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August 8, 2015

Asante Sana, Kenya

Originally published on Medium, 2015 — preserved here permanently.Original

Asante Sana, Kenya:

Notes from the Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2015 in Nairobi, Kenya #GES2015

The Global Entrepreneurship Summit held in Nairobi, Kenya last July 24–26th brought together investors and entrepreneurs in different stages of business from Africa and the rest of the world together in one international event that gave us the venue to network, learn, and meet other people who could bring in value to our businesses.

It was interesting to note that the President of the United States Barack Obama and the President of Kenya Uhuru Kenyatta will be hosting to the said summit too. I was elated knowing that I am at the Safari Capital of the World and will also be seeing the Most Powerful Man in the World — the POTUS.

Day 0 — Global Entrepreneurship Summit Youth+Women

First day of the Summit was a pre-event called the GES 2015 Youth + Women that was held on July 24 at the United Nations Office at Nairobi (UNON). It was attended by 300 young and women entrepreneurs. The program was opened by Thione Niang and the famous Akon of Konvict Music who is know known for his initiative known as Akon Lighting. He talked about his roots and journey as an entrepreneur capturing the audience with colourful language and insight into his transformation from car theft business to one of the known orginzation literally lighting Africa today. And he said something that has been a recurring theme throughout the summit and it’s this lesson below:

Lesson: “Help each other’s empires grow.”

Karibu Kenya! Third Team Media represent.

Next, there was a panel discussion with the Presidential Ambassadors for Global Entrepreneurship (PAGE) that included Julie Hanna of KIVA and Daymond John of FUBU and Shark Tank.

Daymond was one of the entrepreneurs that I wanted to hear from. He is quite known for being one of the sharks on Shark Tank and also an owner of a media company which made me all the more interested in meeting him (which unfortunately never happened). I intently listened on his talk about his journey and his advices for budding business owners.

Lesson: Most successful entrepreneurs have these things in common — persistence, hard work, and that stroke of good luck.

PAGE Ambassadors with Penny Pritzer

On Day 0, we also got to join different panels and workshops revolving around various topics and different business challenges we have. There were simultaneous sessions that we had to pick out and join.

Since I had the video interview opportunity that could be used for pitches, I was inside the pitch room getting ready to record my video. With that, I missed one whole session of Daymond John which I wanted to be on so bad.

From then on, I was looking to join all sessions regarding raising funds whether it be about investors, venture capital, and funding related sessions. I wanted to know how to get ready to seek out investors for our Third Team Media and to frame my mindset on what investors are looking for when they look at my business.

Hence, I was joined the session about Pitching to Investors: Messaging and the Power of the Word of Mouth. I was glad to be able to ask a question about scaling a service business. The lady from Golden Seed suggested that I do some sort of franchises of our agency across the globe. This makes sense.

Lesson: Find ways to make your business scaleable. Technology and innovation could be your best options to do so.

Before Day 0 ended, I returned to our accommodations to find an invitation from Pres. Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya. It was an honour to receive such a dinner invitation.

Invitation to the Welcome Dinner from the President of Kenya

The Welcome Dinner was a pleasant introduction to how Kenyans party. It was super lively and full of dances and songs from the different groups that presented. It was overwhelming to see the different sights and sounds of the country presented to us while relishing our authentic Kenyan meal.

At the Kenyatta International Conference Centre

Day 1 — Global Entrepreneurship Summit — The POTUS Speech

This day was the most exciting as the overall energy of the summit was towards listening in to the speech of President Obama. The President was all over the news and you can feel the anticipation as the delegates and the whole city of Nairobi braced itself for his visit.

There were long queues for us to get inside the plenary hall. The security checks were tight. One person even commented that Nairobi was just like Washington D.C. with the president coming in.

We grabbed available seats we could find. The best ones were already taken. Due to the long wait, everyone started networking with their seat mates. I was able to meet three who gave me their business cards. There, I saw some high level networking happening since the event was not only an opportunity for the bigger companies to mentor and seek out businesses to invest in but also it’s a venue for them to connect with other bigger companies who they could pitch to.

Finally, as everyone waited at the plenary hall, we heard helicopter sounds at the UNON (United Nations Office in Nairobi) where the Global Entrepreneurship Summit was held. It was when the program started and the introductory speeches. Thank goodness, I was warned of not being allowed to come back if I go out for washroom break because I would have missed the president’s speech.

When Pres. Obama and Pres. Kenyatta came in, there was a huge silence all over the hall. They started delivering their speeches and all I couldn’t be more stoked being in the same room with THE President Barack Obama. It was truly an honour to be part of the event.

The panel onstage discussed the successes of 3 entrepreneurs who have made strides with their organisations. The notable one for me was Jehiel of HelloTractor who I was able to meet the next day and got to chat about what they do in their organization. Turns out, he will even be pitching their product here in the Philippines soon!

