Meg Whitman spoke at the eBay Live keynote last night. As always, I worked my way up to the front row so I could get some decent pictures. This one in particular really stuck out to me.
Meg has been at the helm of eBay for so long now that she is a cultural icon – not just at eBay, but on the web as a whole. She has steered the largest eCommerce site in the world from one success to another for 9 years now.
I’m at eBay Live!, the annual eBay conference, in Boston this week. I took the opportunity to attend a session titled, “Using eBay to Empower Artisans Around the World”.
In all fairness, I chose the title of this post due to my experiences with the “aid vs trade” debate at TEDGlobal last week. The general feeling around the session I was in though, was that people would only buy African products if they were sold with a story of “helping Africa’s poor and needy”.
Overview
The basic idea is that eBay is working with Fair Trade organizations to certify NGOs, aid organizations and a few for-profit companies to source and manage products coming from places like Africa, and some places in Asia and South America. Organizations that are certified as “Trust Providers” will be allowed to do business.
eBay, in coordination with World of Good, is setting up a specific marketplace for these third-world artisans to sell their inventory. The artisans don’t have direct access to this marketplace, instead they need to work through sellers in the US and UK to make the final sale – to complete the supply chain. This new marketplace is being marketed towards the LOHAS demographic (Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability), who is willing to pay 20%+ premium on products.
There seems to be a great many supplier artisans around the world. What eBay is trying to do is increase the demand – an area where they see a gap in the chain – by providing a special place to “tell a story” about the goods.
This is all well and good. Noble even. However, I think they’re missing something – or at least only looking at the problem from one angle. From what I have experienced talking to Africans all over East Africa, they want to sell their goods on equal footing with everyone else. They will use another charity platform, if that’s all they’re given to work with, but it’s not what they really want.
What If…
What if eBay were to set up a micro-enterprise investment fund for companies to use and invest in building out eBay enterprises in Africa? What if they were to invest in for-profit companies as a real business move into the continent? There are more options than just those though…
That’s what I would like to see happen. Provide all of the tools that other international eBay regions get – like India. Treat Africa the same, instead of having special rules with watchdog “trust providers” to control the unruly and untrustworthy African.
Last Thoughts
I’m torn, because I like that eBay is paying attention and trying to do something, but I’m a little put out by the attitude that Africa needs special rules. I don’t think that’s the case, I believe that Africans can, and will, perform on the world stage with everyone else.
However, what the eBay team is trying to do is probably the right decision for them. In the end, they see Africa as a risk – and certain countries are hotbeds for fraud and eCommerce corruption. Maybe a more balanced approach would be to work in some type of direct investment play into Africans at the local level as well as these development groups.
TEDGlobal: Africa, the Next Chapter is a good catalyst for the idea of “Africa 2.0”, the meme started by Ethan Zuckerman. If I could sum it up, I would say it’s the thoughts and actions around the idea that Africa is coming into its own. That the “Cheetah Generation” is starting to take control of things, not waiting for government or international aid organizations to tell them what to do and get started on changing Africa themselves.
Of course, I believe this is best embodied in the tech sector. Specifically, we see it on the web and in the mobile space. Companies are building new web applications, web sites and mobile tools that connect Africa in ways not previously seen.
There is a new drive, I saw it in the 4 different countries I visited in the last 2 weeks. Individuals are striving to take charge of their own little part of Africa, I talked about it with the technologists from 40 different countries at TEDGlobal.
In South Africa, we see the traditional media (The Sunday Times and Mail & Guardian) embracing new technology to reach a younger audience. We see startups web apps like AfriGator, Zoopy and MXit creating the next level of web interaction for South Africa.
In Kenya, the designers, developers and business types are talking. Skunkworks is a weekly meeting started by Riyaz Bachani, Michuki Mwangi and Josiah Mugambi that opens discussions that cover the spectrum. The ideas expressed there for mobile applications and locally-hosted web apps are incredibly innovative.
In Tanzania I talked to developers that were working on local solutions that weren’t being met by the big global companies (much like what Softtribe does in Ghana). In Uganda there are some soon-to-be-announced capabilities in the mobile space that will drastically affect interaction between individuals in East Africa as well as in the diaspora.
Overall, we’re seeing Africa come into its own. In my area of expertise, technology, I see it more than most. What TEDGlobal did was allow me to see this same innovation and desire to control Africa’s destiny showcased in a number of different fields. From media to medicine, Africa is stating that it can create it’s own wealth. I have no doubt that we’ll see this trend continue and come to fruition in the coming years.
I know this is off-beat from my normal posts on Africa-tech, but I just love the rule-breaking ways of PayPerPost (that, and I get some inside info since I know them…).
I had the chance to meet one of the founders of Overture at TEDGlobal last week and talked to him about their groundbreaking foray into putting advertising on search results. He assured me that they were just as maligned as PayPerPost has been to date.
Anyway, it appears that PayPerPost has gotten another round of equity funding, $7,000,000 to be exact. It’s by Draper Fisher Jurvetson, so a big name in the VC field too. Congrats Ted! That’s the kind of bankroll that allows you to do a few things.
