Tech Safari turns two 🥳

Welcome to Tech Safari - Your tour guide on African Tech. 🧭

Hello to the new folks who have joined the safari since the last edition.

If you haven’t subscribed, join thousands of smart folks curious about tech in Africa.

Happy New Year 🎉

Caleb here 👋🏾

I hope you’ve had a great holiday season and are as pumped for the new year as we are.

Last week Tech Safari turned 2 🥳 we’re officially a toddler..

So today I’ll be sharing the story of how and why it all started, and what we’ve got planned next.

Ready? Let’s dive in!

In 2020, I was at a crossroads. Literally.

I was in a car in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, talking to my driver Henok.

Henok was a 23-year-old engineering grad (the same age as me) who drove to pay his bills while looking for a job.

And he was driving on ‘RIDE’ - Ethiopia’s version of Uber.

RIDE started with an Ethiopian engineer - Samrawit Fikru.

Samrawit realised traditional taxis weren’t transparent or safe for women like herself.

So she built RIDE - modelled after Uber but built for Ethiopia.

When I was talking to Henok, over 16,000 drivers were on RIDE.

And it wasn’t just recent graduates. Nurses, accountants and engineers were all driving to make ends meet.

At the time, I had spent three years on what I believed was impactful work in Africa.

I was in Ethiopia consulting on Peace and Security policy.

I advised organisations like the United Nations, European Union and African Union on how to patch up a region after a deadly conflict broke out.

But after years of lip service, no action, and seeing non-African actors control African affairs, I was having second thoughts.

And seeing the impact that Samrawit and RIDE had in real-time, I saw tech in Africa for what it could be:

A massive force for positive impact.

A few months later I quit the firm I thought I’d spend the next decade at.

I didn't have a plan, but I knew two things for sure:

1. I trusted entrepreneurs to solve Africa’s hardest problems - more than institutions or government.

2. Tech was a force multiplier of their impact.

But it wasn't until two years later that it really came together.

Going on Safari

It’s September 2022.

It’s been two years since I had my wake-up moment in Ethiopia.

I’ve wrapped up at my startup, Entrylevel.

I’ve left home in Melbourne, Australia.

And I’m on a flight to Kenya to get involved in tech in Africa.

I went to Kenya, Rwanda and Nigeria and shared everything I was learning on LinkedIn.

Along the way, I made a post that went viral: The Paystack Mafia.

That day, I felt like I had made it.

Viral posts aren’t success. But I walked away with an insight.

Outside of our tech bubble, there is no easy way for people to learn about Africa - let alone Africa’s tech ecosystem.

I landed back in Australia with no plan or funding, just a simple goal:

Tell Africa’s tech story - but to the rest of the world.

I moved in with my parents to save money.

And I wrote every day for three months.

There were days I literally couldn't talk because I’d run out of words and brain space.

I was trying to follow Y Combinator’s advice:

Make something (content) people want.

And make it about Africa.

It worked.

We made tech in Africa fun, friendly and smart.

Posts went viral.

And a community of smart, thoughtful people (like you) subscribed to Tech Safari and gave us your perspectives, insights and support after every edition.

Life moved quick.

I moved over to the continent.

We brought our people together through events across the globe, from the US, South Africa, Kenya, and London.

And when 2023 ended, we had 15,000 subscribers, hosted 5 events across the world and racked up 12 million impressions.

Most importantly, we had a brand people were excited about.

Now, it was time to really grow.

Find Brilliance, Get Money

If the goal in 2023 was to make something people want - the goal in 2024 was to grow.

This meant two things: get great people onboard and make money.

1) Make money.

Content is great - but it's hard to monetise at scale.

So, we moved on to what we knew: events.

Our community is fun, smart and thoughtful (just like our content).

And we realised we have great partners with relevant products that could help them. Companies like Infobip, AWS, Yoco, Silicon Overdrive and Gebeya.

We also learned other companies wanted to launch and scale in new markets across Africa.

So we built an advisory arm to help companies go to market faster and more effectively.

Turns out, we’re pretty good at it.

In December, when we brought Sling from London to Kenya, they smashed it out of the park - experiencing six months of growht in five days.

See what their team had to say about it..

It's a lot of stuff, right?

Well, it was only possible because this year we had to…

2) Build a dope team (Find Brilliance)

Back to the end of 2023.

Tech Safari had momentum and ended the year on a high.

But I was spent: I needed to bring other talented people on the journey.

Mercy and Sheriff came on board to run Tech Safari Media.

Now you get their fresh, fun perspectives on tech in your inbox week.

Alexis brought the taste, fun and structure to our global events.

While Conor jumped on board to transform our scrappy operations into a world-class company.

Today we have a small but mighty team - and building it has been the best part of this year.

The next best thing? Seeing our vision come to life.

In Entrepreneurs We Trust

At Tech Safari we still believe in the same two things as when I left consulting.

1. In Entrepreneurs, We trust → to solve Africa’s hardest problems. More than government or institutions

2. Tech is a force multiplier of their impact.

And this year we saw it in practice.

Tosin and his crew of engineers in Lagos, Nigeria built POS machines into a suite of tools to help businesses in Nigeria grow.

Last year they processed 50% of Nigeria’s GDP ($182 billion) and raised $110 million to scale across Africa.

Over in Uganda, Jean-Paul (JP) saw his dad lose a year's worth of plantain to spoilage because a buyer didn't show up in time.

Determined to fix his dad’s problem, he spent years in his garage testing out natural solutions to make fresh food last longer.

He created KaFresh: a plant-based spray that's 15x cheaper than a cold room - and now they’re tackling Africa’s multi-billion-dollar food waste problem.

In entrepreneurs like Tosin and JP we trust - to have a huge positive impact across the continent.

And our guiding mission is to continue building Africa’s ecosystem to support more founders like Tosin and JP.

In 2025, there are a few ways we’ll do that

Our (not-so) secret plan for 2025

Every company needs a guiding mission. Tech Safari’s is simple:

Build a global, connected ecosystem - and help the best companies launch, scale and expand across Africa.

What does that mean? Let's break it down.

1) Building a global, connected ecosystem

What this means: Telling the best stories on tech and business - and hosting fun, educational events across the globe around African tech.

This year, there will be a few new things.

• Telling more stories from different regions in Africa we don’t usually hear about

• Building a Tech Safari Community for our most diehard fans

• Getting your ideas, voices and contributions into Tech Safari with a guest writer model

2) Helping the best companies launch, scale and expand

What this means: Building products and services that solve the biggest scaling gaps on the continent.

Tech Safari Advisory is a start - helping companies like Sling and others go to market and build a community in Africa quickly and the right way.

Soon, we’ll be launching something new. If you’re an operator (working at a tech company), keep your eyes peeled 👀

Thanks for being on the Safari!

We’ll keep pushing African tech and help the best startups have the most impact they can on the continent.

By the way - if this resonated with you, there are a few ways you can engage

1. If Tech Safari has had an impact on your year Let me know here! I’m really keen to hear how TS has had an impact on your year/what its meant to you 🙂

2. If you want to work with us next year to tell your story on Tech Safari, be a part of an event or explore expansion with us, lock in some time with me here.

Did we miss anything? Or just want to say hey? I'd love to hear from you! You can:

• 💸 Invest with the Tech Safari Syndicate

• 🐦 Find me on Twitter

• 💬 Holler on Linkedin

• 💌 Reply to this email

• 🚀Partner with Tech Safari

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Catch you soon!