I had the pleasure to speak at the Africa Gathering in London this morning. (twitter feed here).
There were a number of emerging themes through the conference, and not necessarily the ones you might think– access to finance, more capital, education.
Nope. What came up again and again was:
TIA This is Africa. Sometimes problems can seem overwhelming. [...]

The Hub, York Way King’s X, London
9th-10th Oct, 2009.
I’ll be speaking about, in general, the challenges that investors and entrepreneurs face in Africa, with a specific focus on my partner organisation Appfrica Labs. Come out if you can.
Details at Africa Gathering and on the EventBrite page.
I’m on at 11 AM on Saturday– and to be [...]

My final post from (10000km and a two weeks after) SoCap.
Sorry this is late– I’ve just been indundated by the types of things that inundate your life at the end of five months on the road: I hadn’t slept in the same place (and mostly in the same country) for more than three weeks between [...]

The Bottom Line One funny thing about business is that everything that your uncle told you from your early days is wrong– I was told by most adults as I grew up that the bottom line is what counts. It’s true… to a sense.
Strategy professionals take a different tactic: Profits and the bottom line is [...]

We’ve seen a lot of shifts in the last few dozen years– my parents lamented that I would never live in a world where a job was something you could have for a lifetime, and people of my parents’s age were tarred with the worst of both– they wree promised a lifetime job but, mid-career, [...]

Zimbabwe, six months later…
I took another trip to Zimbabwe last week to meet with a number of people about a voucher programme for African Enterprise Partners’ first investee, Mobile Transactions.
The difference in Zimbabwe from the last time I was here six month ago is palpable. And the country is, quite simply, beautiful. It’s not the [...]

I wonder what, exactly, is my job title sometimes. My card says “Partner — East Africa” but that doesn’t say much.
I’m working with Mike on his pitch for SBSVC. He don’t exactly need capital, but it’d make AEP move faster, further, and achieve profitability sooner.
The early-stage companies that I’m working with, has got me thinking, [...]

African Branding
Kampala– and much of Africa– in incredibly brand-conscious. Entire buildings and building blocks are painted (often just for the cost of the paint and labour) in UTL blue, Warid red, Zain purple-pink (a particulalry hideous shade that makes me think of a little blood mixed with Pepto-Bismol– see below), and now Orange.

Bugolobi trading centre [...]

Figure out what you’re good at and be who you are.
In strategy courses, we talk a lot about sustainable competitive advantage-what it is that makes your company better than others at doing what it is that you do-in some cases, you may have companies that compete in markets but don’t directly compete against each other-Starbuck’s, [...]

You don’t get to make the rules; deal with it.
This one you hopefully learned in undergrad, but it bears some repeating. You take a top international business programme which requires several years’ experience to get in and you’re quite likely to have a lot of talented people who are used to having their way with [...]