Fintech is Hard

Fintech is Money

Fintech is hard

Building a digital business is hard,

Building a digital business in Nigeria is even harder

You are competing with food, and competing against an unfavourable macroeconomy

A huge percentage of your costs may be in USD

Your revenue and customer base are most likely resident Nigerians earning and spending Naira.

If you build a global product that can allow you to charge in USD

Your first customers may still be Nigerian businesses with NGN revenues

You can not outrun the macro environment you have found yourself in

To scale and survive, you need to bootstrap, charge a premium, or raise equity funding

Your chances of getting a loan while still in the early stage are slim to none

Only the privileged and those who serve a luxury market can charge a premium or bootstrap

The local funders do not understand your business and want to collect significant ownership stakes to fund the risk you pose

The foreign funds that fund the ecosystem demand their returns in USD, and with the declining currency, your task of returning value is pretty steep.

If you somehow manage to survive all this, the government is out to get you via multiple taxes and over-regulation

Building in Nigeria is hard, but not impossible

Godspeed to all who tow this path