Despite an abundance of opportunities, many startups in the African tech ecosystem remain untapped, or find it difficult to transition across the “value of death” — critical phase in a startup’s lifecycle where companies often fail to secure further funding or achieve profitability before their initial investment runs out. One key to success? Embracing innovative problem-solving. As we have already witnessed in many parts of the world, including the UK, Germany, China, and the US, disruption through technology is the new norm. Therefore, African entrepreneurs will have to adopt unconventional ways of doing business to build resilient, scalable, and innovative ventures.
The Power of a Gestalt Switch
Confronted with this challenge, a lucky few do experience a Gestalt switch — an important eye-opening moment, which allows a personally beneficial solution or action to come about. African start-ups need to adopt this outlook to find the opportunities that are usually missed. Think of M-Pesa, which took banking services through mobile money by passing through banks. Instead of accepting limited access to banking as an impediment, innovators viewed this shortcoming as an opportunity to create a new financial ecosystem.
Paradigm Shifts and the African Startup Landscape
New technologies and ideas often change industries. A shift to cloud computing and the rise of AI-driven automation could create huge opportunities for those who can see the shift coming. African business people who stick with old ideas will not survive. They should rather aim for solutions that leapfrog old infrastructure i.e. using blockchain for greater supply chain transparency or AI-driven agri-tech solutions to solve food security issues.
Innovative Thinking Requires Cognitive Flexibility
As one researcher pointed out more than two decades ago, the most successful problem solvers and innovators exhibit cognitive flexibility, which is the ability to see things from different viewpoints. In simple words, African tech founders and innovation policy advocates need to discover inspiration outside their existing environment. This entails looking at successful examples around the continent and the globe, tapping into knowledge from different sources, and experimenting with business models that do not have a precedent.
The Future Belongs to the Bold
The evolving African tech ecosystem is being shaped by those who dare to think differently. Whether it is by reimagining financial inclusion, disrupting logistics, or pioneering AI-driven solutions, success will belong to those youthful entrepreneurs willing to challenge today’s assumptions, embrace paradigm shifts, and dare to see what others overlook. African entrepreneurs and development policymakers must be bold enough to think outside the box or get boxed in.
