Startups targeting Africa should start with a multi-country mindset

Most African markets are relatively small and many are highly uncertain; savvy entrepreneurs seeking venture scale & stability recognize the importance of early geographic expansion

Some markets are blessed with wealthy consumers and sizeable populations; others aren’t as fortunate. Entrepreneurs in the former have the latitude to focus on growth in their home countries; however, in the latter, entrepreneurs seeking sizeable growth have to look outwards relatively early in their journeys.

African markets, generally speaking, belong in the second bucket. As such, startups targeting African markets would do well to adopt a multi-country mindset early on. On the one hand, most African markets are relatively small, and on the other, many African markets are highly uncertain. Given these characteristics, entrepreneurs seeking rapid growth and venture scale in African markets should begin thinking about geographic diversification and market expansion at the onset.

Scale: meaningful scale comes via market expansion

While the African continent currently has a population of ~1.3 billion people, GDP per capita in sub-Saharan Africa was only ~$1,600 in 2019, compared to ~$63,000 for North America and ~$35,000 for the European Union…