Beyond Competition in African Startup Ecosystem

Competition is not your main enemy as you build that startup. Your main enemies are the internal elements in your company which could affect flawless execution. Do not fret morning and night about competition because ideally for a Nigerian startup, you do not have many competitors!

NB: Startup in this content means going to create something of value with transformational impacts in the market. It is different from small business which could be “barbing salon” [Nigerian slang for barbershop], selling corn along the roads, etc that rarely scales. While a barbing salon [small business] could have competitors on a street, a barbing entrepreneur who runs many salons across Nigeria, will not collapse because of many salons, at the moment.

Rather, the entrepreneur will likely go down because of poor execution. Nigeria has not attained parity on the number of barbing salons it needs at the moment; we have more rooms to grow nationwide, but that has to be done optimally and profitably. The competitive elements remain low.

Comment on LinkedIn Feed

Comment 1: Interestingly, I was still saying this today in a self-analysis I was doing on some very common words used in the business world.

COMPETITION was the word that came to mind. I believe this word should be redefined or possibly eliminated. If not for the sake of ” to have something to say or a vague word used to push the lazy or visionless business to work ” – how I see it.

There is a lot more for a business to compete with internally, than the competition ( outside ). In fact, at the end of the day, the syndrome of over studying your competitor is either you copy their style and become a pseudo player or you forget the important things of your very business – your uniqueness ( USP )

In my honest opinion, I will encourage a startup to learn from an athlete and how he prepares. He prepares alone to beat his ( past ) record and then go for a match, then focus on the end goal, not the competitor or co-runners or whatever we can call them. The same is applicable in business. And even this opens a way for more to do.

I like to see this sir.

Thanks for sharing.

Comment 2: 100 Percent accurate Ndubuisi.

Mid last year, I watched a documentary on Amazon. I learnt how aggressive the company in it earlier days focused on servicing the customers- fixing the inconvenience friction- as opposed to competing. Pioneer firms hardly compete with anyone, just as Amazon never had anyone to compete with in for a long time.

I recall we once had a discussion here on the nation’s opportunity size, and we concluded that since the GDP has a *6 multiplier chances business have a similar chance. Currently at $500 billion with $3Trillion potentials.

The Nigerian market is large and too young to create an inexistent mental framework. Business ghost. You would only waste precious energy over ashes.

As you have rightly said, what most startup need to focus on is internal affairs- such as the managerial skills to handle the Growth. Without over looking technical competencies, how many CEO have the diplomacy to handle Government officials when they come knocking. Sorry to say, I have spoken with a couple of these CEO, they are good but you can sense a lag in comportment. It matters.

Actually, if you do it right you would never bother about competition because you know your stuff.

Founders, Competition is Not Your Problem; Execution Is.

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