The status quo is the biggest obstacle to an entrepreneur

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Lessons from Elmira Bayrasli, Entrepreneur & Author, From The Other Side of The World at Startup Istanbul Conference 2015.

Another  lesson  that I learnt is this concept of the status quo. And here is where I'm I want to say to everyone who's here particularly here in Turkey which is an emerging market but from all the other places, whether it's from Kenya or Pakistan  or Europe. The status quo has to be one of the biggest obstacles to an entrepreneur.

Couple of people talked about  Airbnb. They want to innovate on something where there's already existing businesses. The hotel online hotel lobby doesn't want your AirBnB to take away any of their customers, and so what they do is they work with regulars and government officials to put roadblocks on their way.

I actually see the status quo as being something that entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley and in the West is holding them up from actually moving forward and the opportunity to actually build something where there is nothing. Where you can actually iterate on something and get it out there faster.

Those opportunities exist in Africa,Asia,Latin America and the Middle East. There's a reason the financial technology particularly mobile money is coming out of Africa and it is not coming out of silicon valley. There  are no there are no banks,there are no rules and so people whether it's in Kenya or in Nigeria are actually able to then iterate and create.

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