Africa’s Business Heroes Information Session and Community Event

Opportunity and Community 

This month has been quite rich in events of note. The uniting thread of all these events is that I was only able to know about the them because of my association with FLUG. Founders Lounge Uganda Limited is currently hosted by a low key Tech Hub called Startup Hub which is found in the Ntinda Area along Serumaga Rd. I only became aware of their work after attending a Hive Colab yearly meetup a few years ago. Hive Colab had managed to put together another powerful event bringing a star studded cast of panelists from some of the most important and impactful Fintech in the country. The value of this panel was emphasized by someone more familiar with these types of settings-Jonathan Ntege Lubwama who as can be expected asked some pretty tough questions to those who were speaking at the panel. 

Secrets in Onboarding 

Africa’s Business Heroes I learned was hosting an event and after reading about it and noting the setting…Design Quarter where I have recorded an episode of my podcast. I was immediately interested. The other fascinating thing about my interaction with this event at least the registration part was the fact that they immediately let me in to their organization as a member of Africa’s Business Heroes. 

In a post written a few weeks back I endeavored to present some ideas that can help make it easier for different organizations or businesses who are looking to enter into new markets. For one particular group which has as an application, this meant making it mandatory to install the app to get access to attendance as well as merchandise. I think the strategy either planned or serendipitous was to add all those who registered to the Africa’s Business Heroes group. At least for me it worked. Instead of just allowing people to attend, they chose to add those who wished to attend into their larger group. A form of onboarding 😃.

For a theme Africa’s Business Heroes chose Creating a sustainable business: Balancing Profit and Impact. There were a whopping 200 people who registered for the event. 

The theme:Profit, Impact and Sustainability 

What was interesting is that this very idea was brought forth in a discussion about VC myths in Africa in a webinar called Africa Reimagined and which I share in the May issue of Intersection Magazine. In it the author/speaker demystifies the continent and the assumption made by those who are either on the continent or those who wish to engage with it. One of the challenges she presents is precisely this do you build for impact or do you build for profit. 

Expert Panelists

We had three major voices in attendance and a few more who stood out at least in the sense of honesty with which they presented their causes. 

Louisa Kiwana of Kunda Kids, Dr. Emma Naluyima of MST School and Martin Ssali of Smart Foods Limited. 

I had two primary questions. One was about the difference between or relationship between scale and sustainability. Dr. Naluyima presented the case for scale as both vertical and horizontal. For Mr. Ssali I was curious about any direction towards Tofu in their Soya business. Martin Ssali if you do not know has been responsible for innovating around alternatives to milk products for those who are lactose intolerant, those who with age cannot quite digest milk and others with products such as soy yogurt. He also shared how a simple change in name enabled his business to skyrocket in just a few weeks. 

We also saw from Dr. Naluyima how she transitioned from the acre farm which eventually led her to think about a reeducation around farming leading to the creations of her school. Many were curious how she dealt with the temptation to expand. She responded with the fact that unfettered expansion often leads to a dilution in quality. 

Emotion and Storytelling 

One of our hosts was the brains behind a leading space Circular Design Hub formerly hosted in 5th Street Industrial Area and she shared emotionally about how she had to let her dream go after about 8 years in operations. The mind behind a flavored tea company was also thrilled to realize in real time the value people abroad place in Ugandan products especially when branded well. 

Africa’s Business Heroes for me marks an important addition in the space even if they have been active for 6 years. Small business people who want access to funding can find it though different paths as I have suggested in previous podcast episodes listen here https://podcasts.apple.com/ug/podcast/the-intersection-magazine-podcast/id1669247992?i=1000653981723

Strength, Background and Approach 

Africa’s Business Heroes presents one of these paths. By taking part in competitions you not only get a chance to win some money if you succeed but you also get access to resources and training. The rigorous process you go through will be useful in all the ventures you engage in in the future. You must be deliberate in your planning though. By being sector agnostic I believe that this is a promising area for those of you who are building. Africa’s Business Heroes is a sector agnostic project created for Africa by Jack Ma of China to help give African businesses a voice and platform to build and create. In our view a sector agnostic approach allows the group to cast its net wide accommodating the varied needs and challenges of a continent and set of creators and builders whose strength is in building practical solutions.

