Most times, competition is not your main enemy as you build that start-up or the product. 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 an African start-up, you do not have many competitors!
Yes, most of our industries are still at infancy with the incumbents largely operating at sub-optimal levels. So, when you focus on competition, you lose sight of how to innovate and make great products. (You should be aware of competition, but do not think they are there, to snuff life out of your business. That is not the case.)
Failing as an African start-up or a product is not necessarily because any competitor took you down. The likely major reason is that you could not execute to fix that friction you have established that company or product to solve. Yes, that insurance company is talking of competition in a market with less than 5% penetration rate in Nigeria!
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Don’t fear the competition; fear your inability to execute!
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Comment 1: Great insight Prof! You’ve highlighted an important point that many African startups and new products tend to overlook. It’s easy to get distracted by competition and lose sight of our own goals and objectives, but this can be avoided by staying focused on our execution and innovation. Thanks for sharing!
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