The Nigerian Market to the Nigerian Tech Entrepreneur - "This relationship is not working anymore. It's not me, it you!"
Michael Okuboyejo
Dotun Olowoporoku, founder of Starta Africa wrote a post titled “Why Nigerian entrepreneurs should solve other problems apart from ecommerce” Read here
Dotun made some crucial points about the dominance of Ecommerce in the Nigerian tech industry and why that is the case. But the best part of his post was where he highlighted many other problems that need to be solved with technology, that only very few people are doing.
Dotun’s post resonated deeply with me, that my comment became too long for a‘comment’.
The Nigerian business terrain is not exactly friendly to internet/tech entrepreneurs. There is limited access to funding, there is scarcity of talent, available talents are expensive. The government has not given the tech industry the necessary attention it deserves and most of the investors have 'Shark-like' tendencies. When they sneeze, the entrepreneurs catch a cold. The market is also quite complex, due socio-cultural factors that contribute in defining the needs and expectations of the market.
Every smart tech entrepreneur knows that on its own, technology (and its cousins) is nothing. It is an enabler that should make human life simple and more enjoyable. Technology is meant for humans and not the other way round.
Therefore, We need to move to a place where Nigerians see technology as a necessity and not a luxury. How do we do that? We use it solve everyday problems that we face in trying to make a living.
As an entrepreneur that wants to make money in Nigeria, your solution needs to solve the mass-market problems. Unfortunately, the people who constitute mass-market are in survival mode. Until we are able to use technology to help the average Nigerian survive, I’m afraid that there still many more e-commerce sites to come.
To aspiring entrepreneurs: When you build a solution that sits on technology, build it with your customers in the centre. Understand their way of life, their aspirations, what makes them tick, what pain they are going through and then build for that. It does two things: one, It makes it easier for them to appreciate your solution. Two, it’s easier for them to adopt it into their day-to-day life.
The Market for technology in this continent is wider and deeper than we can imagine, but until we are able channel it into everyday use, we will all still be floating on top of this huge ocean and never get to the bottom where the treasure chests are.
Technology for Agric, Technology for health, Technology for transport, Technology for education, Technology for human empowerment. Food, health, transport, education, jobs, are all basic human needs for survival. Let’s drop all the stuff that sound sexy and start creating simple solutions to make life easy. Written by Eniola Moronfolu (Digital Transformation| Digital Strategy| Product Management| Market Research & Intelligence).
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