On April 19, 2008, Harambeans made a promise at the Inaugural Address of our Alliance in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire: “From this day forth we choose to be Africa’s hope for a prosperous future.” In the fifteen years since that auspicious day on the slopes of Mount Washington, Harambeans have held steadfast to their Bretton Woods pledge by translating ideas into high-growth enterprises that are creating jobs and opportunities across Africa.
Harambean Meditations II on African Innovation: Serving the Underserved, Expansion Across Borders, Founder Synergy & Self-Care made its debut at the seventh Harambeans Rome Forum.
With a blend of astute insights and humanistic aphorisms, Harambean Meditations II stands as a testament to the creativity and perspicacity that Harambeans have shown while cultivating transformative start-ups, developing strategic partnerships, and reshaping the global business landscape.
Across its three chapters, the book weaves together reflections and commentary from 38 young African entrepreneurs and innovators (Harambeans) who have been supported by the Alliance, representing seven nations and spanning 11 cohorts across 13 years.
CHAPTER 1: SERVING THE UNDERSERVED
Market-creating innovations can develop new growth engines for companies and create entirely new industries upon which economies can build and thrive. They transform complex and expensive products into simple and more affordable products, making them accessible to a whole new segment of people in a society whom we call “nonconsumers.” Non consumers are individuals who have not yet been able to buy a product or service that might help them solve a struggle in their lives simply because that product is not affordable or accessible to them. Market-creating innovations find a way to change that and in the process, create new markets. They represent the best version of capitalism: both consumers and companies win. This idea was central to the book, “The Prosperity Paradox: How Innovation Can Lift Nations Out of Poverty” written by Harvard Business School’s Professor Clayton Christensen, Karen Dillon and Efosa Ojomo H’17.
Successful market-creating innovations create jobs as more and more people are required to make, market, distribute and sell the new innovations. They create profits from a wide swathe of the population, which can then be used to fund public services. They have the potential to change the culture of entire societies.
For some people, the perceived obstacles to starting a business in developing economies are enough to deter them from even trying. 19 Harambeans leading ventures in six African countries share their experiences of identifying underserved markets across the continent and deliberately setting out to solve the problems that are holding Africa and its people back.
Poverty is not a problem, it’s a condition. People are poor because they don’t own assets or land so are not able to leverage them economically. They also don’t have the skills to make things and are disconnected from the global economy. When you start looking at problems from that perspective, poverty is no longer the focus, but the problems become the focus. Fixing the problems will naturally erode the condition. We need to find and solve the problems that cause the condition so that poverty is no longer an issue.
Iyinoluwa Aboyeji H’10
Founder of Future Africa, Nigeria
Ch 1, pg 9
Don’t believe that underserved markets are just about price elasticity. When we hear the term underserved markets, the first thing we think of is that they only care about price or how affordable a product or service is. While affordability and price are important, reaching these customers through a trusted network is also important. People in Africa, in particular, buy based on trusted relationships whether they’re a farmer or a B2B customer. The ideal recipe for success and scaling your business is to combine affordability with the right distribution network.
Yasmin Kumi H’16
Founder of Africa Foresight Group, Ghana
Ch 1, pg 28
CHAPTER 2: EXPANSION ACROSS BORDERS
Many African start-ups wanting to attract capital need to acquire a larger slice of the African market in order to offer a compelling proposition to investors and have no option but to consider expansion across regions and into other countries on the continent.
After the initial euphoria of the Africa Rising narrative, companies looking to grow businesses on the continent have been left with an appreciation for the complexity of the task. Successful expansion into Africa requires a commitment to long-term investment and development, as well as a sense of adventure. It also requires scale and diversification to mitigate the risks associated with investing when political risk is often greater than business risk. Founders are also often required to make trade-offs, such as sacrificing profitability and efficiency in the short term for long-term scale and growth. With significant legal and cultural fragmentation across the continent, it’s imperative to learn from those who have gone before you.
