Cross Roads

Once again, the world finds itself at a crossroads Historical Underpinnings (Humans and Machines a Tricky Alliance) Several ideas are at play here. The first is a human vs. machine when we moved from subsistence farming to commercial. We have been here before in the sense that when we transitioned from very basic agriculture where we grew only what we needed to eat and planned for seasons based on these changes everything was quite basic. When however, we began to gather in communities and expand, our needs changed. We bought horses and introduced commerce and the exchange of money and currency. But something else also changed. We started depending less on humans and more on machines. Horses could do a lot more than men. For other larger measures, we expanded and began to trade in our fellow humans. That was between the industrialization and the major shifts that took place in agriculture.  The changes that were faced when industrialists brought in factories are the same changes we...

1. What is your name?  Farouk Mark Mukiibi — Managing Partner at Gatsby Marketing Agency, Author of The African Startups Playbook, and Founder of African Market OS.  2. Tell us a little bit about your education. Where did you go to school? University? I hold a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and a Diploma in Retail Management. I am also an alumnus of the Harvard Crossroads Program and a member of the Aspire Institute by Harvard University. Over the years, I have completed multiple executive certifications through HarvardX, particularly around leadership, strategy, and emerging markets.  3. Was excited to find out that you are a writer. What is your book about?  My debut book, The African Startups Playbook, introduces the concept of Minimum Viable Relationships (MVR) — a framework that argues that in Africa, ventures don’t scale because of Minimum Viable Products (MVPs), but because of relationships that create trust, belonging, and cultural embeddedness...