![The Nigerian Customers – Today and the Near Future [Video]](https://tkcdn.tekedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/17095612/Paystack-team-768x432.jpg "The Nigerian Customers – Today and the Near Future [Video]")
I received many questions from our community after the announcement of the $200 million acquisition of Paystack by Stripe. Many wanted to know if they should fold their physical businesses and focus online. Like I noted, what happened in Paystack is not typical, on how 60,000 customers (most there are extremely small web companies) could translate to a $200 million value. Yet, it is key to note that in all Paystack and Stripe official press releases, they did not mention any “$200 million”.
The amount was a creation of a tech blog and it could indeed be that Paystack was not acquired near that amount. I am bringing that up to help people to calibrate [you are doing well; keep pushing]. Yes, it is very possible that Paystack was bought for $80 million or $250 million. The fact is this; no outsider knows the amount! (If you have seen any official tag of that amount, share with me.)
That said, digital is a promise but offline remains the huge opportunity of today across most sectors in Nigeria. You need to have a plan for offline even as you plan to win in the digital world of tomorrow. Our governments are still offline. Most of our richer citizens have nothing to do with putting their debit cards online. In short, by Nigerian law, an online job advertisement is not enough to meet the legal standards in government recruitment. That explains why Jobberman, a digital recruiter, has to advertise jobs in the print newspapers!
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Refer to this old video I made: continue to deepen capabilities in the opportunity of today even as you shift into the one of tomorrow. That strategy will save you resources in a market of 200 million with only 30 million having capacity to spend.
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You mean the deal wasn’t two hundred million dollars or more, and this magic figure is being bandied across the planet? If there’s one thing I don’t easily forgive anyone for, it’s quoting inaccurate numbers or sharing misleading information! This makes it extremely difficult to offer opinion going forward, since no one is sure of anything again.
As for having 60000 customers, that number isn’t small, we are not talking about B2C entity here, so cumulatively, millions of people interact with PayStack; no one needs to get it twisted.
But before you sell your shop or refuse to renew your office rent, just know that being successful in the online domain isn’t for all comers; there needs to be something you do better than everyone else.
Let me keep mind my business for now.