"Strive Masiyiwa" Turn your business into a “technology company” (Part 2).

__What are you waiting for?
I was inspired this week to hear stories from so many of you
who are using technology to connect buyers and markets,
and, in the process, create income for yourselves. This kind of
thinking will really set Africa alight!
One post really caught my attention: “It's through OLX that
I’m able to place food on the table for my family. What I just
need is to get a wind of it that you want to sell something. I
take photos using my phone and post it on OLX. Within a few
days your product is gone and I pocket a few coins out of it.
So my 'little business' is technology oriented.”
“Wow, wow, wow!!!” was my reply to Ken in Kenya.
When we later contacted him, Ken said he works as a police
dog trainer (he’s a civil servant) and discovered he could use
his phone to take pictures of things for sale which he posts on
OLX. After posting the items (which have included even
animals like goats and dogs), Ken waits for customers to call
him on his phone. Like Econet’s Ownai online classifieds in
Zimbabwe, OLX is a free mobile marketplace for all sorts of
goods and services. You’ll find many such free platforms
online.
To make extra money for his family, Ken even does
commission sales for his friends, and arranges delivery. He
also trains privately-owned dogs after-hours Sometimes he
even sells puppies online (not police pups) thus expanding his
potential client base.
I told Ken that there are people sitting at home who should be
doing exactly what he’s doing… using a unique mix of skills,
technology, fresh ideas and local knowledge to create their
own little (or big) “technology businesses.”
In the palm of your hand today, you have at least one
exceptional tool to open doors and close deals. What are you
waiting for?
# Imagine what would happen if every smallholder farmer,
informal and cross border trader across Africa discovered
what Ken has discovered!
# Imagine what would happen if every single person who
runs any kind of business in Africa set up a website (Africa
has the lowest penetration of business presence on the
Internet in the world)!
__These are things you shall begin to see. What we need is
young people to go out and show others how this can happen
so easily. This is all technology -- changing the lives of
people.
Techno-entrepreneurs like Ken give me so much hope for the
next generation on our continent. (I highlighted Ken today, but
you’ll hear about others later on). With the power of
technology, everyone can be a winner: What do people want
and need? Maybe it’s not invented yet. Maybe it’s available
somewhere, but not in your country. Maybe it’s a service in
short supply and you can bridge that gap. Maybe it’s old
technology but you have the imagination to do something new
with it, like Ken did.
No one really knew how much they “needed" a mobile phone
till very recently in historical terms. Now most people can’t
imagine life without one, or more. Technology makes it
possible to build new bridges of all kinds. Do you know where
you want to go?
To be continued. . .