I haveve noticed that these guys have something in common… They were all actively involved in the tech scene(or entrepreneurship) overseas before coming back to Nigeria and blazing the trail. these guys are Naija’s Tech industry poster boys.
Mark- created and sold software in Germany , Iyin- started bookneto.com in canada, Jason-based in Manchester, Sim-Havard M.B.A. As we know they created(Hotels.ng, Andela, Iroko TV, Konga in order)
I try to take the time to learn from successful guys in the tech industry and these guys run some of the most successful startups in Nigeria, so I would really love to know what you think could be the advantage, coming to the Nigerian tech scene from the diaspora and or there just isnt any advantage?? @mark, @iaboyeji@Jason_Igwe_Njoku
Lol. While the others were posited to have something they achieved or studied while out of the country, Jason was just out of the country. All in all, this is a shit question. Moving on.
@Fola_Moses; I’ll just drop anwer no.1 and hope it helps.
You’re spending too much time thinking and not enough time doing.
Because thinking comes so easily to smart people, doing becomes relatively harder. Researching how the ‘Poster Boys’ made it and planning to follow those steps are great in moderation, but can offer you the dangerous illusion of progress.
You might just get caught up in a kind of seemingly productive procrastination by nitpicking over minute details rather than being the next ‘Poster Boy’.
But what it means is they all have international backgrounds. It could mean several things like having international “swag” gives you some advantage because our people like it when you tell them you are from Canada or you just finished your Stanford GSB program. To them, you must be smart
I know this to be true. Nigerians have a very high regard for fellas with “phoneh”. There is this assumption that University of Reading boy is better than a fella from Unilag. Maybe, maybe not. Whatever.
Everything is all about your CV.
This is what I think though, rather than spend time trying to decipher patterns, you should instead work hard to do something truly important.
And it won’t matter if you are from Germany or Denmark.
Be so good they can’t ignore you. And good luck.
P.S.: In defence of Jason, I think he has more than just living in Manchester. He has blogged severally about his numerous startup attempts before iROKO, and also especially his magazine failure experience.
P.P.S.: You actually don’t need anyone’s permission to be great. If they ignore you because you are not from Germany, Manchester, Canada or not with a GSB or HBS, move on and be great without them.
iROKO customers don’t give a fuck if Jason is from Manchester or Onitsha. That’s all.
