Is focus a luxury African startups can't afford?
“Why is Nigerian API fintech Okra now providing cloud infrastructure?”
“Why does Nigerian stock trading platform Bamboo now have a remittance app?”
“Why is Nigerian immigrant neobank Vesti now testing airport concierge services?”
Because sometimes focus is a luxury you can’t afford.
In case you missed it:
Nigeria open banking player Okra expanded into cloud services
Nigerian immigrant-focused neobank Vesti is now piloting airport concierge/protocol services
I received the above message about Vesti’s ElitePass pilot on January 6th, which led me to publish posts on LinkedIn and Twitter that seem to have struck a chord.
The posts generated a combined 150K views, 1300 likes, and 150+ comments/quote tweets across LinkedIn and Twitter, and a number of interesting responses, including the following:
While the responses were all interesting in different ways, there are at least three core questions to explore more deeply:
Do startups on the continent diversify earlier than their peers elsewhere? If so, why might that be the case and what are the implications?
There’s a clear parallel here to the ongoing conversation about VC-backed startups in Africa pursuing geographic expansion earlier than their peers in other markets.
Source: Why are African startups launching in multiple countries before they even hit seed stage funding? Jake Kendall. DFS Lab. 2019. What’s the true rationale for diversification?
Despite how things might be framed, it’s not always opportunity-driven (e.g., underserved adjacent markets, existing customer demand), in some cases it’s necessity-driven (e.g., limited market depth, regulatory constraints, investor expectations) — and there's no shame in that.
How adjacent is ‘adjacent?’
Sometimes what might seem to be an adjacent market is really a Hail Mary and vice versa.
One tool that can help think about the last question of adjacency in a structured way is Ansoff’s matrix.
I’d encourage you to read this Afridigest article that features it heavily if you haven’t already.
What’s particularly relevant here is that there’s a wide gulf between launching a new product to further serve existing customers and launching a new product that targets new customers.
From the outside looking in, I’d say:
Despite how it may look to some, Vesti is largely launching a new product (airport concierge services) to serve existing customers (folks migrating & moving between countries)
Okra launched a new product (cloud infrastructure platform Nebula) that will appeal to a few existing customers but mostly targets new customers
Bamboo launched a new product (remittance app Coins by Bamboo) that targets new customers (the African diaspora in Canada, as opposed to retail investors in Nigeria/Ghana/South Africa)
How far a business moves away from its core — whether it serves existing customers or goes after entirely new ones — has major implications.
And these implications deserve deeper exploration.
That’s why I’m excited to bring together three founder/CEOs who’ve navigated these decisions to share their experiences for your benefit.
We’ll hear firsthand:
The strategic thinking behind Vesti’s expansion from neobanking to airport concierge services
Why Okra diversified from open banking to cloud infrastructure
How Afrikrea transformed into ANKA
Join me on Tuesday, February 25th at 4pm WAT/6pm EAT/10am EST for a virtual panel discussion with:
Olusola Amusan, CEO & Co-founder, Vesti
Fara Ashiru, CEO & Co-founder, Okra
Moulaye Tabouré, CEO & Co-founder, ANKA
Many thanks to Olusola and Fara for agreeing to share their insights with the Afridigest community. 🙏🏽
And a special thanks to Moulaye who agreed to step in at the last minute due to the unavailability of the Bamboo team. 🙏🏽
His company’s evolution from Afrikrea to ANKA will undoubtedly add a rich dimension to the discussion.
If you have specific questions you’d like discussed during the panel, please reply to this post or leave a comment. 🙏🏽
This panel is the first of a new ‘Building in Africa’ series that will regularly bring together founders and business builders across the continent for virtual panel discussions on strategy and execution.
Insights for builders, from builders.
Future panels are likely to cover mergers & acquisitions, international expansion, and other topics readers like you highlight as being of interest.
(P.S. We’re actively seeking sponsors for the series.)
Join 130+ builders across Africa who've already registered for the first exclusive session: Register here.
(And if you liked this post, let me know by hitting the like button 🤍)
Thanks for reading Afridigest 💌
Love this deep dive on why African startups diversify so early. It’s easy to preach stay focused from the sidelines but when your core market has shallow demand or shaky infrastructure, sometimes survival means spreading your bets. Would love to hear the founders talk about how they balance short term revenue plays with building long term brand identity.
Very educative read, sir !