TechCabal Daily – Tesla gets charged ⚡

QUICK FIRE 🔥 WITH AYOMIDE OSO

Ayomide Oso is the Co-founder and product lead at Dojah where she is working with her team to help African founders scale and build faster with simple tools to onboard and verify end-users.

At a time the world is focused on outstanding solutions out of Africa, Ayomide is excited about the roles Dojah is playing with an easier way to build and scale faster.

Explain your job to a five-year-old

I’m responsible for making sure the toys you get are what you want and also fit for use. If you don’t like the toys, I can make you better toys.

What’s something you wish you knew earlier in your career or life?

Everyone is winging it!

When I started out, I used to think that everyone had every path and process figured out; that everything was perfect and so, I was particular about perfection. I used to think that when people failed, they failed at big things but things don’t happen that way. Everyone is failing at small things every day. 

But since I figured that out, I realised that what’s important is putting in the effort and doing what you need to do,

What’s the most promising thing about tech products in Africa?

It would be that we’re just getting started. 

Right now, we’re building a lot but there’s still space to do more. Ten years from now, the products that we have will solve problems across sectors and borders. 

What’s the most important thing first-time product managers should know?

Document a lot. 

And when I say document, I mean continuously writing about everything from your thoughts to what your engineers say in meetings. You may think you’ll remember but you probably won’t. So just write, you never know when what you’ve written will be useful. If you’re not used to writing on your laptop, get a pen and paper and jot something down. 

What singular achievement are you most proud of?

Finishing with a first-class degree, 🤣.

What’s something you love doing that you’re terrible at? And what’s something you don’t like doing but are great at?

Something I love doing that I’m terrible at should be singing. And I’m not just bad, I think I’m terrible and I think what makes it worse is the fact that I sound like someone that should be able to sing. 

Solving people’s problems is something I’m great at but don’t like doing. In a weird way, everyone comes to me with their problems because I’m almost always able to see the solutions.

TESLA IS GETTING SPACED OUT

Electric vehicle maker Tesla is getting charged with racial discrimination and harassment. 

What went wrong?

According to the Wall Street Journal, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) sued Tesla for racial discrimination and harassment after receiving hundreds of complaints from Tesla workers. 

“DFEH found evidence that Tesla’s Fremont factory is a racially segregated workplace where Black workers are subjected to racial slurs and discriminated against in job assignments, discipline, pay, and promotion creating a hostile work environment,” Kevin Kish, the agency’s director, said. 

About 10% of Tesla’s workforce is Black, and 4% of its leadership roles are held by Black employees but that hasn’t stopped discrimination. The lawsuit alleges that Black employees are subjected to more physically demanding roles, get severe reprimands, get passed over for promotions, and also experience verbal abuse. One worker even admits to hearing racial slurs at least 50 times a day.  

It’s not the first time

It won’t be the first time Tesla is getting sued for racial discrimination. 

In 2021, a Californian judge ordered Tesla to pay a Black employee over $130 million in damages for subjecting him to a racially hostile environment. Another won a $1 million lawsuit against Tesla after it was found that his supervisors at Tesla called him a racial slur.

Moving forward: Tesla has called the DHEF’s lawsuit misguided, stating that it “strongly opposes all forms of discrimination and harassment and has a dedicated Employee Relations team that responds to and investigates all complaints”. Its shares, however, fell by 3% shortly after the announcement was made.

TECHCABAL’S VALENTINE’S GIFT GUIDE

There’s tech in everything, even gift-giving. If you’re looking to steer clear of basic Valentine’s gifts like one-time food platters that will be consumed in single sittings, this is the guide for you. 

James Wardle created a $1 million game—Wordle—for his partner who loved video games. Locket, an app that helps users share their photos to their friends’/lovers’ home screens, was built by Matt Moss as a present for his girlfriend. Even Zoom was the product of a founder who wanted to connect with his girlfriend long distance. 

For many, the outcome of February 14 will decide if Christmas this year will be celebrated wearing matching pyjamas, or joining unnamed Zikoko team members blocking and muting words like “love” and “me and mines” later. As we invest and build more startups, it’s also important to invest and build relationships. And that’s why you should move away from chocolates and roses to:

• Professional courses: If you can’t build your partner apps The New York Times will later buy for millions of dollars, at least enrol them in courses where they can learn to build, design, market or manage those apps—for themselves or future lovers. 🤭

• Music streaming subscriptions: Music heals our body, soul, and mind. It’s also one of the greatest ways to connect with people. Over the past 5 years, the growth of streaming services—indigenous and foreign—has doubled. For Valentine’s, get your loved ones subscriptions on Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube Music, and Boomplay. 

