New magazine about tech in Africa, for non-tech business leads

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Hi everyone - I’m excited to share The Flint - a magazine for people building businesses and projects in Africa, who want simple answers about how technology can help them meet their goals.

Why this? Why now?

I used to be the General Manager of the MEST Incubator in Accra, and while I love tech startups, some of the best convos I’ve had in the last few months have been with normal people, running normal, “traditional” businesses, who want to understand how to make technology work for them. Unfortunately, much of the writing about technology in Africa is either extremely technical, or geared primarily towards tech startups.

The Flint is for you if you find yourself building something in Africa — a business, a side hustle, a personal project — and are interested in learning simple insights collectively from our community.

What can you expect from The Flint?

The Flint provides simple, clear insights about technology in Africa, through things like:

  • Deep dive interviews with actual operators who know what they’re talking about
  • Public notebooks about important technology-related patterns to be aware of in various industries in Africa

The two launch articles exemplify this:

  1. A deep dive into how a popular Accra restaurant uses WhatsApp to keep their 6,000 best customers coming back: How this Accra Restaurant Uses WhatsApp Marketing to Keep 6,000 Customers Coming Back

  2. If you work in media, this public notebook might interest you - a curation of some of the most interesting things happening in African digital media: Public Notebook: Digital Media in Africa

Not a startup

I’m quick to add that The Flint is not a new startup - this is a passion project that I hope will be useful to people.

Subscribe to The Flint

Kindly subscribe here to receive new stories direct to your inbox: http://eepurl.com/czzX25

Write for The Flint

I’m keen to have people far and wide share their insights! If you’re interested in writing for The Flint, kindly shoot me a message at emmanuel@theflint.io.

Full launch announcement

Introducing The Flint: https://medium.com/the-flint/introducing-the-flint-19c54766b2fa#.7j2nwt1ia

Thank you!

Happy to answer any questions about The Flint, take requests for stories, and anything else.

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  1. This is one of the best product launch posts I’ve read on Radar.
  2. Tech/startup people sharing and curating stories/lessons/insights gang is getting lit! @Jason_Igwe_Njoku @nke_ise @PapaOlabode and most recently, Honey Ogundeyi.
  3. @quartey has not written a lot, but when he does, it’s :fire: (remember this article?) and there’s not many people better placed than him to curate these stories.
  4. I know that you’ll aim to be pan-African, but I’m quite happy to see that the first article is situated in Ghana, which I feel doesn’t get enough attention, past MEST.
  5. Big fan and rooting for the success of this. No pressure, have fun. :smile:
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Thanks, sir! :pray:t6:

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Always Insightful! Expected nothing less…and there’s more from where that came so >> subscribe to get the stories as they drop.
#Brilliant! More fuel to your tank @quartey

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Thanks, ayo! Will be in touch very soon for a feature, actually. Eager to share what you’ve learnt about selling Saas products to Nigerian/Ghanaian brick-and-mortar SMEs. :fist:t6:

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Well done @quartey! New subscriber here…enjoyed what I read and looking forward to more. Cheers

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Thank you, sir! Lots more to come - hope to not disappoint. By the way, do you have requests for topics/articles you’d love for The Flint to explore? Please feel free to shoot me a message at emmanuel@theflint.io! :fist:t6:

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So how can we contribute.

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Hey there - glad you asked! I’m really keen on more folks sharing their insights via The Flint. If you’d like to contribute, please shoot me a quick email at emmanuel@theflint.io answering the following questions:

  1. What’d you like to write about? (1 to 5 sentences)
  2. Who would find this interesting, and why?
  3. Why are you uniquely qualified to speak on this topic?

Subject line should be “Pitch for The Flint”

Thanks for asking!

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No worries at all. I don’t have specific requests for an article (yet), but I think the go-behind-the-scene info (like you’ve planned to do), on how successful businesses operate would be super interesting - even without obvious tech angle (like the restaurant using whatsapp). For instance, If you look at Nigeria, most successful non-tech people will say ‘It’s only God’ who’s responsible for their success. Which is a shame as I’m sure that’s just knowledge locked away.

The podcast series by Basecamp crew https://thedistance.com/ which chronicles the journey of small businesses who have lasted the ‘distance’ is a good model. Morale - tech people enjoy non-tech story.

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That’s been the most surprising thing about the positive reception to the project - I had an inkling that some people would find it fascinating, but I’ve been stunned by the broad nature of its appeal! Hope to deliver :fist:t6:

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I totally love this and reading about the Accra piece was good for me. Talking about podcast, I’ve not seen any podcast relating to African tech/non-tech content. Any pointers?