my talk is about I’m fine and it’s it’s
very much a story about a lot of
entrepreneurs in Kenya I’ve been one for
the last almost 10 years and in those 10
years I’ve been building businesses and
a lot of them the first one I built was
in a lab which was something I didn’t
sometime in 2009 or so and the idea
behind that was to help other people
build businesses so my business was
helping people build businesses which is
a dumb thing when you think about it
because if your business works why are
you having to build other peoples and we
built and identified two of them that’s
a lot of businesses to build and when
you think about how to build a business
there is one thing that’s a guarantee
the movie that I think some of your
voices to the left that one the ghost
and the darkness it’s an old movie Val
Kilmer I think and Michael Douglas and I
dare bind it was them hunting man-eaters
while we were trying to build a road I
think it was in Kenya I don’t know I
never watched it not a big movie person
and the essence behind that was trying
to figure out how you smart I know it’s
right yeah trying to figure out how you
the intellectual person who is really
really small taking up this 227 kilogram
beast it’s like a cat but with more cat
and very large claws and trying to get
through the fact that this thing would
come and snip off people one at a time
in the night quietly it’s very much like
building a business you have a plan but
you’re this size and the task you’re
trying to accomplish is this side it’s
like a cat it’s quiet
creeps up on you then steals your money
your friends eventually your sanity then
some more friends because you know you
can come up as you go and the black hole
of entrepreneurship is something nobody
talks about and there’s many reasons for
it but one of them is that it’s a black
hole and the thing we know about black
holes is it follows everything you don’t
even have the energy to say what you’re
going through because swallowed it and a
lot of people in this space are going
through that and that’s why when you
think of the word enterpreneurship for
me the first person the first part that
makes sense
every
is the first letters over there those
five which are spelled wrong because I
think they are after the e are because
you’re entering something and no one’s
ever gonna tell you that
intrapreneurship is about entering
something kind of like hell just worse
but no one says that
we’re all fancy oh my gosh interpreter
ship all of you know hell two big doors
open hell no devils just pretty people
boys or girls
doesn’t matter he’ll and a lot of the
time as you’re starting to build a
business these are some of the illusions
that we have that’s the story the single
story we sell ourselves that this is
gonna work out fine and I’ll get out on
the end with as much money as Elon Musk
hell is where you’re going and because
of that statements like these ring true
excitement terrifying excitement is
about six seconds because you woke up
terrifying the rest of the damn day
and this is precisely what is happening
with a lot of people because you’re
waking up to this idea that you created
yes I left my bank job my insurance job
I just never got a job and started my
business and it seems like it’s going
places somebody came to see me I had a
meet when you’re excited excited about
her meeting is when you know you’re
intrapreneur I’m meeting someone I must
have something to tell them and the
problem with that is our standards are
so low for what a good business is
because we don’t know what that looks
like now I’m true to the fact we’ve been
doing entrepreneurship for a very very
long time this is like a 1905 map when
the Sahara Desert was actually like not
there’s that much and this is the roots
that we used to use when we used to do
business timber to some over there most
of these stuff just kind of doesn’t
exist as much but they was there we used
to do travel and this is not this looks
like something out of KLM or Virgin
Atlantic oh this looks like an aircraft
path he’s painting or something the only
thing that flew then were birds or
people committing suicide is one of
those two things that’s all that flew
and and look at that we did a fantastic
job of being able to do business this is
amazing this is where I started so it’s
not like your typical ships and you
think we’d be doing it forever in fact
in my mind
even she is an intrapreneur probably one
of the most resilient entrepreneurs oh
we’re gonna come across your mama mboga
the person who sells you cabbage who
don’t who feeds all of you and doesn’t
matter where you live the leafy suburbs
of the adrenaline side of Kenya she is
feeding you you might be paying top
dollar at cafe but that tomato still is
the same I nominate if I pay 30 Bob it’s
the same tomato yours is not faster than
mine probably came from the same place
but the thing about entrepreneurship is
we’ve always had a way of doing it it’s
just then it wasn’t as crazy as it is
right now with everybody talking about
Africa rising and how oh my gosh look at
Africa it’s doing so good oh my goodness
are you seen how they’re changing the
world we’ve been doing this forever just
