WANTED: 100% African tech start-ups

THERE’S no shortage of American, European or Asian founders in the tech ecosystem. Most leading technology companies are founded in the US, Europe, and in China. As a result, everyone knows what it feels like to use innovation from these regions. What is lacking, however, are African-founded tech companies and therefore 100% African tech innovations.

What exists are African tech startups that appear to be African for sake of publicity but in reality, they are not. They come in different forms.

You get a so-called “African” tech start-up company with an American or European co-founder. This has become so common that just about every African tech start-up that is considered successful, in terms of being funded, has a co-founder who is not African.

Jumia is an e-commerce tech company that was billed as the first African unicorn. Its African title inspired a major debate about its Africanness. This was because heavyweights within the Jumia structure were not African.

Jumia is not alone, Andela is another tech outfit that seems African but in reality, it’s not. It also has co-founders who are not African and massive Silicon Valley backing.

There’s nothing wrong with collaborating with US or European co-founders if that takes an African founder’s concept forward. It is, however, questionable that almost all successful African tech initiatives have co-founders who are not African.

Another form of so-called “African” start-up is formed by someone who moved from Europe or the US to start a tech company in Africa.

This is understandable considering that Africa is the last frontier and has huge challenges that can be solved with tech. The idea of a capable European or American engineer moving to Africa to solve a problem is commendable. What is problematic is to brand such a start-up as an African tech start-up to secure funding designed for African tech start-ups.

Another kind of “African” tech start-up one that is located in Africa but registered in the US or Europe as its main region. While it’s understandable why some founders prefer to register their companies in the US or Europe, this should not be done at the expense of the African economy.

The picture that is emerging is that there’s a belief that an African from Africa cannot start a tech company and grow it for global markets without a co-founder from the US or Europe.

Another picture that is emerging is that there seems to be a distrust by venture capitalists for start-ups that are founded by Africans. It appears that there’s an expectation for African tech start-ups to have someone from the US or Europe to look after the invested funds.

Lately, people with deep pockets have decided not to hide behind co-founders and company registrations. They have decided to directly fund European tech companies to come play in Africa.

Paris-based tech investment firm Partech has launched Chapter54, an accelerator programme to support European start-ups wanting to expand into Africa, via its innovation division, Partech Shaker. This is more honest and marks a U-turn in the process of getting Europe-based start-ups to dominate the African tech ecosystem.

This is not an easy issue to address, but it’s important that it receives the attention that it deserves. The failure to acknowledge this and deal with it head-on will lead to a situation where society would be robbed of true African innovations. At present, we have no idea what a truly African tech innovation looks like because there’s this insistence to cloud every tech start-up with an American or European tech co-founder. Having said that, it is understood that the nature of innovation is such that it happens when there’s a collaboration between people from different backgrounds.

What is happening, however, on the African continent is not healthy collaboration for innovation sake. It is another form of African exploitation dressed with this idea of African innovation success. African founders should grow a backbone and demand independence for the sake of African innovation. African venture capitalists should come forward and close the funding gap which limits the true nature of African innovation.

The world needs to see a truly African tech giant with its innovations. This will not happen as long as African tech founders are not given an opportunity to build their tech start-ups into tech giants.

The next Uber, Google, or Apple can only be African if we give African tech founders the space and support.