5 Questions That Challenge The Common Negative Perceptions
This article is written by Brian Malika, a Contributor Author at Startup Istanbul.
In the spirit of encouraging global partnerships that don’t discriminate the region where one comes from, I have prepared well researched set of five questions to provoke the thinking of large companies to move towards embracing an open hand policy that doesn’t discriminate the level of forming partnerships based on where an entrepreneur comes from.
Before I go to the questions, it's important to note that the silicon valley needs and learning process for emerging markets are not any different from that of the rest of the world. What might be different is the way Silicon Valley innovation processes are implemented based on the situation at hand that might be different depending on which part of the world one comes from.
Therefore, it's entirely wrong not to consider investing in Silicon Valley among emerging economies just because you think that your investment might not appreciate emerging economies. Hence the best person to help international companies to better invest their Silicon Valley industries would be start-up founders living in emerging economies.
The above sentiments being said, I would now move to the next topic regarding the five questions the one big companies ought to ask themselves whenever they doubt about investing in emerging markets. These five questions follow below :
#1: How many opportunities exist in emerging economies?
#2: What is the right use of Silicon Valley?
#3: how many success stories have been reported in Silicon Valley?
#4: How easy is it for start-ups in emerging economies to find sponsorship?
#5: How intelligent is the funding ecosystem in emerging economies?
#1: How many opportunities exist in emerging economies?
The fact that most emerging economies are not well connected to electricity, banking services, clean water, better housing, poor education system and so on presents an array of endless opportunities that can be met through innovative start-ups that want to better society. Therefore, every big company across the world should actually be excited about emerging economies more than anything because this is where we have endless opportunities for changing the world. The future Mark Zuckerberg might actually come from an emerging economy.
#2: What is the right use of Silicon Valley?
Just before you dismiss emerging economies as a wrong silicon investment option, I would like to ask you what is the purpose of having the silicon valley industry in the first place? The answer is that Silicon Valley exists to better the living condition of people by making production, movement, communication and facilitating any other process of making life easy. Therefore, with the so much hardship of life in emerging economies partly due to poor infrastructure development among many other reasons, it is important to note that the Silicon Valley industry should be best prioritized for emerging economies more since that is where there is a real hardship.
#3: how many success stories have been reported in Silicon Valley ?
Before embracing your skepticism on why you shouldn’t invest in emerging economies , its important to ask yourself if investors before you have ever tried to invest there . If you do a background check , you will notice amazing and successful companies that were start-ups before but got a courageous investor to believe and partner with them.
Don’t be too fast to belittle the start-ups from emerging economies. Do your own background check and you will notice that indeed great outcomes have happened and are bound to happen in the emerging start-up ecosystem.
#4: How easy is it for start-ups in emerging economies to find sponsorship?
Well, in case you're asking yourself why start-ups from emerging economies are not shining on the global arena as those from developed economies, then you need to understand that it's not easy to get funding and mentorship if you are based are a start-up founder in an emerging economy as compared to those from developed economies. But with the surmountable amount of funding and mentorship, then start-ups from emerging economies are bound to succeed on an optimal trend.
#5: How intelligent is the funding ecosystem in emerging economies?
Lastly, a good number of investors that have tried partnering with start-up founders from emerging economies did engage in this process in an unintelligent manner. They just dished out money and then folded their hands waiting for results.
The truth is that many start-up founders from emerging economies do not have enough financial management skills to handle venture capitals and the likes and this has contributed massively to the failure of many start-ups in emerging markets.
Therefore, I would urge investors out there to consider partnering with start-ups from emerging markets but with a smart plan for issuing the funds. This could be achieved by offering mentorship through accelerator programs.
The reality
Listen, if you think that by avoiding start-ups from emerging markets is playing safe by reducing the risks for making losses then you are wrong. This is because by neglecting start-ups from the emerging market we are only denying their creativity and solutions in the global start-up ecosystem, therefore, reducing the chances of making the world better.
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