now these two magazines decided supposed
to be the time and the other one I
forget that one just mad that the
Economist that one it’s same thing just
because we’re in the front pages of a
cover and they do something fancy like
put the African continent in here in
like a tree and apparently also Africa
is doing some stuff you know wow look at
the African entrepreneurs they’re rising
mobile technology they know how to use
mobile phones and probably because of
the one story is the conversation we’ve
just had on a previous set of because
they we thought they thought whoever
they is wherever we is we thought we
couldn’t do this and we did because it
was not a thing but now the whole world
is fascinated because that beautiful
thing called numbers is proving that hey
mobile technology is huge
what well money is huge mobile
everything is huge just mobile look
we’ve always been doing this it’s just
hey you know you decided you had a few
blank pages let’s put something in there
Africa mobile phones Africa rising boom
the problem though is they’re actually
people oh it’s all I was gonna say that
they even books about it and songs I’ll
be out of Tina this is new Africa what
is music fashion shows about African
fashion we’ve even done videos now we
even of countries we are trying to
create our own story and then when you
have our call and soft drinks being
named after Africa I think that’s when
you know you made it because there’s
booze named after you and there’s people
carrying along the top entrepreneurs
there are people doing it there are
people building things both men women
young or old LGBT non-lgbt all of it we
are doing stuff and not some
amazing it’s phenomenal but people are
dying as well and we don’t know that
story that’s the elephant in the room
that the mental health problems people
are facing doing what we do is
immeasurable immeasurable fast because
no one has actually done a research to
find out how measurable disease I’m just
gonna use that for now but still it’s a
problem a lot so people are going to
their wit’s end and then borrowing their
friends wits and taking those as well
and win to the end of those until they
have nothing left and that’s what’s
happening and the problem with that is
remember the black hole theory that’s
what’s going on this guy has come and
he’s slicing people and he’s not just
slicing them physically and emotionally
he’s slicing them in every shape and
form dream wise I’m seeing people taking
really good ideas and throwing them out
because they did not have the capacity
or the environment to build them into
things no one has showed us how to deal
with failure
no one has showed us how to turn what we
do not know how to do into a
conversation that we can get help with
no one has cared to find out how brains
work why they work the way they work or
what they do because in my family
extended my mother and her eight
siblings and my father in his four
siblings none of them have being an
entrepreneur my older sister younger
brother nothing
my cousins nephews nieces only one and
even she doesn’t know what the hell’s we
know it’s so dark and so bleak that most
of the time that was supposed to be the
brain works like when you open a
business
you’re not even opening a can of worms
none of that black hole we talked about
that’s what you see when you open it you
have nothing you have a plan but you
really don’t because you know it’s gonna
feel this Adi you open the door you have
a strategy you don’t because hey no one
has a plan to do get punched well if you
interpret or you’re not going to say the
face because the face you could come
back from this somewhere else they punch
you no one told you about
when you have nothing to work with
it’s impossible to come up with
something when you have a blank sheet
especially when the demon is in your
mind I’ve met six or seven people in the
last six months who have crashed and
burned completely but they’re running
three million dollar companies it’s in
Kenya see if you in the States you’re
wearing three million eyes okay snapchat
ladies twenty five billion dollars
they’ve never sold anything it’s fine
three million ooh I will start like a
seed company and you come up with a seed
that grows bananas apples and fruits at
the same time and then you’ll be fine
ten billion but in Kenya when you have a
three million dollar company on VCS
you’re constantly on the edge of a
breakdown six for seven this is what
enterpreneurship looks like in this town
it’s you in a misty it’s dark darkest
place you don’t know where you’re going
you don’t know what’s next and you could
be hit by anything from any direction in
any way shape or form and this is not
just Nairobi or Kenya it’s Africa I know
it sounds kind of weird to say that but
I’ve met a ton of intrapreneurs I’ve
been in this for a while and this is how
it feels like this is how it looks like
but no one talks about it no one tells
you this is what you’re about to get
into everybody wants to show you that
these power in being something in being
part of the Africa rising story rising
from what exactly I think are easy
meaning after raising venture capital
