The Journey to Building Africa’s Largest Tech Founders’ Community - Bezi.build

As I put down my first notes to reflect on this topic, it has merely been six months since we started Bezi (but it feels like a whole year now)!

After hundreds of calls with startup founders, unicorn builders as well as investors, the excitement keeps growing as we see “This thing” growing into an amazing community already! I am super excited to launch the first cohort - BF0 - next week on 3rd October 2022 and with these few minutes of relax I just got( it is 8pm my time), I am allowing my mind to visit the future and visualize what Bezi will become 1 Year, 5 Years and 10 Years from now!?And Bezi spin offs 20 years from now! It is just a worthy cause!

I cannot pretend to have become an expert on the matter to be able to share amazing insights yet, but below are few things I noticed and thought are worth mentioning( I will skip the tactical ones like you need to have good angel profiles on your cap table etc) :

1. Mentors are very excited to give back! People are not selfish with their time. They just want to make sure it is used for the best!?

2. Nigerians founders are aggressive! I say this with a lot of admiration! During our outreach campaigns, we reached out to startups across the continent and this became very clear that Nigerians were very receptive and would chase you for a follow up call. East Africans and other regions, we are still lay back and not quick to grab opportunities or at least explore them.?

3. Raising capital is a hot topic but not so more than expansion! We need to do more to share information on how to expand in our various markets… more conferences, meet ups and visa easing discussions need to happen on the continent. Shout out to my motherland - Rwanda for paving the way

4. Social disconnections are very huge in Africa and this has to change for startups to be able to scale.?

5. VCs want you to succeed at the same level(if not greater) than you do. They have invested their money(no - hard earned money to be precise) so they want to work with you to make sure you build a solid business. Best advice: Listen to them and win them on your side. As I told one lady founder friend of mine: “Do not bring basketball tricks into a soccer game, learn and play the game, play to win and win big!"

6. Best time to engage VCs: During night odd hours!! They will respond. They are calm and thinking clearly and will give you candid feedback.

7. We still lack a proper network between founders, VCs and operators to have information flows. This is a huge disadvantage as people still struggle with problems that their peers have already solved. We need to create digital tunnels (for lack of proper transport infrastructure on the continent) to at least have information move across countries(if visa restrictions are still an issue).?

8. African founders: Eventually you will need to scale. Cultural nuances will play a crucial role in your quest to expansion, start learning and appreciating the African diversity. You will never know how a simple mention of Mt.Kilimanjaro or the Zambezi river can help you win the trust of that regulator in front of you.?

As I finish this first note (I am sure you have noticed a change of tone in my last points), a lot has happened since I first started writing it:?

• 49 great African founders have learned one or two things about fundraising, hiring and expansion.?

• Some of them are on the path to raise their subsequent seed or series A(in some cases even a series B) and have connected, formed new partnerships thanks to an amazing and dedicated Bezi community of both fellows, mentors and the incredible dedicated supporting team!?
• Each founder has already recommended two more amazing founders to join us, each mentors has graciously accepted to give us even more time! What else could we have asked for? Thank you Bezi

We are off to our next cohort - BF1 this coming January and we cannot wait to continue building and nurturing the already established bonds.

As they say, in Africa we only do big things so even the Bezi “Mafia” will be as big as Africa’s rivers, forests and smiles!

Special shout out to Bezi growing community #BeziFellows #BeziMentors #BeziTeam

Acknowledgement:

• The Bezi Squad ??Andres Bilbao Gulbet Kiros Andrew Olaleye Khalil Liouane Pablo Casasa Camila Zancanella Oluwabukola O. Valentina Ponce de León Evelyn Shumba AIFM, FMVA,MBA Emilio Jacome Alisson Lyndsay Bezuidenhout
• Our initial batch of mentors who graciously agreed to commit their time and share insights with our fellows Gabriel Vasquez Yehia Houry Ken Njoroge Naomi Amobi Cezanne Maherali Cikü Mugambi Moses Abindabizemu Asiimwe Raymond Esq. Ido Sum Peter Oriaifo Isabella Orduz Dylan Rosemberg Julian Torres Gomez Letizia Royo-Villanova Daniel Bilbao Tade Fayomi Johanna Monthé Banke Ajagunna David Kahn Gossy Ukanwoke Marcello Schermer Youssef Salem Agustin Cerisola Aneto Okonkwo Kyane Kassiri Hayden Simmons Oyebode Fajobi Nicolas Bry Kofi Ampadu Anne Njuki Wiza Jalakasi Alejandro Echavarria Tidjane Deme Mohamed Ben Halim Tayo Oviosu Olugbenga Agboola Temi Busari, CFA Yele Bademosi
• Shout out to our amazing fellows: AbdAlaziz Elbahnasy Adeola Ayoola 'Tola Onayemi Adewale Yusuf Aisha Raheem-Bolarinwa Akinseye Akinola Allan M. Thiga Andreas Fragner Arun Shanmuganathan Bernard Parah Charles Dairo Dennis Wijsmuller Dennismary Chidiebere ??? Edmund Olotu Eugene Rwagasore Felix Manford Fola Folowosele Ifedolapo Lawal Ijeoma Akwiwu Japheth Dibo Jude Dike Kemdi Ebi Kidist Tesfaye Kiiru Muhoya Kofi Genfi Kuria Kevin Mark Kiarie Marwan Salem 纳尔 (Naelbest) Neema Jain Nkiru Amadi-Emina Afolabi Olamide Sola Akindolu Samuel Eze Hailey Lulu Y. Shreyas Patel Simon Githinji Ngigi Tunji Andrews Yoeal Haile Youssef Benkirane Walid Nasr Waleed Elroby Sulav Singh Amanda Etuk Hazem Salaheldin Eltawab Essien Etuk Mark Pascal Blaise Buma Remy Muhire