Konnected Minds Podcast with Derrick Abaitey

What if the biggest difference between African tech ecosystems that build world-class AI infrastructure and those that remain perpetually dependent on Western technology isn't how many talented developers they have or how many fintech startups get funded, but understanding that self-sufficiency in AI requires billions of dollars in data centers and energy infrastructure that no individual founder can afford alone, that the young entrepreneur who thinks they can compete with Google and Microsoft by building another fintech app has been programmed to copy what works instead of solving the massive unsolved problems in health tech ed tech and logistics where African innovation could actually lead the world, and that the founder who discovers that raising 110 million dollars in Africa is considered exceptional while Western AI companies casually deploy billions has stumbled onto something universities and startup accelerators will never teach you about the brutal mathematics of competing at the frontier of technology without government support or critical infrastructure? In this raw and unfiltered conversation on Konnected Minds, we sit down with someone who reveals why we are really going really fast in even the whole AI systems but we are still not building our own systems, why if he has anything to say to talents out there we should really focus on building our own but it's a systemic problem, why for a guy like him who's passionate about the African tech ecosystem there's only so much that an individual can do, and why when we break things up into the private sector and the public sector there's only so much the private sector can do or positions where we can have conversations on the public sector side with the government. He breaks down why when we talk about LLMs and Agentic AI we're encouraging founders to build but these things are insanely expensive, why in the West it wasn't just the government that supported them to build it but the companies at the forefront have incredible funding, why when you talk about AI and being self-sufficient and not relying on the Western world you need to have critical infrastructure, and why you need to have data centers that Google Microsoft and OpenAI are building costing billions of dollars. But he also confronts the brutal reality of Africa's fintech saturation. Why we can build data centers in Africa but funding is required, why sometimes we can focus on the same thing that everybody's doing rather than do something different, why when you ask how many fintech companies we have in Nigeria there's plenty but we shouldn't all be building fintech companies, why that piece is saturated so some of them should give up and then build something else, and why there's a scripture that talks about counting the cost and he's laying out the cost of true self-sufficiency for Africa in AI which is billions of dollars. He reveals why it's so much energy required that the biggest companies in the world are buying thousands of acres of land in the US to set up energy centers, why they have like 50% coverage but what they've done so far is so big so huge that it's already impacting the environment ecologically, why when we talk about energy we need to ask how much power do we have in Nigeria and African countries, and why on the funding side billions of dollars are required and on the energy side billions of dollars are required but on the talent side we're not doing too bad. But he also exposes the practical roadblocks facing African founders. Why when a founder has an idea and wants to use AI compute the roadmap is clear and he needs to create a business plan and when he's done he needs to raise money, why the maximum amount we've raised in Africa as a continent recently was Money Point raising 110 million, why without the right contacts and connections it's going to be difficult for that guy to raise as much money, and why he's laying out the parts required for African AI self-sufficiency. He breaks down why it would take the funding the energy and in his opinion the energy is something he believes the government has a huge part to play, why he knows private individuals can do it but he thinks the government has a key role to play in that, why from an African context it's not great yet based on connectivity and internet spread across Nigeria, and why to bring all of this together he's not saying it can't be done because he spent the last five six years through conferences mentorship and advocacy saying this has to happen. But he also confronts what's really holding Africa back from AI leadership. Why the conference he co-founded Tech Revolution Africa is an annual conference where they pull together global technical STEM leaders and last edition in January in Lagos they had federal government Lagos state government and investors from the US in attendance, why these conversations are happening but it looks like there are bigger factors at play that need to be solved on...

