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FIP 111: Hardware entrepreneurs 3/3 – Creating a device to solve last-mile connectivity issues in Africa, with Erik Hersman

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The Lemelson Foundation LogoThis is part three of a 3-part series on invention-based entrepreneurs, supported by The Lemelson Foundation. The series aims to provide unique insights into some of the challenges and workarounds faced by entrepreneurs creating hardware products in emerging markets. This third part episode is with Erik Hersman, co-founder of BRCK, which creates a modem-cum-router device aimed at solving last-mile connectivity issues in Africa. We’re going to talk about the early prototypes, how they funded manufacturing and validated the market, some of the challenges they had along the way, and how the product evolved into what it is today.

On this episode you’ll learn:

  • Erik’s mantra about why “experience is knowing what not to do.”
  • “Managing expectations:” for BRCK version 1 it took 15-16 months to get a prototype working, then another 12-18 months to build it for the market. In hindsight, how could it be done quicker?
    1. if you really know what you’re doing (ie. what materials should be used, etc.
    2. if you’re well capitalized (ie. have the money), and
    3. if you’re not based in Africa (which has increased costs and time).
  • How did he validate the market to make sure people will buy it? By using Kickstarter, the crowdfunding platform, which is a great way to find out. They raised $170,000 then decided to create the for-profit company to raise additional capital.
  • Early stage companies (particularly in hardware) have to find a balance of when to pull the trigger on shipping.
    • The internal messaging was that it is not acceptable to miss deadlines.
    • The external messaging to stakeholders was that you try to deliver when you say you’re going to.
  • Some of the initial problems (that went wrong) and why initial timelines were pushed back: “end of life” manufacturer (ie. they don’t make it anymore), testing at scale, user experience, etc.
  • The decision to move from selling a product to moving to a service: the internal conversation within the company on whether they are solving the real problem of how do you get people online? It resulted in business model innovation (more so than technology innovation) which led to Moja wifi in Kenya and Rwanda which serves up free internet to half a million people.
  • Linear versus non-linear growth: when you’re getting venture-backed finance or choose to take venture funding, they are looking for non-linear growth.
  • Why BRCK became a vertically integrated company—they discovered value in building everything in house—helps with risk mitigation, agility, and the ability to respond to customer needs.
  • How Moja wifi is funded.
  • What Erik knows now that he wished he knew back then?
    1. Realize earlier that they needed to build a platform on top of the hardware since the hardware is just a means to an end.
    2. Focus more capital on the SupaBRCK earlier (their next generation device) since it was delayed 6 months.
    3. Hiring the right people: maybe hired too fast in some positions and didn’t get the right people.

Links to Resources:

Connect with Erik:

FIP 110: Hardware entrepreneurs 2/3 – Creating electronic hardware products for businesses in East Africa, with Mary Mwangi

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This is part two of a 3-part series on invention-based entrepreneurs, supported by The Lemelson Foundation. The series aims to provide unique insights into some of the challenges and workarounds faced by entrepreneurs creating hardware products in emerging markets. This part two episode is with Mary Mwangi of Data Integrated Ltd., and we are going to hear about her electronic hardware development journey on manufacturing products to improve security in public transport, and to reduce financial leakage. Data Integrated Ltd. is creating electronic hardware products for businesses in East Africa to help business owners keep track of money, whether that is transport companies keeping track of passengers, or point of sale (PoS) devices for retail businesses taking cash and mobile money payments.

On this episode you will learn:

  • The biggest problem that most small businesses in Africa face is a lack of data. There is not enough information around their payments, about their resources, and services they are being paid for–there is no digitized or automated way of keeping this and it has been very manual and not very productive.
    • Cash leakage and loss of revenue for owners
    • Insecurity
  • Her easy and affordable point of sale (PoS) device for retail businesses taking cash and mobile money payments, particularly small restaurant owners, and making sure it would work for the local African market.
    • Integrates with mobile money providers, card payments from the bank, and cash payments all captured in one place.
    • Keeps track of inventory that has been paid and gives data back to the owners in an easy to read dashboard so they can make better decisions.
    • Raspberry pi – premade hardware kit for simple programming.
  • One of the biggest challenges she faced was the long development cycle, having to send electronic boards to China, create a prototype, test, iterate, and send back again for testing. Each iteration can take over two months to get the next version back.
    • No printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturer exists in East Africa that can create such small PCB units.
    • Mary recently bought a 3D printer to shorten casing time.
  • Her struggles with sourcing good local talent so people can help create these PCBs. Since there is no industry in East Africa, there is not as much local talent nor expertise, and people are finding the tools online to teach themselves, so there is a lot of trial and error going on. Her advice is:
    • Get referrals from local universities
    • Recruit young people keen to learn
    • Accessing experts on LinkedIn, YouTube videos
  • How she is financing her business with this long development cycle. It is really difficult to get funding for hardware development, so they label themselves as a software company, since they create connected devices for software solutions.
  • How she creates partnerships in order to find hardware solutions and to iterate the product with them, then sell it onto other customers. Once you are able to do it with one company, then you find similar ones that also want the same solution.
  • Finally, you will learn about the new actionable playbook for invention-based entrepreneurs based on interviews and discussions with leaders in the field, delving into the challenges of bringing physical products into the market. The playbook prepared by Finding Impact will provide actionable content around issues such as workarounds, hiring teams, raising funds, creating minimum viable products and launch strategies, to help entrepreneurs on their invention journey. Click here to sign-up for the playbook.

Links to resources:

Connect with Mary:

FIP 109: Hardware entrepreneurs 1/3 – Creating tools for manufacturing in Africa, with William Maluki

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This week on the Finding Impact Podcast, we are kicking off a new series on hardware entrepreneurs, this one with William Maluki of Gearbox about creating tools for manufacturing in Africa. This is the first episode in a 3-part series on invention-based entrepreneurs, supported by The Lemelson Foundation. The series aims to provide unique insights into some of the challenges and workarounds faced by entrepreneurs creating hardware products in emerging markets.

On this podcast, you will learn:

  • Why and how William invented a marvellous machine called KunjaBot that is an automatic pipe bender specifically designed for people in the Juakali (informal manufacturing) sector in Kenya. The KunjaBot provides the Juakali sector with access to mass manufacturing capabilities at affordable costs while improving quality and profit margins and allowing them to compete against imported products.
  • About the pay-as-you-bend (akin to a pay-as-you-go) business model of the KunjaBot that enables the Juakali to avoid expensive purchasing costs of manufacturing equipment and absolves them of the costs for operating and maintaining the equipment.
  • How William has dealt with barriers while building the KunjaBot such as customer demand, lack of awareness among the Juakali, business model changes, manufacturing challenges, commitment and lead times from suppliers and contractors, as well engineering and accounting skills to get his project off the ground, etc.
  • About the Gearbox initiative in Kenya and how it enables and provides incredible support to hardware entrepreneurs and inventors to design and build their products through capacity building, maker spaces and engineering and technology support.
  • Finally, you will learn about the new the actionable playbook for invention-based entrepreneurs based on interviews and discussions with leaders in the field, delving into the challenges of bringing physical products into the market. The playbook prepared by Finding Impact will provide actionable content around issues such as workarounds, hiring teams, raising funds, creating minimum viable products and launch strategies, to help entrepreneurs on their invention journey. Click here to sign-up for the playbook.

Links to Resources:

Connect with William: