Eric, Not sure if you had noticed but your original message made it appear like *you* were the investor. This is more clear.

How you fit in as an intermediary is still not clear however. So how exactly do you tailor these pitches to improve the applicant chances (what's your specific value proposition)? Can you give some examples?

Are you offering a free service or do you charge? What is your fee? 

What are your T&Cs so that those who go thru you know exactly what the relationship between you, them and the accelerator entails? 

I'm still puzzled as to why the UK visa has been dangled because according to the website, it is not even assured. 

The BGV website clearly says that you qualify if "You have the right to work in the UK 
(Unfortunately, you cannot take part in our programme on a tourist visa)"

Do you have a confirmation letter from the UK consulate that indicates that it is now not "near impossible" for participants of this initiative to get a visa (provided they are not on a bad-guys watchlist of course)?

Also not clear from the website... who pays for Visa, return Airfare & accommodation?

The accelerator is charging GBP £20,000 as "training" fees??? They also get a 6% stake. So the "lucky startup" gets no cash (1-1=0) but gives up equity??? Or they get the cash, which is spent where (in kenya or UK?) and come back with £20K debt + still give up 6% equity? This deal is full of red flags IMO.

How can they purport to train a Kenyan company to succeed in Kenya yet they don't have any experience or a presence in Kenya? Or do they? Don't they have better odds of offering better value and success if they first come to Kenya, learn about the local business landscape and set up a local chapter here? It doesn't make sense.

Even more puzzling, they are asking for already proven business models? How do they advise a company to scale in a market that they barely know (if at all)? What's really going on there? Can you expound on how that works?

If the investors saw promising startups at the Nairobi Innovation Week, have they engaged and onboarded them? Doesn't make sense to start from zero when they have already made progress.

I know there are those who will ignore these red flags and trust blidly in hope. Good luck to them. I wish them success and I sincerely wish that my instincts are completely wrong about this.

Thanks and good evening.

Patrick.

Patrick A. M. Maina
[Cross-domain Innovator | Public Policy Analyst - Indigenous Innovations]


On Thursday, June 6, 2019, 9:51:48 AM GMT+3, Erick Mwangi <erick.mwangi@gmail.com> wrote:


Listers / Patrick

A bit of background.

The organisation in question is BGV (Bethnal Green Ventures). The premise was from investors asking to look beyond EEA. 

I advised the partners on E Africa and even attended the Nairobi Innovation week. They were impressed and we identified a number of start ups we could work with, to get Visas was near impossible. From then we have worked tirelessly to lobby UK government and now this is now a reality.

Secondly from the initial fillers, our comms are different hence why I was asking interested parties to come through me and we can curate stories better for the partners. However feel free to engage directly.

The website is comprehensive and answers the bulk of your questions.

But I will not go as far as saying the want to steal IP from us - that's a stretch of imagination.

Eric
E Njoroge Mwangi
Technology| FINTECH | Big Data

Cell +44 7539372742
Skype: Erick.mwangi


On Tue, Jun 4, 2019 at 4:35 PM Patrick A. M. Maina <pmaina2000@yahoo.com> wrote:
Hi Erick,

Which organization is doing this? 

Is there a website that people can visit for more details?

How does the UK visa come into play? Is there a bootcamp in UK or something like that? Where are the details + past bootcamps?

How many startups are you looking to invest in? What is the range of investment amount? What kind of deal (debt, equity or convertible notes?)

Do you have a portfolio of startups that founders can contact to get independent info about the program?

Can you share your list of succesful investments, exits and big wins, including the duration under your portfolio?

What are the T&Cs and do they contain robust features (like non-disclosure, non-circumvent & non-compete provisions) to protect our hopeful enterpreneurs / youth from the risk of losing trade secrets and intellectual property that would be critical to their competitiveness and long-term survival?

I'm asking the above on behalf of inexperienced founders because there have been numerous cases in the past (in other platforms/fora) where "investors" call for pitches but in reality they are exploiting our policy vacuum to mine for ideas from our hopeful - but sometimes gullible - founders, which they ultimately pass on / sell to other startups (or to "partner" corporations) to avoid R&D costs. 

GENERAL REMARKS (FROM A POLICY-GAP PERSPECTIVE)

Dear Listers,

While a "bounty" approach is often pitched to corporations / investors as a smart "cost saving" measure, it is, in reality, an economically destructive, ruthless, and inhumane form of intellectual property transfer because it relies on trickery and false hope to achieve unpublished agendas. It demoralizes our youth and stifles innovation by unfairly misallocating opportunity/reward to the undeserving, whose only advantage is their connection to capital gatekeepers. 

