Likhwa Tech

One thing I've learnt over time is to never leave anything to chance, especially in business. It's important to make data driven decisions. This means collecting and using the information around you to choose those options which give you the best outcomes. While you will not always get it right all the time, it's important to err on the side of caution. So with that said, many small businesses seem to be unknowingly undercharging for their goods in an effort to be competitive. They set prices based on the markets and totally ignore their internal cost structure. Some industries (like retail) are about moving volumes. The profit margins are often quite small and so the only way to be profitable is to sell as many units as you can, while minimizing your costs. However, you can only manage your costs effectively, if you understand them. How to set a good price There are 3 factors to consider when setting prices: a.) Your costs b.) Your competitors c.) How much your customers

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

How's it going with those resolutions? Have you taken any action? Are you happy with your progress? Or have you decided to wait till January next year to start afresh? Don't be too hard on yourself. We often start the year off with these ambitious goals, but after a few weeks, we find ourselves back at square one... and most of the time we aren't even surprised. We knew it was coming. Why most goals aren't achieved Most goals get neglected because they are: I. Too big- so we don't even know where to start. II. Too far ahead- so they don't seem immediate. A little nap won't hurt, I'll do this tomorrow III. Too vague- we aren't sure what to measure IV. Out of touch- the motivational speaker forgot to tell us to start small even when you aim big V. No one to hold us accountable- we leave that to ourselves... and who are we kidding?🙄 VI. We ignore the small wins- so it doesn't seem like we're making any progress This can be solved by setti

  Most entrepreneurs and small business owners operate based on a system known as “Whateverifeelliketoday”. In other words… They have no system. They treat their business like a hobby. They don’t track KPIs. They don't keep decent records. They don't have clearly written goals, and have no systems for managing their employees. Make a commitment to change that this year. This starts with outlining your overall strategy and figuring out what matters to your business. Use the following tips to help you get going. I. Identify your primary metric  Figure out one key metric upon which the survival of your business depends. In most cases this is Revenue/Sales or a metric that directly drives your revenue [Examples of key metrics: • A photographer can measure bookings/number of photoshoots • A tutor will measure number of students • A baker can measure number of cake orders • An influencer/artist could use number of followers/views etc.] II. Find an accountability partner Once you'

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