🎙️ This month's episode takes us to Tunisia, speaking to Mariem Sellami, a founder and former program manager at Startup Tunisia to understand what it’s like running a venture in Tunisia. 🇹🇳

Like most nascent tech ecosystems, the government plays an important role in the Tunisian ecosystem, with legal frameworks like the Startup Act—passed in 2019—helping founders get indirect funding and promoting the ecosystem on a regional and international level.

There are quite a few interesting things about the Tunisian ecosystem:

• It has a strong technical skill base because tech and digital literacy skills are a key focus for the country.
• As a result, 47% of founders are engineers, while 13% hold PhDs in various disciplines. Its proximity to Europe has also been useful for exposing the country’s technical talent to gain experience and skills beyond its ecosystem.
• Remember InstaDeep, the Tunisian startup acquired for $549 million? Its success is spurring a new class of dreamers with similar dreams of groundbreaking startups that make outsized impact.

💡 Top five insights unpacked in this episode:

• Making Tunisia a startup friendly nation [01:15]
• Tunisia's startup ecosystem developments over the last 10 years [08:34]
• Leveraging international culture diversity [09:06]
• Factors driving innovations within the Tunisian tech ecosystem [11:28]
• Addressing some oversimplifications and stigmas about entrepreneurship [15:20]

CONNECT VIA SOCIAL MEDIA:

• Connect with Mariem Sellami on LinkedIn

Tell us...

• What was your favourite quote or lesson from this episode?
• What topic would you like for us to feature on a future podcast?

Let us know via the hashtag: #AfricanPreseedPodcast

🌍 Creating impact in the African tech ecosystem takes many stakeholders, and while venture dollars might grab the biggest headlines, foundation and impact partners also play a crucial role. You might even argue—correctly—that these impact partners have influenced traditional VC players and shaped how they think about investing on the continent.

🚀 This month’s podcast is a conversation with Dr. Nina Smidt, the Spokesperson for the Board and the CEO of the International Siemens Foundation, an independent non-profit organisation that has been promoting and investing in sustainable social development for the last fifteen years.

The Foundation focuses on three key topics: access to essential services, connected societies, and climate and sustainability.

At the heart of this conversation is the importance of sustainable social enterprise. Another key theme is the importance of working with local stakeholders in specific regions because they know best what will create the most significant impact on their work and impact in their communities.

It’s a particularly valid point when foreign VC players in Africa have received criticism for their poor understanding of the landscape and lack of knowledge of sustainable business models. In 2021 and 2022, a time when foreign VCs poured money into Africa, there was a sense that partnering with local players familiar with the lay of the land would have led to better investments.

But it’s not all about divergence. VCs and impact foundations also have notable points of convergence. Impact foundations can, for instance, invest in late-stage social enterprises that may not receive follow-up VC funding but serve very important purposes.

💡 Here’s a quote from Dr. Smidt that drives the point home:

Enough spoilers for one episode. Please listen and share what you found the most impactful in this episode! - Olumuyiwa (Contributor and Writer, African Pre-seed Podcast).

💡 Top 5 insights unpacked in the episode:

• The International Siemens Foundation's point of view on impact and social entrepreneurship [03:37]
• The foundation bridges funding gaps for social enterprises in the "missing middle" stage, supporting them until they become self-sustainable [08:34]
• The importance of local understanding in driving innovation and change [11:30]
• Monitoring and evaluation methods to assess programs and continuous improvement [17:22]
• Investing in research and development, empowering local innovators to pilot and scale solutions [24:06]

CONNECT VIA SOCIAL MEDIA:

• Connect with Nina Smidt.
• Connect with Adam Wakefield.

Tell us...

• What was your favourite quote or lesson from this episode?
• What topic would you like for us to feature on a future podcast?

Let us know via the hashtag: #AfricanPreseedPodcast

📍 The end of the year's first quarter is typically a time for companies—and their founders—to take stock of what has been accomplished so far. So for public companies, we huddle over investor calls and try to understand performance. For private companies, we hope and pray a media publication somehow finds their numbers and shares them with us.

🎯 For this month’s podcast, Adam Wakefield speaks to Dr. Kirti Ranchod, a clinical neurologist and the founder of memorability.co. The conversation focuses on brain health, mental wellness, and understanding that, much like everything else in life, you can learn skills to improve your mental wellness.

What specific brain skills can we consider useful, especially for entrepreneurs looking to improve performance? For Dr. Ranchod, there are 8 brain skills, and 4 of those matter the most to founders: creativity, empathy, focus, and calm.

For calmness, for instance, many people practice meditation or mindfulness to learn to stay calm even in tough situations. And before you get super cynical, some science shows that the brain can change in response to what we do or our external environment.

That’s enough spoilers for one episode. Listen and tell us what you found the most impactful in this episode! - Olumuyiwa

💡 Top 5 insights unpacked in the episode:

• Brain and mental health and its impact on founders [07:03]
• Efficiently maximising the brain's capabilities [09:24]
• Creating an environment that promotes health and mental wellness [16:05]
• Leveraging community and communication for better wellbeing as a founder [20:19]
• Mental health at the intersection of running a business [24:43]

CONNECT VIA SOCIAL MEDIA:

• Connect with Kirti Rachod.
• Connect with Adam Wakefield.

Tell us...

• What was your favourite quote or lesson from this episode?
• What topic would you like for us to feature on a future podcast?

Let us know via the hashtag: #AfricanPreseedPodcast