Africa raising it means reducing the
level of poverty you’ve got in the
country Patong and Mo spoke earlier we
don’t even know what that looks like
it’s a story and we’re trying to try and
prove that we’re doing something we
don’t even know we’re doing
there’s no proof that this is happening
I can’t give you numbers cuz no one has
done the test no one has asked you
questions
no one even really cares to find out
what it’s like to be inside the mind of
an intrapreneur I look at your books
though look at your growth rates look at
the number of downloads you have on the
Play Store I’ll do that how much money
you’ve raised I’ll do that but I won’t
care to find out how your family’s doing
how’s that partner you might a few years
ago it’s a relationship how’s your
spiritual well-being if you have one
eyes your body looking like why are you
dying when you’re 35 that doesn’t matter
and that’s a problem because at the end
of the day this is how we’re surviving a
lot more people that we admit are
surviving on this and that’s bad because
you expect me to fix your educational
problem because I mean that time you
expect her to fix your health problem
because she’s in health care you expect
him to fix your security problem because
you know is in security this is how we
go to sleep at night more people than
you can understand so we need to talk
about it because if you don’t remember
that black hole I talked about even this
conversation will disappear and one day
you wake up and wonder what happened to
that Africa rising narrative but
there’ll be no one to ask because
there’ll be no one left
that’s the Africa everybody thinks
you’re working with any money one
giraffes and hippos and elephants did
you see your elephant outside waiting
for you to go home that’s what they
think is happening that’s what we’re
trying to do a lot of countries that
were trying to fix and we’re a handful
even if you are a hundred million that’s
still a handful because the resources we
don’t have the capacity we do not know
we need the kind of money we’re trying
to raise that we’re never gonna raise
whether it’s because you’re black or
you’re men or we’re men women or we’re
here the banks don’t care about us or no
one’s gonna try and invest in us doesn’t
matter but we’re not having an easy time
and it’s important that you know that
we’re not let me start the conversation
at the end of the day this is how you
stand you either stand on your own
because you can’t share and no one cares
or you create a flood of followers a
flood of friends and a flood of
confessions
[Applause]
very much a story about a lot of
entrepreneurs in Kenya I’ve been one for
the last almost 10 years and in those 10
years I’ve been building businesses and
a lot of them the first one I built was
in a lab which was something I didn’t
sometime in 2009 or so and the idea
behind that was to help other people
build businesses so my business was
helping people build businesses which is
a dumb thing when you think about it
because if your business works why are
you having to build other peoples and we
built and identified two of them that’s
a lot of businesses to build and when
you think about how to build a business
there is one thing that’s a guarantee
the movie that I think some of your
voices to the left that one the ghost
and the darkness it’s an old movie Val
Kilmer I think and Michael Douglas and I
dare bind it was them hunting man-eaters
while we were trying to build a road I
think it was in Kenya I don’t know I
never watched it not a big movie person
and the essence behind that was trying
to figure out how you smart I know it’s
right yeah trying to figure out how you
the intellectual person who is really
really small taking up this 227 kilogram
beast it’s like a cat but with more cat
and very large claws and trying to get
through the fact that this thing would
come and snip off people one at a time
in the night quietly it’s very much like
building a business you have a plan but
you’re this size and the task you’re
trying to accomplish is this side it’s
like a cat it’s quiet
creeps up on you then steals your money
your friends eventually your sanity then
some more friends because you know you
can come up as you go and the black hole
of entrepreneurship is something nobody
talks about and there’s many reasons for
it but one of them is that it’s a black
hole and the thing we know about black
holes is it follows everything you don’t
even have the energy to say what you’re
going through because swallowed it and a
lot of people in this space are going
through that and that’s why when you
think of the word enterpreneurship for
me the first person the first part that
makes sense
every
is the first letters over there those
five which are spelled wrong because I
think they are after the e are because
you’re entering something and no one’s
ever gonna tell you that
intrapreneurship is about entering
something kind of like hell just worse
but no one says that
we’re all fancy oh my gosh interpreter
ship all of you know hell two big doors
open hell no devils just pretty people
boys or girls
doesn’t matter he’ll and a lot of the
time as you’re starting to build a
