On Purpose has just opened its new Call for Associates On Purpose is run by a very clever group of people, and they help people migrate into the Social Enterprise space. I wish this programme had existed for me 5 years ago, as I’d have jumped on the chance (not that I wish I did [...]

Difficulty in opportunity | Opportunity in difficulty There’s an old adage that the skeptic sees difficulty in every opportunity, while the entrepreneurs sees opportunity in every difficulty. Think about it. Imagine it’s 1998. Search sucks. Yahoo’s your best bet. Banner ads and the blink tag run rampant across the Internet. Pets.com has just closed its [...]

Hi both of you who are still reading this, since I apparently let aaaaages pass without an update. Current status: I’ve stopped consulting… and have a job I’ve been working the past few months with the lovely and talented team at Social Innovation Camp around growing the business that they’ve started and bootstrapped over the [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]