Yesterday I wrote about Minku, a fashion startup that started accepting Bitcoin recently. Nigerian founder. A rather distasteful and inaccurate comment by an anonymous troll goon took issue with my description of Minku as a Nigerian startup (and therefore its description as the first Nigerian startup to accept Bitcoin) because its Nigerian founder lives happens to mostly live and work in Spain.
So once again, let us meet Minku’s founder. Kunmi Otitoju makes Yoruba-themed fashion items and sells them to customers all over the world, including her home country, Nigeria, where she returns regularly to participate in shows, leave her work with local distributors, and organise pop-up stores for those who want to see and touch the product before making a purchase.
In December 2013, Kunmi delivered my hoodie to me in person, here in Lagos, in time for me to wear it to TNC 6. As far as I know, she didn’t return to Barcelona until last week. She participates in Nigerian fashion fairs and has been featured prominently on local blogs like BellaNaija as well as mainstream local television.
More importantly, as Juan who is also part of the startup albeit spanish pointed out, Minku Design is a company duly registered in Lagos and pays taxes in Nigeria.
Okay. Now, there’s some things I’d like to highlight.
IROKOtv’s content comes from Nollywood. But as most familiar with the business know, the VOD’s biggest and most lucrative market is in diaspora. Actual Nigerian traffic to the service is a trickle compared to the U.S, Canada, the U.K and Europe. Of running the company, Jason Njoku said he lived on a plane for most of 2012. The startup has plush offices in New York, London and South Africa.
Gidilounge is a strong African music community with a Nigerian founder and most of the team living abroad. Its audience are mostly in diaspora.
Decoded takes African Music lyrics and puts them online. Most of the lyrics are Nigerian. As you can note from my recent interview of them, both its Nigerian founders live and work in the United states. Chika will come to Social Media Week to talk about the next phase of Decoded.
Web4Africa is one of the more popular hosting companies in Nigeria. It is owned and run by Oluniyi D. Ajax, who from all indications is permanently resident in Ghana.
If we were to extend the troll’s logic to each of the previous examples, what then is a Nigerian startup? I am genuinely perplexed.
I am pained that some barbarian troll might have marred what at best should have been something the ecosystem should have been excited about, or at worst could have been an innocuous, fleeting curiosity. But I am even more worried that this episode might have revealed us for whom we truly are. As unreasonably protectionist tendencies (I wouldn’t go so far as to say xenophobic yet) are beginning to emerge in our nascent ecosystem, are there those among us that would push even their own brothers and sisters into the lagoon?
Seriously, people. Your turn.
