Indeed, but his startup was not. And that's the critical point. It's unlikely the company would have had a chance at the global market when based in Africa. It's somewhat of a self-fulfilling prophecy, as people aware of the lack of chances pursue them elsewhere, spreading the gap even more.
Yes, he did move to Canada and then the States. He may not have looked back. At the same time, as a South African myself, I would find it hard to discount my South African heritage, or say that I was not at all influenced for the better by it: the diverse melting pot of people, the rhythmic languages, the sports, the myriad of cultures, people like Raymond Ackerman and Anton Rupert and Nelson Mandela, children dancing in the dusty township streets, vast natural beauty, the tension and miracle of pre and post 94 Elections, Rugby World Cup 95, FIFA 2010. South Africa lives and breathes hope.
Regarding not having "a chance at the global market":
Mark Shuttleworth's Thawte was based in Cape Town, South Africa yet captured almost 50% of the world's SSL certificate market, in the 90s, at a time when South Africa barely had dial-up. In South Africa we have a saying "'n boer maak 'n plan" (a hard-working man makes a plan).
But that was then. Today, I can read Hacker News from my desk in Cape Town, South Africa while looking out at Robben Island or Table Mountain. I can SSH into Amazon EC2. I can PayPal. I can send an email. I can be connected. I can ignore the hype of the Valley when I need to. I can use the distance to think. I can focus on my work and put the hours in. Sometimes, the "disadvantaged" are in fact advantaged.