business these are some of the illusions
that we have that’s the story the single
story we sell ourselves that this is
gonna work out fine and I’ll get out on
the end with as much money as Elon Musk
hell is where you’re going and because
of that statements like these ring true
excitement terrifying excitement is
about six seconds because you woke up
terrifying the rest of the damn day
and this is precisely what is happening
with a lot of people because you’re
waking up to this idea that you created
yes I left my bank job my insurance job
I just never got a job and started my
business and it seems like it’s going
places somebody came to see me I had a
meet when you’re excited excited about
her meeting is when you know you’re
intrapreneur I’m meeting someone I must
have something to tell them and the
problem with that is our standards are
so low for what a good business is
because we don’t know what that looks
like now I’m true to the fact we’ve been
doing entrepreneurship for a very very
long time this is like a 1905 map when
the Sahara Desert was actually like not
there’s that much and this is the roots
that we used to use when we used to do
business timber to some over there most
of these stuff just kind of doesn’t
exist as much but they was there we used
to do travel and this is not this looks
like something out of KLM or Virgin
Atlantic oh this looks like an aircraft
path he’s painting or something the only
thing that flew then were birds or
people committing suicide is one of
those two things that’s all that flew
and and look at that we did a fantastic
job of being able to do business this is
amazing this is where I started so it’s
not like your typical ships and you
think we’d be doing it forever in fact
in my mind
even she is an intrapreneur probably one
of the most resilient entrepreneurs oh
we’re gonna come across your mama mboga
the person who sells you cabbage who
don’t who feeds all of you and doesn’t
matter where you live the leafy suburbs
of the adrenaline side of Kenya she is
feeding you you might be paying top
dollar at cafe but that tomato still is
the same I nominate if I pay 30 Bob it’s
the same tomato yours is not faster than
mine probably came from the same place
but the thing about entrepreneurship is
we’ve always had a way of doing it it’s
just then it wasn’t as crazy as it is
right now with everybody talking about
Africa rising and how oh my gosh look at
Africa it’s doing so good oh my goodness
are you seen how they’re changing the
world we’ve been doing this forever just
now these two magazines decided supposed
to be the time and the other one I
forget that one just mad that the
Economist that one it’s same thing just
because we’re in the front pages of a
cover and they do something fancy like
put the African continent in here in
like a tree and apparently also Africa
is doing some stuff you know wow look at
the African entrepreneurs they’re rising
mobile technology they know how to use
mobile phones and probably because of
the one story is the conversation we’ve
just had on a previous set of because
they we thought they thought whoever
they is wherever we is we thought we
couldn’t do this and we did because it
was not a thing but now the whole world
is fascinated because that beautiful
thing called numbers is proving that hey
mobile technology is huge
what well money is huge mobile
everything is huge just mobile look
we’ve always been doing this it’s just
hey you know you decided you had a few
blank pages let’s put something in there
Africa mobile phones Africa rising boom
the problem though is they’re actually
people oh it’s all I was gonna say that
they even books about it and songs I’ll
be out of Tina this is new Africa what
is music fashion shows about African
fashion we’ve even done videos now we
even of countries we are trying to
create our own story and then when you
have our call and soft drinks being
named after Africa I think that’s when
you know you made it because there’s
booze named after you and there’s people
carrying along the top entrepreneurs
there are people doing it there are
people building things both men women
young or old LGBT non-lgbt all of it we
are doing stuff and not some
amazing it’s phenomenal but people are
dying as well and we don’t know that
story that’s the elephant in the room
that the mental health problems people
are facing doing what we do is
immeasurable immeasurable fast because
no one has actually done a research to
find out how measurable disease I’m just
gonna use that for now but still it’s a
problem a lot so people are going to
their wit’s end and then borrowing their
friends wits and taking those as well
and win to the end of those until they
have nothing left and that’s what’s
happening and the problem with that is
remember the black hole theory that’s
what’s going on this guy has come and
he’s slicing people and he’s not just
slicing them physically and emotionally
he’s slicing them in every shape and
form dream wise I’m seeing people taking
really good ideas and throwing them out
because they did not have the capacity
or the environment to build them into
things no one has showed us how to deal
