Nearly every African entrepreneur we’ve talked to has finding the right market as a part of their story. Sometimes that was a market they were very familiar with, other times they ventured into a new and unfamiliar market, finding both success and failure.
Let’s look at how being familiar with their markets affected several African businesses. First, how knowing his market made all the difference for Nanachi Agyeman-Prempeh in Ghana.
##Advantages of A Very Familiar Market
“Being christians in our own churches, we’re able to talk to our pastors and also pastors that we knew in different spaces and get what they really needed from that as we spoke to them.”
-Nanachi Agyeman-Prempeh, Co-founder of Asoriba, MEST Incubator
For Nana, the fact that his father was a pastor meant he understood the needs of other pastors in his community. Being intimately familiar with this market allowed him both to create a product that was very well suited for it, and to effectively market his product within it.
In short, working within a familiar market was a key to Nana’s success. But there are other stories from Ghana where knowing your market isn’t enough.
##When a Familiar Market Isn’t Enough
The photo sharing app Suba was built in Ghana with an eye on the local market, but the lack of smartphone users and cheap data made success difficult.
“We decided to focus on Africa… Later on down the line, we realized that it’s not going to be feasible. We kind of moved to the States, we kind of moved to the developed world, so we should rethink our strategy. So we built an Android app and started focusing.”
-Nelson Klutse, Co-Fouder of Suba, MEST Incubator
So Suba went to Boston to continue developing their app. They learned a lot working closely with partners and investors there, but ultimately decided to return and launch the app in Ghana. They realized that building up a core user base was essential for their success. Doing that was easier in Ghana because they knew the market and were more prominent there.
“We’ve been able to get a lot of PR from within this region – Ghana, Africa – and a few write-ups internationally. But for us the next step is, “How do we get our next, say, 10,000 users? How do we get our next 100,000 users?” So, we are asking ourselves, “Is this still the right market for it?” Because we’ve had some successes here, mostly PR, but in terms of, “Where is the core engagement going to be: the group of people who are really going to take this to the next level? Can it get viral from Ghana? Can it get viral from Africa?” So this is still something that is very debatable.”
-Nelson Klutse, Co-Fouder of Suba, MEST Incubator
Ultimately, a familiar market isn’t going to guarantee success for Suba, but they see it as their best chance to test their product on a market they understand. In order to expand into an unfamiliar market, they want to have a product that’s been well tested elsewhere.