However, like most businesses, an enabling environment becomes imperative for the success and growth of such fantastic idea that are developed to answer the continent’s socio-economic problem.
Although, Africa has moved up from her relegated position on the World Bank’s “Easy place To Do Business List”, many startups still have the challenge of working in an enabling environment that will provide the necessary means and infrastructure that will help their businesses.
One of such that has beat the odds of Africa challenging environment to create technology know-how for the African market is Kolawole Olajide, the Nigerian born Co-founder and lead engineer at Funda, an online programme that develops learning management systems and provides content development services for higher institutions to take their courses online and for corporate organisations to train their staff internally.
In the beginning…
Born and bred in Lagos, Nigeria. Kola grew up in a family of 6, with him being the second child. He had high school education in Lagos, Nigeria before traveling to South Africa for his higher education.
Contrary to perception that he could have being from a rich family, Kola said “My parents are not civil servants and I am not a rich kid. I am from a very, very strict Christian home.”
Kola’s passion for education technology arose from his need to see African institutions growing technologically, out of the four walls of a classroom.
He is a prodigy of Africa’s resilient new generation techpreneurs who had not let the insurmountable social challenges faced by many dissuade him from achieving his goal or fulfilling his dream.
Before he created Funda with other four like minds, Kolawole had conceptualised a technology solution before he left the shores of Nigeria to study Information Systems Engineering in faraway South Africa.
What he had in mind was a replica of Funda. He used to fly down to Nigeria then to pursue his business idea but nothing came out of the process.
Speaking on the situation back then, Kola said: “I tried doing business in Nigeria some years ago but the environment wasn’t encouraging then.… I met some universities and had some good meetings but nothing came out. So I stopped chasing it for a while.”
However, it was while he decided to focus on his studies, putting the idea at the backburner, that he met a group of guys who were as passionate about education as he is.
Kolawole and his new found friends: kennedy Kitheka (Kenya), kumbirai Gundani (Zimbabwe), Sameer Rawjee (South Africa), and Jason Muloongo(Zambia) met through their mentors in Cape Town, South Africa who convinced
them they had a better chance if they worked as a team.
They officially launch Funda in 2010: 5 founders from 5 different African countries and 1 private investor.
According to him, “The concept back then was to help universities take their courses online. We wanted to help them think out of the four walls of a classroom. They will provide the content and we will provide the technology to take the courses online.”
“We work with top institutions in the country and our system has to be integrated in their already existing solutions so in order for you to use our technology you have to be an online student at one of the universities we are working with.”
The oldest of these young techpreneurs is 25 years and when asked how people take them serious given the fact that they started their business some four years ago; Kola said: “I had done some work with some companies developing systems so we had an idea of what we are getting into and we were all very passionate about education and we had great mentors.”
But he was also quick to note that “there was some luck to it.”
Kolawole said the importance of mentorship in business cannot be overemphasised as it has helped him in achieving his goal.
According to him, “Mentors are very important but you have to choose them wisely. They have provided a wonderful networking opportunity which has helped grow the business and we have learnt a lot from their experiences.”
Kolawole himself started without a mentor, when he had his idea in Nigeria.
“I didn’t have a mentor but I had a drive and that is why I still focus on education technology till date,” he said.
But when asked if, peradventure there is no mentor to guide you in your project idea, how do you get one?
The 23 years old techpreneur said “Mentors don’t have to be physically present. It is a good plus if they are. But if you don’t have access to physical mentors, it means you are not in an enabling environment. Your environment also influences the kind of idea you have.”
He emphasised that different ideas have different enabling environments. If he had been in the village, he didn’t think he would have gotten far with this kind of idea.
Kolawole said: “For tech start ups, you need proper infrastructure, technology, electricity, internet access etc. The enabling environment is very important. I strongly believe that geographic allocation should not be a barrier to good education and the only way to achieve this is using technology.”
In spite of the insurmountable challenges faced by startups, Kolawole believes the future of Africa tech is very bright.
“I believe technologists in Africa need to develop technology understanding the problems we face and take this into consideration during systems development. We are starting to see support from different organisations and government parastatals.”
Journey so far….
Aside from working with top institutions in Africa to take their courses online, Funda, which means “to learn” in Zulu language has successfully moved to a greater height since it launched having received recognition from prestigious groups like the UNDP and an invitation to attend the Davos World Economic Forum. It has also been able to sign multi-million rand contracts from universities in South Africa.
Among several accolades, Funda in 2012 won the United Nations award for Best Technology Innovation in Education for meeting the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). It was also a runner-up in the
SAB Foundation’s Annual Social Innovation Awards that same year.
Last year, 23 years old Kolawole was also one of the 12 finalist of the Anzisha prize, a youth entrepreneurship competition that celebrates Africa youngest entrepreneurs. He has also been selected as one of the 13 entrepreneur under the age of 22 by the African Leadership Academy.
The Future….
For now, Funda is strictly servicing South African institutions but Kola said he and his partners plan to expand their business to Nigeria, Ghana, Namibia and any other African country that contacts them before the end of the year.
He also foresee institutions in Africa taking their courses online with Funda technology and more people taking online course with good quality content from top institutions.
He believes that education has a great role to play in social development, especially in Africa as education is the key to making change.
“Education is the most important element. Education empowers people to take initiative and make healthy decisions. Government will not provide all the jobs we want to see. Some of us will have to rise up and create new ways to make change. Education is the key to making change.”
Despite the fact that he and his team work hard to make Funda a success day in, day out; Kola said he tries to strike a balance between work and play.
“It is easy. I don’t take work home over the weekends and I don’t let it pile up and stress me. I have a very tight circle, we chill together and go out sometimes and I can tell you that is both work and play.”
“I still play soccer sometimes, but I like productive hackathon”
An avid fan of Malcolm Gladwell, Kola says his greatest achievement is not the prices or awards he had won so far or material things along that line, rather his personal growth from his past to who he is today.
To budding techpreneurs like him, Kola has this to say: “Entrepreneurship is a great journey. You learn every day, win some lose some but what keeps some of us going is the impact we want to achieve. With technology startups you will need an enabling environment and belong to a strong network. We always need people. Play according to your strengths and get partners that have the same vision with you. Remember 10 percent of 1 million is better than 100 percent of nothing.”
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