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.
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