Doing Business in Africa with Mikhail Lyapin

Today’s guest is Mikhail Lyapin, Founder at Patron Kenya, Managing partner at the business development consulting company Exotic.vc and Author of the telegram channel about business in Africa - @Mzungugram. During our discussion, Mikhail and I touched upon the face of modern Russian business in Africa today, why he chose East Africa as the starting point for his business, why high-level agreements don't always lead to real benefit for business working on the ground and what to know when beginning your journey doing business in Africa.  

Timecodes

1:55 The art of doing business in Africa  

6:15 What different sub-regions and countries have to offer in terms of business opportunity

8:13 About the concept of the Kenyan hustler nation 

12:49 How protocols, documents and other results of the Russia-Africa Summit presented themselves on the ground in Africa

14:20 Moving from planning to action 

16:30 How the need for IT and software independence led to the success of “My Office”in Africa

17:30 The main roadblocks when trying to launch your business in Africa

19:17 Why the Russian way of doing business doesn't work in Africa

 21:10 How technical restrictions and artificial conditions gave way to M-Pesa’s groundbreaking success 

24:15 Why Africa is the next India and how laptops will solve the continent’s IT gap