What’s wrong with Africa’s startup scene?

We were first introduced to Zimbabwean Munyuki Manatsa, when his online hip hop community mixdem, started trending on tech news aggregator, Hacker News.

In a recent blog post, he kicks around a few sticking points which he believes are holding Africa’s tech startup scene back from prospering.

Despite the global crunch, the continent continues to draw positive growth outlooks thanks in large part to its oil and mining industries. But, like many, Manatsa senses that the continent’s technology sector has plenty of potential for growth and that it will be a key industry that drives personal and economic prosperity in Africa. One only has to look at the continent’s prolific mobile phone saturation to realise the untapped potential.

We recently took a look at the sub-Saharan African countries that are the most and least conducive to starting businesses, and while the continent faces infrastucture and civil challenges, the growth in some countries are nothing short of inspiring. Tanzania’s telecoms infrastructure improvements, the startup from South Africa that’s bigger than Facebook, brilliant African news innovators and 30 world-class startups are only a few of the signals that Africa’s burgeoning tech scene will prevail.

Manatsa too highlights positive trends. He points to government initiatives that strive to emulate Silicon Valley’s success, a growing number of startup challenges and incubators, legislation set up to encourage new businesses and, despite a general drought, new funding sources. We reported on two new venture capital sources for South Africans just this week.

Apart from the lack of capital resources; risk aversion and skill shortages, Manatsa argues, are two of the biggest weights pulling on Africa’s tech scene. If the environment is not conducive to tech startup growth, fewer will risk leaving the nest of a cushy corporate job.

It’s true that tomorrow’s workforce will consider lucrative industries and stable incomes, steering clear of risk. Manatsa postulates that by advertising startup success stories — and the riches to be had — to technology students and those yet to pick a career, educational institutions and the media can encourage entrepreneurship in the tech sector.

Although we agree with the premise, the lack of access to venture capital resources remains a big challenge for African tech entrepreneurs. Although capital requirements for starting a web-based business is low, rapid growth requirements — which characterises startups — often force the pursuit of funding. Having a stable platform in a 9-to-5 office job is arguably staple for budding entrepreneurs to launch their businesses from, but if there is no tech startup community with strong financial backing to dive into, risk inclined techies with rockstar skill sets will struggle to grow their ideas.

Mfonobong Nsehe contributing for Forbes wrote: “Africa is undergoing a technology renaissance. More than ever before, the population is becoming more technologically-inclined, more web-dependent. With the right financing, our entrepreneurs can put Africa on the global map of technological innovation. But until its financiers and the self-proclaimed ‘venture capitalists’ are easily accessible and listen to these entrepreneurs, Africa may never have its own answers to such internationally famed corporations like Google, Facebook, Zynga and the rest of them.”

We agree.