Tempted to think this is not for Uganda? Check out our past country representatives

Here is the link that you can use to apply; https://africabusinessheroes.org/en/register

Visit the ABH website for more details on the competition and application process. If you have any questions or need support, feel free to contact us at info@africabusinessheroes.org or via WhatsApp at +250 792 575 614. 

Below is a poster with everything you need to know about the process. 

Tech Safari Mixer in Kampala with Caleb Maru

Communities and Mixers

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the Sling Event that was held at Motiv Uganda. This event run alongside another event led by Caleb Maru of Tech Safari. The Tech Safari Mixer was held on Thursday a day after the sling event. 

Both benefitted from a platform of which I am part called FLUG. Founders Lounge Uganda-a 700 plus group of founders which is designed to help grow the and encourage Ugandan founders in quite a number of ways with content like Newsletter as well as Monthly Events. In the pipeline for this is the creation of a savings and investment group with varying goals some of which are to serve as an emergency buffer for founders, facilitation engine for events and more. 

Tech Ecosystems Explained

Caleb Maru has made a name for himself building information and creating a community both online and physical for technology enthusiasts and practitioners. We were privileged to host him in Uganda for a few days where he had a ‘mixer’. This was a fun filled and networking heavy gathering that was held to introduce Tech Safari to Uganda as we well as to foster collaboraitons and conversation for the growth of the Ugandan Ecosystem. 

When we speak of an evosystem, we refer to the all the major parts that are necessary in creating a health organism (banks, NGOs, founders, SMEs, governement, Univesities, Regulatory Bodies, Venture Capitalists, Angel Investors, High Netwrorth Individuals and more). 

Tech Safari and Caleb Maru

What Caleb has done is write extensively about the tech ecosystem of the continwnt covering almost every significant country and presenting a glimpse of some of the more promising stories from these coutnries as well as those operating in the varied spaces. 

In Uganda Caleb and Tech Safari was interested in having a conversation with those in Uganda about opportunities local and international and how to expand beyond the local. The conversatinon was full of a wealth of insights. The first and in my view the most important ida that was dicsucced had to do with the definition of the challenge or at least the nature of the panel…and the range of the ideas about what constitutes African. Thosew who selected the panel were interested in people who are African operating in Africa as well as those who are African operating abroad. 

Panel Selection, Themes and Networking Benefits

Donald Masa of FLUG helped provide some grounding and insight for those who were doubtful of the landscape and its ability to scale and grow. Peter on the other hand demonstrated the improntance of thinking globally and excelling in a more professional geographic space. He for example stated how providential a move to Nigeria opened up doors for him to access funding just because of his proximity to people who were part of the Ecosystem there. Gwera on the other hand was a useful link for those who were curious about leadership of a global brand and how her voice was utilized to help expand the company. 

 Gwera Kiwana – Global Expansion, Sling Money

 Peter Kisadha – Country Management, RAFIKI

 Donald Maasa(Moderator) – Co-Founder, Startup Lounge Uganda

 Caleb Maru (Host) – Founder & CEO, Tech Safari

On the side, i beneffited through a contact i met who is in the talent space and who i hope to interview both in the podcast as well as the magazine. 

Nuggets from the mixer

Peter Kisadha: 

You need ot engage in a High Performance Culture

Can you name one thing in which we operate at a world class level. 

You have no idea what you have no idea about and you are getting advice from those who also have no idea. 

Therecare Cheat codes in the game. 

We need to diffewreitate between Building in Uganda or building as a Ugandan. 

The challenge of proximity. 

Peter is responsible for a group called Nambi which is organized around Ugandans in diaspora to help them know each other and encourage them to invest in the Ugandan Community. 

Peter realized that Ugandans who don't know each other and decided to help Equip Ugandans to make an impact on a global stage. 

Can you rise and be pointed to as a captain of your industry? 

How much impact can you drive in a third tier city or country? 

You can operate on Cheques and contracts and tie your worth to a market or you can link your value to scale which is at the heart of venture thinking. 

Every year in the month of June Peter Travels to London. 

