What is the fuss about carving out your own niche when competition in Africa is still very low – you may ask. In competitive markets finding your own niche is often the only route to success, because the market is overloaded with companies that offer almost everything to everyone. It is difficult for you to get in as a start up business if people can get the same product or service easily already.
But why are niche markets still of great value to you in Africa?
The answer is simple: They allow small and medium sized Africa business owners to accelerate their success rate even more. This means that your business can grow often earlier and faster.
Ok, let’s look at two things before I share some extreme African Business niches, which are….well, unconventional. First let us understand clearly what a niche market is and then look at why too many Africans who want to start a business are doing just the opposite.
Here is a definition of a niche market from the online business directory, because it simply makes it so clear and hits the nail on the head: Concentrating all marketing efforts on a small but specific and well defined segment of the population. Niches do not ‘exist’ but are ‘created’ by identifying needs, wants, and requirements that are being addressed poorly or not at all by other firms, and developing and delivering goods or services to satisfy them. As a strategy, niche marketing is aimed at being a big fish in a small pond instead of being a small fish in a big pond. Also called micromarketing.
And why do so many African businesses fail in succeeding? Because:
1) They copy what others are doing already after witnessing it worked well (for them!)
2) They want to be everything to everyone right from the start.
If you make those mistakes you 1) face competition that has been in the market for much longer and 2) have no clear focus, instead, you run the risk to be all over the place struggling to be efficient in everything you set out to be.
Let me give you an example: You decide to sell fish. And you may take an approach that looks somewhat like this: I will 
sell fish to the restaurants in my country and also aim to target the export market as I heard there is shortage in Europe. I am also thinking about freezing fish to sell it to local supermarket chains, I already had some expression of interest, or maybe I will dry it and sell it to African shops abroad…and Africans in the Diaspora could then order the dried fish online.
Looks like you have a lot of customers? Wrong – a lot of potential customers, but you may find that the actual customers stay away. You have no clear business and sales strategy, so your market strategy cannot be clear either. Your message is vague, your product is vague, your market is not defined. Yes, once you are the leading fish producer in Kampala or Abijan then you can afford to sell to all these segments. But when you are about to start with limited resources you run the risk that you either don’t move fast at all or that you get somewhere stuck in chaos in the middle of your operations, because you cannot efficiently deliver on all counts. This can affect your credibility and business operations.
The other problem exists when you want to sell a product that is already being widely traded. Let’s say sorghum, tomatoes, mobile phones….or go to services: internet provider, accounting, barber shop. If you chose a product that is widely out there already, then you need to give it a twist. You need to stand out and provide something in a way that others don’t, so people have a reason to buy from you.
You will find that I make this point of ‘finding your Africa business niche’ repeatedly.
Why?
Because it is so important to your African business success strategy as a new entrepreneur on the continent.
If I’d ask you today what is your African business all about? What would you say?
You should be able to summarize your venture in 2-3 sentences and with absolute clarity what you offer, to whom you offer it, and what problems or needs you solve. Boom….boom….boom. It should be all revised in your head, ready to shoot it out professionally when it is needed. The message should be clear to you and your buyers….and no-one wants to hear your personal reasons for it. This is what I learned from my mentors: It’s not about you. It’s 100% about your clients and customers. They want to know what is in for them.
‘African Business Jumpstart is an African business coaching venture that aims to assist Africans in the Diaspora to start their businesses on the continent faster and more confidently.’
This is my business model summarized in two lines. And I also know where my key markets are: The US and the UK. This is where I find the most African Diasporans who are planning to undertake entrepreneurial ventures in Africa. So I target those markets.
You cannot believe how much I struggled with this in the beginning. I was ready to target everyone who wants to do business in Africa and introduce myself by presenting the why and the what and the how. But most people don’t have time for all that, they want to get on with it and just grasp quickly if you are of use to them or not.
You may have read my recent post: I Own Some Land – How Do I Start A Profitable Business With It? I suggested some niche market ideas, but had simply no idea how some Africans on the continent are already carving out an extreme niche for themselves. These are great news and I am confident they will have great potential to become successful. So today, I want to give you a couple of insights what a real niche can look like:
An African start-up entrepreneur who wrote a comment on my blog is breeding rabbits and now she plans to sell them to neighboring countries. Even if rabbit breeding projects have started in a few countries, this is an extreme niche in most African countries. High-end restaurants and hotels will buy from you. You will be their go-to person.
A Nigerian entrepreneur shared with us that he is planning to breed silkworms for the local silk and garment production and women farmers in Rwanda have taken this increasingly up, as it is proving more profitable than their traditional crop farming. What a fantastic idea! With the apparel industry in Africa on the rise, there will certainly be a market for African silk!
I thank both of them for sharing some insights with us that have hopefully the power to inspire others to be brave and get started with extreme African niche building.
We know that there are many, many more creative and visionary people out there, but some Africans have shown us that they really know how to build their niche! The advice indeed is: being a big fish in a small pond instead of being a small fish in a big pond (or no fish at all, because your business cannot be sustained).
But building a niche is not just an easier entry, it’s about standing out, producing something that’s not out there, and the result will very often be….that the market is coming towards you.
I am leaving you today with a new short video about a Nigerian who saw a gap in the Nigerian market decided to meet it, and who would have thought…now receives orders from the West.
And let me add an amazing story from the US about ‘Mo’s Bows’ – a now 11 year old Afro-American child, CEO I should say, who is reviving the ‘bow market’. He is making apparently $30,000 from his business already with serving this particular niche. So I am sure you can do it! If not, well…..get your kids to do it!
Stay on your path to make your African business happen.
Can you think of any Africa businesses niches that you think would do well? Please feel free to share any thoughts or ideas in the comment section.
Be part of Africa’s renaissance.
Build a grand lifestyle for yourself.
And make a positive impact on the lives of others. Today.
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“It’s not about you. It’s 100% about your clients and customers. They want to know what is in for them.”
People tend to lose focus of why they went into business in the first place and make it about themselves. The African is guilty of that.
The temptation to be everything to everyone is hard to resist. I remember finding myself trying to do that. As time went on I have honed in on what it is I do. Anything else I send them to someone else. Good idea to find people you can refer business you won’t do to.
Last week I attended the Richard M Clarke distinguished entrepreneurial lecture at the Fairleigh Dickinson University and the keynote speech was given by the President of a Pharmaceutical company. He told the story of how the company almost collapsed. How he had to lay off over 90% of his employees. To rebuild the company he focused on treatments for diseases that afflicted a very few people. The big pharma companies have no interest in competing in that segment because it did not serve enough people. He has grown the company from less that $200 M to over $1.6 B in market capitalization.
Thank you Harnet. Focus, specialization are very important ingredients to success.
The elevator speech is very powerful. Practice it. So post below my comment the answer to this question. What do you do?