Here are some of the high points at our chat with Benjamin Benaim, Founding Partner, Seedstars
- Seedstars is opening up its co-working space in Lagos, Ikoyi to be specific and they will be working with partners at the space.
- It is wrong to use Silicon Valley evaluation for businesses here
- For startups, presently, there is lot of money in growth stage but little money at the early stage
- Seedstars did not choose Nigeria, Nigeria chose Seedstars. The success of SimplePay got Seedstars interested in the country and they began to look at Nigeria’s numbers.
- Nigeria has the problem of unemployment, but there is a bigger problem which is unstable jobs
- The competition is differently growing, it is becoming a busy space
- Seedstars may not directly build a company around data
- Seedstars plan to set up a lab in Nigeria that is similar to what they have in Portugal
- Seedstars is considering several partnership opportunities in Nigeria including one with Andela
- Seedstars Academy Lagos will start with 5 startups and will gradually increase in number
- Presently, it’s like corporates are fairly isolated and protected from the disruption but disruption is coming and it is coming really fast.
- Nigeria’s startup ecosystem needs more money for the companies to grow really fast
- Seedstars is a venture builder
- 90% of mistakes made by startups can be avoided
- Seedstars is building something similar to Africa Internet Group (AIG) but with a slightly different angle. They believe in finding local solutions to local problems with local talents and local partners.
- The Seedstar Academy officially started on Monday April 18, 2016, and application for new batch is also opening this week.
“We hope to be able to create some success and to develop and to impact positively in the ecosystem by helping to solve several issues including energy, financing, SMEs and other major issues.”
– Benjamin Benaim, Founding Partner, Seedstars
Watch the video below
