A letter from the founder
Today, Briter turns four years old.
A company becomes such a pervasive element of a founder’s life it is hard to eloquently express the emotions one experiences during the countless good and bad days of the business. Building Briter has been a challenging, hectic, unpredictable, and risky journey, but certainly, one that has kept on giving every day. I am thankful for the team, partners, and friends who’ve put their faith and efforts into our vision and execution.
People tend to fantasise about the intentionality behind entrepreneurship, the want-to-be-an-entrepreneur frenzy, not realising it can often be the result of a snowballing effect that starts from more or less fortuitous - or at least unplanned - causes. In the summer of 2018, the day I released the first innovation map, I didn’t do so knowing it would unleash the series of events that led to what Briter is, and who I am today. At the time, I was living in East Africa, running a solo scarcely-viewed magazine aimed at exploring the bri(gh)ter side of underserved markets to wealthier economies, investors, and anyone capable of taking action on the information I was sharing. Since registering the business on Halloween that year, and getting our first four clients by Spring 2019, we never stopped pushing the pedal and growing.
When asked what makes me proud I respond: being surrounded by talented individuals trusting the vision through all these years and seeing how consistency and discipline have led a young team to become one of the most trusted brands globally for research and business intelligence in emerging markets in 48 months. Thank you, Lisa, Joshua, Clara, Fortune, Edo, Sam, Mariam, David, Aziza, and Rodgers.
Our mission builds on a simple, but purposeful equation: more and better data inform more and better decisions. In our context: markets that vastly lack an adequate supply of knowledge about what they offer are precluded from opportunities. Well-harnessed opportunities lead to socio-economic development. Briter is committed to bridging this gap.
Over the past 10 months, Briter saw faster growth than we ever expected:
We doubled in size, growing from five to ten extraordinary, young, and enthusiastic people, and consolidated our Growth, Product, and Research teams.
We 2x-ed our annual revenues, for our third year in a row, adding dozens of new blue-chip clients from Tokyo to London and Cape Town, without ever needing any external investment.
We doubled our client base and thousands of professionals downloaded our reports and research.
We expanded our footprint on the African continent with a presence in Lagos, Tunis, Cape Town, and Nairobi.
We increased our involvement in, and sponsorship of Africa-focused networking events and initiatives globally.
We completely rebuilt Briter Intelligence to include more data capabilities, functions, and interactiveness, and are about to launch it publicly.
My very role as a founder shifted from execution to team, client, and growth management, forcing me to reconsider the way I do everything within the business, how information is reported from each team to me, and how to decentralise the decision-making process to keep growing capacity and capabilities. It’s a critical step, one where the well-functioning depends on the ability to lift myself from control and largely rely on trust and protocols.
Since founding Briter, we have been tracking business and investment activities across Africa’s innovation ecosystem, comparing it at times with data from other emerging markets. Despite COVID-19, the space has at least quadrupled in size by frequency and amount of investment, going from less than a billion raised by startups to 4-5 billion per year. This is only considering disclosed and non-confidential amounts.
The better narrative about investment attractiveness has not been, however, simply about the numbers. The process of maturity is a consequence of a paradigm shift that saw Africa going from a non-investable, conflict-stricken continent, to a land of hope, growth, and returns. From corporates looking to expand to new markets and increase distribution to governments redesigning their priorities and policies to better assist the private sector, the tide has been moving in the direction of ‘facilitation’ and focus on investment readiness. A healthier debate has translated into the constant examination and reconfiguration of models and practices. We hope to have played at least a tiny part in this. Several examples come to mind:
The evolution of financial instruments to best accommodate the challenging conditions in which entrepreneurs operate.
The role played by so-called tech hubs, their limits and potential to support entrepreneurs.
The need for local capital versus the consequences of depending on foreign investors.
More recently, the race to the top of valuations and the problems with vicious fundraising cycles.
The recognition of exit routes via mergers, acquisitions, and trade sales, versus public listings.
Swing, cycles, and instability are not new to emerging markets, but the improved perception of what these economies can offer is likely to drive change in the long term. As the new year begins and the world remains in a state of uncertainty, I have been reflecting on what allowed us to get here by strictly pursuing revenue-driven growth.
First, I think of the importance of emotional and social awareness in the form of the ability to react to setbacks, listen to team or clients’ needs, and seize momentum.
Then, resilience strategies such as client diversification, responsiveness, and preemptive planning, as well as the willingness to compromise and think outside the box.
Finally, two less ordinary factors one hardly finds in MBA handbooks: luck, that is, finding yourself at the right place at the right time; and market trust, a virtue which requires time and can hardly be bought or gained outright.
As we enter this new financial year, we are more resourced and equipped than we have ever been to pursue our vision to build the digital knowledge infrastructure for underserved markets and we are now devoted to doubling down on our publications, data scope, and engagement with the ecosystem. We are thankful for the trust so many businesses and leaders have put in us.
PS: the photo is from our 3rd birthday party in Nairobi but do keep an eye out for this year’s celebrations!
Dario Giuliani, Founder and Director