@asemota posted this today:
I remember struggling to explain what I do to one of them local rich men, it didn’t go well. Any ideas on how to bring them to the table? Conferences perharps?
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build something and show him. Get a couple of people using your product and follow that up with a presentation on how big the marketplace is and why your product is a winner.
leave them be, if they dont want to fill the gap someone else will.
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But really, most of these guys have no knowledge of the Tech industry. They’re very traditional. Their knowledge of Tech begins and ends with Microsoft Office. You can only invest in what you know about but I believe the time will come when wealthy Nigerian men (Next Gen) will start investing in Tech.
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The truth is that people can’t invest in what they don’t understand and most of our local rich men don’t understand tech. That will change in the near future. It just takes a unicorn to spring up in Nigeria to show them how its done and all of them will join in. Whether that unicorn will be as a result of so called rich folks investment is yet to be seen but it will happen. Nigeria has an insane amount of rich folks and any one of them who is bold enough to take the first step and make a ton of money in the process will change everything for good.
Another point to note is that our rich folks don’t believe in tech. This stems from their not understanding it of course. Only when they believe in it will they feel comfortable to dish out huge sums of money for a small fraction of the company. How else can you explain to Dangote to give you $500,000 for 10% of your startup. As a matter of fact, most Nigerians would go for thanksgiving if they were even offered $25,000 for the whole company. . Its sad really. Its only a matter of time but it will change, even if we have to wait for a Zuckerberg to show them how its done.
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I believe when there are many success stories and returns on investments from Tech in Nigeria, the ‘traditional rich men’ would definitely rush into investing in tech. Then they won’t be so bothered to how it works, but how it can bring in revenue for them.
So set in their ways, the “Local Rich Men” are, that they will completely ignore this. They, and most of the people of their generation, still think of tech as fleeting fad for fools; things that “keep the youth from their books.” They refuse to acknowledge that this is reality now, and the future. And that is at their own detriment. The world has taken notice. Like Lex Luthor said, the bell has already been rung. They’ve heard it, those that know, and they will come.
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Uhm…what else is there to show? Must he turn to Clippy for them? He just came and did it. So let’s wait and see.
Rich dudes who think they are gods are in big soup 10 years from now, a lot of poor dudes with hugry hustle eyes will be the key players in diffrent industries in africa not just nigeria, HUSTLE HARD, the table is fugging turning.
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Let’s not be too quick to blame the “big men”. I know a few “big men” who invest in startups and didn’t have good stories to tell. Largely because the young CEOs weren’t competent enof to run and grow a business.
Must the end of every business be acquisition? Is that what we look forward to? Like someone just taking a dying car off our hands and paying us for it? If that’s it then there’s no point in all this.
Truly, startup porn is real. Any “big man” who made money the crude or risky way would rather give it to his girlfriend than give some entrepreneur wanna be. At least he knows he’ll get his money’s worth in his eyes.
Secondly, many “big men” don’t understand us. We are young and want to take risks and change the world. They just want stability. Money in and money out.
Even Warren Buffet says he doesn’t understand Tech and so he doesn’t want to invest in it.
What then are our options?
- Polish our sales and learn how to reach out to these guys in a language they understand. ROI
- Learn how to build a business. Startups are businesses. They are hard and tough. We shouldn’t treat it like some sort of concert. Instead of hitting the streets and selling we go to one obscure news site and get press coverage for an empty shell. Nobody won’t invest in something that has started earning and just needs a lil fund to grow its revenue.
- Pray. Honestly. Pray.
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Honestly. I’m a bit tired of Nigerians constantly complaining that rich people don’t want to invest in xyz (I.e. Give them money)
Leave them alone. They have already struggled to make their own money, many times with only investments from friends and family. Investments from strangers or governments or whatever often didn’t come until much later in their careers.
Finally, it is their money, which they have earned. They don’t HAVE TO give it to you.
If they want to sit on it or even burn it, that’s their right and not your business.
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The odds favor EVERYONE who delivers consistent value. It is NOT a class war, it is now hopefully going to become a value driven landscape. Not one driven by family or ethnic advantage.
We cannot deny that opportunity has not previously been scarce. I was funded by my family members. They are rich. I decided not to work with them after my “experiment” initially failed, I continued to choose tech, then became poorer.
Not everyone has had the same luxury. I have seen people struggle under similar circumstances with great idea and give up. I started gathering my small change and investing in those type of people, so they don’t give up. I became their family.
Now, the same opportunity to experiment will become open to everyone, including those a lot more serious than I ever was. Our new family members will be coming from far and wide. Including Silicon Valley.
The point I was making was that we did not need the rich men. We needed structure. That structure has decided to find us, because of the opportunities around us. There are more opportunities now than those that had made a few people rich in the past. We will soon start having companies where everyone will become millionaires in it and not just their fortunate uncles. They too will become fortunate uncles to others and hopefully the investment cycle continues.