Bounty programs pervert the idea of enterpreneurship, turning it into an unregulated GAMBLING affair, where for every one "jackpot winner" there are thousands of "losers" who discover that they handed over their IP to future competitors for FREE, and who are not protected from unfair future sale/exploitation of their mined IP. 

Such programs have led to the rise to serial pitchers, a type of gambler who plays for the bounty, instead of real enterpreneurs who truly want to solve real problems. This has resulted in the rise of "shiny object" enterpreneurship that focuses on impressing ponzi-style investors rather creating value to society. More so when they predate on poor countries, where REAL opportunities are scarce and desperately needed.

It is unfortunate that ICT regulators have not yet recognized the real cost of such losses in terms of wealth transfer and destruction of jobs / opportunities. How do you create jobs without sources of sustainable advantage?

In a recent media interview, I heard CISCO's CEO say something very powerful when discussing Huawei. He said that if the US didn't care about IP, it would be a "third world country", because third world countries only focus on raw materials instead of innovations. Intellectual property is highly valued in developed economies. Paradoxically, poor countries tend to adopt policies that sustain poverty.

These general comments are not meant to cast shade on Erick's initiatives as I have no information to draw any objective conclusions, so I hope my motives will not be misunderstood. I have been consistent on highlighting IP mining risks in the past on this and other forums.

Without clear policies and rules, there is no telling what/who is really genuine, and our enterpreneurs remain vulnerabe to predation from within and from without. Our "wild wild west", "every man for himself" business landscape makes it difficult even for the genuine investors to get high quality, diverse pitches because of low trust levels (everyone loses).

It's sad to see our Universities and innovative MSMEs struggling to get funding yet they are sitting on billions of shillings in intellectual capital. 

Hoping the Competition Authority and the Trade, Labor, Education & ICT ministries can team up with stakeholders (not just corporate reps who have a conflict of interest because they fear innovation, but also academia, independent innovators, enterpreneurs and MSME reps) to solve this at policy level. If you need ideas or help in architecting this, feel free to onboard me.

Economic prosperity doesn't just happen on its own, or with ad-hoc "spray and pray" policies. It has to deliberately planned for, designed and implemented. 

Good evening,

Patrick.

Patrick A. M. Maina
[Cross-domain Innovator | Independent Public Policy Analyst - Indigenous Innovations]



On Tuesday, June 4, 2019, 2:15:08 PM GMT+3, Erick Mwangi via kictanet <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:


Listers,

I am looking for start-ups who fit the below criteria.

Investment focus

We invest broadly in tech for good, but we are particularly interested in startups that address the following challenges:

  • Affordable, accessible health and social care
  • Effective education and employability
  • Climate change, resource efficiency and conservation of the environment
  • Civic participation, maintenance and advancement of democracy
  • Empowering vulnerable young people, improving health and wellbeing and giving them the tools to thrive
  • Pro-worker innovation for the low-wage economy, solutions that increase bargaining power, boost pay and curb work insecurity

Investment criteria

At the accelerator stage we select teams based on:

The team

  • A talented team (more than 1 person) of diverse founders with a strong commitment to a shared vision and mission
  • A strong understanding of the problem and the market they will be operating in
  • Technical experience within the team

The idea

  • An innovative idea with some evidence of its merits and how it would solve the problem
  • A clear hypothesis of how to produce, sell and distribute the solution

The potential for impact

  • A strong ambition to scale and positively impact millions of lives.
We will provide early stage seed funding as well as apply on your behalf a "start-up visa" to come to the UK for 3-6months.

If thats you, please reach me directly with your pitch deck.

Best Wishes,

E Njoroge Mwangi
Technology| FINTECH | Big Data

Cell +44 7539372742
Skype: Erick.mwangi


On Sun, Jun 2, 2019 at 1:40 PM Lydia gachungi via kictanet <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
Listers,

Anyone with an idea of an individual / private sector in Eastern Africa using digital solutions to create impact in the culture industry/ Artistic Freedom  (film, music, events, broadcasting, webcasting, anything in that sector)?

Please inbox me

Lydia Gachungi 
UNESCO Liaison Office to AU and UNECA

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KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.