so for a while I have been studying the lives of some of the most successful African tech founders and here was the one of the most common attribute i noticed among all of them. THEY ALL HAVE GONE OR SCHOOLED ABROAD(OUTSIDE AFRICA). Dont take my word for it but check from konga’s Sim Shagaya, paga’s Tayo Oviosu, andela’s Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, iroko’s Jason, the paystack guys Shola Akinlade and Ezra Olubi, hotel.ng Mark Essien and the rest. I can keep naming but thats not the point. I was shocked by the discovery but is there something they get there or what actually is the difference that makes their startups successful at least to some extent, yet to find a truly successful homegrown founder (who has not gone abroad) making it is like finding a needle in a haystack. so what do you think they get that we dont have here at home.
Serious thought to consider, may be i might just start processing my passport.
What of the Jobberman and Printivo trio? What of the Prepclass and PassNG dudes?
Truth be told, you gain a lot of exposure and build a more robust network when you travel abroad; also investors usually tilt towards anyone who coughs up a Harvard MBA over one from a local university. But it is not enough to rule out the potentials of local talent.
In tech, that’s a silly investor.
Here’s a similar thread in the past, with some interesting contributions from @iaboyeji …
The kind of money funding tech in Nigeria at present is practically all flown in from the west, hence the habit to stray close to the initiated (couldn’t find a better grouping for them).
‘Money loves reference’. It easier for a foreign investor to reach out to your 3rd level connections, while establishing back knowledge about you, if those connections are all out there; Alma maters and blue chips in the UK, US …et al it makes their research easier.
Compare that to Chinedu, just 2 months in Lagos, fresh out of Nsukka not even sure how long his uncle would let him hang for free in Lag, who sends that killer pitch to a foreign investor who for the life of him can’t seem to get passed the correct pronunciation of his name.
The most pertinent question in the mentioned scenario is what have you built? Which is usually fair for them but isn’t for you, cuz even Zuck at some point had no portfolio to show. I doubt he had an impressive one when he started FB. The questions about where you schooled or have worked is instinctively brooched.
And once they can’t get passed verifying your experience on some concrete level, the mata na cast!
The LAN guys are making a decent effort in reply to this, but even they are susceptible, they need references and would mostly take it from those idly speaking from privileged corners. Until they run out of dishing favours, perhaps some fresh gang rolling in pure sweat with the next big Corp might get a shot. And it is happening.
PS: No flailing here, it’s simply the process all over. And until one gets it, s/he’d always think life is unfair. Which would never answer any questions.
lol…funny man. so you want to port and leave your man here abi?
I de your back oo!!!
Solid response but needs a little correction.
During Zuckerberg’s high school years, under the company name Intelligent Media Group, he built a music player called the Synapse Media Player that used machine learning to learn the user’s listening habits, which was posted to Slashdot[25] and received a rating of 3 out of 5 from PC Magazine.[26]
Source: Mark Zuckerberg - Wikipedia
@techscorpion, @87_chuks’s example might not be accurate for Zuckerberg, but it holds true for some others.
I’ve also thought of this myself and the thing is exposure is important-not just in tech, which most developed countries already have compared to here. But, we will get there…
Two years ago a friend and I back in CCHub discussed at length about this.
Fast-forward to now? What’s the update on the said discussion? 
Are we trying to say, it is impossible to build a sustainable tech company without going abroad. what is it they get there that we don’t have here.
We eventually decided that traveling abroad exposes one to more opportunities in terms of useful networks, access to capital, cool projects and work experience that looks good on one’s portfolio, and this exposure is crucial if one want’s to start a tech company in a hostile economy like Nigeria. If you look around you, the evidence is everywhere (in CCHub 
)
So what did I do, I dropped all my projects, stopped freelancing, joined Andela (learnt every single thing I could from the best programming practices to how management was run)
Left Andela(exactly after one year) and now work for a German startup, so far it’s been great.
That’s how far that discussion pushed me.
A lot my friend, a lot!
- Steady power supply
- Fast and Cheap Internet
Just to name a few but I know if these two are fixed, maybe the idea of travelling abroad would be reconsidered.
These infrastructures are necessary if you really want to build something useful without exhausting your mental bandwidth looking for fuel or blowing all your cash on internet subscription.
My 2 kobo. Travelling - even if it’s just to Ghana (or from Lagos to Umuahia and vice versa) - gives you a different perspective, which allows you to contemplate, stretch your imagination and believe that certain things are possible. I must note that travelling in the US and Europe adds a lot more - making you see that the things you might have thought were extra-ordinary can be brought to life by you also.
For instance, aside travelling abroad, i have travelled in about 26 states in Nigeria and the experience has been valuable.
The internet has made it easier though…
About Working for a German Startup? Did you get the position from Nigeria or Did you travel to Germany Before you got the position. I am asking because a friend of mine in Germany once suggested i applied to one health startup in Germany(Munich Precisely), if i was interested. I haven’t really had time to consider the offer.
Even if you don’t take a trip physically, your mind must take that trip abroad, there is just not enough content down here to engender the startup mind that is why we read their books,blogs and watch their fireside chats.Failure to do any of both could be fatal.