Africa is much closer to Asia with Chijioke Dozie

"Participants in Africa’s tech ecosystem, should read ‘The Golden Tap’ by Kashyap Deorah. We have the same challenges as India.” —  Chijioke Dozie, CEO, OneFi."

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Are African Innovators emulating the west a bit too much!

I asked 3 different African entrepreneurs about a business book that had the most influence on their journey, or one that inspired them! I expected to hear names such as Aliko Dangote, or Vusi Thembekwayo, but their influencers were all western entrepreneurs!

It’s common for innovators in Africa to try to learn and emulate leading & emerging tech companies in the West such as Apple, Amazon, Google, Slack!

But, these business models do not align with most realities on African grounds, and as much as Asia is way different than Africa, it’s much closer in terms of market dynamics and there is more to emulate from Asia than the west.

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Here is why African innovators might learn more from Asia as opposed to the west:

There are lots of differences: the food, the culture, technology, education, and more- BUT economically, Asia is much closer to Africa than the west!

• Infrastructure: Both African and Asian countries have infrastructure gaps that are not yet maintained such as road, and rail networks. As much as Asia is ahead of Africa in terms of infrastructure, both continents have unequally distributed infrastructure.
• Labor supply: Generally, both Africa and Asia have high supply of human resources, providing more opportunities for manufacturing and production.
• Cost of goods: Generally speaking, there is a huge demand for low cost items in most industries due to large population sizes in both Asia and Africa

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Due to above similarities, Paying attention to models being developed in Asia’s fast-growing and emerging markets might be insightful to the African innovator.

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