A young lady shared her CV looking for a job in my company. The CV shows she has a Diploma in Records Management from one of the local universities — My first question was can you manage files in the Cloud? Do you know anything about Google Drive? To her and most of the graduates of traditional African universities, the obvious is, NO. My mother worked at the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) for over 35 years in the Department of Social Welfare. The only thing she was doing was to physically manage the files of employees and their families. Something…

This article provides an overview of the AI landscape in Tanzania as well as captures lessons learned from the IdeaLab project carried in Tanzania by AI Commons, Sahara Ventures, and Tanzania AI Lab through the support of The Botnar Foundation.

Background

Last quarter of 2020 when we were working on the report Articifical Intelligence in Tanzania, What’s Happening the second edition, we learned a lot about the potential of AI in developing economies. Beyond academic publications and lab works already we are seeing the technology being adopted across multiple sectors to address complex issues.

Education and Machines Operations

From startups such as Mtabe App and…

In the past few months, I have been studying different startup ecosystems in Africa, identifying some salient features of the ecosystem and what Tanzania can learn from them. Primarily I looked at the five countries that attract most of the VC capital coming into the continent and with the most startup success stories. The countries abbreviated to KNGS; Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa and most recently, Egypt.

These countries have few things in common that make them stand out in the African startup ecosystem. They share some of the traits, while they also have salient features. The analysis shows that…

For the past two weeks, there have been exciting conversations happening with my team on personal growth. Conversations have forced us to rethink and redefine the individual development of each team member. As a CEO, one of your core roles is to recruit, retain and accelerate the growth of talents in your team. I constantly attribute our team’s success in recent years based on our ability to outgrow our competitors at the individual and organizational level. To small and medium businesses, including startups, individual growth of talents is critical. However, compared to corporations, one person in a startup can massively…

After staying aside for a few years I have finally found something that I’m interested to build. The feeling is exquisite. Building is the most exciting activity for a tech founder. The orgasm of creating a startup is when you are working with a completely new idea and you are not sure whether it will work or not. When you are free from the politics of engaging with the users and investors. When stuff is popping up left, right and centre.

We are currently working on a tool to help African businesses to run a self-assessment of whether they are…

While it is estimated less than 25 per cent of Africans are connected to the internet this number is not a joke. By December 2020, Nigeria reported having more than 150 million internet users. Internet is becoming a basic need in the continent. Africa’s Internet Economy is estimated to worth $180 Billion according to a study by Google and IFC. African digital natives is a group of African Millenials and Generation Z who are all over the place in the digital platforms. Almost 60% of Africa’s population is under the age of 25, making Africa the world’s youngest continent. In…

Dear Miss Jane,

Let me introduce you to Aaliyah, a cute young lady. She has just turned three years old. After a prolonged discussion with her mother, we have decided to put her to school. I’m still unsure if it is the right time or I needed to spend more time with her.

Miss Jane, I’m not sure if she is ready to face the world by herself. She is a brave little girl, but the world is very demanding. Obviously, by the time she reaches my age, most of the things you have taught her will be irrelevant. 450…

The U.S. is the world’s monopoly for venture capital, accounting for more than half, 51 percent (USD 132.9 Bn) of total global venture capital. Is Africa doing enough to catch up?

In 2020 according to Disrupt Africa, the continent attracted USD 700 Million worth of investment to African tech startups. Depending on tools and methodology adopted some sources estimate the number can go up to USD 1.3 Billion disclosed and undisclosed amounts. …