Similarities between Japan and Rwanda

         Gosh! Where do I even start from? Japan is now the world's 4th largest economy according to World Bank report. Japan holds 4.8% of the world's wealth and $36,315 GDP per Capita (PPP).  If I use the Social Progress Index, Japan ranks number one in the world.

NB:Social Progress Index is a new phenomenon that suggests a new model of measuring countries' development basing on Social indicators rather than GDP.(Michael Green explains it more on Tedx)

To put the 2 countries' figures in context; Rwanda's GDP per capita (PPP) is $1,452. Rwanda's entire  GDP is worth ($7.452 Billion) -an amount that is  more than 2 times lesser than Japan richest person's $16.6Billion. (Do not get shocked/envy, Japanese people work extremely hard&smart, I think they actually deserve more!).

Writing about the differences between the 2 countries is no news, like I anticipate everyone can list them down. However, surprising over my few months in Japan, I noticed similarities between the two countries;

1.Tidy Public Places: Cleanliness is synonymous to Japan. From the no shoes in-house rules to tractor brushed public roads, everything is tidy in Japan. Rwanda's streets are equally tidy to the extent that some western commentators have ended up calling Kigali "too clean to be African!"

Izumi Park in Northern Japan (left) and a Roundabout in Rwanda (right)

If you keep focused on the 2 countries' similarities in terms of being clean, you will also notice that habitually Rwandans do not eat while walking along the street, just like the Japanese. Or you will  notice how Shinkasen Train is cleaned at each stop, just like how Rwandan buses are kept clean (despite being second hand ones!!)

2. Public Image is of utmost importance: Japanese people are very cautious about how you portray them.(There is no, the "I do not give a damn about what people say"attitude, everyone cares). Thus, most Japanese men wear suits when attending an office job or meetings.Rwandans on the other hand are famously known of Gutebeza (Tucking in) with shoe polished and crystal clear ironed shirts. (Majority of Rwandans including those struggling to make ends meet, will put on nice washed clothes just to make sure the public does not think of them wrongly).

3.Elder peoples' views/guidance is like law: Whereas Japan is a first world country, elderly people are extremely respected and their word taken not just as wisdom but as law. Likewise, Rwandans do not question their elders or superiors. For example, up to now you might not believe it, but some of my Uncles and Aunties, still transmit their instructions to me!! (Despite my clocking close/past 3 decades on this planet).

4.Law is Law: You might urge that law is law everywhere but to some countries law depends.For example, in some countries having a strong law firm gives you higher chances of winning a law suit or in some developing countries it is advisable not to stop at Traffic Lights at night (even when it the lights are red and say stop).
In Japan,a pedestrian will not cross a 2 meter wide road in a residential area at 11pm, even when it is visibly clear that there is no vehicle nearby.(By the way, in Japan there are traffic lights everywhere including in front of gates of big buildings). In Rwanda,violation of traffic lights is unheard of, (of course violation of other traffic rules still happens).
On a more higher level, in Japanese language there is no word called (corruption) since even "tipping is forbidden",  equally Rwanda has zero tolerance to corruption.

5.Hospitality: On this aspect, I must confess, Japanese people are number one when it comes to hospitality (Omotenashi as they call it). I have been to over 10 countries, but when I touched down in Tokyo, I was engulfed by a warm breathe of Omotenashi.Omotenashi is smelt everywhere, on streets,convenient stores,bars, restaurants or even in a classroom.
Japanese hospitality is a topic that, I intend to write about on its own. For now, all you only need to know is that, Omotenashi is one hot item being talked about as regards the 2020 Olympic games due in Japan.
Well, Rwandans also have a strikingly good culture of hospitality as evidenced by the higher numbers of tourists. For example,I remember missing lunch or dinner at home, simply because unexpected visitors (or even strangers) had surfaced at our home during meals time. Due to the Rwandan culture that priorities visitors highly, visitors are rather served than your kids.(Sounds like Omotenashi as well, but Omotenashi is much more, I will elaborate it in another article.).

Dutahe!!! ルワンダ

3 Fundamentals of a Tech Hub in Africa

Recently, I took a study leave and paused my job of managing a Tech hub, however the entrepreneurship and the Tech community zeal still runs into my nerves, albeit I am thousands of miles away from my once dual workplace and home{kLab}.

