Unlocking Growth in African Markets: Market Entry & Expansion

0:08 Well, good morning, members and friends across Canada, and as well as to our guests, members and stakeholders across the African continent. I'm Gareth Blore, President of the Canada-Africa Chamber of Business, and it is my distinct pleasure to welcome you to today's webinar with one of our latest members who was featured at the recent conference in Nigeria, our 6th Canada-Africa Business Conference. And a warm welcome to Mr. Olanrewaju Olokunde, who is the managing partner at Voronex Africa, a firm we were privileged to hear a bit about during our conference in Lagos, and to which we're delighted for those who weren't there to continue the conversation, specifically around the growth and the objectives that many Canadian businesses have across the African continent and ensuring we secure the right partners. A big thank you to Mr. Toye Abioye, Special Envoy to Nigeria and a vice president of the Canada Africa Chamber, who's with us today, to all of our members, and to 6, 1 of our grand sponsors for hosting today's webinar, a very warm thank you.

1:10 Mr. Olokunde, it's an absolute pleasure to be with you again, unfortunately not in Nigeria, but definitely looking forward to welcome you to Canada soon. Your company, we recognize, is a fantastic Africa market entry and expansion partner. You've been a strategist, technology lead, and entrepreneur. And you've worked across various companies. And now your focus is firmly in helping international companies validate, enter, operate and scale across African markets. I recognize your decade of experience, over a decade in technology, AI, digital transformation and international business growth. And through Voronex Africa, it's been very impressive to see your work with international companies who are seeking to establish and expand their presence across the African continent, supported by market intelligence, the market validation, and of course, the strategy and the execution, including with local partners, a number of whom I was fortunate to meet recently in Nigeria. I know you're passionate about business, trade and investment, and that is the embodiment of so much of what we stand for here at the Canada-Africa Chamber of Business.

2:12 Esteemed guests, dignitaries, Ladies and gentlemen, a warm welcome to today's keynote presenter, Mr. Olorewaju Olukunde, Managing Director at Vorenex Africa. All right. Thank you, Garrett. Thank you for the introduction. And good afternoon. Good morning. Good evening, everyone joining from different parts of the world. Happy to see Mr. Toye again. The last time we were in Nigeria together at the Canada Africa Business Conference, the fifth edition. Excited, super pumped to be at this webinar again at this time. And we're just going to get right into it.

3:01 And we'll be just running us through some few things. You can see we'll be unpacking today the African market entry and expansion framework. And we want to look at how global companies, especially in Canada and some of our friends who are also joining from other countries, how you can unlock goods in the African market. All right, so I'm just going to share a few slides, have some conversations, and at some point, Mr. Garrett would have a conversation with me. We'll just unpack a few questions together. All right, let's jump into it. Africa is not a market. Africa is not a market. I would rather say that Africa is a continent with different markets.

3:51 Now, for those who are joining the call and you know you are thinking of African expansion, right, you want to come into the African market, I think the first thing to note is that Africa is not just 1 market. It's a starting point for unlocking and unpacking certain insights about this continent. So Africa is not a market. We have 54 countries, thousands of separate commercial ecosystems, different customers, currencies, regulators, different routes to market. So for those who are joining the call this afternoon or wherever, you know, the time is where you are joining, you need to first understand that the first approach to Africa is to understand that Africa is a continent.

4:40 And that's very obvious, right? But based on the work we are doing, we have seen that a lot of global companies, the first thing they are literally asking is, we want to come into Africa. And then I begin to ask, which Africa? Where in Africa? And so it's important to understand this. So treating Africa as 1 market is usually the first mistake and the most expensive one, right? I'm starting with this so that, you know, we can have some understanding to, you know, generally what, you know, the Africa market is, right? To note, you know, Cairo is not the same thing as Lagos. Lagos is not the same as maybe Togo, for example. We have different incorporation infrastructure, different payment systems in different African countries. So that's the first thing that everyone should know who is thinking of Africa.

5:38 And to note, you know, before I begin to mention this, that the theoretical market is not the same thing as the addressable market. So considering Africa, you must pay attention to the fact that the theoretical market, so for example, if you have done your market research about Africa, you will see things like, oh, Africa, you know, you see a lot of numbers, people speaking about Africa. So the theoretical market is not the same as the addressable market, right? And the addressable market is not the same as the accessible markets, the markets you can access, right? And then the accessible market is not also the same as the winnable markets. So you must understand the theoretical understanding of Africa and then understand the other things around Africa as well. So let me run us through this slide. The opportunity in Africa is obvious.

