I could be wrong but I have noticed a pattern. Founders who win in West Africa are those who crack distribution first before perfecting their products.
See Jumia for instance, they didn't wait for good road networks or for their tech guys to build digital payments. They built their own delivery fleet, recruited local agents, created pickup stations. Cash-on-delivery in an era when bank accounts weren't saturated.
Moniepoint recruited agents in markets, motor parks, neighborhood shops. 600K agents later, they dominate the POS market in Nigeria.
OmniRetail? 1,100 vehicles and 85 logistics partners later, they were twice named Africa's fastest-growing company between 2020-2023
I think it is safe to say that in Africa, distribution isn’t infrastructure—it is PEOPLE. Agent networks, local logistics, grassroot partners, community trust built street by street.
I think the competitive advantage for crypto founders in emerging markets isn’t their app but their ability to reach the unreachable.
Moniepoint currently controls nearly 40% of Nigeria’s POS market.
Data source: POSMarketCap (PMC)