African approach: how to tackle the continent via tech

There are several issues facing international operators looking to enter the African market, but in our opinion the biggest barrier is the misunderstanding of the local dynamics of each market.

The African continent is composed of 54 countries that are very diverse in terms of culture, language, mindset, traditions and preferences. Language, for instance, as the simplest example, might differ drastically from one country to another and even within the same country in some cases (i.e. Swahili in East Africa is different in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda). There are said to be between 1,000 and 2,000 languages across Africa, Nigeria alone has approximately 500 languages and 250 ethnic groups.

Operators must take into consideration the different languages and dialects for an efficient customer outreach strategy. Relying solely on international languages such as French or English to offer a pan-African product without proper customisation has proven to have its limits.

Another aspect to keep in mind when launching a digital business on the continent is having the right technology and value proposition. While smartphone penetration has been growing by double digits reaching circa 90% penetration in countries such as Kenya, Ghana and Nigeria, most African countries still register a penetration rate below 50% and hence still rely heavily on feature phones which offers a more basic user experience.

Furthermore, it is important to understand that most foreign operators do not realise how geographically large most African countries are and how connectivity differs drastically between one region and another. Such can be seen in the infrastructure issues that the continent witnesses from the deployment of fibre optics to dish tower relays and therefore the availability of decent internet with speed good enough for games to operate normally. Therefore, USSD technology is still very relevant in most markets, as it allows the user, irrespective of what phone they are using, to operate without the internet.

Money talks

Another must-have service to succeed in Africa is the right payment solution. Our experience has shown that the most effective payment solution comes in the form of mobile money. Invented over 10 years ago by Safaricom in Kenya as a remittance tool between communities in urban and rural Kenya, mobile money today is the most widely accepted digital payment system on the continent with billions of dollars in exchange per year. With direct integration to each telecom’s mobile money, Moja is able to charge the entire addressable population of gamers, as well as limit underage gaming since only individuals who are 18 years and above can have a mobile money account.

Finally, it is important to keep in mind that communication methods and customer acquisition tools differ largely from one part of Africa to the other. Based on our marketing channel experience, we believe East Africa is best served with radio and TV, Central Africa by radio, TV and billboards and West Africa by TV and billboards.

Word of mouth and community activation is perhaps the most important factor in effective communication and advertising on the continent as most countries still operate on very solid community links. These engagement tactics can make or break your company or product depending on the service that they receive.

An experienced financial professional and startup advisor, Marc co-founded MojaGroup, in 2017. Since inception, he has overseen the strategy, partnerships and business development into new markets. 

Through his extensive network of banks, family offices, wealth managers, financial professionals and advisors, Marc has been able to help various businesses across different industries secure financing or new business. An active angel investor since 2013, he is today a venture partner at a silicon valley based early stage fund as well as a director in a swiss based advisory firm.