• Video streaming subscriptions: Ever heard of Netflix and Chill? Well, here’s how you can someday build up to that: get them video streaming subscriptions for Valentine’s Day.  With multiple plans to choose from, Iroko TV and Netflix have been giving us really amazing African content in the past few years. Get a Nollywood lover an Iroko or Netflix subscription for Valentine’s. 

• Crypto: Roses are red, violets are blue. Crypto is here, and its promise is true. We don’t need to talk much about crypto. Like your relationships, it has its ups and downs, 💀 but that’s what makes us love it. For Valentine’s, add to your loved one’s crypto stash and help them build their way into digital wealth. There are many cryptocurrencies to choose from, like bitcoin, ethereum, and doge. And if you’re worried about the chances of the coins depreciating, remember that even your relationship is a gamble. 

Check out the complete guide in TechCabal’s Valentine’s Gift Guide.

TC INSIGHTS: FUNDING TRACKER

This week, Nigerian e-health startup Reliance Health completed a $40 million Series B round to help it expand in emerging markets around the world and add to its product suite. Partech, Picus Capital, Tencent Exploration, Asia Africa Investment and Consulting (AAIC), P1 Ventures, Laerdal Million Lives Fund, M3, Inc, and Arvantis Social Foundation all participated in the round.

Here are the other deals for the week:

• Egypt-based digital investment platform Thndr raised a $20 million Series A round co-led by Tiger Global, BECO Capital and Prosus Ventures, with participation from Base Capital, firstminute and existing investors 

• Egyptian mobility company Swvl raised an additional $21.5 million in a private investment in public equity (PIPE) deal from new investors including the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). 

• Egyptian funeral services startup SOKNA, closed a $1 million seed round. This came from Silicon Valley-based Mentors Fund, SBX Capital, ACE & Company, and Kabnoury Ventures, in addition to a cohort of highly strategic angel investors and senior executives from tech giants Google, Facebook, and Twitter.

• Mecho Autotech, a Nigerian vehicle repair and maintenance startup, raised a $2.15 million seed round from Future Africa, Hoaq Capital, Cathexis Ventures, V8 Capital, Silver Squid and Tekedia Capital. 

• Senegalese retail tech startup ProXalys, raised $150,000 in pre-seed funding from Haskè Ventures.

• Carscan, a South Africa-based autotech, raised $1.3 million from Kalon Venture Partners alongside Launch Africa Ventures, the IDF as well as Allan Gray E2 Ventures and AlphaCode.

• BasiGo, a Kenyan electric mobility startup, raised  $4.3 million seed funding from Novastar Ventures with participation from several Silicon Valley investors, including Moxxie Ventures, Nimble Partners, Spring Ventures, Climate Capital, and Third Derivative. 

• Kenyan e-health startup Afya Rekod closed a $2 million seed round led by US VC firm Mac Venture Capital, Next Chymia and others. 

That’s it for this week.

Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn for more updates on funding deals.

EVENT: NECLIVE

This year’s edition of the Nigerian Entertainment Conference (NECLive), one of Africa’s biggest and longest-running gatherings of entertainment and creative industry professionals, will return in-person for the first time in three years, as a hybrid event.

NECLive9 will blend an in-person event featuring a select number of guests, with online participants and a live global broadcast across cable TV, radio and online.

Themed “Sustaining The Africa Momentum”, NECLive9 will explore how African creatives and entertainers can use digital media and technology tools to build sustainable economic power for themselves, the industry, and their nations.

The conference—which will be held on Wednesday, April 27, 2022, in Lagos, Nigeria—will feature live performances by entertainers from across Africa, and will also include product unveilings, brand announcements and industry tributes.

NECLive9 will be held in-person in Lagos and simultaneously broadcast live across the world on DStv and on the NECLive website.

JOB OPPORTUNITIES

Every week, we share job opportunities in the African tech ecosystem.

• TechCabal – Junior Newsletter Writer, Senior Editor – Africa (Remote)

• Kuda Bank – DevOps Engineer, Android Developer – Lagos, Nigeria

• Fuzu – Community Engagement Manager, Business Development Associate – Kampala, Uganda 

• Mono – Senior UI Designer – Lagos, Nigeria

• Nithio – Business Development Associate – Nigeria/Kenya

There are more opportunities here. If you’d like to share a job opening or an opportunity, please fill this form.

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