You are so wrong. What happens is that people avoid your country entirely and neighbouring African countries who open up their market and implement plans to do technology and knowledge transfer over a period of time will start to serve your market through the back door. There is a reason even now why South Africa is getting to host all the SV companies coming to the continent and Nigeria is not.
Overall, I’m sad this thinking is very popular. We can’t grow an ecosystem if we think the enemy are the foreigners rather than the fact that people won’t use technology at all because it sucks. Uber is not your problem. Neither is Facebook, google, etc. We don’t even have enough technology talent to serve the ecosystem and we are asking for things to be banned left and right. That’s not very wise. How many Nigerian software engineers right now can build a billion dollar search engine that\s anything like Google? Answer with your church mind.
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Oh, for heavens’ sake. What does this even mean? Why are you taking it personally?
Nope. All I see is whining. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Let me correct something here. I champion quality regardless of where it comes from. I have nothing to prove to anyone but myself where that’s concerned. We as a people are simply not producing enough quality stuff. We need more talents in tech. I’m sorry that the project someone carelessly hacked together in their room during a couple of weekends isn’t blowing anyone’s minds, but that’s not a foreign company’s fault, that’s all on them.
I’m sick of people not doing any self-reflection. It’s never your fault in anyway. It couldn’t be that you ought to go back to the drawing board and try again. It couldn’t be that there isn’t a market for the thing you’re launching. It couldn’t be that app doesn’t work, or looks like a school assignment. Oh no. It’s always the other guy for being so popular despite starting from the bottom, just like you. It’s always the consumers that see a bad product, know it’s bad and don’t use it. It’s always the people that offer honest criticism but get shot down for not supporting local tech. It’s the ‘haters’. It’s the government. They’re the problem.
If, as a Nigerian, in Nigeria, raised in Nigeria, with a lifelong knowledge of Nigeria, you feel the only way you can launch successful products is not by creating something on par, or better, but to ban foreigners and have government policies take out any challenge, then that’s not my problem. I would buy this argument a little if the stuff we were creating was that good but not getting any love. But it’s not. so.
THIS.
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No. I’m afraid to bust your bubbles but protectionism policy doesn’t solve our infrastructural problems. Those problems are not minor…just think about our educational sector (which directly correlates to lack of developers) and Internet penetration (best to ban all the foreign Internet providers?)
I know it’s deceptively easy to ban and wish that solves our problems. People say ‘ban it all’ but here we are typing on our phones, communicating over the Internet, will shortly commit to Git, etc and we say it’s let’s ban it all and we will be just fine in the end?
When we’re passionate about nationalism, pan-Africanism, self-actualisation etc we shouldn’t stop at the ‘ban’ the foreigners rtheoric. I love how we point to China, South Korea etc as model countries that practiced protectionism but never talk about our African examples.
Personally I must say I’m delighted with this topic so that when we think of bans, we need to go further and ask ourselves why protectionism has worked in other countries.
And if you’re just focused on your app and not bothered about the deeper questions, well ask yourself ‘if govt bans my foreign competitors, does it make my app better?’
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There you go with the assumption that Africans cannot develop simple web applications. How do you explain then, for example angani.co , a web hosting startup by Kenyan MIT and Stanford grads not having as much traction as GoDaddy?
If you think Africans are on a level playing field with Silicon Valley, you are just mad. Like I said before, please read up on history, specifically when major industries like manufacturing, autos were still infant industries. Read up on what today’s leaders in those industries did to get to those leading positions. Also read up on the industrial revolution, and the things Western entrepreneurs did to ensure their rise to the top of the global pecking order. I assure you, you will not find anything resembling free trade in those stories.
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Keep classy bro. It’s not personal, right?
Back to the matter, so we ban and we replicate the same rewards from your examples?
Competition is never done in isolation. If we can’t compete I sympathise with that. Ask yourself these questions?
If I can’t develop a killer app because the skills are not there, should my potential or existing competitors be banned?
If I can’t get funding from ‘Nigerian’ banks, should my competitors be banned?
If ‘Nigerians’ don’t think too highly of my killer app and I’m not getting the traction I need to survive, should my competitors be banned?
This certainly goes way beyond ‘apps’ but more on the fundamental issues bedevilling our country. We can’t just ban things and wish all our problems will roll over.
