Daniel Yu’s Post

The journey of a CEO can be incredibly lonely. You are under immense pressure to exceed expectations every single day while being the rock and shock absorber for the people you are responsible for and accountable to: customers, team members, investors, family and loved ones. Add to this the difficulty of succeeding in geographies and industries where the vast majority of entrants fail. Armchair critics piling on negativity to statistically expected outcomes do not help the world become a better place. Trying to succeed in spite of the odds is the mission, and that is why we get into the arena every day. Be kind and build community with those on your journey, you are never as alone as you think. My heart is with Nick and his loved ones.

Great podcast with the esteemed US Ambassador Michael Battle and Mvemba Phezo Dizolele of CSIS on the history of US-Tanzania relations. Ambassador Battle provides a nuanced understanding of the evolution of relations starting from the close friendship between Presidents Kennedy and Nyerere until the present day. The foundational strength and potential of Tanzania is also well-highlighted, as the Ambassador states Tanzania has never ethnic/religious strife nor an unconstitutional change of government in over 60 years since independence. Furthermore the country hosts Africa's fifth largest population with one of the fastest rates of economic growth and lowest levels of indebtedness. All great reasons to become better acquainted with this rising nation! https://lnkd.in/dHqpyQqa

Charity Entrepreneurship/AIM-backed Kaya Guides is hiring for several tech positions to expand its systems for delivering mental healthcare in India. This is a truly transformative initiative with enormous potential in one of the most underfocused areas of need globally.

Great to see this episode with Mark Lutter highlighting the significant progress made in the new cities movement over the past few years, especially in Zanzibar! Partnering with local governments to innovate on policy in the context of special zones has the potential to create economic opportunity to lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty

Looking forward to participating alongside Belal EL-Megharbel in perhaps the most exciting gathering of top African tech firms ever assembled. Great initiative by investment banking firm Financial Technology Partners / FT Partners to arrange this opportunity to showcase the potential for tech transformation across Africa to global investors.

Christmas has come early! Ecstatic to announce the signing of preliminary terms for Wasoko + MaxAB to undertake the largest tech merger Africa has ever seen. The combined company will have an unrivaled customer base of over 450,000 merchants across countries with a collective population of over 460M people. For myself personally this is also a full circle experience with Egypt, where I lived over a decade ago and was initially inspired to build technology for informal retailers. I couldn't be more excited to continue the journey alongside Belal EL-Megharbel and work together longterm towards our shared vision of helping communities all across Africa get more for less. As the proverb says, to go far you must go together!

Proud to be supporting the launch of the African School of Economics campus in Zanzibar, which will offer world-class graduate and undergraduate programs focused on STEM and social sciences with students and faculty from all over the world under the leadership of the incomparable Professor Leonard Wantchekon. One of my personal heroes, Professor Leonard was born to illiterate parents in rural Benin and became a political activist while still in school. He was arrested and imprisoned for several years before subsequently escaping prison and being smuggled across the border to Nigeria before eventually receiving refugee status to resettle in Canada. From there, Leonard managed to skip entirely over an undegraduate degree to enroll directly in a masters program before finishing his PhD in under three years at Northwestern University. He has subsequently become a tenured professor at Princeton University and winner of numerous global economics prizes for his groundbreaking work, as well as serving as historical adviser on the blockbuster film The Woman King! What Professor Leonard is most passionate about however is bringing world-class university education on-ground across the African continent, and he started the African School of Economics to achieve this objective. This new Zanzibar campus will attract top faculty and students from all across Africa and support the open enabling environment Zanzibar is creating to bring the best talent from across the continent together. I'm excited to continue to support Professor Leonard and the African School of Economics as they welcome students and faculty to Zanzibar PS - Great previous profile on Professor Leonard: https://lnkd.in/dRgkUm5s

🌍 African Government Income Opportunity: More Expats = More Taxes 💰 Every year, millions of visitors flock to experience the breathtaking landscapes and dynamic cultures of Kenya, South Africa, Egypt, and many other African nations. The vast majority have positive experiences and many are even inspired to explore making these vibrant nations their new home. How should African governments view these potential residents? Currently most African governments take an extremely harsh stance towards expatriates, starting with applications for work/resident visas costing thousands of dollars and processing taking six months or more with high rates of rejection. This approach is ostensibly designed to "protect" local jobs, however economic research reveals a different reality: expatriates are net job creators. A family visiting for a holiday might spend a few thousand dollars during their visit, but a fulltime expat family will spend tens of thousands of dollars per year in the local economy support many more jobs across all different sectors. Expats also bring global connections and expertise that support the development of the local talent ecosystem. Imagine a football team never exposed to international players trying to compete in the World Cup—-restricting the recruitment of global talent only hinders upskilling for local talent in roles such as software development and accounting as well. Just as a Premier League team fielding only local English players would perform very poorly against other teams using the best global talent, local African companies also lose out when they are restricted on which talent they can recruit, which hurts both their ability to be globally competitive and development opportunities for their local employees. Crucially, expats also represent a substantial tax contribution opportunity for local governments. Kenya as an example has only 100,000 salaried workers making more than $800 per month in a total population of 55 million. Against this baseline, Kenya could easily double its top tax earner contribution through a streamlined process for attracting expats. Rwanda has already embraced this strategy, issuing two-year work visas for $125, processed in just three working days. Governments could consider the following criteria to revamp their expat visa processes: 1) Issue initial 1-year temporary residency visas at a reasonable fee (<$300) with minimal requirements and swift processing (3 weeks max). This would enable expatriates to start businesses or pursue local employment opportunities. 2) Upon renewal, require proof of local taxes paid or investments made, relative to a threshold of for example 5X the average national income. By reevaluating their approach to expatriates, African governments have a significant opportunity to boost revenues without overburdening local citizens. This shift can stimulate job creation, foster talent development, and position Africa as a global destination for skilled professionals.

Excited to see the launch of the Market Shaping Accelerator, which in its first year alone is awarding over $2M in prize funding for ideas where pull mechanisms for market development would help spur innovation in critical areas such as pandemic preparedness and climate change. This is extraordinarily important work, since current markets do not fully incentivize breakthrough innovations in these spaces relative to their potential societal benefits. Pairing groundbreaking ideas with development support on the pull mechanisms required to bring them to life such as advanced market commitments is a gamechanging approach to driving essential innovation for the benefit of humanity. Especially proud to see this initiative coming out of the University of Chicago (does it count as my alma mater as a dropout?)