I joined kLab as an Entrepreneur with a Business idea in June 2012 and later on got a chance to become kLab General Manager from September 2013 to September 2014. The 2 experiences got me soaked into the "Innovation,Entrepreneurship and Tech Hub business" enough that I tend to be wet of it forever.

Of recent,two articles have caught my attention;

1:Nicolas Friederici -an OII University of Oxford PHD Research Student wrote: A Tech Innovation Hub in the Making: kLab and Its Many Roles and Stakeholders.

2:Tayo Akiyemo, the Director of AfriLabs wrote: All Hands on Deck: Why Hub Sustainability is a Complex Challenge that Requires a Systemic Solution

They point out concerns on issues ranging from Definition of a Tech Hub, Its roles, metrics of measuring a Tech Hub's success and of course they both mention the famous "sustainability".

I completely agree with the challenges and unanswered questions posed by both articles, and like Tayo calls for "All hands on Deck", I have quickly jumped to a pen and a paper to give out my few below inputs;

                                            3 Fundamental Aspects of a Tech Hub

(i) Entrepreneurship  Equation:

To have a vibrant entrepreneurship environment, you need 3 overlapping ingredients. That is, you need Talent, Idea and Capital.

Talent: There is need for world class talent, not sub standard. The world has become a global village and consumers' demand quality products than never before. For example,website development clients in Rwanda need same robust and fancy features as those in Silicon Valley.

What Tech Hubs are doing: Tech Hubs are doing alot to develop talent from organizing and offering short trainings on business and technical hands-on skills to downloading MOOCs (case of kLab) and freely distributing them to their community members who can not afford internet in their homes.

Ideas: Developing countries have a lot of problems and like the popular saying that goes "more problems a society has represents more opportunities for Entrepreneurs". There are opportunities in every sector, Transport, Agriculture, Education, Health, etc.

However, existence of ideas alone does not directly translate into businesses, since Talent and Capital are still scarce.

What Tech Hubs are doing: By creating a single physical place and organizing discussions, idea presentations, hackathons,demo nights,bookclubs and market places, Tech hubs are catalysts of idea generation.

Capital:Once an eco-system has Talented personnel who have invest-able business ideas, then capital comes to make the spark. The spark that we often read on Techcrunch of millions of dollars in series A,B,C rounds or exits. 

(ii) Time:Technology is synonymous to the fastest speed, but development of an Industry is not. Yes, Gigabytes of data can be transmitted throughout the globe at the speed of light, and unfortunately media and observers of Tech Hubs, tend to think that the same speed should apply, in developing the Tech Ecosystem.
It took Silicon Valley 50 years to be what it is today. In Michael E. Goldberg's interesting lectures on Coursera, Beyond Silicon Valley:Building Entrepreneurship in Transition Economies (where I am a visiting Panelist), there are discussions of North East Ohio's 20 to 30 years plans of nurturing entrepreneurship.
While, I agree that it is important that Tech Hubs need to evaluate their activities periodically and iterate their business models often. I disagree with the notion (at this juncture of only 1 to 4 years of existence of most Tech Hubs in Africa) that questions establishment of the tech hubs in the first place or the notion that Tech Hubs are built on Hype or that they are doomed to fail.

(iii) Existing Economy:
Once assigned the job of managing a Tech Hub, a contract stipulates dealing with items like growing a community of entrepreneurs, linking them to market, attracting mentors and organizing events. When into the "Tech Hub box" you realize that its much more than that.

A Tech hub has lots of interconnection intricacies with multiple stakeholders, that must be initiated,nurtured and cemented.
Below, I managed to come up with a diagram that lists some of the stakeholders that most African Tech Hubs are currently engaged with or should engage with. For each, you will notice that it is on quid pro quo basis apart from Donors and Philanthropic ventures.
A Tech Hub has to initiate a link with either a Higher Learning Institution, Government or Public to be able to secure basic resources (like rent,internet,water) for its establishment and move on to build relationships with all the other players in the economy.

For example to receive money from the government, a Tech Hub needs to properly document how its activities will generate Jobs and later on its graduated Startups pay taxes. Likewise a University wants to know, to which extent a Tech Hub can infuse Entrepreneurship spirit into its students, if the university is it to offer its resources freely to a Hub.

However, most African Tech Hubs are currently operating on Donor or Philanthropic funds, which is not based on quid pro quo basis, and the reason the term/question "sustainability" has become famous in each Tech Hub. There was a hot debate in Nairobi and Kigali  a few months ago, where some people argued that "Donor Fund" is the cause for the "Tech Hubs' un sustainability", it is not.