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They are though, e.g via www.greenhouse.capital. They need vehicles and people with some understanding to help them administer. Build some tech pedigree, drive to their homes in a Range Rover, then go create funds. It’s still hard, but it’s a better angle than the alternative.
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I agree on your point about having a global family. Be successful and the money will find you. But I disagree on your premise that Tech is democratic.
There is a fundamental requirement. Education. Linda Ikeji, Mark Essien, Jason Njoku, Seun Osewa are all university graduates. From decent universities.
The problem is that the level playing field that was quality public education of the 80s and prior is practically dying. Today the Federal government colleges have all been taken over by the elite. The federal universities are not the same great institutions they once were. The poor have much fewer windows of opportunity to get that great education to make something of their tech talent.
Tech in Nigeria is definitely not going to be like Nigeria’s football or music or movie industry or even the igbo trading apprenticeship system in transforming children of the poor into millionaires overnight. More like children of the middle class.
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I disagree. I can bet you know one or 2 folks who didn’t attend any University, not to mention the decent ones, yet they make a decent living working as programmers. I can hazard saying that being able to code puts you one step away from the promised land. Just a step away.
And while the coder (let’s call him Joseph) has no interest in doing anything but building the next facebook, his good friend Ikenna, who runs a mildly successful retail store in Balogun has decided to pardon that 200K loan, calling him ‘my partner’ instead, seeing as Joseph was part of the ASO VILLA DEMO pitch off. Joseph got to meet the president but never had to stutter a word; Akin, his childhood pal, who’s a OND grad from the national open university, is the mouthpiece! And has already claimed the top spot of CMO, as they move into the big leagues.
See how it could play out for the “nobodies”?
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Chuks learning to code will not make you a millionaire overnight maybe in naira but def not in dollars. But Im not even talking about the average coder. Im talking about the great coder, the great inventor. All have strong educational fundamentals. The Googlers, Facebook’s, Microsoft’s were not birthed at Harvard and Stanford by accident.
The same goes for Nigeria. Getting a great education helps significantly. The earlier the better. I’ll give you a few examples. A few weeks ago the CKC Onitsha alumni l buried one of the great educationists of his time Reverend Tagbo. Under his stewardship that institution produced people like Cyprian Emeka Uzoh, Pat Utomi, Olisa Agbakoba, three governors Obi, Odili and Obiano. There were countless others. CKC Onitsha was created by Irish missionaries under the Catholic Church just like Kings College in lagos. A poor family could send their children there.
The same went for the government colleges established by the British which produced the Soyinkas, Achebes, Saro Wiwas, Chike Obis and practically the intelligentsia base of Nigeria. The FGC schoools expanded by the FGN right up to the 90s pumped out a huge percentage of the top skilled that are highly successful in the USA and the UK and the elite organizations of Nigeria.
Since the 80s though a child born into a poor household is stuck. FGC admission has been corrupted, public schools are starved of funds, some of the church schools were taken over by government. Nigerian public education is a shadow of itself. The best talent in Nigeria are coming out of private tutoring and private schools. I am willing to bet the founders of paystack, andela, and shypmate didn’t go to the average Nigerian school.
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Rich men are rich through an industry. I am sure they will invest in their own industry. Rich Nigerian tech people are investing - Sim, Jason, Tayo, Jobberman guys, Chika have all invested. The upcoming tech guys are also investing where they can.
When there are enough people rich through tech, they will be investing. The real estate, oil or politics guys don’t understand the business enough to invest in it - and they are not fools, else they would not be rich.
Can a 70 year old man clearly understand the signs of early traction in a consumer internet mobile only app? If he starts investing randomly, he will lose money and faith, and that’s bad for the eco-system as a whole.
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Irony 
That is exactly the point of this post. How do we arrange investor education events for those traditional investors? A number of them are interested in tech and in making money and they are very good for $30-50k seed. It isn’t a big deal for them, however they will need to understand what they are getting into, or atleast how the money comes back out. Yes, you and a number of guys in the ecosystem are putting in those seed funds, but it’s just a handful.
I’m not advocating begging for money like Sugarbelly is suggesting, think of this as a forLoop for investors, aimed at raising more knowledgeable people for the benefit of the ecosystem. I don’t think they are too old or traditional to learn, and think some of them are interested.
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why did the colonialists not say blacks are the owners of the resources in their land, Its their land lets leave it and forget it… Colonialists attacked, killed and took over land in unison.
Why is the Nigerian government not saying its the Ijaw people’s land, they have earned it… they don’t have to give us the oil…
The same rich people give their money to religious institutions without thinking twice… luckily, some religious institutions reinvest in their communities and we started seeing private universities, private teaching hospitals, football clubs, private schools, real estates e.t.c that are all created by religious institution…
These businesses could have been built by rich people if they had come together and created a Cooperative society, partnership or conglomerate…
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