Tag Archive for 'South Africa'

Thoughts on #geekretreat ZA

Published
by
Gareth Knight
on 2009/6/22
in Startups and Think
. 4 Comments

I had no idea what to expect from the GeekRetreat (content will be updated there ov er the next few days so bookmark it) this year, but I did know that there were some smart people going, and I liked the themes being discussed. So I went in with an open and optimistic mind, and in truth with no backslapping, I was thoroughly blown away by the diversity, humility and good nature of the folks there.

Since SxSw 2006, I’ve maintained that the value of events is generally the conversation outside of the panels / talks, that are the most interesting…. so if you get good, new content, it’s a bonus. This weekend I had the pleasure of being in the bush and around campfires, listening to some smart people talking about interesting things, as well as getting to explore *stuff* outside of formal talks.

So I’m really happy I had the privilege to go, and more importantly came away with renewed energy for South Africa, respect and new friends.

Check out the twitter stream for live commentary.

What follows are brief thoughts that I took home or that stood out for me, in no particular order:

  1. “The best thing that South Africa exports, are South Africans themselves” Shapshak 2009
  2. Taking the risk to start something seems to be the largest hurdle people talked about.  Note that this is a psychological one, not a physical one.
  3. Vinny Lingham said some interesting things around funding and seed capital - mainly that there is money around, but little opportunity for early stage investors to cash out with local VC’s.  Vc’s in SA are also run by accountants, with an obvious connotation.
  4. Thus it seems that cultural baggage and an early stage funding vacuum, are primarily responsible for the relatively small startup / entrepreneurial culture in SA.  Poor bandwidth doesn’t help either.
  5. There seems to be a genuine willingness and motivation to develop and build for the lower end of the local market.  Problems around this are understanding real problems that need to be solved (rather than perceived problems which may not be problems at all), and figuring out how to make digital transactions possible.
  6. The idea of a co-working space in SA (JHB and CT) was well received.  This is something I’m taking up seriously both to bootstrap within, and jump start the local community.
  7. There are some seriously smart people in SA. I would love to see them doing stuff on the global stage.  I would also love to see them revolutionising the next evolution of the African web.
  8. People seemed to agree that niched communities are the way the web will evolve and organise itself, with Google as the entry funnel.  Nice to get affirmation of something I’ve been thinking in my head for a while now.
  9. A good example of the above is http://obami.com/, which looks pretty interesting, check it out.  Best to Barbs!
  10. Another web app / saas startup doing well is http://www.payspace.co.za/
  11. https://www.ravelry.com/ is another example of a super niched community doing well. Thanks @Pam
  12. Vinny is doing better with Yola than I thought (in numbers) ;-)  Good for him too, and great work dude ;-)
  13. Geeks in SA know how to party. Don’t challenge them to braai’ing and/or drinking.
  14. Geeks in SA seem to like Macs and iPhones.  There were one or two netbooks, and one or two Thinkpads and HP machines… Even the corporate people had Macs.
  15. Pretty much everyone at the event expressed an interest in going to SxSW next year.  Tally ho!
  16. Heather, Eve, and Justin were the glue that held it all together.  Kudos to them. And thanks! ;-)
  17. A big thanks to our hosts too, great venues.  Red Ivory backpackers, and the Elephant Sanctuary.

Other posts so far (will keep updating):

Photos (will keep updating):

Some startup tools (after the fact, but useful):

  1. Startup tools wiki
  2. 25 tools for startups (in comments of the above, but saves you the effort)

What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say

Published
by
Gareth Knight
on 2009/6/4
in Checkout, Sustainability and Ubuntu
. 2 Comments

Since my days of doing grass diversity research in the communal grazing lands adjacent to the Kruger National Park, I’ve always felt that the world needs top down impetus and proactiveness, but bottom up implementation. So in short, help from the wealthier people at the top, with the doing being done by people on the ground who understand the real issues the community they’re working in face.

Imagine a big truck pulling up and dropping your choice of aid (food, clothing, computers, seeds) to “help”, and the ensuing chaos and strife that would create. Now imagine the local people working with other local people, to grow and sell/barter food in local markets, make clothing, teach people how to use computers, show people who have lost their forefathers knowledge how to plant crops and manage water again… Which of those scenarios has a better longer term, sustainable, future?

So where am I going with this? Why the dramatic title?

Well, today I spent lunch today at the Commonwealth Club close to Embankment Station, with the team from the Ubuntu Education Fund, and a bunch of South Africans living in London, and I’ve come away more inspired and pleasantly surprised than I have ever before, after meeting NGO type people. I’m no NGO guru, so my experience is limited, but I’ve seen and heard enough to know that a lot of aid to the developing world is poorly conceived, misplaced and badly executed.

The people involved just seem to have the ingredients right, and after 10 years of doing this quietly in their own community of Port Elizabeth, they’ve got some impressive stats to show for it, as well as a community that has bought into what they’re doing, and is working with them to improve their lives. It’s awesome to see, and awesome to hear of how they’re being innovative and resourceful to solve problems that seem insurmountable.

They are a true startup success story, except they’re changing people’s lives fundamentally, which in many ways is truly, truly noble.

So in few words, they didn’t need to say much, what they are doing, on the ground, says enough. Hats off. I’ve been looking for an organisation that I could help out in some way, for a long long time, and I’ve always come up short of what I wanted on their side. Now I’ve found it. No need to re-invent the wheel, only to replicate and deploy in time.

;-)

~~~

As an aside, this is what I’ve been thinking the last hour:

  1. get to PE, watch, learn and understand what they do on the ground. Based on that:
  2. make a 1 or 2 week long secondment for everyone in my team, strongly encouraged, every year
  3. mentor a few school leavers to help them get ready for the big wide world
  4. employ the relevant youngsters coming out of university that have the right attitude
  5. grow those youngsters into leaders in their own rights, over a 5 year period, then send them off into the world to be successful for themselves
  6. put % of profit aside, to donate to the fund

All thoughts now, but I’m amped - gonna do this ;-)

Humour: ’n Boer maak ‘n plan

Published
by
Gareth Knight
on 2009/5/28
in Humour
. 4 Comments

This was too good not to post!

A shop owner in Brakpan , South Africa , was tired of people breaking into his yard/shop so he came up with the idea of shaving his dog like a lion.
Everyone in SA recognises a lion, now he has no problem with thugs!
South African ingenuity – we call it “’n Boer maak ‘n plan”… ;-)

Like a Lion!
Like a lion

Source: the interweb thingy