This is basic logic, to kick start anything, you always need "abnormalities". Let me use the Car Engine Ignition as an analogy to describe what a Tech Hub is. For a car to ignite, the car injects fuel, along with air to the engine, compresses both, hence the fuel burns, and the burning mixture expands pushing the piston,rotor and the wheel tyres can begin to move "normally".                                           It does not matter, whether the fuel is flowing from Middle East,USA,Africa or which petrol station, what matters is that, once the car has gained momentum, there will be a guaranteed constant flow of fuel. Likewise, Tech hubs need to utilize any resources available to kick start,but drive to momentum and with continuity in mind.

Tech hubs are the engines of Tech Industry in developing economies: they are currently drawing a small amount of fuel (money) from Donor community (and some from Governments) and attracting air (Talent) from local universities but still lacking compression (Capital) to cause the spark (Series A,B) that will move the car (Tech Industry).
In doing so, Tech Hubs are facing challenges like less fuel trickling into the engine (Donor Money that has long and complex sources and accountability). Air blowing to different directions (Most of the Talented Africans do not go to Tech hubs, they prefer working for corporate companies or going over seas). And of course there is less or no compression at all (Angel, Venture Capital, Private Equity is still unheard of in African Tech Industry)

Conclusion;

Moving forward as we look at the above 3 fundamental aspects of a Tech Hub, we recognize that;

# Most Tech Hubs are still struggling to balance the Entrepreneurship equation. They are trying to raise their members skills' and simultaneously organizing events,hackathons to generate ideas and having hard time to attract capital.

# Persistent and acknowledging that the Entrepreneurship journey will take time (may be a decades) and they are ready to endure the consequences. Big thanks to the Rwandan Government that recognizes this, since quite often in the corridors with Rwandan decision makers I had them mention that "Tech Hubs like kLab" have places in the country's bigger ambitions like "Rwanda's Techno-pole".

# African Hubs are building the complex interconnected relationships with other stakeholders in the economy. They are building a portfolio with;

• Government (that they can create jobs and companies that pay tax), 
• Financial institutions ( that they can save some money on their accounts and have credit worthiness in future, or they can develop businesses)
• Higher Learning Institutions (that they are in it together, to fill the gap that is usually out of scope of the universities {which is dealing with the unstructured hands on mentor-ship of how to develop and grow a business.})
• Overseas companies that offer outsourced work to grouped Tech Hub members.( that African Tech Hubs have talented community that can offer quality services equally competitive as Indians, Chinese or Mongolians do)
• Public (that Tech Hubs are there for the public, through initiatives geared towards public good, like road mapping and offering price friendly IT solutions)
• Other Innovation hubs across the continent (that they share the same challenges and need concerted Pan African efforts like Tayo and Nicolas  mentioned). People like Ben White (VC4Africa) are doing tremendous job tackling the lack of Investment Capital challenge. {By the way, I am co-organizing a 2nd VC4Africa meet-up in Kigali this November 2014}
• Building relationships with Investors (both Local and International). And this is where existence of a "Board of Trustees" or another layer of a Tech Hub management becomes important.                     

         Attracting investors, is the most difficult challenge for Tech Hubs, especially given the small number of Investors on the African continent but also the "class difference". Most African Hubs' community is made of youth, mostly from humble family backgrounds (like mine). Consequently speaking the language of multimillion dollar investors, becomes a great problem.

I would urge basing on my experience at kLab, that existence of an upper layer of Tech Hub management (Board of Trustees as of kLab) is of paramount importance. This was evident to me in several occasions like over this November 2014 Glocal Convention. This convention  has brought Investors from UK, Israel,India,Nairobi,USA,Australia to attend the showcasing of African Innovators' businesses in Kigali,Rwanda. This would never have been organized by kLab community, if it was not the Rwanda ICT Chamber and Rwanda Development Board (Part of kLab Board of Trustees) that pulled strings and tapped into their investor rich contacts list to make it happen.

Finally, I would urge that "Tech Hub debates" should tackle on how to balance the "Entrepreneurship Equation", than try to make conclusions of a 1000 steps journey that has only made 1 to 10 steps. For example, over my 1 year General Manger-ship at kLab, kLab Startups registered a total of Quarter a Million US Dollar investments (mostly private equity and seed fund). Let us keep supporting these Tech Hubs, so that this figure rises to say 5 Million US Dollars investments per year, and many of the posed questions will automatically become obsolete.

