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To boost non-oil exports and build sustainable export capabilities for Nigerian businesses, Fidelity Bank Plc, Lagos Business School, and Nigeria Export Promotion Council initiated the Export Promotion Capacity Building Programme. This 5-day programme is designed to equip participants with the knowledge, tools and skills required to develop their export business in line with global standards and take advantage of the AFCFTA Treaty as well as the new CBN Policy on value added non-oil export.

Are you an entrepreneur, prospective exporters, financier of exports, export sector regulator, MSME, state and federal government agency, logistics service provider?


To register, please click https:///message/CZIYMVAL6XBGB1

Nobody enjoys selling to faceless customers. Consider the story of a micro-finance bank in Tanzania. Eighty percent of the bank’s web visitors remain anonymous even after surfing the bank’s website without leaving personal information. The case is similar for a retail store in Morocco whose customers purchase, use, or visit without registering in the company’s database. Insurance companies in Nigeria also suffer when they lose track of paying customers who drop off after years of zero patronage. It is really challenging to serve customers who chose not to identify themselves. Yet, anonymous African customers are a hidden opportunity that businesses cannot ignore.
Anonymous customers are rising all over Africa and three trends explain the growth. First, crypto trading is growing in leaps and bounds within Africa among faceless buyers and sellers. The continent leads the world in transactions through peer-to-peer (P2P) payment platforms and crypto transactions have grown by $105.6 billion in the last year. Second, the increased social distancing emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic has increased remote buying and private media consumption lifestyles on the continent. For example, Diageo capitalized on this trend to sponsor a reality TV show with heavy digital media component that secured one billion impressions, and 300,000 brand mentions in 10 weeks. Third, rising insecurity and privacy concerns on the continent are increasing the incentive to stay away from public consumption and buying. Finally, Africa’s unstructured markets have the largest concentration of anonymous customers because several businesses in the sector do not keep customer databases. Although anonymous customers are rising, few businesses in Africa have developed strategies to harness them.

source: https://afritail.com/

Have you wondered how businesses can effectively engage anonymous customers in Africa? Here are few strategies to consider.

1. Understand the type of anonymous customer
2. Use distribution channel members effectively
3. Communicate to empathize
4. Repackage your brand
5. Equip your sales team

Click https:///d6tRjCHb to register for the official virtual launch of the LBS Africa Retail Academy

Africa is the home of unstructured markets in the world. From Accra to Zanzibar, Gauteng to Lagos, you cannot travel up to three miles without finding an informal sector business activity. Anyone serious about business on the continent knows the markets are ubiquitous and account for over seventy percent of Sub-Saharan Africa’s workforce. Unstructured markets are economic activities operating largely within the continent’s informal sector. As the African Continental Free Trade Area creates opportunities on the continent, it is important to understand what it takes to win in unstructured markets.

Join to participate at the [url]Lagos Business School Africa Retail Academy launch
[/url]https://lbsng.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0kdOCtrTIqEtJa1o4WNuFx7eF_2KApiis0

Yet, businesses hardly sell effectively within these markets. Consider the case of a beauty startup in Ghana and a healthcare startup in South Africa that targeted informal sector consumers and ended up going out of business after losing millions of dollars in investment. Several businesses on the continent have also become unprofitable from selling products or services through retailers, wholesalers and distributors in the informal sector.

Most businesses fail in Africa’s unstructured markets because they do not understand how these markets work. There are three common myths that hinder the ability to understand these markets. The first myth is that unstructured markets are illegal markets. The second is that market players lack business acumen, and the third is that unstructured markets are a homogenous block. Insights from ten years of research show that the reality is different. Unstructured markets are largely fragmented markets that include gray market operators (such as fake phone sellers in Computer village) , hybrid markets adopting formal and informal sector practices ( such as Nollywood, agency banking networks, etc) and legitimate operators ( such as registered businesses in the Kadogo economy of East Africa). The level of structure varies within the market, and operators have developed business acumen through years of informal tutelage and apprenticeship.

Unstructured markets have a unique form, and unmasking the composition can make all the difference. Research shows that Africa’s unstructured markets are the most suitable places for testing new product offerings and price scenarios. For example, Guinness Nigeria tested its Orijin brand in open-air markets of Ibadan and Port Harcourt before arriving at the right product quality and price. Shoppers and trade partners within the market prefer below the line activities and price bargaining is a common practice. Distributors and retailers within these markets play additional buying roles, including gatekeeping, influencing, education and others. Failing to understand how these markets work trigger disastrous consequences. So, how can organizations sell to win in Africa’s unstructured markets? Here are five winning strategies to consider.


Join to participate at the [url]Lagos Business School Africa Retail Academy launch
[/url]https://lbsng.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0kdOCtrTIqEtJa1o4WNuFx7eF_2KApiis0



Unstructured markets continue to dominate Africa. This is a wake-up call for businesses to think differently about what makes markets work on the continent.