Likhwa Tech

Hi guys, My name's Likhwa, and I'm a self taught developer from Zimbabwe. I'm also the founder of Asaqeni- a help-kit for aspiring entrepreneurs and small business owners. Over the past decade, less than 0.5% of global venture capital has gone to the African continent. This is ironic considering that an estimated 75% of the continent's working population are self employed. We have lots of informal traders and we consider these people entrepreneurs in their own right. However the majority of these small businesses are stuck in survival mode. They struggle to make ends meet and their ventures rarely ever grow. After some research and analysis we came to a number of conclusions. Apart from the obvious obstacles such as funding, failing economies and poor infrastructure, many small businesses fail because the owners lack a clear strategy. Oftentimes the owner is so focused on survival they hardly ever think of growth. This can be attributed to a number of things, but the ma

I'm a 'NOW' person. When I say I'll do something I do it, or if I get excited about something I start working on it immediately. Not tomorrow or next week, but NOW. Nah, I'm just kidding... but its sounds cool when I say it, doesn't it? I won't lie, I do try, but I still have quite a long way to go when it comes to self mastery and discipline. One thing I've mastered though, is to cover as much ground whenever I can.  I do this for a number of reasons. The first one is that I know I won't always feel fired up. I work in bursts of superhuman energy- so much that at times I amaze myself, but at the same time I also have my off days (not sure what the opposite of superhuman is). So I try to cover as much ground during my ON days. The second reason is that I believe everything happens for a reason. So I take that inspiration and use it as a compass, to guide me towards my dream. While it may not always makes sense most of the time, I believe it will all

In previous articles, I shared my backstory, my biggest risk and the motivation behind everything I'm doing. In this article I'll talk more about my personal plan and roadmap towards the vision. First and foremost, I make apps- Android apps to be specific. My flagship app is called the Business Builder- Small Business Management Suite and I've made a more advanced version of it called Asaqè Business Pro . Which is the one I'm currently pushing and hoping will bring us the big bucks. Both apps are available on the Google Playstore and they are intended to help people especially in lower income economies to start and grow sustainable businesses. When most people think about apps, or software in general, they consider the technical functions... what does it do? What technology does it use and so on. I've since come to realize that there is more to it. To quote George Berkowski: It's not just an app, it's a business. Creating the software is the easy part. I'

Why do you do what you do? What motivates you? Well, I normally have two answers reserved for that question and both are true. One is glamorous, romanticized and maybe even dramatic. Revolutionizing an industry, inspiring people, changing the world and so on. The second is more personal, and you might even call it selfish. That's the one I'll be sharing in this article. Wish I could lie a bit, but I made a promise to myself and anyone who would read this, that I would be as genuine as I could. So this is my truth. We'll reserve the glamorous one for my Forbes feature someday. Deal? Great. Some years back, my country faced a devastating fuel shortage. It was hard to get transport to and from work, and so people would wait for hours just to get a ride home. Needless to say, there was always some shoving and pushing as people jostled to board the few vehicles that came by. As I stood in line at the bus terminus, I noticed a heavily pregnant woman. She was visibly weary, probab

When people think of the risks associated with starting a business they think of losing money, low product demand, theft, loss or some other calamity befalling their enterprise. These are all pretty unfortunate events, but over the years my understanding of entrepreneurial risk has changed and in this article I'll explain why. Growing up, I wasn't one of those kids who had their path figured out. The most logical career path for me would have been a teacher like my dad, or a doctor(that's the response we gave to seem ambitious and impress whoever asked). However after cringing at the pictures of people with STIs during a sex education class, I was convinced I'd have to leave the medical profession to someone else. My first job was as a primary school teacher. I was 18, fresh out of high school and dating a girl 6 years my senior. Needless to say, our priorities at the time were much different. I was purely in love, and she was thinking of settling down. So she would alw

This is it. My first article for the Journal of an African tech startup founder. I've had this idea for a while but I've been reluctant to start. The first reason is because I am still new to this. I feel I haven't yet built much of a resumè (no fundraising, no successful exit, no Forbes mention etc.), so I wonder if anyone would be interested in my story. Like, do I really have something significant to say? The second reason is fear. I've found myself thinking: "what if I invite everyone on this journey, and then I fail?" I wouldn't want the world to see me lying flat on my face in a pile of sh..ame. However, I've also asked myself why I want to do this in the first place. This article will give some background and add some context to my motivation for writing. Let's start with some background. My name's Likhwa and I am a self taught programmer. I got interested in programming around 2004. At the time, I was in my sophomore year at varsity. Af

Something rather embarassing happened to me some days back. I was chatting with some acquaintances, and the subject of how to make money came up. Having worked with small businesses for quite a while, I thought I was qualified to respond... and so I did. They were all blaming the government or something outside themselves for their misfortunes and failure in business. I'm more of an introspective individual, so even my response was along those lines. I brought up how most of the time, it's not really about hard work, but more about working smart. Setting a goal and methodically working towards it. More importantly, I also mentioned how our attitudes also play a significant role in determining our level of success. Things went south very quick though, and one particular lady wasn't amused by my comments. She snapped. She told me how tired she was. Tired of advice. Tired of theory. Tired of constantly trying. Tired of being told no. Tired of watching people who seemingly don&