I definitely wouldn’t say a harsh environment or suffering was necessary! I also wouldn’t say it’s a dichotomy, but I do think the two priorities would lead you to different locations.
“Cape Town is not Africa” is flippant but there’s substance behind it. I really don’t think it’s contentious to say that Cape Town feels much more like a city in Europe than in another African country.
To share context from tech startup world (particularly since you’ve emphasized that as a strength of CT as a tech hub in the post), successful startups that expand from Cape Town tend to target the UK or US rather than other African countries; many were aimed at those markets from the beginning. This could be seen as a good indication of talent based here & compatibility with a largely US/European movement, but it isn’t supportive of CT as a natural base for a pan-African movement.
Examples: GetSmarter (aimed at Europe), Over (aimed at US, now part of GoDaddy), Pineapple (started in SA, launching in the US), Cogrammar (aimed at global companies), LessonSpace (SA tutoring platform pivoted to this remote learning tool servicing customers in Europe & US). It’s not always true (Luno is a notable exception—big in Africa, though also elsewhere) but I have pretty high confidence this is a trend and I’m not just cherry picking.
(Related: Several major SA retailers launched in Nigeria and then backed out (Shoprite, Woolworths, Tiger Brands) Brief explanation (/a bit clickbaity) here
Conversely, if you look at successful startups that have expanded across multiple countries in Africa, they most commonly start from Nigeria: e.g. Andela, Flutterwave, Jumia, OPay, Interswitch. ChipperCash was well established in Nigeria and Kenya (and several other countries) long before they launched in SA. Google just launched their first African product team in Nairobi. There are obviously many other factors involved and I’m definitely not saying EA should just copy VC-funded tech patterns.
All this is shared with the aim of helping you develop this proposal. I think a hub in CT would be a great thing, just worth recognizing CT’s limitations as well as its strengths.
Would also be great to hear what other EA groups and individuals in Africa think on this (e.g. I’ve seen some events recently from EA Lagos) With the incubator we found people were generally really keen to come from other African countries to spend time in CT (if funded), though there were some minor negative incidents with Nigerians encountering xenophobic behaviour here.
Very happy to have a call—I’ve seen your DM and I’ll arrange a time.
I definitely wouldn’t say a harsh environment or suffering was necessary! I also wouldn’t say it’s a dichotomy, but I do think the two priorities would lead you to different locations.
“Cape Town is not Africa” is flippant but there’s substance behind it. I really don’t think it’s contentious to say that Cape Town feels much more like a city in Europe than in another African country.
To share context from tech startup world (particularly since you’ve emphasized that as a strength of CT as a tech hub in the post), successful startups that expand from Cape Town tend to target the UK or US rather than other African countries; many were aimed at those markets from the beginning. This could be seen as a good indication of talent based here & compatibility with a largely US/European movement, but it isn’t supportive of CT as a natural base for a pan-African movement.
Examples: GetSmarter (aimed at Europe), Over (aimed at US, now part of GoDaddy), Pineapple (started in SA, launching in the US), Cogrammar (aimed at global companies), LessonSpace (SA tutoring platform pivoted to this remote learning tool servicing customers in Europe & US). It’s not always true (Luno is a notable exception—big in Africa, though also elsewhere) but I have pretty high confidence this is a trend and I’m not just cherry picking.
(Related: Several major SA retailers launched in Nigeria and then backed out (Shoprite, Woolworths, Tiger Brands) Brief explanation (/a bit clickbaity) here
Conversely, if you look at successful startups that have expanded across multiple countries in Africa, they most commonly start from Nigeria: e.g. Andela, Flutterwave, Jumia, OPay, Interswitch. ChipperCash was well established in Nigeria and Kenya (and several other countries) long before they launched in SA. Google just launched their first African product team in Nairobi. There are obviously many other factors involved and I’m definitely not saying EA should just copy VC-funded tech patterns.
All this is shared with the aim of helping you develop this proposal. I think a hub in CT would be a great thing, just worth recognizing CT’s limitations as well as its strengths.
Would also be great to hear what other EA groups and individuals in Africa think on this (e.g. I’ve seen some events recently from EA Lagos) With the incubator we found people were generally really keen to come from other African countries to spend time in CT (if funded), though there were some minor negative incidents with Nigerians encountering xenophobic behaviour here.
Very happy to have a call—I’ve seen your DM and I’ll arrange a time.
Hi, I’d love to be part of the call to discuss this further.
Thanks for following up. This is very interesting. I’d like to think more about what lessons from the startup world might be applicable in our case.