On the President’s speech plus the panel discussion, here are some points mentioned that have resonated with me:

  • You don’t have to look a certain way, be of a certain faith or have a certain last name in order to have a good idea.
  • In order to create a successful entrepreneurs, the government also has a role in creating transparency, in rule of law, in the ease of doing business and anti-corruption agenda that creates a platform for people to succeed.
  • Along with incredible successes [these entrepreneurs] have had failures as well. And they’ve learned from them. But they haven’t given up.
  • Women are powerhouse entrepreneurs. When women entrepreneurs succeed, they drive economic growth and invest more back into their families and their communities.
  • One of the advantages of the technological revolution is that it can be tailored and adapted to different countries, different environments, different circumstances.
  • We should ensure that governments are facilitating as opposed to being parasitic on entrepreneurial efforts.
  • Go out there and start something. We expect great things out of you.

Panel for Getting Ready for Growth with Brian Chesky of Airbnb and Steve Case of AOL

After the plenary, I made sure to join the conversation on Getting Ready for Growth with Brian Chesky of Airbnb and Steve Case of AOL. And I got a lot of wonderful lessons learned (mostly from Brian’s answers to the questions based on his experience being a co-founder and CEO of Airbnb):

  • First and foremost, identify what stage you are now in your business. Knowing this would guide your decisions.
  • Build for the early adopters. They help change from what’s weird to normal.
  • Collaborate internationally.
  • Don’t build your business around one contract or client.
  • Cultivate patience. Fail fast. Get feedback.
  • My advisers gave help with no monetary return and they don’t say no.
  • If not for community, we wouldn’t be successful. We all need to be part of a broader community.
  • If you do reach your success, pay it forward.
  • Know how to go from startup to speed up to ramp up.
  • Learn to make money out of what you love.
  • Be honest to yourself. It keeps you on track.
  • Identify what type of capital you need and what you define as success in that stage.
  • There’s growth and there’s being nimble. Continue to run like a startup. Retain the startup culture.
  • Localize the product. Just because it worked in one country doesn’t mean it will in another.

Day 2 — The Wrap-Up

The last day of the summit was much more mellow than the first two days. It was another day of learning but then mostly add on to what were discussed in the last couple of days. I went to the discussion on “What attracts venture capital” and listened to the panelists Wale Adeosum (Kuramo Capital), Ross Baird (Village Capital), Patience Marime (Mara Investments), Faysal Sohail (Presidio Partners).

The entrepreneurs were continually asking — What do we really do to attract venture capital and the answer is pretty much the same as what I understand from the previous panels.

Lesson: Know what type of capital you need, how much, and what success looks like for the stage you are in.

The last panel that I attended was on “Scaling your business operations” with the moderator Rhett Power (Wild Creations) and the panelists Ayodeji Adewunmi (Jobberman), Enyo Kumahor (Cobalt), Wale Tinubu (Oando Foundation), and Ifeanyi Oteh (Ampion).

I enjoyed the discussions made on this panel because I could relate to it more in terms of the challenges I have at the moment with Third Team Media and it was all very timely.

Moderator Rhett Power (Wild Creations) and the panelists Ayodeji Adewunmi (Jobberman), Enyo Kumahor (Cobalt), Wale Tinubu (Oando Foundation), and Ifeanyi Oteh (Ampion).

Time moves too fast when you are learning a lot. And sadly, I found myself again in the plenary hall listening to the closing speech of Maria Contreras-Sweet, U.S. Administrator of the Small Business Administration.

I don’t know why but I embarrassed myself by crying after her speech. I think what really moved me while listening to her was when she mentioned that nobody knows the challenges you, as an entrepreneur, are going through right now.

This struck me in a way because there is the vital truth about doing business — no one knows exactly how I am struggling right now and what my sacrifices are — with my family, my personal wellness, etc — just to be where I am right now. Which is not even that far.

Maria Contreras-Sweet, U.S. Administrator of the Small Business Administration

Moving Forward

And now moving forward, I found myself revelling in the after-summit glow with a mission make good with all the things I learned from the summit and apply them to Third Team Media right now.

The trip and the summit made me realize things that would have been left unexplored and unmeditated upon if I had stayed in my corner of the world. It also made me explore the extent of my desire and passion to continue pushing through what I am doing regardless of all the obstacles along the way.

My “groupie” while in Kenya. Photo by Joe Kit Yong from Faces of KL

For this trip, it is a great honour to be invited to the Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2015, a privilege being a U.S. Embassy Manila Alumni. Thank you very much Atty. Neil and the rest of the U.S. Embassy Manila team on giving me this wonderful opportunity.

And asante sana, Kenya. You have made this Filipina feel at home in a foreign land.