No. 1: A new experiment
I am curating a potpourri of things I find smart, intriguing or thought-provoking -- in short, worthy of your inbox.
To my dear AK/NF readers,
The real power of a newsletter is the ability to experiment.
And, so this week, I am seizing that freedom to try a new format.
I am curating a potpourri of things I find smart, intriguing or thought-provoking -- in short, worthy of your inbox.
What you will get:
1 big insight - from my strategic communications/PR work
3 articles - an eclectic assortment of African tech or market news, analyses on global tech, or evergreen essays
1 quote - for pondering
1 thing you shouldn’t miss - an Africa tech focused commentary, take, or analysis published the previous week that you should catch up on
1 resource - it might be a PDF, Gumroad course, or new tool I’m testing
If you are hungry for actionable tips on PR & strategic communications, keep an eye on my Twitter. The brevity and immediacy of the 280-word tweet work well for how-tos and PR insights.
I am done with the preamble. Let us get to it.
The Big Insight
African tech founders often struggle with their big WHY
For two years, I have slogged it out as an African tech publicist. For any strategic communications work -- PR falls under this umbrella -- the real intellectual heavy lifting lies in positioning and messaging. This defines the company, its purpose, ethos, and values. It is critical work, but is often rushed or overlooked.
Many African tech founders struggle with defining their WHY, their reason for being. Many are technical founders. They are former engineers or did their MBA. Both possibly. When they articulate their purpose - why their work matters - it actually focuses on the how, not why: we’re digitizing blah blah blah or we’re building the infrastructure (“the rails”) for so and so sector.
By focusing on the tech, founders obscure their technology’s impact on people and communities. This critical messaging gets lost in the tech garble. Not only do journalists and editors care about a startup’s impact on people, investors do too.
I recently worked with a client backed by Helios, the largest Africa-focused PE fund with $3.6billion in assets under management. The fund’s investors, their LPs, have an impact mandate — they care about showing how their investments support the sustainable development goals (SDGs).
Takeaway: Don’t brush off articulating your WHY. It should be bold and sweeping and act as your compass in all your strategic communications and later public relations work.
3 Articles
The symbolism of shopping malls
I like to play a game when reading the news. When I read an article that goes viral, I ask myself: what powerful emotions did it tap into and how does it fit into the zeitgeist, the prevailing mood?
When Shoprite announced that it plans to leave Nigeria, I felt sadness and dismay. A Shoprite exit carries important symbolism. It suggests that Nigeria’s aspirational middle class is too fragile, failing to materialize in any consequential numbers. The international media has a long fascination with organized retail in sub-Saharan Africa because it acts as a proxy for a rising middle class, greater wealth and prosperity.
On a separate note, this 2PM piece also discussed the symbolism of shopping malls albeit in a different context: the disappearing middle class and shrunken collectivism in the US. It is deserving of your time. [Sadly, it is now behind a paywall.]
No easy breaks for Africa’s creatives
aKoma, a content creation and collective for African storytellers platform, is shutting down. Chidi Afulezi made the announcement in this heartfelt and wryly funny Medium piece. aKoma’s demise illustrates the challenges facing creative businesses in sub-Saharan Africa.
This was a revealing nugget:
The hard truth is, ultimately we had the right problem, the right target market, but it just seemed we didn’t have the means to build the right solution to give us traction. Product market fit was not to be for us.
After reading about aKoma I wonder: is creativity valued by African businesses? Or, rather, is the market too young for C suite execs, “allocators of capital”, to justify spending on creative work?
Linear commerce and the explosion of junk
Several weeks ago, I stumbled upon Packy McCormick’s Not Boring newsletter and it has swiftly become my go-to read on global tech. It is a masterful mix of culture and tech. And, unlike Ben Thompson’s Stratechery, it doesn’t put me to sleep.
In this piece, he argues, convincingly, that Shopify has only heightened the chaos of direct to consumer (DTC) e-commerce by lowering the barriers to entry. Any Tom, Dick, or Harry can set up a DTC brand because all aspects of the value chain have been modularized by Big Tech. More cheap luggage, sunglasses, and yoga pants (aka junk) await us.
It holds invaluable insights on customer acquisition & the power of brand for African founders building B2C businesses. Porter’s Five Forces, a flagship theory taught in business school, makes a nice guest appearance, too.
1 Quote
“What has always interested me is emotion, and the first thing that happens when you ascend to the business class is you conceal your emotions. I’ve been reading Max Weber, the German sociologist. He captures extremely well how people who are “on the inside” of a society function. The first generation of business people accumulate wealth, but the people who come after them just become like automatons, repeating the same processes for ever. I find something hateful about that world.”
-- Danny Lyon, photographer
Don’t Miss This
The latest TechCabal live with Victor Basta, tech investment advisor, was one of the most insightful and detailed talks given by an Africa-focused investor that I’ve yet heard. I highly recommend that you give it a listen. The folks at TechCabal have not uploaded the recording yet, but it should be posted here.
Warning: be prepared to take copious notes.
1 Resource
“How to Read like a Writer” by Mike Bunn brims with useful frameworks and tips on how to improve your writing through reading. You’re not reading for content, but rather you’re spotting word choice, sentence construction, and applying those lessons to your own craft.
I reread Joan Didion’s classic personal essay “Goodbye to all that” this week. I’m still pondering some of her writer’s choices.
That’s it folks.
As always, I’d love to hear from you - get in touch on Twitter.
Until Next Time,
Victoria
Victoria Crandall | African Startups | Comms & PR Strategist | Proud Dog-Mom of Gus | Lagos 🇳🇬