#0: Introducing Vizible
...and why you should care.
I started my tech journey in the summer of 2016 while roaming the streets of Lagos with my friends, Yemi & Laolu. Before the summer of 2016, my knowledge of the tech space was limited to reading books and articles about famous tech CEOs.
Throughout the summer, Laolu and Yemi *dragged me* to a series of tech conferences and meetups. I obliged because they were my only friends, but little did I know the impact it would have on my life forever. At those events, I learnt a lot about tech and got exposed to what people were building in the Nigerian tech ecosystem. It was such an exciting experience.
Then like clockwork, we decided to build something. Laolu shared an interesting fintech idea with us, and we got to work on it. I was the only non-technical person in the friend group, so all the non-technical responsibilities naturally gravitated toward me. As they say, the rest is history.
Fast forward to 2022, and here I am—a Nigerian expat—who still cares deeply about the Nigerian tech ecosystem but is struggling to stay up to date with all the amazing things people are building. I think I care so much because the Nigerian tech space is such a crucial part of my story. I don't think I would have made the jump into tech if Summer 2016 hadn't happened the way it did.
I remember walking through rows and rows of founders showcasing their products at the many tech expos I attended that summer. I remember talking to some of these founders and hearing them speak passionately about how their products will solve significant problems for Africans. I remember listening to endless talks by industry leaders about how tech is the future and how it will change Africa.
Six years later, Nigeria's tech scene has become even more exhilarating. There's so much happening in the African and adjacently Nigerian tech ecosystem. New products are being built daily, successful funding rounds are announced weekly, and the number of people building is proliferating. Unfortunately, I have struggled to stay abreast with everything.
Staying up to date with the products being released and problems being solved has been difficult. I have to rely on Twitter, numerous newsletters, blogs and communities, which has been challenging to manage. A lot of times, I don't hear about products until they announce their successful funding rounds. This shouldn't be the case.
Tech enthusiasts like me who care about what problems people are solving and what is being released into the market should be able to get that information easily.
Discovering early-stage Nigerian [and African] built products shouldn't be this hard.
So I've decided to do something about it. Enter Vizible.
What I'm doing with Vizible is building a repository of African products. We want to make finding and discovering what is being built in the ecosystem easier.
It's important to clarify what we mean by African products. African products to us are products built by Africans for; Africans, Western communities or both. This definition is important because we will showcase products built by Africans in diaspora. If we can find it and it has an African founder or is built for African communities, we will showcase it.
For now, we will focus more on early-stage non-mainstream products because these are the products that are hard to find. This is not to say that we will not be showcasing the more popular products; they just won't be our priority for now.
What to expect:
Every week you'll receive a newsletter. Each newsletter will showcase one product, tell you their unique value proposition, give you a preview of the platform and share some user reviews. If I can, I'll share some thoughts about my experience with the product.
Outside helping you discover new products, we hope to inspire current and future builders by showcasing what people like them have built. So I'm calling all product enthusiasts, builders [current and future], and folks who care about what's happening in the African tech ecosystem. Let's discover African products and make them more vizible in the ecosystem.
If you have any questions, comments or ideas, you can send them to me at dumss@vizible.africa.
I look forward to discovering new products with you!
Yours in Product Discovery,
Dumss.
Quick Links
Nominate your favourite products so we can feature them.
If you have any feedback on the newsletter, send it to us here or shoot me a message at dumss@vizible.africa.
Awesome work here dumss. Can't wait for what you have in store!