Very good read: http://aitoehigie./2012/02/22/nigerian-or-insert-your-3rd-world-country-here-this-is-why-your-startup-will-fail/

You live in Nigeria or any 3rd world country?, are a techie and thinking of starting a web startup? here are some reasons why your startup is doomed to fail.

1. Your startup is a solution to a “WANT” and not a “NEED”. If you can remember your basic economics, you should know what “WANTS” and “NEEDS” are. Quickly, I would define a “NEED” as something you have to have, something you can’t do without e.g. food, clothing and shelter, while a “WANT” is something you would like to have. It is not absolutely necessary, but it would be a good thing to have. A good example is music.

When developing your startup idea, ask yourself, “is what I am creating a solution to a NEED or a WANT?” According to the Nigerian Bureau of statistics 60.9% of Nigerians in 2010 were living in “absolute poverty” i.e. less than $1 per day. Do you think that taking a hiatus to create a music startup to enable these people living in abject poverty listen to music amounts to a good use of your time? or “skills”?

2. Your startup is a clone of some popular 1st world website or application [1]. Why would you clone when there are a myriad of problems you could develop solutions for? If you are developing a clone, ask yourself this question “why would anyone use this (***insert the name of your clone***) instead of the main thing (***insert the name of the website you cloned***)?” .

3. Your startup will require loads and loads of traffic i.e. pageviews with gullible people who would be ready to click on Google ads before it can generate income. In Nigeria, there are no VC’s, no Angels, no startup accelerators, no Government support programs, no infrastructure, regular electricity supply is a pipe dream, Internet access is patchy and expensive, in short, “NO NOTHING”. So it kind of beats me why anyone would base his startup’s business model on the benevolence of Google? In between the time your startup comes online to the time it can generate enough traffic to keep the lights on and the servers humming, how would you survive? Do you have some gold bars stashed under your mattress somewhere? If not, why don’t you just develop a product where you can start charging from the very first day? [2]

4. Reading too much of Techcrunch et al. These tech blogs are written by elitist white techies who live in silicon valley where the difference between over there and here is like light and day. Any advice you can glean from those sites just isn’t applicable here in Nigeria. [3]

NOTES

[1] The current fad in Nigeria is creating clones of Groupon.com. It once used to be Twitter clones, bulk sms and then Facebook clones. Why coders still do this kind of beats me. Instead of cloning, why don’t you build on these sites and take advantage of things like Facebook’s “Social Graph” etc and develop innovative solutions? Developing another DROPBOX wont meet the need of the average Nigerian, he has no need for it, and if he does why wont he go for the original? patriotism? please!

[2] Despite the fact that 60.9% of Nigerians live under $1 per day and there are 90 million mobile subscribers in the country with at least 1 mobile phone, these phones have to be loaded with “call credit” by these people because communication has become a NEED and not a WANT. So despite the grinding poverty in the country, the major Telco’s still declare mind boggling profits every year, with Nigeria now having the largest mobile phone market in Africa with 60% penetration. So in order to be successful, develop a solution to a NEED and not a WANT.

[3] Sarah Lacy, a former columnist for Techcrunch, when she came to Nigeria in 2011 advised techies not to read Techcrunch et al. Its of no use, the stories of billion dollar valuations for 6 month old companies that do nothing but count your number of Twitter followers will actually screw with your head. That can never happen here, this is Nigeria, be creative, be innovative, think local but act global.

like the cashless policy

I disagree with the "NIgerian startups" and "3rd world countries" thing

I think the problem is laziness, We are jus too lazy to think,

@

Fayimora:

I disagree with the "NIgerian startups" and "3rd world countries" thing

Why?

lordZOUGA:

I think the problem is laziness, We are jus too lazy to think,

the guy's analysis is limited. if you speak in terms of web applications that have global impacts & of which you can't control locally, then his argument is right. apps like google & facebook are two of such, therefore you can't have a clone in nigeria here to rival them. on the other hand, there are apps like payment processing which you can control their impacts locally & therefore make them a success. who says a clone of paypal cannot work here? it is a virgin market here, paypal has yet refused to come in, so if you can quickly set one up & adapt it locally, then it should be a success story.

okeyxyz:

, who says a clone of paypal cannot work here? it is a virgin market here, paypal has yet refused to come in, so if you can quickly set one up & adapt it locally, then it should be a success story.

I very much agree, and that's in fact what has helped some local company in China. Till date, Google finds it hard to compete with the local search engine there, and even the facebook "clone" there.

But remember he mentioned the government does not favor clones -- having a facebook/google/twitter clone geared towards a local market takes having a solid business model which most just don't have.

A paypal clone would be charging money from the get-go which still tallies with what he's saying as against trying to build something that requires a lot of traffic to succeed.

kodewrita:

A paypal clone would be charging money from the get-go which still tallies with what he's saying as against trying to build something that requires a lot of traffic to succeed.

True but how about the issue of trust though, like the case of https://www.eyowo.com/ ?

Why is the author so angry at life and himself?

^^^hmmnn, i wonder, it must be an effect of the subsidy nonsense.

lmaooooo

delomos:

True but how about the issue of trust though, like the case of https://www.eyowo.com/ ?

what's the case of eyowo?

Actually feelers reaching me suggest that this whole article was a personal attack on someone who recently launched his startup.

Oonwoye(I might be wrong but I think this was the Onepage startup guy too) recently launched his Gbedu.fm music startup and this supposedly brought on a bout of envy resulting in Techloy's post. Unconfirmed though.

But re-read that article with this context in mind.

@manmustwac: I strongly disagree with you.

The problem with Nigeria startups is not about want or need  itself but the visionaries/business owners. A web startup is a business and has to obey business rules which Most 9ja enterpreneurs find hard to adhere to.

It all comes down to the leader, the vision, the plan, the team, e.t.c. It affects non-web businesses just as it affects web businesses too.
I am a venture capitalist and know a few others  who would fund a good web idea up to 7 digits. I have also had a VC  fund one of my startups with 7 digits and has so far made 6 times his money back (still making it). There are VCs and angel investors if you look in the right place.

Behind most Nigerian startups, the owners are either so lazy or lack business intelligence. I have never seen eyowo.com advert anywhere other than nairaland whereas c.ash.env.0y  has painted the whole of Lagos and the net with their adverts. The results speak so loud.

Lastly, so many Nigerians use facebook. Is it a "Want" or a "Need"?

^^ @logik couldn't agree more -- on a tangential note, now on to shameless begging:

I need seed money, how do we connect, I can pitch in less than 15mins?

delomos:

^^ @logik couldn't agree more -- on a tangential note, now on to shameless begging:

I need seed money, how do we connect, I can pitch in less than 15mins?

LMAO, No time to check time.

+10000

guys, dont let your emotions becloud your sense of reasoning. Just try to read it logically and also the rejoinder. makes sense to me.

.

Nigerian startup fails simply because the startup doesnt have good ceo or founder to make the startup a good one simple

His post is actually wrong in many ways!!

jjk24: His post is actually wrong in many ways!!

I am the author, kindly list where and where I erred.

The issues of startups surviving in Nigeria or any 3rd world country is a continuous debate. We all know the problems involved and why most in startups in 3rd world countries fail.

But failure of startups isn't a 3rd world Countries thing alone. Thousands of startups fail even in d so-called 1st world countries. Why we have also seen some few startups here in africa thrive.

I would say I agree with the author points. But these points are by no means relative to african or 3rd countries startups alone. Finding a Niche/Need or even Want is necessary to grow any successful startups in any part of the world.

This in itself doesn't predicate that yours would fail. There are exceptions to every rule.

I disagree with the conventional wisdom of the writer.
Wats a need and whats a want to a person?
Its more like wat are his priorities.
2.) companies think in terms of target markets then built products and market to those clients.
Later on they may consider other markets.
Many Students then wud starve and use their pocket money to buy bb or laptop or tablet instead of food or school stuff.
Som wud buy new cars on credit choosing to pay over a 10 year stretch if necessary,
others wud sell ancestral property to travel out of d country
or send child to school.
Wat were d needs of these people?
Or wat was their priority?
Build for a target market.
Notice also tht most of d thngs ppl chase hav challengg price tags (to them). The dirt poor live their lives aspiring 4 d next level. The next high price tag item tht shows their accomplishment in life.