NMG Technologies – Nigeria Meet

Estimated reading time: 10 minutes

Nigeria is one of the fastest growing economies in the African Continent as well as on Global charts that enjoy a growth rate of 7% on an average. Having a progressively dominant financial market, Nigeria is counted among the top 10 fastest growing equity markets too.

The foreign investment portfolio of Nigeria last counted stood at over $80 billion; this is a figure that propagates Nigeria’s potential as a favored nation in the world for international investors owing to its improved economic appearance as well as cultural diversity.

We marked our entry into the Nigerian terrain early this year with a customized web development and social media optimization campaign.

Our client is one of the top notch companies in Nigeria who need customized solutions for their unique Industry.

To begin with, we deployed local sources to have a clear grasp of the Nigerian marketplace and worked in tandem with its local partner to ensure a smooth run.

The team worked hard on the campaign to deliver a holistic solution that ran parallel to the client’s vision and mission. Through our understanding of the Nigerian business landscape and technology trends, we were able to close the campaign successfully.

Below are highlights of the work we are doing

• Social Media campaign for audience connectivity and build brand awareness
• Brand Building exercises to capture the audience attention using photos, videos and outdoor campaigns planned strategically across several regions
• In a campaign that lasted over 2 months, we helped in the organic rise of followers to 1,000,000 across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
• Drove audience engagement on social media channels and increased recall value.

Our senior management team visited the local areas at leisure and checked out popular regions like Lekki in Lagos and Abuja; the former being the financial hub of the country and the latter being the governmental center-stage. 

Lagos is called the financial hub of Nigeria for a reason. In fact, it has been consistently called the ‘Silicon Valley’ of Africa owing to the resilient entrepreneurial spirit that thrives here. Various startups have laid their foundations in this financial hub of Nigeria and have prospered into multi-million businesses.

For instance, Jobberman started out in 2009 in a university dorm room. Today, it has grown to become one of the most popular job search portals with over a million visitors every month. It was recently acquired by One Media Africa.

Similarly, Supermart was started to help customers shop online to avoid traffic snarls on the road. Today, it has become Nigeria’s largest online supermarket owing to its convenient service and a solid investment from a North American venture capital firm.

The above two examples are just the tip of the startup iceberg that is all over Lagos, the economic capital of Nigeria. With a robust ROI and tech-savvy generations, Nigeria is fast becoming the hotspot of startup culture which explains the ‘rise and shine’ of the African continent in the world.

Nigeria is slowly going through an economic revolution as it is becoming the largest economy in Africa. Foreign investors are flocking the Nigerian nation like never before and leading the new technology leaders encouraging them to pursue their dreams.

A country with a population of about 174 million, with a greater percentage of its population being youths, the Nigerian market is consumer driven. Various sectors like Telecommunications, E-commerce, Information technology and Entertainment are witnessing massive growth which proves that Nigeria doesn’t rely on Oil as the source of their economic growth.

Technology is fast becoming one of the most significant contributors to Nigeria’s economic progress. Hence, it becomes clear that technology and entrepreneurship form the backbone of this growing economy. Since technology is the fuel that powers every aspect of human endeavor; for instance empowering governance, security and driving social and demographic changes as well, it is only relevant that developing nations welcome technology with open arms if they wish to rise up the curve of global competition.

According to Gartner research projections, IT spend will reach a threshold of $4 trillion while the expenditure on software will reach to over $150 billion this year. These positive indexes coming from Nigeria shows that it is increasingly set to become an investors’ haven.

Moreover, according to the research done by Omidyar Network on Accelerating Entrepreneurship, Africa, it is clear that the challenges faced by the young entrepreneurs in Nigeria like lack of proper capital funding, little access to infrastructure etc. are being met by the strong entrepreneurial spirit and culture. This reflects that many new Nigerians are eager to succeed and grow and become entrepreneurs if they have access to a supporting environment.

Key Drivers of Change

Lagos is the commercial hub of Nigeria, a city that has been compared to the likes of New York and Delhi and other major financial centers of the world. Yaba in Lagos is called the tech cluster wherein most of the Nigerian startups are coming up with the able support of the Lagos State Government. Yaba is attracting an enhanced internet and broadband infrastructure and is home to two academic institutions too, the University of Lagos and the Yaba College of Technology along with few other research and creative hubs around near vicinity.

Two young Nigerians, Bosun Tijani and Femi Longe are credited with the establishment of the very first Tech Hub in Nigeria which is called the CcHub (Co-Creation Hub). It is the first of its kind facility that is truly multi-functional and multi-purpose wherein young entrepreneurs can work and strategize to create new social-tech ventures.

