At first I thought people were just being modest, but
I’m actually starting to think that Nigerians don’t
recognize how much cultural influence they wield.
I have no idea what’s going to happen when they
wake up to this fact and lean into this leverage.


In June 2017, I was lucky to spend 4 weeks helping
the team at Paystack think through product marketing
and growth.
My month in Lagos was a humbling experience.
While I was prepared to be impressed (did you know
that there’re almost as many people living in the city
of Lagos as there are in the entire country of Ghana?),
Lagos still found a way to surprise me. I found a city
full of talented doers, working hard to collectively
build something much larger than themselves.
Collected below are a few quick observations from the
trip.
(Quick caveat to say that these are my subjective
impressions from a short 4 weeks of observation. If
there’s something I got really wrong, please feel free
to correct me at emmanuel@theflint.io)


People seem unafraid to ask for help:

I was surprised by how intensely collaborative the
Lagos tech startup community appeared to be.
CEOs of other startups would routinely drop by the
Paystack office to help us think through ideas, or
come seeking feedback on something they were
working on.
Seyi Taylor, CEO of BigCabal Media, routinely signals
that his business is supported by a family of
supporters from outside the company.


One especially memorable example of this was when
a friend compiled a 5000+ word analysis of his
company, and then shared that internal strategy
document outside the company, seeking feedback
from a select group of friends from across the
ecosystem.
It really does feel like people here aren’t shy about
reaching out and asking for help from each other.


Non-engineering talent is more visible:

Startups in Ghana and Nigeria routinely complain that
there’s an acute shortage of skilled software
developers in both countries. But I believe we don’t
talk enough about another, even more acute skills
shortage — the shortage of the critical non-engineering
talent that our startups need to scale.


Marketing, product management, product design — 
these are only a few of the roles that many startups
are struggling to hire for right now.But while the
situation could be a lot better in both countries, I felt
like I ran into skilled non-engineering talent a lot more
often in Lagos.


At the #HackGrowthWithUX event at the Co-Creation
Hub, I enjoyed a long conversation about SEO with
Abdulrahman Jogbojogbo, a digital marketer on the
Growth team at Hotels.ng. A few days, later, I was
pleased to meet designers and account managers
from the brand + product agency, Cregital.


In general, I felt like I met non-technical talent more
frequently in Lagos, which I assume reflects an
understanding by Lagos teams that it takes many
different skill-sets to win.

Nigerians seem genuinely unaware of the huge reach
of their cultural products across Africa (and beyond):


A few years ago, a few friends and I travelled to the
tiny islands of São Tomé and Príncipe (a former
Portuguese colony about an hour south of Accra by
plane) to celebrate New Year’s Day. The highlight of
the trip was an epic, all-island dance party on the
beach. For the first few hours, the DJs tried and failed
to get the party started with with what sounded like
local hits. Eventually they gave up and played what
everyone was there for: Nigerian music.


I tell this anecdote to exemplify the extent to which
Nigerian music has taken over. It’s an open secret
across the continent that Nigerian popular culture
currently dominates. In music, movies, and the arts,
Nigeria looms large in a way that leaves local artists
in other African countries frustrated and envious.


I’m beginning to suspect that the average Nigerian is
utterly oblivious to this. In conversation after
conversation, my Nigerian friends seemed genuinely
confused by what I was talking about when I tried to
engage them in a discussion about the continent-wide
dominance of Nigerian culture.


At first I thought people were just being modest, but
I’m actually starting to think that Nigerians don’t
recognize how much cultural influence they wield.
I have no idea what’s going to happen when they wake
up to this fact and lean into this leverage.


There’s a palpable sense of mission and urgency:

Underlying many conversations I have with people in
Lagos tech is heady sense of mission. It’s hard to
describe.


It’s probably best exemplified by the #YabaTownHall
community event which happened on June 23rd.
People passionate about the Lagos tech ecosystem
came together for an open conversation about what
the community needs to do to ignite more successes.
The resulting Open Manifesto is worth looking at, as is
the conversation around the event on Twitter.


While it’s early days for this initiative, it’s hard to deny
that people truly, genuinely care about being a part of
something much larger than themselves.And I get the
impression that this thing is larger than merely
“startups.”


It feels like multiple members of Lagos’ technology
community realize that they’re blessed with valuable
skills, and they’re seeking ways to channel their
energies towards a Lagos, and a country, they can be
proud of.

Last thoughts:

I’d like to say a huge thank you to the Paystack team
for an incredible month in Lagos! I’m returning home
to Accra inspired and, to be honest, a little envious of
what the Lagos startup community has.
There is a lot working against this community, but I
have no doubt that multiple companies will emerge
from Lagos that will shake the world.


If you’re a player in African tech, I highly recommend
spending some time in Lagos to observe and learn.
The city, and it’s community, has a lot to teach.


https://theflint.io/a-ghanaian-techies-observations-of-lagos-219d94e9bb34

Op,move this to the programming section. Nice right up too.

We are coming to that realization that we can take the world if we decide to but tribalism and corruption is slowing us down, but our destiny is sure and attainable.

The average Nigerian is trying to make it through the day, weeks, months.... The average Nigerian works towards the Nigerian dream. Indeed we are oblivious to what impact we have out there.