Africa's Unicorns 🦏
If you’ve been around the various startup ecosystems around Africa long enough, you would be aware of the regular mention of “Africa’s next unicorn.” This chatter is typically a mimic of Silicon Valley standards and culture with the hope that Africa’s various startup ecosystems will follow the same.
Although I have my reservations with the need for tech startups to achieve unicorn status ($1 billion valuation), for the purpose of today’s newsletter I will indulge this obsession with an arbitrary number ($1 billion) and take a look at what Africa’s next unicorns could be. More so, which industries can we expect Africa’s next unicorns to emerge out of?
The important thing to note is that the concept behind digital technologies and by extension the services and products tech startups offer is to take what is available offline and make it available in digital format online. As a result, this makes it important that certain infrastructure, such as telecommunications, be in place before tech startups can even start operating.
Also as important and given that Africa's startup ecosystem, in general, is in its infancy (with some exceptions), it is important to note that the early unicorns are likely to be those companies that are "building the railings" to enable other parts of commerce and society to operate and build on top of them. Given this thesis, I think, as we are currently witnessing, that Africa's Unicorns will come from the following three industries in the next five years:
