🚀Entering Tech #30: How ConTech Africa helps creators in tech

Let’s try out a couple of riddles this week. And no, it’s not because we don’t have trivia. 🤫

The first community we’ll spotlight is a personal favourite of mine: ConTech Africa, and yes, it’s because I’m a member—start your own newsletter if my favouritism bothers you. 🙏🏽

For Daniel Orubo, one of the founders of ConTech Africa and Head of Content at PiggyVest, the idea for ConTech Africa started with the numerous LinkedIn DMs he got. People wanted to know how or if they could make careers in content creation, or how they could make more money from their craft. 

You have to understand: Daniel is one of the go-to people for content development on the continent. He worked at Zikoko long before the publication became the hottest thing since the Lagos sun; he was EIC at Parisian Gen-Z publication Konbini where he managed the creation of hundreds of articles and videos; and now, he leads the content strategy team at PiggyVest—a team he created—which produces comics, videos and articles that convert readers into users. 

If you have a question about content, Daniel has the answer. 

And it’s these answers that led to the creation of ConTech Africa, a community where African creators can connect, grow and discover where their talents fit in the tech landscape. 

With questions drawing his attention to the dearth of resources for creators in Africa’s tech ecosystem, Daniel—and Ope Adedeji who is Editorial Director at Big Cabal Media—founded ConTech Africa in November 2022. 

• Non-techies—Designers, Content Writers, and Product Managers/Owners
• 1,000
• Nil. Absolutely free
• Slack

In last week’s edition of #EnteringTech🚀, we explained the different offerings of tech communities and ConTech Africa’s is no different.

A. Community: ConTech Africa is a Slack-based community that provides creators with different channels to connect with one another. There are stand-alone channels for people learning product development/management, as well as for designers and marketers. And while it has a small but effective team—including David Onugha whose Slack messages I’ve aired twice😬—manning the community, most of the conversations in these channels are championed by community members who share their questions, learnings and experiences. 

B: Scholarships: ConTech offers more than just the opportunity to connect with other creators. The community also offers its members opportunities to upskill themselves through scholarships. In May, it offered three community members scholarships to the Treford Marketing Bootcamp, and everyone else got a 20% discount. In April, two members got a scholarship for a UI Design Bootcamp, and a March partnership with CV Loft saw several members get full CV revamps!

C: Opportunities: ConTech has a dedicated Slack channel which is updated daily with job openings across the continent and globally. As a member, I’ve also seen job postings by other members who are hiring for positions in their companies. 

D: ConTech Corner: In last week’s edition, I mentioned how ConTech hosted Daniel Abayomi, a product designer at Meta on a Twitter Space. Every month, ConTech hosts ConTech Corner, an hour-long monthly group mentoring session where experienced creators in tech chat about their careers and experiences. The upcoming edition of ConTech Corner, scheduled for this Friday, will have Victor Fatanmi, the co-founder of design consultancy firm Fourth Canvas. 

E: Contribute: Members of ConTech Africa get to do more than just learn—they also contribute to the growth of the creator-in-tech sector. For example, ConTech is presently working on a No-Code Salary Tool and Report which will help earners and employers in the tech ecosystem understand what the fair range for compensation is.

ConTech recently admitted its 1,000th member, and it’s growing pretty fast. Here’s what some are saying about ConTech:

The great thing is that ConTech is free to join and it’s accepting new members all year through. And I know this piece has been a little bit sales-y, but it’s critical to underscore how important communities are in building careers, especially in tech. So if you like what you see, and you’re a creator looking to get into tech, then ConTech is for you.

The Entering Tech Shorts

Can you become a product designer using just Canva? Here’s what Cynthia Ugwudike, a product designer at Norebase, has to say!

Watch the 1-minute YouTube Short here!