CyberScape Africa Magazine Q2 2019 | Page 44

CYBER SECURITY in the evolving space of startups in Africa. "A startup is a human institution designed to deliver a new product or service under conditions of extreme uncertainty" - June 21 , 201 9, Startup Lesson Learned, "What is a startup?" - Eric Ries. Natalie Robehmed, wrote an article on Forbes "What Is A Startup?" where she quote Neil Blumen- thal, cofounder and co-CEO of Warby Parker, who says that "A startup is a company working to solve a problem where the solution is not obvious and success is not guaranteed," I'm more prone on the second definition aligned with what IFC (International Finance Corporation) stated in "Creating Markets for Start-Ups in Africa" the challenge for the "Next African Start-Ups" with a starting note that says "From Cairo to Cape Town, Africa is full of promising entrepreneurs who are building innovative companies and helping solve some of the continent’s most pressing develop- ment challenges." So startups are here to respond to those challenges. Bill Gates in his speech at African Union told that." And it’s not just health. It’s also education and agriculture. It’s programs that let farmers sell their harvest to wider markets – and technologies that let people transact and store their money digitally. Anything that gives people a chance to pick themselves up. Economists call this "human capital." African countries are facing a lot of challenges and its aggravated by the very fast growing population. Gabriella Mulligan wrote an article on Disrupt Africa, "1 2 African startups to watch in 201 9" and in this article we can see solutions for a variety of challenges that we face in Africa .... Startups tend to be the answer to all those and all others unmentioned challenges designing solutions in a fast ways that large enterprise may not, majority of listed startups are reached from a digital or mobile device. Those mobile devices are a common elements between corporates and startups making the threats to startups quite the same or even worse than large corporates and this highlights the need for better cyber risk controls within startups.