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“Behind every great startup success story are countless failures no one talks about. 💡 In this episode, we dive into Kenya’s most shocking startup collapses—unpacking the bold ideas, big ambitions, and costly mistakes that led to their downfall. What went wrong, and what can future entrepreneurs learn? Watch now to uncover the harsh truths of the startup world!”
Story Complied by E-Michelle.
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Date: November 21, 2024
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Where is sendy on this list.
Thanks for this! I'm glad you're making these helpful videos that guide us through the Kenyan scene. I was surprised to find out that I actually know 2 of these founders from my childhood!
Literally life imitating Shark Tank.
A whopping $290 million! Whew!
Thanks for this. Could you also talk about WeFarm?
The biggest problem is that they never studied the village model…
The smart foreign investors are the ones in top supermarkets.
Not every problem needs an innovative tech solution, especially in Africa and not every solution is a scalable business opportunity..
Also raising capital is not winning, it's only the beginning..
Do these start-ups really fail or do people just take off with other people's money
There's enough🌊 market anywhere in the world. And in Kenya🇰🇪 the market is big, deep and vast. The biggest problem that startups have is culture integration , have you seen how Mpesa didn't try to change Kenyans it gave them something they could relate with and how they placed those ads a son sending money to the village for his mother.
When creating a business model never forget to look into the people's culture and behavioral characteristics .This is not America, Kenyans are highly social that is why social media Apps like Tiktok and Instagram scaled in Kenya very fast. Copia was so focused on bringing on a tech solution to ordering goods they forgot :visiting a local market place on a market day or having a family shopping day or just getting your daily goods at a local store are not just habits, they are culture and we should not build systems that want to change that but rather enhance that. I remember when I used to tell my Dad I wanted a new pair of shoes, he'd immediately find a way to give the money to my mom who then added her own to it and we waited for Friday which was Market day in Soy or we'd even skip the wait and just go to the Tuesday Market in Furfaral or Ziwa or Saturday in Matunda or Monday in Moi's bridge and it was nice mingling with people of different cultures, burgaining for goods even😂 when you could afford it was always the fun part. Walking around the market comparing goods and prices for things you could touch and feel. You could press an avacado or try on a jacket even take a photo then buy a different one. Buy something then walk a few metres to meet a cheaper one and feel dissatisfied 😅. This was life 🎉🎉and sometimes I miss rural Kenya. Well I am in Nairobi now and though I can afford Mr Price or LC Waikiki every once in a while I'd still visit Gikomba or Toy or Muthurwa for fresh produce. I remember my Dad loved Muthurwa, his favorite market. We lived in Ruiru when he had a company in Babadogo but still we would enjoy fresh kienyeji veggies and msherekha straight from a random wonderful mother's hands in Muthurwa market.
So yes most of this tech Apps especially in Copia's case, always overlook one thing. Culture is King and you can't make people forget their culture just because you have a beautiful App.
Pesa Iko and the market is big enough, people starting businesses need to study people first.