Re: Startup scene in Mauritius

From: Suyash Sumaroo <suyash_at_codevigor.com>
Date: Mon, 28 Dec 2015 19:39:28 +0400

Hi Yuv,

I think that this is what differentiates an entrepreneur from other people.
We do not seek the 'comfort' of a well paid, secure job. Instead, we try to
take risks to achieve something different.

I also think that its very very very difficult to achieve something alone.
You always need a good team around you. The main skill is to surround
yourself with the best people. Easier said than done though, :-)

I think we should meet some day between entrepreneurs and other interested
people. The 4th Jan seems to be a very good idea. I'm all in too. Let's
start 2016 the right way. Let's also send a signal that despite all the
difficulties we have as entrepreneurs, we will still go on - which is, in
my opinion, what defines a real entrepreneur.



On Mon, Dec 28, 2015 at 6:49 PM, Yuv Joodhisty <locustv2_at_gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi Sten and MIU guys,
>
> I recently decided to try and launch a startup. I discussed about the idea
> with some friends and all of them said go for it, but neither offered to
> help. Well i hope you get a brief idea about launching a startup here in
> Mauritius everyone says it's good but no one want to take any risk.
>
> Well i was alone, thought a lot about everyday and finally decided to go
> for it now instead of waiting and getting more responsibilities (family
> stuff, marriage, children and stuff). Didn't take long to resign from my
> job started doing everythign to make it possible. I already did all of the
> registration stuff and now working and hoping to see light this coming
> year.
>
> I did meet a guy who shared the idea and decided to start on something
> very small to see whether he was worth it, but i think he got lost in some
> blackhole. Haven't heard from him again.
>
> But personally, i can say that there are a lot of constraints to a fast
> and successful startup here in mauritius. It's hard to get help, specially
> financial. I am working on 2 and soon 3 projects, all incomplete, and I
> still have no investor. There is probably smeda which would fund me but i
> guess for this to happen i'd have to already have my application/website up
> and ready for business, right?
>
> But for the time being i'm doing everything with the little finance i
> have. Well that's the risk i accepted to take.
>
> Other constraints that i have encountered are:
>
> - I worked with a lot of api including Paypal, Amazon, Google,
> Facebook and Youtube, but what is the point if paypal and amazon would be
> useless here in Mauritius? Even though paypal allows Mauritian accounts to
> receive funds, who would use it in Mauritius to buy local products? Amazon
> does not ship to Mauritius and to become an ebay affiliate you need a very
> high traffic website which i don't have yet.
> - I work on web applications using frameworks and not CMS** (not
> creating website for others, but creating application that can be used by
> others), and since i am alone, i need to work on backend, frontend, manage
> servers and system admin. Well that takes a lot of time to deliver.
> - When you are in the startup atmosphere, you ask yourself a lot of
> time, "Will it work?", "Will people use my services?" and other stuff which
> can sometimes make you want to give up.
>
>
> Instead of waiting for startups to emerge, ask yourself if you would like
> to take the risk and start a startup yourself, then you might get your
> answer whether there is hope in Mauritius. I accepted the challenge, do
> you?
> I can accept failure but I cannot accept not trying. ;)
>
> Well, i'm open to discuss about startups and i don't mind a meetup on
> Monday, Jan 4th. Maybe i could use some ideas as i am new.
>
> **Personally i think CMS lack so much features that at one point you will
> have to break your architecture and rebuild it. CSM should be used for
> small websites such as restaurants and not for large projects.
>
> Regards
> Yuv
>
> On Mon, Dec 28, 2015 at 4:58 PM, S Moonesamy <sm+mu_at_elandsys.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi Sten, Rajnish, Ish, Vincent, Suyash,
>> At 02:26 28-12-2015, Sten Tamkivi wrote:
>>
>>> Thanks you so much for reaching back out to my twitter inquiries, S!
>>>
>>
>> Sten, I hope that your family and you are visiting the beaches and
>> enjoying the vacation. :-)
>>
>> I am copying this message to the Chief Technical Officer of the Ministry
>> of Technology, Communication and Innovation. I'll comment below.
>>
>> As a quick way of introduction, I'm a co-founder and CEO of <
>>> https://teleport.org>Teleport, a startup where we build software for
>>> people to move to their best place to live and work.
>>> In my past 15 years as a software entrepreneur, I have also served for 8
>>> years as an early executive at Skype, entrepreneur in residence at
>>> Andreessen Horowitz, advisor to President Ilves of Estonia on the topics of
>>> innovation and entrepreneurship, etc.
>>>
>>
>> I work as a consultant for Eland Systems. I am a subject-matter expert
>> for email, web and a few other internet-related technologies. I also do
>> research related to security and privacy.
>>
>> When I travel to new places, I always try to get somehow in touch with
>>> the local startup scene. As it happens I am in Mauritius now, on holidays
>>> with my family. As this trip was quite rapidly planned and I understand it
>>> is the middle of the summer, I don't have too high hopes, but nevertheless
>>> — if anyone knows oof any upcoming tech gatherings or would like to set up
>>> a meetup with even a few of the local budding entrepreneurs/angels, let me
>>> know. If lack of inspiration and network are the local issues, very happy
>>> to talk about those. Estonia is the size of Mauritus by population, and we
>>> had virtually no startup scene until about 10 years ago - and it is now
>>> bustling with 400 companies. So cool things can happen in small, faraway
>>> places.
>>>
>>> I'm around until Jan 5th.
>>>
>>
>> People are enjoying the end of the year season. It is going to be
>> difficult to organise something before the 5th January 2016. I like what
>> you wrote about cool things can happen in small, faraway places. Would you
>> be interested in sharing your experience of the startup scene in Estonia in
>> a panel discussion? The Ministry of Technology, Communication and
>> Innovation could send an official to represent it on the panel if the
>> Ministry is interested in fostering entrepreneurship or innovation. There
>> would have to be some local persons interested in startups. I can ask the
>> local press whether it would be interested in hosting the event. I am not
>> sure whether there will be sufficient time to reach out to local angels.
>>
>> Is the above worth a try?
>>
>> Regards,
>> S. Moonesamy
>>
>>
>>
>


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Thanks & Regards,
*Suyash Sumaroo | Director*
Ebene Accelerator, Ebene *|* Tel: (+230) 54912170
<%28%2B230%29%205491%202170>
Email: suyash_at_codevigor.com *|* Web:  <http://goog_2022637622/>
www.codevigor.com
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Received on Mon Dec 28 2015 - 15:39:42 PST

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