Ref: Beyond Silicon Valley:Growing Entrepreneurship in Transitioning Economies https://www.coursera.org/course/entpecon

Dutahe!!!

Jovani Ntabgoba

Former Tenant&General Manager at kLab

BigData Predictive Analytics Research Student

Dad Sensei

Stories from an African Student in Japan can easily be drawn from any angle, but as a scientist let me stick to what could be an input to Universities of emerging markets.

Japan's university academic structure is different from the African and western models of education. Albeit, they offer lectures where a Professor stands in front of a class and explains, course-works and exams  like any university in the World,there is one unique difference "The Sensei" .

Sensie: is a Japanese word that literary translates to " a person born before/experienced than another".

At a University, every student has a Sensei, and the Sensei is the Supervisor of the student's final dissertation project. A Student is assigned or chooses a Sensei right from the start of his/her academic program, and will be under that Sensei's main supervision for his/her entire university program. This does not exclude, the particular student to receive lectures, tests and guidance from other Professors. Up-to now, I guess it looks exactly the way you know it elsewhere in the world's University programs.
Borrowing from a personal experience studying at a Japanese University, a Sensei is much more than just lectures, your Sensei will;

1. Offer personalized career guidance: Forget about the Auditorium based "Career guidance" structures where a prominent person is invited to offer a lecture of how they made it and that's it. A Sensei, will spare time out of their busy schedules to have a cup of coffee with you (student) regularly and together explore what careers, the future holds.

2. Act as a big brother/ big sister: Leaving the Class issues aside, your Sensei might as well invite you for a coffee, give you a lift to a park or even help you discover a price friendly shop. Do not get shocked if when your internet jams at your 10km away apartment from the university,and your Sensei voluntarily drives to your apartment to fix it for you free of charge (of-course).
Up-to now, I still can not believe it or figure out how, despite my Sensei's extremely busy schedules that involves things like reviewing research papers,business trips,supervision of PHD students' research papers, or working on a complex cloud based solution for over 10 hospitals, he will still find time to drive me to an awesome shopping area.

Carrying my luggage in my Sensei's Car

3.Act as a mentor: A Sensei designs 2 Dimensional academic programs, 1-the usual fundamental joint class work material and 2-personalized material that drives each student to realizing their individual dreams.
This is extremely important!, whereas back in the days it was okay for all students in a class to study a particular domain and have a common understanding, Today's world demands extreme creativity and high levels of specialization. You must be extremely good at something otherwise, you will never find a job or be useful to your community.

The one shoe fits all days are gone. If its a Computer Science class, some students have interests in Data Mining, Cryptography or Web-Application development. Whereas all computer science students should take fundamentals of computer science as in Academic Curriculum says, a Sensei will carry an extra effort to offer side insights/books to read/references/new tricks to the students that match their different interests.

4:Keep class environment as friendly as a home: From Universal Primary Education in Uganda through First ranked secondary schools to modern University classrooms in Africa, a typical classroom always has only about 4 items (chalks/computers-students-lecture and furniture.) but in Japan's classrooms there is something extra.
Only in Japan, will a Sensei, give you a break time and cut for you some fruits, offer some snacks or make for you a cup of coffee or surprise you with a Halloween Cake. Much as some people might claim that fruits and chocolates are for kindergarten, such small things mean a lot in terms of psychology (if I borrow recent Mark Zuckerberg's psychology behind 1-T-Shirt). An apple shared with classmates, psychologically relieves a mind that has been cracking "a triple integral maths calculation" and replaces the "lost energy/dead cells".

5:Strive to build an academic relationship with his/her students:A Sensei will consequently develop a Dad-like relationship with his/her students. Sensei regularly asks each of his/her students to present about anything, or how they are doing over their usual life and more.

Conclusion:
Doing all the above 5 items is not stipulated in a Sensei's contract with a university, it is a culture.
This is a culture, worth borrowing a leaf from.

Such a culture builds a strong bond between the Sensei and his/her students, similar to the "Dad-Son" or "Mum-Daughter" bond, to the extent that a student ends up working extremely hard to succeed so as not to disappoint/spoil the bond.

Anyway, I do not need to detail what such a bond can lead to, since if I tell you to pose and look around you,you will either read "Toyota, Toshiba, Sony, Panasonic brand or an article about a Japanese Nobel Laureate .

