You can never talk about challenges Ugandan startups face without mentioning the growing scarcity of investment capital coming their way. If we are to go by the released figures by Partech Ventures, Ugandan startups only managed a meager $300,000 in funding for the entire 2016.
Though some people have come out to disagree with the figure, still we doubt it is anything to match up with its regional neighbors who are floating in tens of millions. For example, Kenyan startups managed $92.7 Million, Tanzanian $12.9 Million and Rwandan $16 Million (you read that right).
Here are some of the tips from two Ugandan startup founders (SafeBoda and Mandulis Energy) that have raised funding in millions of dollars. Once put into practice, they will help you or any other startup founder in Uganda raise funding for their startup - probably in millions of dollars, too!
Maxime Dieudonné is a Co-founder and Co-CEO at SafeBoda which is rumored to have raised funding in the region of $1 Million while Peter Nyeko is the co-founder of Mandulis Energy which owns majority of Earth Energy Co. Ltd - the company that secured $993,000 financing from The Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA) last year.
-
Have an MVP
This comes from Maxime Dieudonné, co-founder SafeBoda. His message is simple;
"As founders, it is important to de-risk the investment as much as possible before engaging investors. Investors will rarely invest in just an idea, therefore it is important to have a proof of concept and ideally having around 100 very engaged customers using the product frequently", Maxime advises.
He advises that the product should be what is called an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) which is the simplest version of the final product. He also points out that startup founders or owners should try to avoid wasting time making the product look fancy.
"Too often founders try to add a lot of (unnecessary) features to the product which brings complexity and leads to very long development process", he adds.
2. Pitch (Deck)
Once you have an MVP with a small group of engaged customers, then embark on writing a beautiful deck highlighting your business model and how big the market is.
"Investors are usually looking for fast growth and highly scalable solutions so it is important to reflect these in a very clear and concise slide deck", advises Maxime.
There are very many ways one can prepare a pitch deck, though many people have picked interest in the Airbnb pitch deck. You can view it here.
3. Make use of online resources
Here, both Maxime and Peter Nyeko strongly agree. Maxime recommends that Ugandan startup founders read The start-up Playbook from YCombinator.
Peter, is an ardent believer in making the most of online resources. He recommends (sometimes free) courses from various universities in the US and other countries offered on Edex and coursera. You can check some of them here, here, here and here.
"Every strategy that has got us to having a start-up already valued at $40 Million during project development; and which will have raised over $200 Million before the turn of the decade is in those shared resources", Peter.
What one should expect from the above resources is knowledge and skills in opportunity identification, how to launch a product, its growth, financing and profitability. In some of the cases, learners with the top-scoring projects get introduced to the most appropriate Venture Capital firms.
4. Network
This is Pretty obvious to some but the fact its appearing on the list cements its relevance. Let's face it; its people who are going to invest in your startup. But how do you get to those people?
Peter recommends SheTrades, a web and mobile application that provides women entrepreneurs across the world a unique platform to connect to markets. Its is aiming at connecting one million women to market by 2020.
There are also various ways for startup founders to network both locally and globally. Take example of twitter chats as well as platforms like Venture Capital for Africa.
Finally, according to Maxime, passion, perseverance and hustle will make the difference whether investors are willing or not to work with founders.