Feed the 5000 once, it’s a miracle. Feed them twice, you’re a caterer. At the Transformational Business Network, we teach them to fish! Am thrilled to have been called upon to be a pitch judge at the Aga Khan Scale Kenya Forum. The funding statistics in East Africa are, to put it mildly, alarming. In the last two years alone, 90 percent of all disclosed investments went to startups with either European or American founders. This strong selection bias towards expatriate start-up propositions is troubling. To invert this statistic, we need to be intentional. We must build a culture that enables our entrepreneurs to tell their stories; they need to be skilled, and mentored to grow businesses that are too solid to ignore.
July 13, 2018 at 10:47 pm
‘To grow businesses that are too solid to ignore ‘ .YES!
July 13, 2018 at 10:47 pm
Zik, I concur. But the challenge you cite can be cured at policy level, with laws that disincentivise such blatant bias.
July 13, 2018 at 10:48 pm
I agree, Sam. But with our myriad of challenges, our advocacy for policy review (this and many others) gets drowned out in the noise. And it seems to me that the private sector has its hands already full just trying to stay afloat. By how long will be too long!
July 13, 2018 at 10:49 pm
Absolutely! Well done on the work you’re doing.
July 13, 2018 at 10:50 pm
I am cheer Leading!
July 13, 2018 at 10:50 pm
I hear you! I feel you! I am back home to join the likes of you in pursuit of excellence in whatever I apply my heart to!
We need to touch base so I tap some of your inspiration
July 13, 2018 at 10:51 pm
Good to know you are back home, Joseph Muyeti! Next am in town I’ll look you up. The harvest is plenteous but the laborers are few!
July 13, 2018 at 10:52 pm
hey Jacob Zikusooka, u really looked lost… were you understanding a thing kabisa?u looked so sleepy
July 13, 2018 at 10:53 pm
Betty you seem to have a firm grasp of who Zikusooka is!
July 13, 2018 at 10:53 pm
you want Mr Zik to fire me….hehhehehe, Sam Nyamboga use ur own words to confirm…hehehe
July 13, 2018 at 10:55 pm
Now see this beautiful niece of mine? For you Betty, one word. Kiboko. That’s what you have coming your way
July 13, 2018 at 10:56 pm
Jacob Zikusooka hahahahaha, bansonyiwe ssebo..hope ur well
July 13, 2018 at 10:56 pm
You are looking too serious for those young men and women…
July 13, 2018 at 10:57 pm
NK Mauncho Ngumba Francis Nguru
July 13, 2018 at 10:57 pm
Good job!
July 13, 2018 at 10:58 pm
Great job Jacob Zikusooka. Thanks for the great work you are doing. That’s a horrifying statistic. Yes we need to be intentional. I am glad you are doing something about it.
July 13, 2018 at 10:59 pm
“90 percent of all disclosed investments went to either European or American founders” – this more so in the social impact space…it has got to change! The question I ask is: what’s missing in our local entrepreneurs that sees them falling behind in attracting investment? It’s all very well to call out the selection bias towards foreign entrepreneurs (that was me whilst at the Acumen Fund EA when I frequently called out this pattern of foreign founders amongst Acumen’s investees) yet the REAL issue is on us…entrepreneurs who don’t get requisite knowledge, training and skills to enable them 1) articulate their value proposition & business models in ways that attract investors 2) related to the first point is the inability to convincingly tell our own stories and 3) being insular and not developing global mindsets & global networks that support /catalyze their entrepreneurial efforts 4) being inflexible (or simply scared) to give up shareholding in their businesses and preferring to keep 100 percent ownership rather than invite investors who could add tremendous value to their efforts…the list is endless! ? Our local education puts many entrepreneurs at a disadvantage in competing with Western trained entrepreneurs so this is not a surprising pattern….and as Sam your nemesis has argued, may be it is time to institute policies that protect local entrepreneurs and gives them a fighting chance in this competitive ecosystem. It is an uneven playing field every which way you slice it! #MyTwoCents
July 13, 2018 at 11:00 pm
Couldn’t have said it better, Rosie. Your two cents are worth a lot more!
July 13, 2018 at 11:01 pm
Jacob, come on. You could not have said it better? Your discourse and Rosie’s is like comparing Romania and Germany
July 13, 2018 at 11:01 pm
Jacob Zikusooka Rosie Loree love the post and comments.. I recently challenged the same in my industry , I think I am pretty articulate ( I think ?), can tell our own story … however a group of 4 foreigners got the funding , they have ZERO experience in the industry .. the reason we were given was that they applied for the grant in Washington…??? . They were then sent to meet us and see how we can help them ??
July 13, 2018 at 11:02 pm
It does not have to be this way .. it should be without any bias .. a big gap I find that plagues “us” is not having the experience/ the right people who are able to guide us on the “language “ used in applying for the grants . In my humble experience, that is one big gap.
There is a whole Consultancy world that writes these grant papers on behalf of Social Entrepreneurs.
July 13, 2018 at 11:02 pm
You speak truth…getting the ‘education’ w.r.t grant application is one gap…
July 13, 2018 at 11:03 pm
That must have sucked Ciiru ? There are obviously agenda’s we know nothing of that make the playing ground even more uneven…makes one just want to sigh dejectedly!
July 13, 2018 at 11:04 pm
Rosie Lore yup !
July 13, 2018 at 11:05 pm
Interesting (and enlightening at the same time), coming from your personal experience, Ciiru. So the “skills gap” is really hypothetical; a smokescreen for a bigger problem, right?! On a lighter note, one of the key characteristics of these funded start-ups is the team composition: they comprise of alumni from Stanford, Harvard, MIT and Wharton. So perhaps we need to engage Rosie to make stock of our “humble” Stanford education;-)
July 13, 2018 at 11:06 pm
Great going bro
July 13, 2018 at 11:07 pm
Way to go my brother.