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