What if the biggest difference between people who build successful tech careers in Africa and those who spend their lives stuck in degrees they hate isn't how many certificates they collect or which university they attended, but understanding that investors no longer fund ideas but demand traction, that the young person who thinks they need to code to succeed in tech has been programmed to miss the massive opportunities in product management project management UI UX design and marketing where the real talent shortage exists, and that the medical student who discovered his future wasn't in human anatomy but in teaching himself WordPress at 17 learned something universities will never teach you about the world rewarding those who build skills not those who simply collect degrees? In this raw and unfiltered conversation on Konnected Minds, we sit down with a product manager and tech entrepreneur who reveals why he wanted to be a doctor because in his time the main thing was to either be a doctor or an engineer, why his mom wanted him to be a doctor but his dad said this is my son it looks like he likes computers I see something around computer engineering for him, why he applied for medicine but got human anatomy instead, and why while he was doing his human anatomy course he already knew that this was not it for him but he had to try and finish. He breaks down why his tech journey started during his national service year when he was posted to Cross River State and got connected with a Christian broadcasting studio that needed a website, why that was his first foray and he had to go learn how to build websites teaching himself starting with WordPress and web design, why he went from freelancing to learning HTML CSS JavaScript React.js front end development, and why he's really grateful for how everything was aligned during his NYC year that transferred him into tech. But he also confronts the brutal reality of building startups in today's investment climate. Why it's not just about using the right channels but also about the narrative you're creating and using the language your audience understands, why everything about building products and startups rests on data and insights from the people you're building for, why beyond technical skills business skills are critical and you need to learn operations structure legal bits and compliance, and why if you are deficient in one area like compliance you can do all the exciting things but still fail. He reveals the massive shift in how African startups get funded. Why then versus now is very interesting because there have been recent concerns around the transitions that the African tech ecosystem has faced when it comes to investment VC funding angel investors equity funding and debt funding, why back then because of increased attention on the African tech ecosystem startups could get funded at the idea stage without even having a product, why you could have an incredible idea do your research and come to an investor saying give me a million dollars based on potential, but why there have been changes and shifts in global trends which have impacted Africa. But he also exposes what investors actually look for today. Why right now for the average investor to take you seriously you have to have built a product and not just that you have to have launched to the market and be able to show some good traction, why traction means you have launched your product and there is clear demand clear adoption customers love what they see and customers are coming on board, why it doesn't mean you have to have profit already or millions in revenue but it means the data shows great demand and excitement, and why based on that you can say give me money so I can double down on marketing and scale. He breaks down why investors want to see traction and will fund based on traction and trust, why for a B2B startup one top investor looks at the quality of customers you have, why if big reputable brands are using your product your value in an investor's mind goes up because it means you're solid, why traction cannot be faked it's either it works or it doesn't work, and why when you are able to showcase sufficient demand then your grounds to get funding are significantly improved. But he also confronts the truth about being stuck in the wrong degree. Why there are many young people today at university who are not exactly happy with what they are studying especially because sometimes you don't get a course you want and the university picks a course for you to fill up their space, why he would encourage anyone listening right now who feels stuck in school doing something they don't like or aren't passionate about or don't feel has potential to do two things, why the first thing is you have to learn a skill because the world has changed or rather people are just now coming to realize what has always been true that you finish university apply for a job and they ask you for experience. He rev.

What if the biggest difference between people who build successful careers in Africa and those who spend their lives trapped in unemployment isn't how many degrees they collect or which university they attended, but understanding that there are millions of beginner level talents competing for the same jobs while expert level positions sit empty because most people never push beyond starting, that the young person who learns graphic design or web development but stays stuck at beginner level will face 5,000 applicants for one position while companies desperately search outside Africa to hire experts they cannot find locally, and that the graduate who thinks technology only means coding has been programmed to miss the massive opportunities in product management project management IT support marketing sales and UI UX design where the real talent shortage exists at intermediate and expert levels?
In this raw and unfiltered conversation on Konnected Minds, we sit down with someone who reveals why when people hear technology today the mind first goes to engineering and coding but there's a lot you can do outside of coding including design like graphic design product design UI UX design brand design and management like product management where you own a product and build it and are responsible for its failure or success and project management where you manage the successful execution of projects, why there are tech skills you can learn which are non technical like IT support and marketing and sales because there's no tech startup that doesn't have a marketing team and without marketing there will be no growth, why the biggest issue usually is figuring out what to learn, and why you should look inwards at what you are naturally good at like being good with color combinations aesthetics and botting colors which helps in web design track.
He breaks down why you should leverage online platforms like Udemy Coursera and YouTube which have thousands of free courses, why the channels he's had the most value from on YouTube are not popular channels but two hour three hour four hour courses from people with a thousand subscribers teaching marketing better than the big channels that do it as a funnel, why if you're looking to build skill today the avenue is there you can do it, and why people struggle to learn for themselves even though if you tell them to go to school and go through the system they'll do it but go home sit in front of the PC and learn a skill can be a problem for people.
