Today’s guest is passionate and doing great work in the world. Startups in Africa aren’t something you hear about every day, but today, you will hear exactly why they represent a fantastic opportunity.
The pod this week isn’t just about this, we also dive into what it means to reskill effectively and why accountability can be a secret weapon.
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Caleb Maru is the Head of Programs at EntryLevel and a Partner at Proximity Ventures.
He is passionate about startups in Africa and writes about his learnings in his newsletter.
🤝 Connect with Caleb#
Newsletter - https://proximityvc.substack.com/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/calebmaru
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/calebmaru/
👇 Episode Takeaways#
The Africa Opportunity#
Caleb’s energy and enthusiasm for Africa is infectious.
There were some things he said during the interview that got my attention.
- over half of Africa’s population is under 35
- 23% of people have their own business
- Founders can be extremely fast builders
- the culture is one of giving back and helping your friends
These things, together with increased investment funding and increasing tech adoption make for a very interesting proposition.
Caleb is doing great work in this space and is absolutely one to watch.
Effective Reskilling#
Caleb is a very effective operator. He has many skills in many different areas.
At EntryLevel, he helps people to reskill from one area to another.
Here is what he had to say about those that manage this transition effectively
A, a pretty firm commitment. I want this job, and so this is what I’m going for. B it’s being really particular about what things you need to learn. C is like learning those things and then like D is just like actively applying for roles the whole time.
I think this applies to not only big transitions that are across industries or complete role changes, but also those changes that are more local like going for a promotion.
You must
- be committed
- understand what you need to learn
- learn those things
- apply for the role
Doing these things will make it hard to fail at what you desire to achieve.
Accountability#
Caleb spoke to the power of accountability in getting him to where he is today.
He attributed much of his progress to his Elephants group. (You can read about what this is here)
Accountability is powerful. Saying your goals and ambitions in a public way, whether that is on social media or with friends is one of the best ways to stick to things that you want to do.
Use it wisely.
📝 Content Timestamps#
00:00 Caleb Maru
00:11 Intro
00:30 Start of interest in Africa
03:34 Biggest differences in startup culture between Aus and Africa
12:20 Undervalued parts of the African startup ecosystem
17:35 The role of governments in Africa
21:05 Personal Learning from Africa
23:26 Caleb at Entrylevel
25:26 Caleb’s reskilling journey
27:12 Traits of successful EntryLevel learners
32:32 Caleb’s Inspirations
35:51 Most worthwhile investment of time or money
40:41 Advice for Graduates
42:02 Connect with Caleb
42:46 Outro