I've been thinking about how to solve a specific problem I have observed lately, and in my planning and brainstorming phase, I observed a quite standard phenomenon. I found myself gravitating more towards the path of solving the problem as an NGO.
And while this isn't a bad thing, let me give you some context.
In 1998, Sudanese-born Mo Ibrahim saw a massive unmet need in Africa's telecommunication space.
For example, as he has indicated, there were only 3,000 phone lines for 55 million people in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). As a business-minded person, he started seeking investment from lots of places to solve this unmet need.
Unfortunately, he failed in all of these attempts because no one saw the possibility he saw. They all saw war, unease, poverty, corruption and all you can name.
You know it.
Additionally, the belief was that the average African could not afford to pay for these services so it would be a total waste investing in the continent.
And so a frustrated Mo founded what was originally known as "MSI Cellular Investments", and later changed to "Celtel International".
To make the business work in Africa, he had to change the business model to suit the continent's needs. Now, because most workers in the western world are salaried, the business model of telecom companies allows them to charge subscribers monthly fees - to help them address all their bills at once.
And as a salaried worker, I can confirm how convenient such billing methods are. Paying in bulk, rather than in bits helps a lot.
However, in Africa, the majority of workers are non-salaried. They earn on a hand-to-mouth basis, so billing them according to their end-of-month usage will make very little sense. They may have to save up just to use your service - which in itself is an inconvenience. And you want to tear down as many barriers as possible.
So what did Mo do?
Mo realised this and introduced the concept of recharge cards into the market. This way, customers could access telecommunication services by buying airtime and data services in small quantities, per their needs. That way, they don't feel the limitation of bulk end-of-month purchases.
And this was a success! Huge one.
Within a few years, Celtel grew to include millions of customers across Africa until it was later acquired by Zain.
I need you to pause and think about what hit me for a moment. Think about what would have happened if with Mo's great concern, he created an NGO that raised funds to build telecoms infrastructure for the continent. Can you imagine what will have happened?
True, NGOs serve a purpose, but we need to start thinking beyond traditional NGOs as our way to solve the problems we see. Instead of assuming our target market cannot pay for our services, we need to start thinking like Mo and ask "How can we make them afford this solution".
You see that people cannot read? Show them the benefit and charge them to solve it. Gye sika. They can't do a CV and you can? Gye sika! They need farming resources you can help with? Gye sika. Unless you want to volunteer and that's fine. Otherwise, Gye sika. Ɛga, Kudi, L'argent. Bible mu kraaa ɛnyɛ bɔni.
Trade is a good way to boost our economies and we need to start trading value and resources. You can't trade money? Trade value. We start small, we start now. But still. Gye sika.
The more I think about it, the more I conclude that Africa's progress as a continent may depend most on unlocking and backing its entrepreneurial talents while solving its problems sometimes with profit as a motive.
We need people who best understand their communities' needs to build products that tap into proven demand, and sustainably monetize those solutions.
That is the way- our way -forward.