But he also confronts the brutal reality of why people fail to learn skills on their own. Why it happens because a lot of persons have not yet understood how best they learn, why there are people that learn better primarily through audio by listening to someone saying something, why there are other persons that learn by watching videos but some fare better with short video clips and not long clips, why if you give a two hour three hour YouTube video to some persons their brain will overload in the first five minutes but they can sit in an exam for three hours because they do not have any other choice, and why people should approach skill building as if they have no other choice because the truth is you don't have any choice.
He reveals why if you are trying to learn in a way you are not suited with you will struggle, why if you have come to understand that you feel better with shorter clips and you have the option of a three hour product design course or that same course broken down into smaller modules three to five minutes each giving them what works for them increases the chances of successfully learning, why forcing them is like people raising kids and trying to force your kid down a specific line or path that's not how what they're used to, why that is the reason why some people struggle in school because it's a forced system and everybody's following, and why everyone has the ability to learn themselves but not everyone is disciplined enough to do so.
But he also exposes the truth about the talent pyramid that most people miss. Why at the bottom beginner level in terms of skill there are millions of persons and at this level there are more talents than jobs available so it's highly competitive, why a company puts out an advert for web design role or product design or software engineer role and in the first one hour or 30 minutes you already have 5,000 applicants but they need just one or two, why when you go up to intermediate skill level a lot of persons stuck at beginner don't transition in terms of skill knowledge and experience and problem solving ability to the intermediate level, why at intermediate level there's a balance between the jobs available and talent so this place is less competitive because it requires more knowledge of the skill more experience a track record, and why it's not about starting but you need the same energy you need to start to push with drive with discipline consistency become experienced become...

What if the biggest difference between people who build successful careers in Africa and those who spend their lives trapped in degrees they hate isn't how much education they have or which university they attended, but understanding that the entire education system was designed to produce employees not entrepreneurs, that the 17-year-old who taught himself WordPress while studying human anatomy discovered something universities will never teach you about skills over certificates, and that the young person stuck in a course the university picked for them because they needed to fill spaces has been programmed to finish what they started while missing the brutal truth that the world has changed and it's never been easier to learn the skills that actually pay but most people struggle because they don't understand how their own brain learns best?
In this raw and unfiltered conversation on Konnected Minds, we sit down with someone who reveals why his tech journey started during his national service year when he saw needs that required a website and had to teach himself how to build one, why he started with WordPress and web design and smiled when it was mentioned because he's used it for quite a bit and did a lot of development with it, why he went from freelancing to learning HTML CSS JavaScript React.js front-end development, and why he's really grateful for how everything was aligned during his NYC year that transferred him into tech.
He breaks down why it was stages of development where he learned the skill started using it to solve local problems then started freelancing offering it to the public and when more demand grew he started a company called Clunify to do it at scale, why he launched Clunify with a small team and began building websites web applications and mobile apps for clients in almost every continent including the US UK Canada Australia and Asia, why while he was developing hands-on writing code using WordPress he looked at it and said he doesn't see himself doing this for the next 10 15 20 years, and why in one of his projects he discovered something called product management which empowers a person to build products but you're not the one writing code you're coordinating teams coordinating design coordinating engineering coordinating quality assurance testing and collaborating with other teams.
But he also confronts the brutal reality of being stuck in the wrong degree. Why while he was doing his human anatomy course he already knew that this was not it for him but he had to try and finish, why there are many young people today at university who are not exactly happy with what they are studying especially because you go to university and sometimes you don't get a course you want and the university picks a course for you because they want to fill up their space, why he would encourage anyone listening right now who feels stuck in school doing something they don't like or aren't passionate about or don't feel has potential in the future to do two things, and why the first thing is you have to learn a skill because the world has changed or rather people are just now coming to realize what has always been true that you finish university apply for a job and they ask you for experience.
He reveals why the change he's referring to is that it's never been easier globally right now to learn, why if you're in school and you're stuck you will have to learn and you don't have a choice and you don't have any excuse, why a mistake he made or almost made was that while you look and get trendy skills to learn or relevant skills to learn in tech you should not sacrifice your current degree but put effort to finish it and finish it well, and why when people hear technology today the mind first goes to engineering and coding but there's a lot you can do outside of coding including design like graphic design product design UI UX design brand design and management like product management where you own a product and build it and are responsible for its failure or success and project management where you manage the successful execution of projects.
