Kenyans. M-PESA is so tied to Kenyan psyche that many don’t want to believe that there might be alternative challengers out there. The fact that the promised M-PESA API has taken forever to arrive should remind Kenyans who really controls the M-PESA infrastructure we all love and celebrate so much.

Just as quickly as Kenya is the king of mobile payments and defacto center of Africa tech, as quickly as other countries from Ghana, South Africa to Nigeria can claim the mantle. Nigeria alone has an economy large enough to make the Kenya scene pale in comparison for market growth. When you look at the African continent alone, you can’t ignore Nigeria and South Africa.

Kenyans need to understand that they play in a global field. 27% of the capital deployed by Savannah fund to date is in Kenya, the rest is outside of that. Kenya’s biggest advantage in my view is as the regional business hub for East Africa- but its not ruler of Africa tech- especially to investors. Because NGO money comes to Kenya historically it colors the view of the true picture by creating the hype that is the centre of Africa tech.

Aid money fluctuates and not sustainable for Scale:Nothing gets a donor’s heart racing than an African farmer being able to check market prices on their phone but pitch to them Africans creating their own game and they are suddenly not so interested. But the biggest thing about donors is that their inability to provide scale up sustainable funding beyond the goals they look for- they may heavily subsidize hubs but its clear that that money is not always going to be around and those hub managers will start to spend more time fundraising or look for a more sustainable source of funding.  

With Kenya’s increasing security threats, we should not be surprised if these donors and NGOs start making drastic decisions. Its much harder to pull the plug if an investor has a lucrative investment, the risk is already priced in and foreign direct investment flows are set to increase in Kenya, donor funding on the other hand, on the decline- but its not clear if investor funding will ever flow in large amounts to the tech sector if it is hyped.

Pan-Africanism is the true path to scale:Just Savannah Fund labels as from Kenya enough. The Savannah can be found all across Africa not just Kenya. Some of the best startups originating out of Kenya have grown to multiple countries- these include Africa One Media and Cellulant- both of these startups have raised multi-million dollar private equity investment rounds.When someone tells me “wow, you are in the centre of the African tech scene in Nairobi!”- I always reply “It is also the centre of the African NGO/donor scene”. That is the reality.