Failing To Talk About Failure Is Dangerous – Idil Abshir

In America, as everyone knows, entrepreneurs love talking about failure. “Fail fast, fail often” has become a mantra of Silicon Valley, where fortunes are made by people who only years prior had crashed a well-funded startup into the ground. Failure has become almost a badge of pride — an experience recast as a lesson learned, a skin thickened, an entrepreneur seasoned and more fully prepared to succeed.

In Africa’s emerging startup communities, however, failure still carries a heavy stigma. Failure doesn’t make you stronger; failure makes you a failure. And the consequences of an entrenched unwillingness to talk about it can be bad for local economies and catastrophic for small-business people. African entrepreneurs say they’ve seen peers go into hiding, abandon their communities and in some tragic cases, even commit suicide. They’ve also seen brilliant entrepreneurs cut their careers short, afraid of taking risks that might not work out.

Read more here

Attend SeedStars Summit in April

Join us for the Seedstars Summit 2017 on April 6 and watch 70+ startups from the fast growing startup hubs around the world compete for equity investment of up to $1,000,000. Not only will you meet the best entrepreneurs from 65+ countries, you will also connect with investors, government officials, corporate innovators and CEOs from Africa, Asia, LATAM, CEE and the MENA region.

Get ready for breakout sessions, panel discussions and specialized workshops on fintech, edtech, digital health, agritech, IoT, hardware, social networking, clean tech – and much more.

See 5 Reasons to attend:
1. Invest and partner with best emerging market start ups.
2. Build strong connections around the world.
3. Meet potential customers, partners, co-investor or a co-founder.
4. Uncover trends that will impact your industry and how you do business.
5. Explore the emerging market tech world.

SeedStar Summit is an Entrepreneurship Forum for emerging markets. Seedstars is a global organization with headquarter in Switzerland and a presence in 60+ emerging markets. We are on a mission to impact people’s lives in emerging markets through technology and entrepreneurship. Our initiatives are focused on connecting stakeholders within these ecosystems, building tech companies from scratch and investing in the top entrepreneurs.

About the Summit.
Date: 3rd – 7th of April, 2017

Location: Swiss Tech Convention Center, Lausanne

Each year we reunite over 1000 investors, accelerators, startups, government officials, managers and corporate executives to our annual Seedstars Summit, the technology and innovation forum for Emerging Markets. The aim of the Summit is to discuss how technology and entrepreneurship can impact billions of people’s lives. 65 startup finalists, representing 60+ countries, will be joining us for a week to participate in an intense bootcamp, investor forum and during the final ceremony to announce the Seedstars World Global Winner and receive up to USD 1m in equity investment.

Get your tickets here.
For more information about SeedStars Summit click here.

Kate Douglas Explains How to start manufacturing in Africa – without experience or capital

At this year’s World Economic Forum on Africa, Johan Aurik, managing partner and chairman of consulting firm A.T. Kearney, described local manufacturing in Africa as an enormous “missed opportunity”.
We have heard it all before. At just about every conference centred on the African economy, you will likely come across a panel discussion of experts stating the obvious: Africa needs to add value to its own resources in order to reap greater economic benefits. And yet the continent remains an importer of most finished goods – from processed food to the simple tooth pick.

Read more about the four basic thongs you need to becoming a manufacturer in Africa without capital or experience.

Apply For The African Women’s Public Service Fellowship 2017

The African Women’s Public Service Fellowship, made possible by a donation from the Oprah Winfrey Foundation, expands the opportunity for African women to impact for public service in their home countries.

The Fellowship provides full tuition, fees, housing or a housing stipend (if enrolling in the Global EMPA program), travel to and from the United States, and a small stipend to cover books and miscellaneous expenses.

Fellowship recipients commit to return to their respective home countries at the conclusion of the program with the goal of assuming a leadership position on the continent where they can meaningfully contribute to the challenges currently confronting Africa.

This fellowship is only available to degree-seeking students. Advanced professional certificate and non-degree programs are not applicable for this fellowship.

Fellowship criteria
•Citizen and resident in an African country at the time of application.
•Strong academic record.
•Demonstrated commitment to public service.
•A NYU Wagner education would significantly enhance your ability to have a deep and lasting impact on public service issues in your home country and region.
Click here for details
Click here to apply

WAAW Foundation 2017 Scholarship Application

WAAW foundation’s annual scholarship initiative is aimed at supporting African female who need financial support to complete their university courses. The award is given to STEM-focused college students.
Read the criteria to apply here

Or apply directly here

Application begins August 1, 2016

Training Talent | Best Practice in Workplace Learning and Management Development for Africa – AMI

Effective managers and entrepreneurs hold the key to Africa’s prosperity. Yet organisations cite a talent gap, and traditional training models seem to be broken. Africa needs a fresh approach to help millions of managers, entrepreneurs and professionals build the skills needed to drive their organisations – and the continent – forward.

This report by the African Management Initiative (AMI) draws on fresh data on Africa’s critical talent gap and presents new insights on how to address it through workplace learning and development. We list eight key findings about what is needed, and about what effective workplace learning looks like in an African context.

This report is a must-read for senior leaders in African companies of all sizes who want to address the talent gap in their own organisations. It is also invaluable for HR and training professionals, donors interested in workforce development, university leaders that want to equip graduates for jobs, banks and investors looking to strengthen small business clients, and anyone with an interest in developing Africa’s next generation of entrepreneurs, managers and professionals.

Our findings include insights on where demand for training is most urgent – what kinds of organisations most need to prioritise talent development, and what level in the organisation is most vulnerable? We look at what kind of skills are needed most – the results are sometimes surprising.

We also look at what works, drawing on international best practice and our own experience developing talent in African organisations. We argue that to translate training into improved performance, organisations must look beyond individual skill-building to the embedding of organisational habits. We push beyond traditional training approaches such as courses and workshops to explore experiential learning, on-the-job feedback and accountability. We look at how technology can enable sophisticated personalised learning at vastly reduced cost. Finally we present our own preferred ‘blended learning’ solution and share data that illustrates how effective workplace learning programmes can deliver real results.

We have set out to create a solution that is deeply embedded in the experience of Africa, using African material created by Africans for Africans, while drawing on the best insights that global practice and research can offer in the fields of learning, technology-enabled learning, and management effectiveness. We believe in the Best for Africa.

Download the full report from African Managers’ page. Or, to hear from the report team you can visit AMI’s blog or you can download the summary of the report.

This is the Time to Invest in Africa – Aliko Dangote

Despite Africa’s recent growth being chalked up to commodity booms, there’s more at work: corporates are more confident, ambitious and resilient.

As the rest see difficulties, entrepreneurs see opportunities.

During the last African CEOs forum, Aliko Dangote said “this is the time to invest in Africa”

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APPLY FOR UNILEVER AFRICA IDEA TROPHY.

WHAT YOU COULD WIN.
By taking part in Unilever Africa Idea Trophy, you could WIN a trip to the Global Future Leader’s League at one of Unilever’s global hubs! And a highly coveted internship at Unilever – Number 1 FMCG Employer of choice for students in among 32 countries.

HOW IDEA TROPHY WORKS.
A multi-level competition, Unilever Africa Idea Trophy calls on all students to take on real business problems related to Unilever. Competitors move through each stage, building on their work experience, improving their employability and developing real-life business wisdom.

You have the option of entering on your own, or as a team. Simply make sure that one team representative submits their details on behalf of the team, and makes use of this excel sheet to add the rest of the groups details, which needs to be uploaded when you submit your idea.

For more information and application click here