Comment by aitoehigie | Hacker News Reader

Comment by aitoehigie | Hacker News Reader

I think we already know the answer to this question. taking you O_O as an example, your new startup called Lotaar, do you think it can become a global scale startup? The problem with us Nigerians/Africans is that we do not like to scratch our own itches, 2008 here in Nigeria, social networking sites were the rave, all because facebook was just becoming huge here then. Kenya's startup scene is light years ahead of Nigeria because they are creating "local" startups which are relevant there and also meet needs in other places, e.g. ushahidi (which I might not be right to call a startup) was created in kenya to monitor their elections but has been used in places like haiti to monitor disaster response during her earthquake. If african's can create startups that would be useful here in Africa and meet local needs, I think such a startup can grow to a global scale because the continent has an estimated 1 billion people. Like I have always said ( http://aitoehigie.wordpress.com/2009/05/15/building-a-world-...), Africa doesn't need clones of facebook or twitter when there are other fundamental problems that technology can be used to solve.

"Kenya's startup scene is light years ahead..."

I'd like to know what you're basing that assertion on.

I contend that Kenya's tech scene is woefully primitive. Ushahidi is one example but it is hardly a model for success or sustainable business.

"Startups that would be useful here and meet local needs" is, in my opinion, precisely the wrong approach particularly if we're focusing on technology startups. That kind of thinking is precisely why facebook is the dominant social network in Africa and not some other localised service.

I think the contradiction is that what makes for a successful startup within Africa (scratch our own itches) doesn't necessarily translate well to the developed world. The examples you mentioned, such as monitoring elections and disaster response would do very well in developing countries, but they aren't necessary in countries like the US or UK. I think that's what PG was suggesting.

As someone watching from outside, it seems to me there is a need for better solutions in the "monitoring elections" and "disaster response" spaces in the US, too..

Of course these services are needed, but in developed nations, they usually fall in the purview of the government, who is unlikely to hand it off to startups.

Especially startups in foreign countries.

>The examples you mentioned, such as monitoring elections and disaster response would do very well in developing countries, but they aren't necessary in countries like the US or UK.

Hurricane Katrina, hanging chads ...

Yes. If this is how the rich countries handle these things, imagine how badly the poor countries handle them.

I wonder how a startup would handle these any better than the government, especially since there's no money in it.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com