Global head offices have long been accused of telling a single story about African consumers. Dhatchani Naidoo, Managing Partner at Delta Victor Bravo, which represents eatbigfish in Africa, argues that South African boardrooms are just as guilty. Drawing on Africa’s Beautiful Constraints, she looks at what that blind spot costs businesses, and why the fix starts with who’s in the room.
There's a real difference between fighting for a slice of an existing market and baking one nobody's tasted yet. This unpacks what that looks like in practice, from M-Pesa to stokvels to a bridal shower decor shopping.
‘We’ll expand into Africa once the infrastructure is ready.’ Yet the businesses winning in Africa didn’t wait. They built the infrastructure, worked around it, or bypassed it entirely.
The ‘skills gap’ remains an enduring talking point in Africa. Not enough coders, not enough data scientists, not enough digital marketers. But as we argued in the Africa’s Beautiful Constraints white paper, the problem isn’t a shortage of skills, it’s a shortage of recognition.
Reaching consumers starts with understanding them in their real context and moment of need, which requires brands to set aside their assumptions.