with failure
no one has showed us how to turn what we
do not know how to do into a
conversation that we can get help with
no one has cared to find out how brains
work why they work the way they work or
what they do because in my family
extended my mother and her eight
siblings and my father in his four
siblings none of them have being an
entrepreneur my older sister younger
brother nothing
my cousins nephews nieces only one and
even she doesn’t know what the hell’s we
know it’s so dark and so bleak that most
of the time that was supposed to be the
brain works like when you open a
business
you’re not even opening a can of worms
none of that black hole we talked about
that’s what you see when you open it you
have nothing you have a plan but you
really don’t because you know it’s gonna
feel this Adi you open the door you have
a strategy you don’t because hey no one
has a plan to do get punched well if you
interpret or you’re not going to say the
face because the face you could come
back from this somewhere else they punch
you no one told you about
when you have nothing to work with
it’s impossible to come up with
something when you have a blank sheet
especially when the demon is in your
mind I’ve met six or seven people in the
last six months who have crashed and
burned completely but they’re running
three million dollar companies it’s in
Kenya see if you in the States you’re
wearing three million eyes okay snapchat
ladies twenty five billion dollars
they’ve never sold anything it’s fine
three million ooh I will start like a
seed company and you come up with a seed
that grows bananas apples and fruits at
the same time and then you’ll be fine
ten billion but in Kenya when you have a
three million dollar company on VCS
you’re constantly on the edge of a
breakdown six for seven this is what
enterpreneurship looks like in this town
it’s you in a misty it’s dark darkest
place you don’t know where you’re going
you don’t know what’s next and you could
be hit by anything from any direction in
any way shape or form and this is not
just Nairobi or Kenya it’s Africa I know
it sounds kind of weird to say that but
I’ve met a ton of intrapreneurs I’ve
been in this for a while and this is how
it feels like this is how it looks like
but no one talks about it no one tells
you this is what you’re about to get
into everybody wants to show you that
these power in being something in being
part of the Africa rising story rising
from what exactly I think are easy
meaning after raising venture capital
Africa raising it means reducing the
level of poverty you’ve got in the
country Patong and Mo spoke earlier we
don’t even know what that looks like
it’s a story and we’re trying to try and
prove that we’re doing something we
don’t even know we’re doing
there’s no proof that this is happening
I can’t give you numbers cuz no one has
done the test no one has asked you
questions
no one even really cares to find out
what it’s like to be inside the mind of
an intrapreneur I look at your books
though look at your growth rates look at
the number of downloads you have on the
Play Store I’ll do that how much money
you’ve raised I’ll do that but I won’t
care to find out how your family’s doing
how’s that partner you might a few years
ago it’s a relationship how’s your
spiritual well-being if you have one
eyes your body looking like why are you
dying when you’re 35 that doesn’t matter
and that’s a problem because at the end
of the day this is how we’re surviving a
lot more people that we admit are
surviving on this and that’s bad because
you expect me to fix your educational
problem because I mean that time you
expect her to fix your health problem
because she’s in health care you expect
him to fix your security problem because
you know is in security this is how we
go to sleep at night more people than
you can understand so we need to talk
about it because if you don’t remember
that black hole I talked about even this
conversation will disappear and one day
you wake up and wonder what happened to
that Africa rising narrative but
there’ll be no one to ask because
there’ll be no one left
that’s the Africa everybody thinks
you’re working with any money one
giraffes and hippos and elephants did
you see your elephant outside waiting
for you to go home that’s what they
think is happening that’s what we’re
trying to do a lot of countries that
were trying to fix and we’re a handful
even if you are a hundred million that’s
still a handful because the resources we
don’t have the capacity we do not know
we need the kind of money we’re trying
to raise that we’re never gonna raise
whether it’s because you’re black or
you’re men or we’re men women or we’re
here the banks don’t care about us or no
one’s gonna try and invest in us doesn’t
matter but we’re not having an easy time
and it’s important that you know that
we’re not let me start the conversation
at the end of the day this is how you
stand you either stand on your own
because you can’t share and no one cares
or you create a flood of followers a
flood of friends and a flood of
confessions
[Applause]
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