Look at the deeper issues and competition will not even make your Top 10 list of forces to contend with.
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While you guys are still articulating the ‘Ban All Foreign Policy’ remember to include all foreign Internet providers because data is expensive and ‘Nigerian’ ISPs can compete. At least without ISPs we wont be having this conversation about Nigerian apps.
You’re living in an echo chamber if you believe the world has a ‘fair’ playing field and we’re all just competitors. American companies especially are killers, they aren’t some nice people wanting to compete fairly.
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To be honest you’re just opposing without proposing anything meaningful. I could probably understand you Cuz you’re thinking from an individual point of view whereas the other side of the argument is thinking from a societal point of you. The problem is you think American tech companies are little princesses that just want to help us. Well you’re wrong. And don’t think we want the government to protect us completely like say China does. We just want laws that give locals crazy advantages over foreigners.
You were saying some things about SA and silicon valley. Nigeria will never be abandoned by any investors in Africa because we have leverage. Our leverage is the large population and largest GDP in Africa. That’s the leverage China has that despite their censoring, American companies are going down on their knees begging to access their markets.
Calling out some companies I thought were Nigerian doesn’t dismiss my points in anyway, in fact it emboldens them. It just shows how our citizens do not benefit from the tech revolution, but I bet you’re happy with that because like I said your argument is individualistic. You just can’t grasp that your fellow Africans and Nigerians are feeling the effect of foreign encroachment.
What can I say? The American soft power is strong. We’ve got Hollywood to thank for that.
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Funniest thread in a while.
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The first person mentions goes on…
I emphasized the first person mentions to delineate that these are mainly personal assessments and not based on industry reference(s).
Describing Protectionism simply as ban of these and ban of that. Is limiting the scope and usefulness of that widely practiced economic strategy.
Protectionism as popularly pratciced does not kill competition. Rather it favours local competitors. End of story.
But @iaboyeji it is still our people that vie with their best when trained in the same enabling environment as their ‘champions’. In medicine, in sports, all the STEM disciplines…name it?
Our government failed and continues to fail us. Our government is lazy and lacks vision. A government that would rather sit and be spoon fed from across the Atlantic with FX, would die before it envisions the immense benefits of well practiced protectionism.
I’ve seen talented folks (Africans) in my lifetime, some never even saw the four walls of a college campus.
Unfortunately it’s the government that spurs Silicon Valley size advancements - read up on how it all started in the valley.
But Ours is still very much asleep!
African entrepreneurs are giving it their best, our government needs to do more, not just to protect them but also to forward spring their development to compete in this blow out.
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Protectionism has never worked in Nigeria and if you are happy with the outcome of this ‘tried and tested’ economic policy anywhere in Africa, you can provide the country names and in which industries.
Well done on this - you have finally seen the light. With the current state of things in Nigeria, Protectionism is not the ‘solution’. If we have the enabling environment we will not be asking for government’s help to ban anything foreign.
Those who advocate for ‘banning things’ in the corridors of power are only doing that for their ‘own pockets’. End of
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What you fail to understand is the foreign competitors you want to ban are not the problem even if they are, they are not primary. It is not a level playing field - it never was and it will never be even if you ban all foreign businesses you are scared of.
The richest black man is now a ‘foreign competitor’ in some African countries. (Only Nigerian example i can think of since we don’t export anything tech). Will you extend the ban to Nigerian businesses in Ghana, Kenya & South Africa? When they are hostile to Nigerians we moan and claim they ‘hate us’ but we will like to ban others.
It is not a level playing field you see.
Is it possible that those who are supporting the presence of ‘foreign tech giant startups’ (especially Silicon Valley’s own) in Nigeria or in Africa taking over our economy and jobs to show us or the world how well they are doing? Like what is your idea? What problem are you solving? What market are you in? N how well are you doing? You see me that Im supporting local startups over foreign startups understand that Im not doing good at all. I can’t go head to head with the tech giants. Im losing. But for those who are claiming that the presence of foreign tech giants is not disrupting or harming or putting them out of business please show us some data or numbers. Lets see how well you are doing. Lets see what you’ve built and please teach us, that don’t know or that are not competent enough how to win, how to beat the game. Like please school us and give us some knowledge, so that we can all move Nigeria & Africa forward.
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It’s funny how you declare my own epiphany for me.
