What is Nigeria’s Next Biggest Technology Export?
With more and more tech companies springing up nowadays it’s almost hard to believe 90% of them were not even in existence 10 years ago (the latest smartphone at the time was Nokia N95 and we had never heard of Banky W).
The idea for this piece came up in a discussion where someone said Nigeria’s biggest tech export is Nairaland. Without details like actual market value or assets, it’s hard to prove whether this is true or not but it certainly got the wheels rolling. The world knows: Apple, Google, Facebook and Amazon, but who would we call Nigeria’s Big Four.
A little disclaimer here, this is an opinion piece based on user base, engagement and growth over time. Also, for no other reason apart from easy reading and structure, the companies have been itemized under industries.
News and Media — Nairaland
With more than 1 million members a lot of the site’s traffic comes from search engines. It is has been the go-to page for a lot of Nigeria-related topics. It may even be termed a local Wikipedia for Nigeria-only content. Since starting in 2005, the company has enjoyed massive growth and exposure because of its consistency. However, the increase of content sites will inadvertently cripple it’s SERP advantage. Especially since the last 3 years has seen the creation of more than 90% of the world’s data, it’s relevance might be lost in 3–5 years. Like any user-generated sites (or content farms if you like) revenue comes primarily from adverts. The next thing for Nairaland would be to diversify their technology like Google or maybe a social network.
Entertainment — IrokoTV
It goes without saying that the entertainment industry is a big deal in Nigeria. Dubbed the ‘Netflix of Africa’, the 6-year-old company, with a total investment of $40 million in 2016, is one of the pioneers in African tech start-ups. The company’s success led to the creation of investment company, Spark.ng by its founder Jason Njoku, which has funded Nigerian tech start-ups like Paystack, Hotels.ng, Tolet.com.ng, Foto.com.ng and others.
Software Engineering/Training and Education — Andela
Mark Zuckerberg’s visit in 2016 plus the $24 million funding put them on the map as software companies to reckon with in Africa. They have a solid structure and plan to produce global technology leaders. The next step for them would be expansion and not just to other countries in Africa but other states in Nigeria. For now, these guys, lean towards Apple in my brand and lifestyle ‘cool-o-meter’. Sometimes I picture a scenario where someone asks ‘How many languages do you speak’ and I reply ‘Three: English, JavaScript and Python’ 😎 (in my dreams).
Sports — Bet9ja
Since starting in 2013, apart from their exponential growth, not much can be said about these guys because of the peculiarity of the online gaming industry. Presently ranked as number 4 on Alexa’s top sites in Nigeria, the company can leverage on its success and diversify to boost brand image and relevance.
Conclusion
Considering the age of some of the tech companies the apparent next step for most would be market expansion or product development. However, one sector I think is ripe for disruption is education. Formal education is fast declining especially in this age of the Internet of Things. Taking a leaf from the entertainment industry, a great model would be an education resource aggregator or content curating application for learning. Sort of a Spotify or Netflix of education. With 50% of current jobs being rendered obsolete in 10 years, there couldn’t be a better time to explore this opportunity than now. Already, an application like Osmosis for medical school students provides a schema that demonstrates a possible model structure. There may be numerous online study sites but a Nigerian company can change the game by seriously developing that space.
Thanks for reading. If you think there are companies in other industries that could be the next big thing or companies I may have left out, kindly let me know in the comments sections or mail me at nathanbassey@gmail.com. If this was helpful feel free to share the love. Cheers :)
