Zanzibar: not a review
After a 6 am call with my mentor, I felt inspired to share more about my time in East Africa and three years based in Nungwi, Zanzibar.
I landed on June 6th, 2015, after politely asking the air hostess if I could sit in business class. She obliged, I felt like James Bond on a mission to paradise, incognito baby, and I am not going to spoil that by mentioning the airline.
"What are you doing here?" I am on holiday. I didn't have a work visa yet, so I followed the instructions. You can sort out the work visa when you're there. Okay. Safely through to the second part of the mission, I collect my luggage and get a taxi [first checking if they have a taxi sticker on their car because I know what I am doing]. And head into Stone Town, where I should wait somewhere with wifi so I can let my employer know I have arrived.
I sat down at Tembo hotel, intending to have lunch and maybe a cold one.
Sorry sir, we don't serve alcohol here.
Mission failed.
My arrival describes not Africa but travel. I was a guest, ignorant I just saw people swimming and thought there was a vibe here.
Seeing another successful fundraising in Africa excites me because how long have people been saying Africa has enormous potential.
All 54 countries?
I get why Africans and ex-pats who have spent some time in some African countries get annoyed when whoever refers to the continent as one country, with some nuance, but on the same mission.
"I am working in Africa" where? I get it.
But is taking the high ground not counterintuitive? Aren't we all ignorant travelers looking for similarity where ever we go? We all start somewhere.
"TIA - this is Africa," an acronym often used as desensitised motivation.
A couple of months into the Zanzibar project, their revenue authority announced that all items procured from the "mainland" Tanzania would be subject to a value-added import tax of 18% on top of the 18% charged when paying the mainland suppliers. In simple terms, an investor who is not yet operational pays two different receivers' taxes while only being registered at one of them. TIA.
By then, better versed in local dealings and the difference in culture between Zanzibar and Tanzania, the tax amendment surprised everyone. The odds are that when you hear "it works differently here," it probably does.
"Interestingly, one of the initial impediments to open-mindedness is not ignorance but ideology. This is especially true in America, where (particularly in "progressive" circles) we have politicized open-mindedness to the point that it isn't so open-minded anymore. Indeed, regardless of whether your sympathies lean to the left or the right, you aren't going to learn anything new if you continually use politics as a lens through which to view the world. At home, political convictions are a tool for getting things done within your community; on the road, political convictions are a clumsy set of experiential blinders, compelling you to seek evidence for conclusions you've already drawn." - Rolf Potts, Vagabonding.
If you aim to expand into Africa or build a pan-African solution to address a bigger market, open-mindedness is also a requirement in your pitch deck. Entrepreneurs fail at home for whatever reason, often not verifying their guesses. Building a product and looking for a problem can be a costly research exercise globally.
How many investors have failed in African countries by playing James Bond and not listening?
P.S. Photo was taken while having a red bull.