It was an interesting and enlightening conversation with Business entrepreneur and tech enthusiast – Vital Sounouvou. Vital is the Founder and CEO of Exportunity Group, a fintech that facilitates B2C and B2B trade across Africa. Describing himself and his partners at the Exportunity group as a bunch of crazy Africans that are convinced that every entrepreneur in Africa deserves access to finance, I dare say that Vital is the ultimate technology idealist.
Referring to a time in his teenage years when he dreamt about making flying cars, and his dream was dashed by the rude awakening at his fist class in college, when the lecture told the class they would not find jobs after graduation and 90% of his classmates were unemployed for years after graduating.
In trying to get an Africa perspective by discussing the topic Entrepreneurship – A Panacea to Africa’s Development Gaps, it was important to establish the common development gaps and opportunities on the continent.
Vital and his friends’ post-graduation experience was not a curse from the lecturer or voo-doo of any sorts, it was essentially a prediction based on past trends and the general fate of the vast majority of African youths. With this we established a common gap across the continent that entrepreneurship is expected to be a silver bullet for.
According to Vital, this generation does not have a choice but to be entrepreneurial because there are no jobs , and this is enhanced by the technology megatrends where WhatsApp business is the largest ecommerce platform on the continent coupled with an energetic youth population with access to smartphones.
With this, I struggle with the degree of reliance to be placed on entrepreneurship as a tool to address the continent’s development gaps. If individuals are forced into entrepreneurship because they don’t have a choice, doesn’t that undermine the quality of the businesses they start, and thus a major contributor to the high discontinuance rate of small businesses that the continent reportedly records.
Entrepreneurship to me should not be a Plan B as it appears to be on the continent, but instead a deliberate activity that is engaged in purposefully and passionately with a huge dose of perseverance and the right mix of people – according to Nasa’s 4Ps for Business Success. If these elements are not at play, then we will continue to end up with start-ups that don’t stand the test of time. This however is not to say, that there are no other factors responsible for the high discontinuance rate, but when there’s common belief that entrepreneurship is a fallback plan, then it’s unlikely that the mindsets will be the right ones to begin with.
Access to finance remains, undoubtedly, one of the key challenges for start-ups in Africa, but Vital warns that, if African businesses must maintain sovereignty and become the gamechangers for he continent, then there’s a need to look inwards for financing as opposed to foreign investors that end up owning the business idea.
According to Vital “Selling your products is the best way to raise capital, stop selling your shares, and if you must, sell to family members”.
My conversation with Vital Sounouvou was a truly engaging one and I implore you to visit episode #7 on our podcasts page
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