Fintech in Africa
An Afternoon with Wiza Jalakasi
Positioning Yourself for Opportunities
By JESTY WORLD
Hello world,
“Opportunities favor the loudest in the room” is common sense and kind of cliche, but think about it; who are the loudest, and what room are we talking about?
The loudest are prepared, put themselves out there, and run with opportunities once they strike. In a nutshell, this is the message by Wiza Jalakasi, VP of Global merchant Business at Chipper Cash.
“A technology operator building the future of Africa” is the first thing you come across on Wiza’s website. He is a Malawian techie well-known in the African Tech ecosystem for bringing people together. He recently started hosting Twifintech Happy Hour events. These events happen across African countries enabling fintech bros to link up, network, learn and share a drink, thoughts, and ideas. Having been in the Tech scene for around 14 years, Wiza shares some lessons he’s picked along the journey.
He commenced by saying “if you leave here with one thing only, take this: Opportunities favor the loudest people compared to the brightest. Hear me out: When there is an opportunity, the first person to reach out to is the one who is well recognized rather than the brilliant person who is unknown.”
This is something he would voice repeatedly throughout his talk. And he should know what he is talking about, as someone with humble beginnings, taking whatever opportunity he came across. Back then, he wasn’t even eloquent or articulate. But these were minor hurdles he pushed through to rise gradually to his current position.
The first job offer he landed from Chipper Cash illustrates this point. Wiza knew about the company and the business they were doing. Yeah? So did many others, you might presume. And you would be right. But he went the extra mile and did an elaborative thread on Twitter about them. Guess what? Chipper Cash noticed and reached out to him. Viola.
Another very good example is the series of tweets he makes of the locations he will be traveling to with the aim of meeting people in his space of interest. He puts himself out there and because he does, opportunities find him prepared.
We live in a noisy society where every turn you take there is some information to consume. If you don’t say anything you are definitely lost in the crowd. My take home from that is that finding ways to stand out is the first step to winning. This could involve creating a portfolio of what you do or championing an organization whose business you admire. For instance, most developers are comfortable only existing on GitHub. Go beyond that by working on a portfolio and sharing it. Ensure you stay top of mind for opportunities that arise.
A few other nuggets that Wiza shared:
- Tell your stories. No one else will tell them. And don’t be ‘humble’ about it. I mean, you are competing with people who touched ipads at age 6. You’ll need to be more aggressive to break through the noise.
- Cultivate relationships. I know you know this, but this is just a reminder that relationships go further than you think.
- To the techies, there are a million opportunities in the Fintech space in Africa. Did you know that 90% of transactions in Africa are still in cash? Do the math.
- For those interested in making Africa a manufacturing continent: There is a long way to go. We have the manpower but issues such as load shedding, power cuts, and unreliable electricity make it hard to build industries.
That concludes the learnings I had from the session.
Connect with Wiza on Twitter @wizaj.
For more info, Wiza Jalakasi is the place to be.
Cheers mates.
Ps: If you ever invite Wiza to your party, make sure there is enough champagne. Bottles will pop for sure.
