Changing the African Narrative

Impact Africa Network CEO Mark Karake Andrew Kendungu via Impact Africa Network

Startup studio in Nairobi on a mission to ensure young talented Africans can access Africa's digital transformation opportunity as creators and owners.

In March 2018, after much soul searching and anguished second guessing, I made the decision to repatriate back home to Africa to immerse myself in the economic development struggle. This is what I have dedicated the rest of my life to doing, my TED talk if you will.

I had fi nally come to my ‘two roads divided in a wood’ moment, and realized I could either let my life peter out in an unhappy, warmed over false sense of fi nancial ‘security’ in the Bay Area, or, I could dive head and feet fi rst into the adventure of making an impact.

In January 2019 I launched a non-profi t startup studio in Nairobi with a mission is to ensure young talented Africans have a chance at participating in the digital transformation of Africa as creators and owners.

Africa’s story is not just about poverty and disease. Those of us who grew up here know a diႇ erent version exists, and it is about the potential of the continents irrepressible, abundant young talent.

But whose job is it to unlock that potential? More to the point, where could my suppressed 15 years of Silicon Valley experience be most useful?

At Impact Africa Network we do 3 things: • Develop innovation leaders • Launch startups • Build community

We opened our doors (my apartment) in January of 2019 and so far we have provided the opportunity to 25 fellows and are working on 7 exciting projects including; a STEM school, a media platform, Gen Z fi ntech, Upwork for Africa, a documentary,…… there is so much to be done

Impact Africa Network is a non profi t charitable entity US 501(C)3 EIN 83–2020331. Why non profi t? Because it is the only fi nancing model that can work for the patient, capacity building work that needs to be done at this very early stage. Don’t argue with me on this one.

This is hard, unglamorous work and only possible when one is truly in love with the process.

Make An Impact

Despite the challenges we are facing the world is fi lled with individuals with amazing hearts, and I always knew we would fi nd believers.

Most people are eager to be support causes they believe can make a diႇ erence. Like every non profi t we are always fund raising and we invite you to be part of our micro-donations support program. It works just like Netfl ix.

We are seeking 500 champions willing to give $20 a month until December 2021. For this, I will send you a signed copy of the book before the end of the year.

Jeႇ Weiner of LinkedIn has committed to match every donor who subscribes to our micro-donations support program via LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com/feed/ update/urn:li:activity:6675813081085571072).

Alternatively, you may go directly to our donation page (www.impactafrica.network/microdonation). Choose the ‘Give Monthly’ option and become part of the solution. Leave us a comment while at it.

We also need mentors in; product dev/design, software engineering, digital marketing, fi nance, hr, legal, writing, PR & comms, and leadership. If interested, add that to your comment.

Innovation Fellowship

We provide twelve month Innovation Fellowships to talented college graduates, providing them with the opportunity to develop relevant professional skills, gain innovation experience, and the chance at being part of a startup founding team.

Product development Fellows

Role for fellows with a technical background such as CS, IT or other engineering discipline where they get to work on internal projects with the intention of spinning them out into startups.

In-house professional services

In-house professional services is a role for emerging professionals across design, fi nance, legal, research, marketing and business development

Gain professional skills - College graduates are ill prepared for the professional world. Our fellows get the opportunity to develop their professional skills by being immersed in an environment that exposes them to real world projects and working with cross functional teams.

Startup experience - The successful commercialization of innovation requires a distinct set of skills and experience. Our fellows are directly involved in the ideation and startup creation process gaining fi rst hand experience on how to eႇ ectively validate ideas and create startups.

Professional Marketability - The studio experience places our fellows on a promising career path. Upon emerging from the studio our fellows are extremely attractive to prospective employers. It is a powerful way to diႇ erentiate themselves with hiring managers while providing them the confi dence and credibility in the job search process.

Be part of a founding team - The opportunity exists for fellows to be part of founding a startup. Should the project they are working on develop into a startup they fellows are eligible to equity consideration in the company.

Resource Network

We continually develop a network of key mentors, advisors, domain experts, donors and angel investors who provide the necessary support for the work we do.

Media platform

Our media and events platform is designed to demystify, localize, and democratize startup building knowledge and best practices across the ecosystem to provide Silicon Savanna a voice, an identity, and community. The platform includes: Blog, Events, Podcasts, videos.

Projects

Our ambitious 10-10-10 goal is to build 10 great companies with combined net worth of 10 billion and providing at least 10 thousand jobs by 2030. 1. Jenga School - A Data Science and AI school with a mission to unleash Africa's genius to help solve global problems. We equip students with both soft and technical skills, whilst keeping up with the latest trends in order to meet global talent demands. https://jengaschool.com 2. Systematic Entrepreneurship - An online platform that equips innovators with the necessary knowledge, understanding and key resources to facilitate theit entrepeneurial journey and help them get unstuck