#HerImpact: “Remain True to Your Mission”
Bilha Ndirangu of Endeavor Kenya company Africa’s Talking on her challenges and accomplishments as an entrepreneur
Endeavor’s #HerImpact series is part of our ongoing commitment to increase gender diversity within the Endeavor network. #HerImpact is devoted to elevating the voices, sharing the perspectives, and showcasing the professional expertise of women in Endeavor’s global network. Learn more about how you can get involved with Women in High Impact Entrepreneurship at Endeavor here.
Formerly the Chief Commercial Officer at Africa’s Talking, Bilha Ndirangu steps up to become the CEO as Samuel Gikandi, previous CEO & Co-Founder of Africa’s Talking assumes role of CEO, AT Labs. Africa’s Talking provides software developers with efficient, affordable integration to multiple communications and payment providers via one seamless interface across multiple countries. Bilha recently spoke with Endeavor Kenya on her challenges and accomplishments as an entrepreneur.
Endeavor Kenya (EK): Describe a problem you’re solving as an entrepreneur. What is its significance to you, and what is the solution your business presents?
Bilha Ndirangu (BN): There are a lot of interesting problems in the continent that we think technology can solve. In addition, we believe there are brilliant software developers who can build solutions to these problems in the continent. However, part of the challenges these software developers face is access to infrastructure. By infrastructure I mean access to telcos, banks or payment companies. Some of the reasons why access to infrastructure is a challenge for a developer could be; the size of the business (its small), difficult and lengthy regulatory approvals.
The problem Africa’s Talking is trying to solve is to accelerate the pace at which technical solutions are built on the continent by providing an easy to use platform. The platform enables software developers to easily integrate their solutions to a telco and / or bank services. This enables the software developer to access services that could have taken him/her months, take as little as 30 minutes as well as ease of scaling to other markets. We also help the developers see Africa as an entire market to operate in as opposed to just their local market.
We believe that we play a role in making the African market closer and more open despite the geographical fragmentation. We do that by bringing technology to everyone in the continent by solving the connectivity, infrastructure and reach issue.
EK: What’s one time you faced a challenge, setback, or failure as an entrepreneur? What did you learn from the experience?
BN: Running a business on a daily basis is a challenge on its own, there is always something that seems to go wrong. Especially running a tech company, you find something is broken, clients have support issues, regulatory challenges when expanding to other countries etc. So, it’s hard to say I have had a single point of failure that was epic.
Looking back at how we have built and run the business, there have been points where we could say to each other “this is hard”. We started out in Kenya and embarked on international expansion, currently in 18 markets. Along the journey, we realized things take longer than you had planned. For example, you plan to enter a market and hope to be up and running within a year, already done financial projections, have clients waiting then, 2 years later you are still waiting for regulatory license which is key for the business to operate. This has been part of what is challenging for a company that has a global vision to grow across the continent.
Despite the challenges, we have been true to our vision which is to enable software developers to build viable Pan African businesses, by dealing with the unpredictable nature of the continent (Africa). There are 54 fragmented markets in the continent and every time we enter a new market it’s like we are starting from scratch again.
The key lessons I’ve learnt from the challenges is it’s important to remain true to your mission as an organization. If we had failed to do so, we could have just shut down and stopped our efforts to expand into the continent or even diverted to something very different (probably something that was working easily). For us, connecting Africa by building a viable technical ecosystem, which is the core of what we do, supersedes the challenges we face.
EK: Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of growth or a new understanding of self as an entrepreneur
BN: I always knew at the back of my mind I wanted to run a business, but I didn’t know when that would happen. When I moved back home, I worked as a consultant at Dalberg and later on I decided to take a break from that to figure out what’s next for me. Thankfully around that time, I reconnected with Sam who is also a Co-founder of Africa’s Talking, and decided to take on that opportunity. And that’s how I found myself building a business.
It’s through this that I reckon, as you live life opportunities come along. And I am grateful that I knew when to pick it up. Both of us, Sam and myself never imagined Africa’s Talking (AT) would grow to where it is today and our vision and mission grew as we built the business. The process has been iterative by trying things as we moved along.
Taking you back, I mentioned that I knew I wanted to run a business because I enjoy building companies, solving problems and helping people solve problems. And I believe that not only did AT give me the opportunity, but it allowed me to leverage my interest and skills. Being an entrepreneur humbles you a lot, every day brings new challenges and is a learning experience.
EK: The theme for International Women’s Day 2019 is “Balance for Better.” What does that mean to you? What do you think needs to be done to achieve a better balance for women in high-impact entrepreneurship and business?
BN: From my view “Balance for better” means creating organizations that allow people to thrive no matter what. Creating an environment where people can decide to take a break and not be discriminated for their decisions. Creating an environment that allows employees to understand the organization and supporting them when they need to make career changes. Creating an environment where people are happy to come to work, feel challenged, appreciated, motivated, and feedback is heard.
Part of the problems about “balance” is that issues become major problems because people don’t catch them earlier on. When you create such kinds of environments, people start to feel they are growing and becoming better persons; issues, fears and concerns are addressed in a timely manner and you start achieving some of the goals on “Balance for Better”.
We can achieve a better balance in organizations by creating environments where people are heard and issues /concerns solved without fear of discrimination at an early stage.
Learn more about Bilha Ndirangu and Africa’s Talking here.
