In the ever-evolving Fintech landscape, startups often set their sights on new horizons, which often involve expanding into emerging African markets, such as Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Ghana, and others.
It is no news that these markets offer substantial growth potential while also presenting unique challenges that have to be navigated skillfully if the startup will make it past the first 2 years of penetration.
As an experienced expert in emerging markets, here are practical insights on how Fintech startups can navigate these markets effectively.
Startups often embark on journeys to scale and enter new territories. This path is both challenging and promising, especially when focusing on emerging African markets like Nigeria, where financial inclusion and innovation take centre stage. In this article, we’ll explore key insights on how Fintech startups can effectively penetrate and thrive in these emerging African markets.
In emerging African markets, thorough market research is the foundation for expansion. For instance, in Nigeria, this involves a deep dive into local regulations, consumer behaviour, competition, and economic conditions.
Such research equips startups with the insights needed to tailor their offerings to meet the specific needs of the target market.
It is not enough to have a brilliant idea or tech solution, you have to become savvy in navigating the regulatory landscape. Startups must become experts in local regulations by collaborating with local authorities and demonstrating a commitment to compliance.
This not only facilitates entry but also builds trust among consumers. As the African proverb says, those who want to walk on moist grounds must first pour water on the dry land. This savviness can only be taught in the school of hard knocks.
Closely linked to compliance with sector regulators, smart local partnerships can be game changers to startups looking to penetrate emerging African markets.
Collaborating with local banks, financial institutions, or businesses that share a target audience, as seen in other African markets like Kenya or South Africa, provides startups with valuable distribution channels and access to an existing customer base.
One big mistake many new entrants make is underestimating the diversity between different emerging markets. Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa and Ghana are very different markets with divergent local nuances, which would be dangerous to your business if you choose to ignore them.
It is very important to recognise the key cultural and behavioural differences as you tailor your products and services to align with local culture, languages and preferences. Localisation and personalisation of strategy and brand communication strongly enhance your brand appeal and business relevance in the local markets you are penetrating.
Don’t make the mistake of assuming that a Strategy worked in South Africa or in the US, so it must work in Nigeria.
The folks in Nigeria are very different, and there is a reason other players are not replicating the American success story in Nigeria.
Feel free to innovate with your solutions, but don’t reinvent the wheel on culture and nuances.
As you get comfortable with local culture and nuances, it is important not to get carried away by the euphoria of new discoveries, your decision-making has to be more objective than subjective.
Data is a powerful tool to help you iterate as you consistently build your winning strategy.
Data is also something that’s not readily available and reliable in emerging markets; so you should be open to building your data bank in the event other players don’t share their data with you.
Your startup should continuously analyse user data, and market trends to ensure decisions are data-driven. While embracing data insights, try to keep in mind that data is contextual and nuanced, so it is not always black and white.
Now you’re into the full swing of things, business is looking good, users are piling up, revenue is rolling in; it is time to scale!
Perhaps you had to work with a manual system reliant on humans for market penetration, this is the point where you want to automate via scalable technology infrastructure.
At this point, you need a technology infrastructure that can seamlessly accommodate growth without compromising on quality service/product experience so that as the user base expands, the quality of service remains the same or even better.
The competition is so fierce, that you cannot afford to drop the ball; there is always another startup looking to build your product failings as a Value Added Service (VAS).
One thing you want to have top of mind as you look to penetrate emerging markets in Africa is that these markets are notoriously popular for volatility and rapid change; one moment you think you know, and the next moment the market tells you that you don’t.
As these unexpected changes happen, you should be ready to pivot quickly and latch on to new opportunities the problem would present you.
A good example of this was the cash shortage experienced in Nigeria circa February 2023; the Central Bank of Nigeria made a two-pronged policy to change the Naira notes and also eradicate the heavy use of cash among Nigerians.
What this created was a system of panic, uncertainty and parallel black market trading of Naira to Naira. To the average Nigerian who needed cash to buy or sell; they were unable to do so.
Strategic fintechs like Moniepoint and Opay were quick to assess the situation and double down on solutions to facilitate cashless payments with 99.9% uptime.
This led to the greatest haul of organic user acquisition ever seen in the history of Nigerian fintech.
The opportunities are there, and the problems will surely come but a tactical startup like yours should be strategically positioned to capitalise on these opportunities to show seriousness in the market by adding value and racking up customers with the potential for recurrent product engagement value; See a Need, Fill a Need but do it very quickly.
In conclusion, while it is super important to understand the local nuances of emerging markets like Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa and Ghana; the role of building a product that fits with the customer needs or better still, a product that solves the user pain points cannot be overstated.
As a new entrant, you must actively seek and respond to customer feedback, whether it is positive or negative.
This feedback will be very instrumental in pointing you towards your ideal product-market fit, while providing you with the most efficient referral network at zero acquisition costs.
Are you ready to explore or penetrate emerging markets like Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa and Ghana? Are you a Fintech startup looking to expand into key African markets or have questions about market penetration possibilities?
Feel free to reach out to Seun Adeola on LinkedIn or via email at sheunadeola@gmail.com. Seun is available to discuss opportunities and strategies tailored to your specific goals and target markets in Africa.
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