It was a
great discussion in Jamii forum between me and the Jamii Forum Senior Member
about the tech industry in Tanzania. Actually the issue was about the software
industry of Tanzania it was about my article “I bet
our universities are the reason we hate coding”. He was having
different perception from mine. In the discussion we talked about a lot of
things until we fall into the mobile industry. Then we came into the point of startups
funding the facts and fiction will they survive when the funding stops, it is
the question that brought a lot of attention in my mind.
When I was
reading the newspaper the East African this weekend and I saw then 20 success
stories of East African startup all of them they have one thing in common they
were funded or they are about to be funded. Innovators in East Africa all are
focusing in getting these dollars from the donors from the individual point of
view, to the hubs and labs. There is nothing
wrong in getting assistance from successful companies and successful tech enthusiasts
but are we prepared to survive without these funds for how long we will be able
to stand without being funded and our startup to grow from the scratch like any
other business through bank loans and our own pocket money. Am afraid most of our startup they lack plans,
organization and vision if we are not serious soon enough the donors and fund
raisers will stop injecting in money since there is no outcome.
Reading the President Kagame’s speech to the Rwandan student abroad he insisted Africa especially
is own country Rwanda should graduate from aid. This means that we have to find
concrete solution to our problems without going through doors nocking to look
for funds and assistance. We should create the environment that things like
Savannah fund are used when really there is a need to be used but it should not
be the capital of our business or our main goal. The first priority to an
entrepreneur wither is a tech one or not is to see is business survive and runs
on profit. If you can’t pay for the office or you can’t even register your own
company then how would the fund help you since the problem here is not the
money anymore it is the organization.
“Of
course, tech startups exist in many other countries, but they either lack in
terms of competitiveness with other African companies or they have a marketing
disadvantage (i.e. Language barrier, state-run media).” African Tech analyst site, we realize the problem isn’t just
funding is about funding in the right way and helps the startup to overcome the
dependency factor which is being caused by so many other stuffs like marketing
disadvantage, improper mentoring and organization.
I still
wonder if I woke up tomorrow and the funding has stopped would we be able to
survive, will the African tech industry progress to the next level. This is
something we should put in our mind the African tech community should also
graduate from aid.
Jumanne Mtambalike
TECH360
Correspondent