I am have spent the longest time over the summer thinking about the capital structure of startups in Nigeria. There are still many many fundamental short comings holding the entire ecosystem back. I think the most prevalent issues lay at the earliest stage.
After reading ~1k funding introduction emails over the last 6 months, I have come to the firm belief that the Nigerian internet startup ecosystem simply cannot move forward without first solving some of the most taxing and glaringly obvious problems. Across Africa, these problems are prevalent too. My mere observations.
Weak ‘Me-too’ startups
Nigerians can copy copy. I would say 30–40% of the ~1k emails I have read are pitches for
* Social Networks. Most commonly aimed at Nigerian students. Come on ecosystem. Facebook? Instagram? Vine? Twitter? Whatsapp? 2go? Snapchat? 2Go? Eskimi? Mxit? Why do people still think there are white spaces in our social lives. And why do they feel an ad-supported model works in Nigeria? I don’t car...
Made a payment, but can’t access the blog?
Please provide the requested details so we can update your subscription.