You’re stuck in trying to win an argument, you fail to get it.
Protectionism alone is not enough, can never be enough.
Like playing 0 - offense, and 100 - defense in a football match. Best case scenario you won’t lose by a shameful margin. But lose you most likely will.
Protectionism slows down the seeming encroachment of foreign businesses on your own TURF and gives the local guys time to catch up. However, if development/advancement is not spurred internally to service the real demand while protectionism is in place, people are bound to start importing their personal supplies.
To rephrase, protectionism levels the playing field for entrepreneurs who’s government is willing to back their growth.
Nobody is saying protectionism alone is enough. Check the references made by @MistaMajani or @sop_DDy, they all alluded to a local grown business supplanting the lead on supply. With those protective remaining actively in place to maintain their leadership.
And take it from me a government that is willing to explore blatant protectionism (even as a failed attempt) can not be accused of being visionless. Racist, yes? But not visionless.
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It’s almost as if you copy pasted what I was thinking. I had to go cool temper after the debate got heated. The ones who are cheering the foreigners probably have nothing to lose directly.
Somebody please give even one example of a homegrown internet startup beating out a Silicon Valley start-up to market leadership in Africa. Someone please give me an example of a homegrown internet startup making 30 million USD a year like Jumia. Is Jumia really the operational marvel that we are being told foreigners produce? Or is it just forced down our throats with VC marketing dollars as they iron out the kinks with time? Instagram is in my top 10 WORST user experiences ever, but it’s blowing up in Africa after the FB acquisition. No fair playing field.
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I’m not even sure where this conversation is headed anymore. Besides starting with a call to ban everything foreign, to personal attacks from the ban supporters, and now and admission from the same group that simply banning isn’t the answer.
Here’s a random example. Stripe, the developer darling payments startup doing well for itself in the US in such a short period of time doesn’t service Nigerian businesses yet. Till date, there is no equivalent for Nigerian developers by Nigerians. Heck, there’s none on the entire continent. Are we going to sing the same sad song of Stripe killing payment startups when they eventually extend their net to Nigeria? Because that’s the mindset I see here.
The digital age is a lot different from the industrial revolution and comparison makes absolutely no sense. Someone made a reference to angani.co or whatever and asked why it’s not getting as much traction as GoDaddy. The fuck? I’ll list scores of American domain name registrars and hosting companies not getting GoDaddy’s traction. Hey, there’s this sweet registrar I discovered and started using two years ago - www.iwantmyname.com - has the ambition and agility you find in today’s startups. An African startup could have easily been that guy but no, we don’t have anyone trying to actually better existing market leaders. Downloading WHMCS is easier - yay, I run a domain name registration website now. Use me instead of GoDaddy. Nobody cares about my product? Hey government, please ban GoDaddy. Sounds perfect.
Can I ask what the exact playbook would be once we ban? Watch SV for product ideas, then reimplement a shitty replica in Nigeria. Iterate over 5 years to become as good as the product being copied was in 2015. Rinse and repeat. Let me tell you who will suffer - the rest of us. No one should even come knock this and say we can be innovative without looking at SV for ideas as the only reason this thread is in existence is because of some weird clamour for the success of shit copycats.
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I think I’ll just give my personal story here so people can stop calling out locals for supposed poor quality/lack of ambition.
My own startup has amassed over 2million monthly users and 15m monthly pageviews after 3 years and changed the media landscape in Kenya. My startup rivals Twitter and Instagram for user numbers in Kenya. We have broken over 10 records and won several awards in the process. But my revenue model is advertising. And anyone who has had to sell ads online knows the typical story. You are told “Why go to you when we can do GDN or FB?” Ad budget splits? Google 50%, FB and Twitter 30%, local vendors 20%
Is my startup not even worthy of a school project as some here are suggesting? No. My product might need some work, but it terms of sheer numbers I have executed to an international standard. But what my whole company makes in a year is probably the average salary of one Googler. It is not a level playing field and it’s not just a matter of “styling up.”
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Nice story but I have no idea what this product of yours is in 2015, but I signed up on Twitter less than a year after it launched, which must be a couple of years before your product launched. See why you would be at the bottom of the advertising preference chain? Maybe try another ad strategy, or make money off something else altogether.
Appeal to reason, not emotion.