Long arm with no mouth: The physical limits of Africa's digital economy

This is the first episode of Part 1 of a new series on The Trajectory Africa —The Engine of African Venture, A Return to First Principles. This series will explore what powers fundamental value creation and investability in sectors that drive the bulk of African VC opportunities.

Part 1 is focused on fintech, and this episode with Abraham Augustine, Comms & Programs Lead for Norrsken, tackles the premise that digitalizing African economies is the African investment opportunity. Abraham shares his perspective on how digital Africa’s digital economy can actually be and how this impacts the way venture capital is invested.  

Tune in to hear about:

[3:43] why Augustine authored a series on Africa's digital economy

[6:05] how Africa’s digital economy can defined and the venture-backable opportunity in digitalization

[18:40] the physical constraints of “digital” opportunities and investing for bytes vs. atoms

[30:20] market knowledge as a key to anti-fragility

[40:21] African unicorns hiding in the “crevices” of shifting markets 

[55:00] the systems effects of digitalization in digital economies

[1:03] why momentum fails as a first principle for investing in Africa’s digital economy

Recommendations:

Read Abraham’s writing on Africa’s digital economy on Tech Cabal:

• Next Wave: The social questions around Africa’s digital economy
  
  
  
• The Next Wave: A data centre roadmap for Africa
  
  
  
• The Next Wave: A digital economy is, above all, physical
  
  
  
• The Next Wave: How Africa’s digital infrastructure gap manifests
  
  
  
• The Next Wave: Africa’s power deficit is at odds with its digital economy goals

Connect on social media:

• Abraham Augustine on LinkedIn
• Abraham Augustine on Twitter
• The Trajectory Africa on LinkedIn
• Tayo Akinyemi on LinkedIn
• Tayo Akinyemi on Twitter

What is The Trajectory Africa?

The Trajectory Africa is a “pop-up” podcast exploring the trajectory, or pathway, of venture capital and startup formation in Africa. With the unique African landscape—market characteristics, business environment, goals, and culture—as a starting point, The Trajectory Africa aims to identify a destination for African tech, as well as the sign posts that signal direction of travel. It’s modeled on the concept of a mixtape, in which each episode, or “track” will feature a conversation with a “guest artist”, and a playlist for inspiration.