Bants2Business

Woke up to the most beautiful review of my writing. I’m a little bit losing my mind sorting through the past few years of my life; trying to shape all the lessons into words for you. I am also newly rediscovering my voice: I was not allowed to blog while I worked with the @UN.

In a recent Twitter (X) exchange, some young academics called me out for being ‘just a 𝙣𝙤𝙣-𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙛𝙞𝙩 𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧, and not a ‘𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡 𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙪𝙧’. For my MBA studies this semester, we focused on @OpenAI as a business—a non-profit in the tech industry valued at 𝘦𝘴𝘵 $300 𝘽𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙤𝙣, that is changing literally every aspect of our very world as we know it. Now just so we are clear; my journey building @DS4Africa (𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘢 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩 𝘯𝘰𝘯-𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘪𝘵) has not been anywhere nearly as successful (𝘐 𝘢𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰, 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘢𝘺). My (𝘯𝘰𝘯-𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘪𝘵) company @KwathuKonnect (one of my 4 or 6 companies, depends on how you understand regional integration) has several ventures under it; but in this moment I want to focus on DSA. We have with DSA raised only est $400,000 to this day, and mostly from international development partners (𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝙙𝙤𝙣𝙤𝙧𝙨), and have trained just about 10,000 from 20+ countries in various tech, innovation, and business development skills. To me, building #DigitalSkillsforAfrica has been a bigger success than I ever imagined. My very initial dream in 2019 was JUST to 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯 ‘𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙡𝙤𝙜’ as I was a thriving 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙫𝙚𝙡 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙢 𝙗𝙡𝙤𝙜𝙜𝙚𝙧 then. I’ve, over the years, found myself training 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝘂𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗦𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 and 𝗕𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗜𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆 graduates from notable universities in Africa and newly, 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 students from the US. I’ve been a part of SO MANY international fellowships, and travelled to nearly 20 countries JUST learning about entrepreneurship. I’ve delivered endless keynotes at conferences; and actually used my work with @DS4Africa to secure most of the jobs I have had since its inception. One would perhaps even have reason to argue that while the business may not have thrived, I did. And now—with what I know as a professional in the global (international) space and an academic with a 𝗠𝗦𝗰 𝗶𝗻 𝗘𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 (𝘋𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯) and presently pursuing a 𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗠 𝗠𝗕𝗔 (𝘉𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘋𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘔𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵), and though the business continues to operate (𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘦 𝘵𝘰), I know that DSA is a systemic failure: an unviable business. But 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 (𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁) 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀(𝗲𝘀) 𝘂𝗻𝘃𝗶𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗔𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮? 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘯-𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘪𝘵, 𝘢𝘴 𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘰𝘳-𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘪𝘵 𝘮𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘴? As an Evaluator (ex-@UNDP_Evaluation) and a writer, it is always in my interest to reflect: byntha.com/why-dsa-failed/

Easily one of the experiences I've started to look forward to—excited to join (for the second time) the @MichiganStateU Burgess Institute for Entrepreneurship & Innovation this evening as a mentor at #2DayVenture. I quite deeply enjoyed mentoring last semester—with two of the teams I had mentored making to the top 3, and my personal favourite actually winning the competition. Full disclosure: I took interest in 2DV because of the work we have been doing with @Bants2Business over the past 4 years, and I still have plans to revamp and scale that network. I consider this great learning for me, and I am quite keen to see what ideas the 2DV teams will come up with this time around. #GoGreen #SpartansWill

Deeply enjoyed producing this. Have a listen: youtube.com/playlist?list=…

The #KwathuKollective (@KwathuKonnect) is introducing #KwathuKonversations—an initiative that brings together African creators, innovators, and entrepreneurs to engage in dialogue; exploring what works, in what context, and why—to develop creative and innovation industries.

The inaugural event, supported by the #CopyRightFund, will feature a conversation under the theme “The Importance of Collaboration for Creativity & Innovation.” More about it on our website: bants2business.com/kwathu-konnect…

Happening today: the launch of @KwathuKonnect at the @KwathuKowork Spaces. This exciting initiative aims to bring together African creatives and innovators through quarterly events at our coworking space, and we are excited to be hosting the second @Bant2Business panel.

Absolutely bodied hosting this event!! Thanks to @NthaFoundation for allowing me to host and moderate the panel discussion!! @Bants2Business Malawi Wanga Edition was officially a success!! 👏🏾

#MuziEcosystem, supported by the @NthaFoundation and part of GIZ’s “More Income and Employment in Rural Areas – MIERA II” project, aimed to empower women-led and youth-led SMEs in Malawi’s tourism sector, particularly in Salima and Zomba. More details: bants2business.com/malawi-wanga/

We are excited to be hosting our ninth event — the “@Bants2Business Pitching Competition Finals 2024”, as a part of the #MuziEcosystem Initiative. The event will take place at the Mafumu Hotel on August 9th, 2024, from 17h00 to 20h00 at the Mafumu Hotel at Area 3 in Lilongwe.

The second edition of @Bants2Business: #CreativesEdition will be supported by a grant awarded through COSOMA’s Copyright Fund, implemented by @BienAfrica in partnership with @KwathuKowork, and the @NthaFoundation in Lilongwe. More details on our website: bants2business.com/cosoma/

We are now growing the platform to include more resources, support and conversations! @Bants2Business: #CreativesEdition aims at inspiring entrepreneurs across Malawi by taking insights from creative and business development experts to develop into a resource for young creatives.

The @Bants2Business initiative returns with the #CreativesEdition, with Support from COSOMA’s Copyright Fund! We continue from 2021 when we launched the “B2B: Creatives Edition” through a launch event, a panel discussion and a pitch competition. bants2business.com/cosoma/