It is an ideal environment for technologists, entrepreneurs, tech companies and the like to come together and co-create new solutions to several social problems in Nigeria. Funded by the Omidyar Network and Indigo Trust, the CcHub has been the focal point for upcoming creative talent since 2010.

Within a short span of time, many similar facilities have come up in and around Yaba radius, Lagos. Some of which are IDEA Hub, Passion Incubator, and Leadpath Accelerator. These and much more such centers are the fruits of efforts made by several individuals and groups that have laid focus on supporting and growing the Nigerian Startup Ecosystem.

It’s not just economics that drives the tech rage in Nigeria. Several social causes have been taken up to increase awareness in social entrepreneurship for which technology is being put to use as a tool for driving change. This concept led to many social-cause-driven startups like Enough is Enough Nigeria, Wecyclers, Flying Doctors, HealthMobile, and Nigerian Constitution for All among many others.

Nigeria holds great potential for investment and support of startups. Several multinational conglomerates like Google, Samsung, Microsoft, Nokia, Tecno etc. are supporting the startup movement in Nigeria. There are a lot of opportunities in Nigeria that are yet to be explored in the field of Education, Infrastructure, Ecommerce, Telecommunications, and Technology. The market for developing startups is rising in this country for the large consumer market. The use of mobile phone is rising which in turn is leading to the provision of ample opportunities for Nigerian Startups.

Statistics

The Nigerian economy is rapidly advancing and derives much business via digital space. The growth of Web 2.0 and potent tools like Twitter and Instagram are majorly used in Nigeria for promotion and advertising by every major industry. Approximately 70% of businesses in Nigeria are now embracing social media to interact with their customers.

This digital growth and rise of internet utility have led Nigerian market to experience high business growth. According to a research over 90% of Nigerians access the internet from their mobile devices and mobile internet data outnumbers the desktop internet access. Likewise, mobile ads perform 4-5 times better than online ads among brand favorability etc.

As of August 2015, Nigeria had an active mobile base of 151 million, according to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). The ease of performing online activities on-the-go has made the usage of smartphones more encouraging than ever before.

This leads us to the conclusive theory that Mobile drives major internet use across Nigeria. The influx of low-cost smartphones has strengthened its mobile usage. In fact, Facebook announced until recently that in the month of June 2015, there were 120 million active users of Facebook in the African continent.

Additionally, according to a Forbes report, the statistics confirmed that 100% of its monthly users in Nigeria (15 million) and South Africa (12 million) are on mobile phones. Facebook credits its exponential success to the growth of mobile devices in the Nigerian ecosystem as more than 80% of the users’ login to their platform via their mobile phones.

The above statistics among many others are proof enough that any brand owner or digital marketer cannot do without the use of the internet and social media. Moreover, the contributing factor – ‘mobile phones’ in speeding up the usage of internet and increasing instances of business promotions is a deciding trend for businesses.

Let us take a look at some of the facts surrounding the use of internet and smartphones in Nigeria.

According to a forecast, the use of mobile phones and particularly smartphones in Nigeria from the period of 2014 till 2016 is estimated towards reaching 15.5 million. 

The Mobile Africa study for 2015 reveals some major statistical information about mobile/smartphone usage in Nigeria, Africa:

• Nigeria contains the largest share of the mobile market of Africa with over 148 million subscribers and penetration of 107%.
• Internet browsing through mobile phones stands at 47% in Nigeria
• In case of app downloads, Nigeria stands at 28%
• Nokia holds the monopoly in being the biggest mobile phone brand in major African markets; however, its market share is plunging fast.
• Nokia dominates in Nigeria at 43% hold in market
• The below table will tell you the basic mobile usage in Nigeria.

• Android is the clear winner in the race of mobile operating systems in Nigeria enjoying a whopping 56.82% market share compared to a meager share of 5.49% of iOS and 2.44% of Windows.
• The below table will give you an idea about the most popular mobile applications in Nigeria. Unfortunately, the top list doesn’t feature any native apps.

Nigeria is a land of growth and opportunity, now in the absence of many Nigerian mobile apps; it is a window of opportunity for entrepreneurs to come up with something that is by the Nigerian market for the Nigerian market.

Many national and international startups have recognized this opportunity while many are yet to recognize. NMG Technologies has aptly recognized and utilized the available opportunity to communicate and collaborate with its Nigerian counterparts for a mutually profitable association.

It was through our understanding and grasp of the Nigerian market as well as our well thought out plan and above all the client’s faith in us, that resulted in a collaboration that will continue for many more years to come. In fact, NMG Technologies takes pride in being one of the most trusted outsourcing partners for many small and medium businesses across the world.