Picture
We're now 7 billion people. If you're in your fifties, this is the 5th "billion milestone" you're experiencing. Markets Speaking's founders have only been around for the last 3 milestones, but this has still enabled us to witness  the world change dramatically. Comparing with the 80's, our world is all at once more fair, yet less fair; wealthier, yet poorer.

All along, we humans love pretending that we know where our planet's heading. However, who questioned the dollar's position as the world's currency of choice until recently? Now, considering the current state of affairs, who'd still agree that the US "is and always will be a triple-A country"? Predicting successful business ideas seems to be none the easier. Who'd imagine that a Finnish video game in which egg-stealing pigs are destroyed by revenge-seeking birds, would be the #1 downloaded app in 64 countries, driving the company's value up to 1 USD billion in 2011?

Consequently, we can't help but wonder if the next Microsoft, Google, Facebook or Groupon could be African. When even angel investors such as (ex-Dragon) Doug Richard play down the importance of outside funding for start-ups, maybe we should start viewing innovation and motivation as more valuable sucess factors than cash. With growing numbers of African teens acquiring tertiary education and gaining unprecedented access to technology through the recent digital revolution - there are reasons to believe that future tech entrepreneurs will come from cities like Lagos, Accra or Nairobi.

Looking for evidence? At the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology in Accra, gifted Ghanaians develop own software applications together with international executives and MBA students from top ranking universities. Out of the seven incubator companies, one has already been awarded a Best Business prize in the US - competing with 100 Silicon Valley start-ups (NandiMobile).

Moving across the continent, Kenyan company Pesapal offers a platform for online payments, and has been listed as one of the 20 Hot International Start-ups to watch by US business site Business Insider.

Yet another example is the Ghanaian social network company GSocialize that was founded last year and today has over 20,000 users in over 40 countries worldwide. The company's primary target group is Africa, although users are found in Europe, the Americas and Asia. Integrating more interactive features such as video streaming, conference services and chat rooms has won the network many new followers.

The next population billion mark won't occur for at least another 14 years, years during which we believe that African entrepreneurs will demonstrate that great innovations are exported from rather than imported to the continent.


 


Comments




Leave a Reply