Unless you risk exposing yourself to bankruptcy, you must, before setting up a business in Africa, be sure to take into account certain prerequisites.
Decision-making on a whim or management errors can be very fatal for those who want to do business in Africa. These are also the source of problems for entrepreneurs seeking to perpetuate their activities on the black continent. So, to create a profitable business in Africa we offer 4 key tips …
Be accompanied by an incubator
Whether or not you are a graduate of a large business school, you must, as an entrepreneur, rub yourself in the reality of the field and be accompanied in its steps and first steps, especially when you invest in an African country while you are a stranger.
Unfortunately, the majority of project leaders in Africa, particularly in the French-speaking world, launch their activity without seeking the advice of seasoned professionals, ie incubators. This is the reason why, we advise you to be accompanied by an incubator if you want to gain efficiency, legitimacy, and credibility in your sector of activity.
Test your idea on the market
A project idea may seem relevant in theory and struggle to have a favorable response in practice. Thus, many are these entrepreneurs who have ideas exclusively written down on paper, without the concept having really emerged in a concrete way.
So, to have chances of succeeding in your business in Africa, Africa BuzzFeed advises testing your concept with consumers. This will allow you to validate your idea on the present market and have the advantage of collecting comments, criticisms, and suggestions from customers in order to continuously refine the characteristics of the product until the needs of consumers are fully met. satisfied.
See a bigger picture
Many entrepreneurs in Africa often tend not to think and venture into very large projects. Most of the time, they limit themselves to selling their products or providing their services at the local level. However, in a continent where the middle classes are emerging, the investment possibilities are enormous.
Project leaders in Africa can thus benefit from sustained growth in their business. They must, therefore, revise their ambitions upwards by trying to gain market share at the sub-regional level, whether in the CEMAC zone – Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa – or ECOWAS – Economic Community of the States of West Africa.
Surround yourself with qualified employees
In many cases, the skills of the project leaders are not in line with the core business of the company. To reduce costs, most entrepreneurs opt for the combination of manager and technician functions. This is one of the causes of entrepreneurial failure in Africa.
This lack of skills relating to the design of the product or the provision of the service offered poses a serious problem because qualified resources are at the heart of any business growth. To maximize the chances of success of your project, you must ensure that you only surround yourself with people with solid expertise and good technical knowledge of your products.
