News
- Brett Fox
- Building your Minimal Viable Product is one of those supposed must do’s that you need to do when you start your company. The problem is that many startup CEOs don’t really understand what an MVP really is. Nor do these same CEOs know what defines a successful MVP.
- Startup|Energy
- From 18 to 23 October, nine energy startups from four East African countries met for the 4th Energy Camp. They were selected from a total of almost 100 applications. Learn more about the Energy Camp and the participating startups.
- Aaron Dinin
- Focus on the human buyers rather than the corporate customers is where so many entrepreneurs mess up. They obsess about their product — their baby — and what it can do for the customers that use it while completely forgetting that their buyers are people with their own personal challenges.
- Techcabal
- Earthbond, a Nigerian startup that connects SME that want to buy solar solutions to solution providers, has raised a $200,000 pre-seed funding from Madica. The startup claims it has audited the solar power needs of over 100 businesses in Lagos in deals that could be worth $1 million.
- Empower Africa
- Arnergy, a Nigerian cleantech startup specializing in distributed renewable energy solutions, has raised $3 million in a bridge round led by All On, an off-grid energy impact investment company supported by Shell.
- Nairametrics
- Angel investors play a vital role in helping new businesses grow by providing the early funding that startups need to turn their ideas into real products and services. However, attracting these investors can be challenging, especially in tough economic times. One effective way to encourage more angel investing is through tax incentives.
- The Star
- Kenya’s dominance in the sector is partly driven by large-scale investments in solar energy solutions and precision agriculture. On the continent, however, most investors are concentrated in Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa, where innovation and funding activity are most prominent.
- Marshall Hargrave
- The glorified stories of billion-dollar startup “unicorns” hatched in a college dorm room are highly misleading. While those make for great Hollywood-worthy narratives, the reality is that successful startups require an incredible amount of blood, sweat, and tears over many years.
- Bret Waters
- In startup land, everyone has a pitch deck. Every wannabe startup founder thinks that if they can create an awesome pitch deck, venture capitalists will throw money at them and life will be good. The reality, of course, is that pitching is all about storytelling. That’s why if I’m preparing a pitch deck I always sit down and write out the narrative first.
- Jan Cavelle
- Start-ups and small businesses can not afford to compete with the big guys when it comes to marketing. More importantly, Startups and small businesses shouldn’t try to compete with the big guys in marketing. They should play to their strengths. Be proud of where they are.
- Preo
- Drop Access (Kenya) and SLS Energy (Rwanda) are among the companies recognized in PREO's new funding round for their groundbraking activities in the productive use sector. More than 240 applications meeting the call’s core criteria were submitted from 29 countries, equating to a total funding request 17 times greater than was available.
- Aaron Dinin
- The best sign of a sophisticated entrepreneur is someone who understands the real costs of startups. But more than just understanding the costs, sophisticated entrepreneurs plan for them. They build financial models that account for customer acquisition, legal fees, support infrastructure, and all the other things that’ll ultimately cost the company money.