Would the startups fare better if they focused on profitability back home first to use as a foundation to launch elsewhere? Case studies and research alone won't do it. Expanding into a new country is becoming a startup again like you rightfully said. They need patient source of funds to learn and grow elsewhere. That said, international expansion may not always be the right move sometimes.
Operate like a startup launching for the first time in said location? Do not rely on group funds. Operate like you would if they were no parent group and figure things out with a local team. Only when a working model is found is cash injected for scale.
It then begs the question of why you have the resources if you can't "juice" growth when you expand. I feel like this is the argument companies make when they expand. They don't want to go through the hassle of becoming startups again ig they can avoid it.
Nigeria is equivalent to 36 countries. If you haven't established yourself in all of them , why go to Africa? Most banks expanded across all of Nigeria before going to Africa. Just saying.
Reminds me of Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede’s book, Leaving the Tarmac. Begs the question if we have ever had a successful tech export from the country. Always eager to try new products from Nigerian company's but there's always something missing. You always have the feeling that some of their services aren't competitive or at the standard you know it can be.
That being said believe for some of them acquisitions will eventually be the way to go. Been a while since we've seen any meaningful that most people were customers of the said product
Would the startups fare better if they focused on profitability back home first to use as a foundation to launch elsewhere? Case studies and research alone won't do it. Expanding into a new country is becoming a startup again like you rightfully said. They need patient source of funds to learn and grow elsewhere. That said, international expansion may not always be the right move sometimes.
This is one of those things where it's difficult to know the right answer. Expansion is born out of ambition so there's that.
The question is that what kind of capabilities are needed to increase the chances of success when you expand to new countries?
Operate like a startup launching for the first time in said location? Do not rely on group funds. Operate like you would if they were no parent group and figure things out with a local team. Only when a working model is found is cash injected for scale.
It then begs the question of why you have the resources if you can't "juice" growth when you expand. I feel like this is the argument companies make when they expand. They don't want to go through the hassle of becoming startups again ig they can avoid it.
Nigeria is equivalent to 36 countries. If you haven't established yourself in all of them , why go to Africa? Most banks expanded across all of Nigeria before going to Africa. Just saying.
Nothing wrong with a little ambition 😂😂
Reminds me of Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede’s book, Leaving the Tarmac. Begs the question if we have ever had a successful tech export from the country. Always eager to try new products from Nigerian company's but there's always something missing. You always have the feeling that some of their services aren't competitive or at the standard you know it can be.
That being said believe for some of them acquisitions will eventually be the way to go. Been a while since we've seen any meaningful that most people were customers of the said product
I quite love that book. Perhaps we need to have a conversion on whether the default mindset of Nigerian companies is local domination.
For some companies, Nigeria is a big enough market. For other companies, they just use the government to ensure market capture and make easy money.
We don't think in terms of abundance and global competition