Dutahe!!!!

A JAPANESE MAGIC BUS DRIVER

A Japanese Magic Driver

Wearing Sparkling White Gloves is the Bus Driver

Growing up in villages of East Africa and later on moving into its cities, one big challenge that I experienced was copping up with the reckless tax drivers while crossing streets.

A friend of mine once asked a Kampala Tax Driver, why he had almost knocked her while she was crossing at a Zebra-crossing and the Driver replied her “Gwe Zebra?” literary meaning “Are you the un knock-able Zebra?”.

Conversely, as I move along streets of Tokyo and Sendai, I am usually amused by the meticulousness and hospitality of “Japanese Bus Drivers”. Below you will find why I chose to call the Japanese Bus Driver a “Magic Bus Driver”;

1.He only makes a 2 Minutes Delay Margin: Across the Japan Cities’ bus stops, you will find a Bus Schedule that stipulates the different arrivals of the different “buses that pass-by your current bus stop”. Public Buses begin circulating the city at 7am till 9pm, with a schedule that has several intervals like 7:45am, 8:10am, 8:34am and so on. Trust me, just like the figure is 8:34am, irrespective of rain or some traffic jams that could have happened along the way of the given bus, once the clock ticks 8:34am, magically  you suddenly see the bus arriving. Imagine a bus that moves say across Kampala {Old Tax Park – Gayaza}, Nairobi {City to Garden Estates},Dar{Posta-Survey}, or Kigali {Kanombe-Rubangura}  and makes a stopover at each of the bus stops along the way while respecting the different schedules marked at each bus stop.

This might seem to be the same throughout all developed economies, but wait! There is the Bullet Train {Shinkansen} that traverses the Main Cities of Japan. Shinkansen travels at a speed of 320km/hr and departures around every 9 minutes, has all its seats and toilets cleaned at every stop and guess what, it only makes a “6 seconds average delay time per day”. I repeat 6seconds delay after a figure got by summing up delay time of its over 10trips a day.

2.He says Arrigato Gozaimasu to each of the over 50 passengers: You cannot believe it, unless you have boarded a Japanese public bus. The Driver, despite being meticulous on keeping his over 50 passengers bus on route, he will pose as each passenger gets off the pass to say “Arigato Gozaimasu –Thank you” and this is done for each passenger. It is not just that, the Driver will also once in while “say a word to welcome passengers on board over his/her microphone”.

3.He sticks to a constant speed of 40km/hour: Whereas the Japanese driver will keep the 2minutes delay margin only, he will not rush or try to accelerate past 40km/hour. I once sat right next to the driver to see if there could be a lock on his accelerator pedal like “our failed Technology in East African Buses that called SpeedGovernor”. A SpeedGovernor was a fabricated sensor (most probably made from one of the Jua Kari) that would cut fuel flow to the Engine whenever the driver accelerated past 90km/hour. The Technology worked for a few months and later disappeared. In Japan, things are different, the speed governor is naturally embedded in the Driver’s Leg, the buses can race up to 180km/hr but to the magic Driver, driving at 40km/hr is the best choice especially when you have over 50 people at your back.

4.He also tells humorous anecdotes and teaches history&culture. This time, it is not every Japanese Bus Driver, but if you happen to board other Public Buses, like the one I did board called Loop Sendai Bus, then you get to test another experience of the magic driver.

Loop Sendai is a bus that traverses the city of Sendai {Biggest Town of Tohuku Region}, passing by the city’s historical sites and natural beauties. For your Information “Sendai is a lovely city full of green”.

The Driver of LoopSendai Bus has a microphone attached to his chin and will simultaneously drive as he explains history of Sendai, throws some jokes {that leave those who understand Japanese laughing to crack their ribs}.

5.He monitors in real time every centimeter of the entire Bus: The bus has 8 mirrors (that is: 2 usual side mirrors, and 6mirrors inside the bus). The Bus Driver synchronously crosschecks through all the 6 mirrors, before takeoff to verify if all passengers are okay, not to mention that he occasionally poses to see if you are dropping the exact fare into a coins case embedded onto the bus.

Now that I got a Jitensha, I hardly get to meet the Magic Driver again, but he is a man I respect and had I not seen him old, may be my dream would not have been today's but rather a Bus Driver too.

Dutahe!!!.