Looking backwards at 2021 + download market research guide
The lesson of 2021 is that we have only just started.
I have shared how I grew up in a family of hardy entrepreneurs, the kind of people who have been doing what they know how to do from childhood. From my dad, a product of the Igbo apprenticeship system, to my mother who helped to build her mom’s business, took it over, but unfortunately succumbed to the combined stress of running a hard-to-scale offline foodstuff business that relied on non-existent supply chains and broken infrastructure and papillary cystadenocarcinoma. At 46.
Everyone has a story, and for me, this is big part of why I am a tireless advocate for building efficient and resilient systems of commerce, and consumer and B2B services. For now this means building online and offline digital ramps, platforms and rails at properly managed scale to better handle commerce in Africa.
Digital systems are far from the best solutions. In fact, and as I have noted previously, digital systems themselves rely on non-digitized versions as they ramp up penetration and reach for scale. My experience has shown me that there are more than a few touchpoints where bits and code can simplify work and improve the quality of how we live.
I like to think that this all makes it obvious why digitizing x in Africa is a topic that is close to my heart. Because it is in fact, personal.
You know the stats and all the numbers that show how well adventure capital and the ventures that depend on them did in 2021. More than ever, we saw a renewed push to animate the atoms of Africa with bits. We see it in health-tech succeeding to make health insurance less of a taboo than normal. We see it in how stubborn bytes and crypto can be in the face of doddering and enraged regulation.
We also see it in the explosion (very mild IMO) of capital flowing to technology businesses and the sudden desire to infect Africa’s large informal sector with digital bits. That transformation will underscore a lot of what I believe we will see in the next five years. Cheaper data and relatively cheaper smartphones (the costs of both are regressing) have laid the foundation, innovators will complete the building and hardy entrepreneurs will be rewarded by playing on the edge.
To close the year (and open a new one), as well as thank you for making my writing feel worthwhile, I have compiled a simple starter kit that you, operator friends or your portfolio companies may find useful when trying to understand how the informal sector thinks.
A research guide of sorts, this PDF is by no means exhaustive, the goal is simple. Inspire your teams and provide an initial “kick“ as you begin and continue to build and scale bits, bytes, and technology to tackle tough problems in Africa.
To ethical evergreen portfolios! 🥂
[Learning from the Market - Handbook - Click to download.]