“Go big or go home. Africa has enormous problems and you can’t solve big problems with small solutions. Neither can you afford to choose small problems. The kind of people that will need to work for you and fund you aren’t attracted to small-minded problem solvers. So go big or go home!“ Kiiru Muhoya H’23
12 Harambeans who are leading ventures in Nigeria, Uganda, South Africa, Kenya and Ghana share their experiences of cross-border expansion with their ventures.
Market selection is everything. You need to pick the market that matches what you’re trying to achieve. With your first market, you might be trying to make sure that you’re ready for expansion, which is also important. Such as, do I have all the right constructs? Do I understand how this will work? After you’ve done that, you need to pick a market that is worth the effort of expanding. We do this by looking at regional centers and then seeing how we can expand from there. Just make sure you pick markets that are worth the effort it will take.
Lungisa Matshoba H’14
Co-Founder and CTO of Yoco, South Africa
Ch2, pg 64
We’ve been fortunate to have worked in 24 countries around the world. What was interesting in terms of international expansion was that we expanded into new markets and new geographies with our clients. We quickly learned that even though it was the same company in each market, the units were completely different as was the culture, the support each of them needed as well as how we enabled our programs. Don’t expect a cookie cutter approach when you expand. You have to customize when you go to a new country so get to know the lay of the land and make sure that you have the cultural and emotional intelligence needed to deal with new people in a new country.
Naadija Moosajee H’15
Co-Founder of WomEng, South Africa
Ch2, pg 69
CHAPTER 3: FOUNDER SYNERGY AND SELF-CARE
There is no shortage of stories about co-founders. For every horror story about a business partnership gone wrong, there are made-in-heaven matches where two people join forces to conquer the world. While there are countless thought leaders who will argue passionately on both sides of the issue, the reality is that the ‘divorce’ rate for business partners can be as high as 80%.
A key benefit of having a co-founder is having someone to act as an emotional support when the going gets tough – start-up burnout is a real thing. Lack of sleep, financial stress, taking on more responsibilities than you can manage can all lead to burnout, which is not helpful when you’re trying to get a company off the ground. The right co-founder can therefore be a huge asset, contributing skills, strategy, execution, ideas, insights, their network and emotional support and are just some of the reasons why entrepreneurs look for a wingman.
Of the 18 Harambeans who make up the 16th Class of Harambeans, almost 80% are co-founders. Is this a growing trend in our Alliance? Time will tell, but the anecdotal evidence shared below bears testimony to why this model works for many founders in our Alliance.
14 Harambeans leading ventures in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa share their self-care and wellness tips on how they manage to find their work/life balance.
Set expectations upfront with regards to how you interact with each other, who makes what decisions, etc. You don’t want to be stepping on each other’s toes or overriding your co-founder’s decision. Having an open and transparent relationship is key. At the beginning of Spark, my co-founder and I would meet every Friday afternoon to brainstorm and check on how things were going. This was a great way to align on the previous week and for what was coming next. If you’re not on the same page as your co-founder, it has a negative knock on effect on the team.
Stacey Brewer H’21
Co-Founder of SPARK Schools, South Africa
Ch3, pg 103
Treat yourself as kindly as you treat the people that you care about. It seems simple, but it’s hard for us to be generous to ourselves as founders.
Peter Ngunyi H’22
Founder and CEO of Early Bird Venture Lab, Kenya
You need to have empathy for your co-founder and be able to put yourself in their shoes to understand what motivates them and what their fears are. You also need to be clear about what motivates you and your own fears. When that’s out in the open you can allocate tasks, responsibilities, roles and ways of engagement. The secret of good collaboration and developing interpersonal relationships is empathy. Understand where the other person is coming from, where they want to go, enable them and work in a symbiotic relationship to help them get there.
Mike Mompi H’20
Co-Founder of Enza capital, Ghana
Ch3, pg 107
These urgent stories of resilience, determination, and ambition cast light on the Alliance’s mission and the path to a prosperous and equitable future for the African continent and the world at large. As Lewis-Gayle writes in Harambean Meditations II: “May the hindsight of Harambeans be the foresight of the next generation of African innovators.”