Likhwa Tech

Can Africa’s AI Ecosystem Thrive Without a Facebook or Google Equivalent? Is a Homegrown Giant Necessary for Growth? Over the past few weeks, I've spent my spare time posting short tutorials about AI and startups on my WhatsApp status, mainly for my contacts. The goal is to encourage people to get involved in tech. However, it often feels like I'm selling a pipe dream, as most people here, don't have the luxury to pursue such projects. Many are focused on survival and immediate returns. I've also heard many people tell African founders to focus on solving "African problems" . While this sounds noble, I've had to ask myself: what exactly are African problems? I'm always fascinated by the work that people like Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, and others are doing—building rockets to Mars, virtual reality, and all that cool stuff. That's not really tackling hunger now, is it? So it makes me wonder: why don't we have new breakthrough innovations coming...

Sometime last year (2023), when the ChatGPT buzz was at its peak, I tried to visit the OpenAI site to check it out. Unfortunately, I couldn't access it due to location restrictions. Frustrated, I decided to build my own chatbot. I figured I'd focus on local languages, starting with my mother tongue. This sparked my curiosity about how such platforms work. I began researching and soon realized I needed a large dataset to train a model. However, there's a scarcity of isiNdebele content online. Faced with this challenge and my constraints, I decided to take a different approach. From the onset, I knew that, as impressive as current chatbots and AI tools are, they represent just the beginning of the AI race. These tools are currently at their worst and can only improve over time. The future direction is uncertain, and I believe no one truly knows where it’s headed. With my foot in the game, even on the smallest scale, I figured i could reimagine the future, create a vision of i...

  Advisory Shares: A Guide for Startups and Advisors In the fast-paced world of startups, securing the right advisors can be a game-changer. These experienced individuals offer invaluable guidance, connections, and industry knowledge that can propel a young company forward. But with limited cash flow, attracting top advisors can be challenging. Enter advisory shares, a form of equity compensation that provides a mutually beneficial solution. What Are Advisory Shares? Advisory shares are a type of equity compensation offered by startups to their advisors in lieu of, or alongside, a traditional cash fee. These shares represent ownership in the company, granting the advisor a stake in its future success. There are two main types of advisory shares: Stock Options: These give the advisor the right to buy a specific number of shares at a predetermined price within a set timeframe. This allows the advisor to benefit from potential share price appreciation if the company performs well. Res...

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...

Did you know that since 2012 over US$3.4 trillion in venture capital (VC)has been invested around the globe? However less than 0.5% (as in half of 1%) has gone to African startups? The irony is that VC money is literally being thrown at Startups from everywhere. Here's how it works: Just to put things into context- large corporations like Google, Microsoft and Amazon are all on the lookout for new ideas. So they will fund as many ' seemingly good ' ideas and then rely on the probability that one of those ideas will be worth billions. For example- they can allocate a million dollars to 10 startups. That's $100k apiece. Out of those 10, not all will fail, and there's a chance that one could be worth 10x, 20x or even 100x as much within a year or two.  The key however, is that each of these investments should have the potential to recoup the cost of the the other 9 that fail and in addition, bring a profit. So even if 9 out of 10 investments fail, they know that one in...

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...