Each time I talk to my cousin doing manufacturing and trading in Nigeria, I realize that tech is still far away from making any form of impact in the real market. I also realize that there is no money in local tech. Forget all what we think we are making. It is peanuts.

How many tech people will decide to just go buy a Banana Island plot, open a school, a factory and start a supermarket in one year? None to my knowledge. We are not selling our tech far enough and are comfortable with the peanuts that we get while the real business people aren't

Tech people are telling us to move our naira out to the safety of dollar while the trading people are looking for dollar bank guarantees so that they can keep turning things around.

The real trading is where returns are made daily. It isn't the stock market arbitrage we attempt.

Tech people think about magical upside that will come from ”exits” but we don't realize that to have exits we must sell something that people want to buy. Exits come from people who see how well you are doing and make you an offer you can't refuse. You must first be doing well.

The more I see how ”low-tech” trading, manufacturing and distribution is in Africa, the more I realize that tech in it's true form should be a benign commodity helping the smooth operation of business. People can't buy what they don't understand. It has to be very simple.

Tech has to be almost invisible and be at scale to be profitable in Africa. Forget all the praise being heaped on what we call ”innovation”. The true innovation is one that becomes indispensable. Not an option or choice but an imperative. My cousin sells pillows, mattress etc.

Tech has to become as common as a pillow and as useful daily as a mattress. The toothbrush test by Larry Page now begins to make a whole lot of sense now. Google had to go to the lowest denominator and be used daily. High tech but high usage and low friction. That is the key.

The pillow and mattress test is now my test for African tech.

If it is doesn't bring comfort and not used by a person every day, it is not going to become anything significant.

Check if your tech meets the pillow and mattress test.