But he also exposes what most people miss about tech skills. Why there are tech skills you can learn which are non-technical like IT support and marketing and sales because there's no tech startup that doesn't have a marketing team and without marketing there will be no growth, why the biggest issue usually is figuring out what to learn, why what he usually says is look inwards at what you are naturally good at like how he was good with color combinations aesthetics and botting colors which helped him in his web design track, why you should leverage online platforms like Udemy Coursera and YouTube which have thousands of free courses, and why the channels he's had the most value from on YouTube are not popular channels but two hour three hour four hour courses from people with a thousand subscribers teaching marketing better than the big channels that do it as a...

What if the biggest difference between people who build wealth in Africa and those who spend their lives searching for jobs after graduation isn't how many degrees they collect or how well they speak English, but understanding that the entire education system was designed to produce employees not entrepreneurs, that the young lady on a flight to China holding $200,000 without a professor's credentials discovered something universities will never teach you, and that the graduate who spends 20 years in school only to chase monthly salaries while mechanics contractors and shoemakers who never sat in a classroom create value and control money has been programmed to worship certificates while missing the brutal truth that there is a shortage of employment in Africa but no shortage of products and services to build businesses around?
In this raw and unfiltered conversation on Konnected Minds, we sit down with Coach Eckwashon and Engineer Kwabena Obeng Darkwa who reveal why it's necessary for Africans to develop business mindsets because there is shortage of employment in Africa and that's not bad there are no shortages of products and services, why when you go to secondary schools we don't have something like entrepreneurship they don't teach it but we have general science visual arts general arts, why it's better that the younger ones those who are coming should have that kind of mindset to see if I complete university and I don't get somebody to employ me I can start my own thing, and why wearing suit and tie doesn't work anymore in Africa it doesn't work.
They break down why people are not comfortable with that lifestyle when you cannot pay your children's school fees when you've taken bank loans three or four and you can't buy a plot of land unless you take a bank loan, why you can't build a house buy a car unless you take a loan and how many teachers with all due respect or police officers can buy a plane ticket and take their family to Paris or Dubai, why if you go to some countries one company can employ a thousand people at a time but how many companies in our country can employ even 200 people at a time, why we are grooming people from our secondary schools from our universities to come and somebody should pay them and of course that's the design of the school, and why the whole concept of this modern education came because some people came here to colonize us and before they came we had our own way of educating our people and it was not sit down be trained write CV after school and then somebody will pay you monthly salary.
But they also confront the brutal reality of what education actually produces. Why our leaders should keep on giving us these statistics on unemployment rate when we only have to tell our people there are problems that you solve and once you solve them and you can monetize them you can live your life without somebody giving you a monthly salary, why when we were children 30 years ago we had graduate unemployment and at this stage in life we're still hearing the same thing which means not much has changed, why if every year you are bringing out 250,000 to 300,000 tertiary graduates and you look at the number of jobs that you are creating you are not creating jobs you are creating frustration, and why if you continue to tell them that when they come out somebody should give them a job and you are not creating jobs that's why our minds are on traveling.
They reveal why the design of education was to produce employees because somebody had to be a business person open a factory and you would need so called experts or professionals to work with them, why they didn't design school so that you go through it and become successful because if that were true look at the people who control the world's economy and where do their children go to school and what do they teach them, why there's this wholesale information they give us to make you feel that you've been given an education to face life when really it's just like somebody going to learn trade, why if you go to the websites of a lot of universities and see who they are training and where they are training them to it's to go and look for a job, and why when schools are having anniversaries the people they hail are those who have been employed in multinational positions and government positions more than somebody who has a provision shop somewhere.
But they also expose the truth about what education really means. Why education doesn't mean you need to sit in the classroom because that mechanic who has been fixing your car is not a graduate but when you have a problem you go to the mechanic for him to fix your car and he's educated, why the contractor is educated even though he may not have a degree, why we need to let people who are going through that system understand that they are not necessarily going to get a job after and that they should look at business as an alternative or maybe even the main thing, why this system has been...