A tale of two ecosystems 🇪🇪 🇰🇪

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Hey 👋🏽 Caleb here.

We had a great time at our Tech Safari x Latitude59 Nairobi mixer last week.

Thanks to our world-class partners - Silicon Overdrive, ALX Ventures, The FutureList, and Kenyan Originals for making this possible. 

Check out my post on the event here. 

A special shout out to Sidecar Creatives, who captured some of our best moments at the mixer.

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Now, let’s get into this week’s edition!

Somewhere in Northern Europe, there’s a country so small, you can drive across it in 4 to 5 hours.

It’s home to 1.3 million people - and half of it is covered by forests.

But its small size is hiding a giant tech ecosystem.

Meet Estonia, the world’s unlikely startup factory.

• It has 1,530 active startups. That’s roughly one startup for every 850 people.

• Global tech giants like Wise, Bolt, and Skype all came from there.

• And it has ten billion-dollar companies - more unicorns per capita than anywhere else on Earth.

Estonia’s economy is built on tech and is set to grow even bigger.

Roughly 99% of public services are available online - from marriage to voting and healthcare.

By 2030, tech will make up 30% of its GDP and employ 10% of the country’s workforce.

Visiting the startup factory 🏭

Back in May, I visited Estonia to see how it grew into a startup country.

And it turns out there’s a community at the centre of its tech boom, called Latitude59.

Latitude59 is Estonia’s biggest tech conference.

It started 12 years ago as an event for founders to connect with investors and pitch their startups.

And it’s grown in impact and size ever since.

For example, here’s Martin Villig pitching Taxify to investors at a Latitude59 event 10 years ago.

Today, Taxify is now Bolt, a billion-dollar ride-hailing company active across the world.

Just like Martin and Markus Villig, many young leaders in Estonian tech got their start being a part of the Latitude59 community.

As they became successful, they stayed close-knit and reinvested in the community, helping out others and creating a startup flywheel that built Estonia’s tech ecosystem.

Today, Latitude59 has opened up to the world and is connecting with other ecosystems globally.

When I attended, I spoke on a panel about Africa’s tech ecosystem, and the competitive advantage of building here.

The theme of our talk was — ”Don’t underestimate Africa’s ability to innovate”.

Tech will be at the centre of Africa’s success story.

And we’re bullish on African tech for a few reasons:

• Sub-Saharan Africa has more mobile users than the US and UK combined

• And in 2050, one-third of the world’s young population will be from here.

Africa’s growth will mean more consumers, more talent and more people building with tech.

And it’s already happening.

Ten years ago, the African tech ecosystem was a few scattered hubs on the continent.

Today, it’s everywhere - and it’s growing fast.

Africa has five unicorns, $20 billion in venture capital, and a handful of startup countries.

One exciting country is Kenya, and here’s why:

• Kenya invented M-Pesa, the world’s most successful mobile money product

• It’s the economic hub of East Africa - the continent’s fastest-growing region

• And it’s a magnet for talent from across the world, with people moving here to work on interesting problems and build companies.

When I moved Tech Safari’s HQ to Kenya last year, Nairobi was an easy choice.

When I moved Tech Safari’s HQ to Kenya last year, Nairobi was an easy choice.

A tale of two ecosystems

Estonia and Kenya share a lot of similarities.

They’re both booming tech economies, and there’s a lot of local talent - with most people getting into tech right out of school.

But Estonia grew much bigger when it opened up to the world.

It was easy for global players to set up there, knowing communities like Latitude59 were there to support them.

And Kenya can follow suit, building an ecosystem connected to the global scene.

But for ecosystems to work well, you need the right communities.

Last year, Latitude59 teamed up with Tech Safari to host a Kenya edition.

We brought together 700 founders and investors from Kenya and Estonia.

And about 300 Kenyan founders applied for a chance to travel to Estonia and pitch their startups.

The event was such a banger that we’ve decided to go even bigger.

We’re teaming up with Latitude59 again to bring the conference back to Kenya every year, starting this November.

We’re expecting 2000 people - three times as many as last time.

And we want our community to show up.

To kick things off, we held a mixer in Nairobi with Latitude59, bringing players from both ecosystems for an evening together.

We had a great time, but that was only a start.

Estonia is proof that strong communities are one way to build a startup country, and Kenya can take a page out of their playbook.

What else can Kenya’s ecosystem learn from Estonia’s playbook? Let me know here.

PS — Grab an early ticket to Latitude59 Kenya here. It’s 40% off for 50 early birds and 20% off for every Tech Safari community member after that.

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