Gwera Kiwana :

Every African Should Visit three places in Africa:

Lagos

Cairo

Johannesburg 

• You need to be skilled at Playing the venture game. 
• They (Central Banks across Africa) are not trying to run you out of business.
• Economic Parity (gender challenges).
• Build teams that reflect who you want to serve. 
• Identify what your Roadmap to revenue growth is
• Free Today but that could change. What is your revenue model? Non traditional revenue models.
• Keep costs down by keeping team lean, be flexible and do not take failure personally.
• Stable coin native we have yield.
• New features through cards.Access to global rails (US bank access). 
• Whales who are part of the sling community.
• Exits happen in different ways.
• Secondary Markets include Uganda, Rwanda, Cameroon 
• TAM Total Addressable Market. 

Sling Event at Motiv Uganda

Making use of local channels

A few days ago I and the members of the Founders Lounge Uganda received an invitation to be attend an event hosted by Sling. This is a relatively new Fintech (Financial Technology Application) in the Ugandan space which lets you send and receive money across the world as well as interact in some way with Crypto…at least in the form of a Stable coin. While many and rightly so consider cryptocurrencies rather unstable and volatile, stable coins on the other hand are pegged or attached to a currency which ensures their more predictable state. 

Marketing coups and an analysis of the sector

To attend the event and to access a choice set of gifts, the company carried out a marketing coup by attaching attendance to registration, download and use of the app. This way, if successful the company would be guaranteed to at least onboard 100 new potential users. 

Sling is coming into an interesting space. We have products that have come in to solve the issue of unbanked Africans in general which make up the majority. This sector of Financial Technology Applications is also the leading driver of growth of ten attributed to about 80% of Venture Capital Investment on the continent. The duopoly of MTN and Airtel both foreign owned also have a major foothold in the Fintech space and so any serious player has to find a way of interacting with them. 

Regional Outlook

Regionally you cannot mention Fintech without talking about MPESA. Personally I have made use of both Chipper Cash App and Eversend and more recently Opera Mini. The use of the first two were made attractive because of the ability to interact on some level with cryptocurrencies as well as the option of purchasing stocks for a dollar. This is quite promising especially for dividend stocks which can provide a decent inflow for significance investment amounts. 

The chance to download Sling gave me an opportunity to interact with the interface. At first I thought that the only option for adding cash was though the use of Cards but both MTN and Airtel are represented. Additionally the group provides some incentives for those who invite new users as well as a welcoming gift for first use. 

The format of the program 

There were broadly speaking two parts to the event. The first were general conversations with a chance of the team to interact with attendees at least in general terms. The second was a more focused deep dive with what are referred to as breakout sessions. These were split into 

• Engineering and Applicationn Development led by Dominic Black
• Design and Product with Simon Amor
• Marketing with Sheena Shiravi
• Expansion with Gwera Kiwana 
• Feedback Video Q and A to solicit responses from new users

Influencers, Campaign Maps and Marketing Funnels

While I was unable to be part of all these sessions, I attended the one most relevant to my direct operations as a mag and pod publisher. 

In the marketing part Sheena guided the attendees through some strategy ideas as well as a responded to a few questions. 

Major takeaways. Those present were concerned of the fees that are often attached to send in and receiving money. A need was identified where users could hold on more to their cash and at least let it circulate in the closed system. Sheena also addressed the issue of strategy and marketing approach by making reference to funnels. She also highlighted the need to find the right influencer and to be very specific about what you want that person to achieve. As an aside she highlighted the value that the team places in very active monitoring of individual posts through a very rigorous spreadsheet differentiating between impressions and actual conversions as well as a host of other stats provided by standard social media tools. 

Product Suggestion 

There was a neat little trick that Sling used to reward participants in their feedback program. As a gift, those who answered a few questions were rewarded with a voucher of UGX 30,000 or about $10. Simply scan and receive onto your sling account. Would love to see a collaboration between supermarkets and other shopping centers with this type of product for Gift Vouchers redeemable or accessible at to Sling users😃

Another option would be to be able to provide these vouchers to friends as gifts where I print from my sling and then give them away to friends for use in recognized stores 😍