I’ve been following the #DeleteUber news (Context here & here) this week. As I just moved to Lagos, this has me wondering about leadership in startups & the tech space in general in Nigeria.
- Are gender issues as prevalent in Nigerian startups, especially considering most founders are relatively young & ‘woke’?
- Does a great product/service override bad internal culture?
And on the #DeleteUber case, do users really have any power to influence a company’s culture? Is deleting uber even an effective way to make a statement while they’re still the best solution out there?
I’ll appreciate any thoughts/ experiences. Thanks!
In Nigeria, we’re trying to become more sensitive to anthropological and cultural issues, but the truth is we have a lot of third world dead weight that sometimes it seems ridiculous to. With that said, we really haven’t had a full-blown onslaught from any company faux pas - save the occasional ‘Delete this tweet!’ when a brand messes up bigly with their social communication (the prevalence of which may well be an indicator that it’s not yet a damaging issue, which is why way too many companies tend to make these silly mistakes.)
With that said. Does a great product override bad internal culture in Nigeria? Currently, yes. Because belle is still not showglass, ie, nobody knows about company’s internal structure, apart from what they say it is in their Rose-tinted press releases. As long as that opacity remains, products will be judged based on the value they deliver and the corporate communications they churn out.
Meanwhile - in Nigeria - we’re about to find out if users can influence company culture. Sooner than we think, even.
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Belle is still not showglass indeed.
The results from this tech employee survey from an earlier Radar thread definitely support this.
I’ll watch this space then.