No fear, young Africans are treading new paths to entrepreneurial success
ONE continent fascinated 19th century explorers more than any other: Africa.
Explorers like the Scot, David Livingstone; Henry Stanley, who recorded his journeys for the New York Times, and British scholar Sir Richard Burton. They were among the pioneers of travel across the continent.
Stanley encountered Livingstone in November 1871 near Lake Tanganyika in present-day Tanzania and later claimed to have greeted him with the now-famous line, “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?”
Zoom forward a few centuries and an encounter in Africa today could well be between a venture capitalist and a titan of tech. Let’s say, a meeting between venture capitalist Lexi Novitske, managing partner Acuity Ventures, and Jongyoon Kim, CEO of global travel tech company Yanolja & Yanolja Cloud.
Surely, the greeting would be, “So, you’re here to explore the entrepreneurial potential of Africa, I presume?”
Novitske is pursuing further investment opportunities within early to growth-stage technology companies from her base in Lagos, Nigeria; Kim is assessing expansion of his South Korea-based company into Africa, seeking partnerships and acquisition opportunities that will scale up his cloud-based hospitality business.
Both Novitske and Kim appeared at the inaugural WIT Africa last week, where a common theme emerged: Despite all the challenges of Africa – lack of infrastructure, corruption, government lethargy and political instability, those with the will, will find a way to succeed.
Cape Town-based tech investor Paul Rutherford, a founder/partner of Base Capital and founder of technology-focussed Nire Capital, is another investor excited by the big changes happening as young Africans follow their commercial instincts and explore emerging opportunities across the tech landscape.
Rutherford said much has changed in Africa over the last 10 years and to be successful today you need to be a local operator.
“If you go back 10 years, and you looked at most of the companies that were launching the first wave internet companies in Africa, there were a lot of immigrants.”
Rutherford said there is now a lot of local talent in Africa that had spotted the opportunities after getting experience with companies such as Uber.
“Africans are now realising they can do things for themselves. They have the talent to make use of the opportunities in front of them.”
Rutherford said conditions for investment in Africa were similar with what had happened in South-east Asia and Latin America. “I think capital is now realising that yes, you can build value. There’s an ecosystem developing, which is starting to realise the potential here.”
Novitscke, after a tough start as a white woman trying to establish a business that was not always understood by local government officials, is now bringing capital into Africa and sees plenty of blue sky ahead.
“Trust is the key,” she says. “It’s part of the challenge of getting governments to understand what your business is doing.”
Rutherford agrees: “Collaborating with local governments is hugely important. And it’s not something that most tech companies have done well across the world. Our local governments [in Africa], maybe not understanding tech, have seen these companies as a challenge, rather than a solution to unlock financial services, to unlock a lot more jobs.
“The better strategy is to engage with government, help them understand what your business is trying to do. Show them the outcomes, show them what it really means to the country in the longevity of other platforms in an ecosystem.”
Even corporate executives such as Sam Abdou, executive vice president, search and online tech, for Amadeus is excited about the emerging entrepreneurial landscape. He himself founded and invested in two multi-million dollars companies, before exiting.
“The main thing with Amadeus is that the entrepreneurial capabilities within the companies are immense.
“Amadeus, as a company, has many angles – the airline distribution space, hotels, packaging, you name it. So, the capabilities we have in terms of allowing people to be entrepreneurial, to do things differently, to go fast if needed, are there.
“I feel very comfortable being there and serving our customers in an entrepreneurial way.”
For Jongyoon Kim, Africa also beckons. Yanolja Cloud is the global cloud-based hospitality solution provider offering B2B operation solutions for approximately 37,000 clients in 170 markets in more than 60 different languages.
Kim says he will invest considerable resources in Africa “where we have big ambitions to innovate in the hospitality market”.
Another pioneer in the African travel sphere is Gidon Novick, founder of Lucid Ventures. Novick founded budget airline kulula.com and is now using his experience of the aviation sector to help LIFT, South Africa’s newest airline.
Novick, is also part of a group attempting to rescue debt-ridden South African Airways. “We’ve had lots of calls from friends and families and other people, telling us it is crazy to even think about doing something like this.”
Undaunted, Novick points to the success of Qantas as Australia’s national airline and believes SAA can be turned around. “Why can’t South African Airways not be a brilliant airline? An airline that delivers great service, efficiency, and one that delivers a profit to shareholders.”
Novick hopes that SAA can be part of the African renaissance. Where once Livingstone and Stanley opened up the continent, young and ambitious Africans are discovering a new tech-led world of their own.
Note: WiT Africa videos can be watched on-demand here.
• Featured image credit: LoveTheWind/Getty Images