Besides the money, PPP has opened up what they call PayPerPost Direct. It’s a directory of bloggers that lets bloggers set a price for their blogging services. You’re first met with a huge listing of bloggers, you then filter that grouping to find bloggers that meet your needs for advertising your product or service. By clicking on the blogger’s name you can see some details and decide whether or not to hire them (see below).
All very easy and straight forward.
By the way, it’s worth noting for those outside the US that you can still get paid by PayPerPost if you can’t use PayPal. Just notify them of your circumstances and they will send you a check instead.
[note: this was written on Thursday of last week, but my site went down… I almost lost my mind. True story.]
I was given a moment to share some of the stories from AfriGadget here at TEDGlobal. Speaking in front of this group was a little unsettling, so I tried to prepare something that was both to the point and interesting.
My main point was this:
African’s are bending the little they have to their will, using creativity to overcome life’s challenges.
The examples on AfriGadget showcase African ingenuity, the type of ingenuity born of necessity.
I did a quick recap recording of what I said, or at least what I think I said, since it’s all a blur now…
President Kikwete or Tanzania, Larry Brilliant of Google.org and Bruce McNamer or Technoserve have just announced the Believe, Begin, Become competition in Tanzania. This has previously been done (last year) in Ghana. It was a huge success there, leading renewed enthusiasm for entrepreneurship around the country.
In fact, one entity has launched the “Triple B Fund” in Ghana that has $20 million earmarked to be used in funding the winners of the Believe, Begin, Become competition.
There are so many Africans with an entrepreneurial spirit. This “Cheetah Generation” has a lot of constraints; managerial skills and access to funding just to name a few. President Kikwete expresses his thanks and excitement for putting this competition into place here in Tanzania.
Best quote of the event:
Mkia wa mbuzi unafagia pale alipokaa
(A goat’s tail only reaches so far, but a cow’s reaches to the hooves)
Yesterday’s talk by Herman Chinery-Hesse was one of the highlights of TEDGlobal for me. He is the owner of SoftTribe, the leading computer technology company in West Africa, and a dynamic speaker and visionary. He’s been a trailblazer in what he called, “tropically tolerant software.”
He stated the reasons for what he believes Africa has been left behind. His theory is that there are “hunted” and “hunter” nations. Some countries are positioned as places to go and grow businesses, others are positioned as the places to go and take resources from.
Herman stated one thing that I think will rub some in the diaspora the wrong way, but he uses his own life as an example:
It is not dignified for an African to live their whole lives overseas.
Now, the most exciting part to me. Herman went on to announce his new mobile payment system that will be rolling out sometime this year.
I’ve been beating my drum on this for some time, and I’m absolutely thrilled that such a leader in the IT space in Africa is leading this charge. This is the “missing link” for so many things in Africa, from eCommerce to remittances, this is is GREAT news!
Today’s been a little hectic, as I gave a talk today about AfriGadget and so couldn’t really concentrate at first… It seemed to go over well, so it was probably worth the lack of sleep. 🙂
Many of the African bloggers here had lunch together, and that was enjoyable, just to see so many faces that I had only known virtually, sitting down all in one place together.
The “Tales of Invention” session, which I did my talk in, was really outstanding. The speakers were engaging and really reminded everyone of the great opportunities and innovation seen around Africa. Bola Olabisi, started off with a stirring talk of her work showcasing women inventors in Africa and around the world.
I was fortunate to be sitting next to the final speaker of the innovation session, Dr. Seyi Oyesola. Talk about a dynamic and talented individual! His talk about reaching back into Nigeria to do open heart surgery in abysmal conditions moved everyone. He then finished, showcasing CompactOR – which, by it’s name, you can tell is a very compact and complete operating room in a small trolley.
Though tales of invention was my favorite due to its focus on technology, the last session of the day was much more moving. “The Campfire” showcased story tellers. Franco Saachi gave a great overview of “Nollywood”, Nigeria’s movie empire, the third largest in the world with over 2000 films released each year. Look for the documentary soon.
Writers Chris Abani and Binyavanga Wainaina were the final speaker. Wow! These guys are storytellers for good reason. Chris Abani gave a soul stirring talk about
There are two individuals here at TEDGlobal that it has been a great honor to meet. They are inventors, on the ground in Africa, creating solutions that will work in their area. These are great success stories that need to be celebrated, encouraged and supported.
William Kamkwamba was 14 when he found a tattered old book that taught how to build a windmill. This was a big deal, seeing as his small village in Malawi had no electricity. The generator, made from old bicycle parts and PVC piping powers his families lights and radios. (original coverage on AfriGadget with images)
Moussa Keita is staying at my hotel, so I’ve had the pleasure of spending a good deal of time with him. Moussa worked with Geekcorps on a project building a CanTV in Mali. (see original coverage on Geekcorps, and watch the video)
(more images of TEDGlobal on Flickr)
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