There’s no arguing about it. Ecommerce is the big ticket ticket item that tech and internet investors looking at Africa have been repeatedly seduced by. Rocket Internet’s Africa Internet Group has raised almost $400 million, in 2016 alone, and we’re barely inside Q2. It only makes sense that an ecosystem whose startup narrative is dominated by ecommerce will produce more ecommerce startups.
That is not to say that there is no entrepreneurial or investor appetite to try and create value in other sectors or solve other problems. It’s just that…well…you should just watch yesterday’s TechCabal Live broadcast where an amazing conversation on the subject was had with Dotun Olowoporoku (angel investor, startup consultant) and Lanre Akinlagun (ecommerce entrepreneur). It’s a bit longer than usual, because the people who were watching live kept asking us to “extend, extend…”. That’s a good thing right?
This is the fourth time we’ve held the TC Live broadcast, and people have asked us if this is going to be a regular thing. At this point, I think we don’t have a choice. We’re going to keep going live every Wednesday at noon. Although, I typically go live about 15 minutes earlier to bant with whoever’s up for it before the guests come on. I already know who next week’s guest is ( and the week after that…and the week after that), but I can’t say until tomorrow when we’ll have locked everything down cold. Daily digest subscribers will as usual be the first to know. What, you’re not subscribed? What the hell are you waiting for?
See you next week Wednesday.
