My mother always told me growing up that “If you want something done well, do it yourself.” I write stories about founders & investors from diverse backgrounds to address the lack of tech inclusion across the globe. The 15 entrepreneurs featured in this article embody Gandhi’s quote, “Be the change you want to see in the world.” Rather than complaining while sitting on the sidelines, they have taken accountability and started on the journey to build something bigger than themselves, a startup. Funding from investors by no means is a
Writing code is not the only way to break into Tech. However, you can get paid to write in Tech. I work with engineers daily and trust me, if it wasn’t for us tech writers, a lot of the websites and apps you use every day would be a tad difficult to use and understand. So you may be asking, what does a tech writer do anyway? So glad you asked. The short version – we write instructions. The slightly more interesting version, we tell people what to do. Ok,
Be the hero you always needed. This morning, I started thinking about my dad. He was never really there for us, but when he was “there”, it felt like we were a chore. This memory came to me: When I began designing and learning Photoshop, my dad made me create a flyer for a nightclub he worked at. I was just barely a teenager, and it was fun working on real projects — so I did the flyer without a second thought. It came out pretty good. The thing is,
Growing up, I remember relating to characters I identified with like, Ace in Paid in Full, The Notorious B.I.G in his “Juicy” music video or even Omar in the hit series, The Wire. However, the game has changed in regards to role models. Now entrepreneurs are the rockstars with the Facebook movie (The Social Network) for example, illustrating entrepreneurship has now become popular culture. Let’s get reflective real quick and ask ourselves an honest question: Do you identify with any of the characters you read about in Entrepreneur, Inc. or Forbes? According
An article by Abadesi Osunsade [also featured in episode 61], a London-based entrepreneur of Hustle Crew. I don’t consider myself particularly risk-loving, but as the company’s priorities had changed, so too had my role. I deliberated the decision over a period of a week or so with friends and family and on a sunny May day in the Berlin office, I video-called my line manager and handed in my resignation. Sure, my colleagues thought I was crazy, but deep down inside in that moment in time… I realized the only person’s whose thoughts
More and more people have been reaching out to me to have the conversation surrounding Diversity and Inclusion [companies ranging from startups to multinationals]. To each one of them, I shared what I will share with you now. The discussion should start with a standard definition of what ‘Diversity’ and ‘Inclusion’ actually means. For me it is as simple as this: Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Diversity is about bringing people together from a wide variety of backgrounds Inclusion is about having their voices heard and acted upon Let’s start with
According to The Knights Foundation report: Diversifying Investments, just 1.1 percent of the $71.4 trillion assets under management across the world is in the hands of women and minority-owned firms. We all know entrepreneurship is hard, but starting a business across Africa is particularly hard given the restraints presented by developing nations. It is a gift and a curse in that new problems call for different solutions [from the Western World], but it can be challenging facing the barriers that impact scale and success. These barriers include: Limited access to
A look at the intersection of technology and revolutionary change, with a conversation between Lina Ben Mhenni, a Tunisian blogger who rose to prominence during the Tunisian revolution of 2011, who was nominated for the Nobel peace prize, and POCIT’s own Zara Tewolde-Berhan. What inspired you to get into cyber blogging and activism? I started blogging in 2007; my country was living under a dictatorship and internet and blogs, social media had been the unique medium for me to express myself, it was a space for me to express myself and
written by Kimerie Green For the past few months, I have been working as a Software Engineering Fellow at Khan Academy. This program gives engineers from non-traditional backgrounds the opportunity to build their experience by working on real products alongside full-time engineers. During my time as a fellow, I’ve had a chance to work with amazing engineers and work on projects that have had an immediate impact on Khan Academy’s users. I was attracted to this role because of my background working for education nonprofits. The fellowship has given me
Here are a few lessons I picked up raising our seed round for Amaliah.co.uk. [All the investor quotes are genuine but anonymised]. 1. Don’t be put off Investor: “I simply believe that what you are doing is going to fail” Meh…. Everyone will have an opinion. Not everyone you meet will understand what it is that you are trying to do. As long as you know, that is all you need. 2. Know what words are sexy AI, Fintech, VR = Sexy Words 😍 E-commerce, advertising = Unsexy 😷