6:35 Opportunity is obvious. We have, this is the number of young people we have in Africa. You will see those figures everywhere, especially if you are given to research. But what we want to do this afternoon is to move you from market research to market execution. We want to move everyone listening to this from market research to market execution. So the opportunity is obvious, the execution is difficult. I used to say to some of our guys that, to enter Africa is easy, but to build a repeatable business revenue process is difficult, That's what is difficult. So you need to understand that the opportunities in Africa is obvious, but the execution is difficult.

7:24 So I'm going to run us through this slide, you know, very quickly, but please just give me a second. Let me just fix. I think the lighting is a bit dark, right? And I need to just fix it now. Just a second. And just for those joining, just to let you know, members feel free to use the member line to send in your questions as some already are. Alternatively, feel free to email ask at CanadaAfrica.ca or use options on the platform. But thank you very much. I recognize those questions coming in already, especially around the point on market segmentation. Thank you so much. All right, I think that will be fixed now.

8:12 Just in a minute, I'm bringing up my screen again. All right. All right. So, like I said, opportunity is obvious. The Latin is back, all right. The execution is difficult. So What we expect everyone considering Africa to think about, first is to think about the market opportunity. It's so obvious that in Africa, demand exists everywhere. Demand exists everywhere, right? In the 54 African countries, right? But again, we want to move everyone from market opportunity to market access.

9:05 How can you reach and win the buyer? Let me give an example, just to portray to us that Africa is a very huge market. When you are thinking of your strategy around payments in certain climes in Africa, mobile money may work, right? And cards may not work in other markets, right? So the market is so big, right? Different customers, different buying process, you know, different payment infrastructure. That is what exists in Africa. So, but again, the first thing to consider is what are the market opportunities, right? Is the market opportunity in Africa right now open to artificial intelligence? Is AI fully ripe for the African market?

9:52 You know, is communication platform as a service? You know, are they looking at that in the African market? You know, you are asking questions. So the first thing is, you know, to note that demand exists somewhere, right? But we must move from market opportunity to market access. How then do we now access the markets? And then the final thing is, how then do we generate revenue in those markets? Now, that there is an opportunity in the market does not necessarily lead to commercial profit as its way, does not deliver revenue. So market opportunity is the starting point. So market opportunity does not necessarily deliver market access, and then market access does not necessarily deliver revenue. So what some of the questions for companies who are considering African markets, there are a few questions you can ask.

10:43 Number 1 is where exactly should we start? Where exactly should we start? Are we going to start from Lagos, Nigeria? Are we going to start from... Even in Nigeria, for example, there are certain products that you may not start from Lagos. You may need to start from another place in Lagos, right? You know, So where exactly should we start? Number 2 is how much would they really pay? Payment is a very important thing in the African markets. For example, maybe certain companies, they have AI solutions, they wanna bring it to Africa. The question then is how much we know, asset management companies, financial services firm, how much are they willing to pay? And what would be the payment modalities? Those are some of the things you will know, some of the questions you want to ask. Number 3 is, are we going to hire? Are we going to partner? Are we going to distribute?

11:37 There are 3 different things. I've seen companies who will say okay they want to go for hiring and they will use employee of records, you know, that is 1 That is 1 model. I've also seen people or companies that go through the partnership model. So you need to ask those questions. What are the models for hiring, for partnership, and for distribution? Number 4 is how do we operate and get paid locally? This is a very important question as well for companies considering African markets. How do we operate and get paid locally? The first question you want to ask in this regards is are we going to incorporate locally, right? Or can we work with a company like Voronex and then after some time you can then begin to scale and then incorporate?

12:27 As regards payment, like I mentioned that the payment in Africa right now is we, number 1 is that we have different currencies, right? And then in certain regions, for me in East Africa, right, mobile money is very big, is not so big in the area. So how do you want to get paid locally? Are you going to partner with a merchant of records to ensure that you know payments can be seamless? So that's the first question I want to ask. The fifth question, any company considering the market opportunity in Africa I'm going to ask is who we actually buy and with whose budget? Who we actually buy and with whose budget, right? So you need to pay attention to the buyer, right? Who is actually, In fact, in the companies you are trying to reach out to, is it the procurement, is it the CFO, is it the CEO, who we actually buy and with whose budget?

13:26 Very, very important question. Number 6 is who controls access to the customer? Who controls access to the customer? Now, for certain products, when you are considering the African market opportunity, you may want to go through partnerships, right? Sometimes you have to go through certain people so that you can get to the end user or to the person that is already buying. So who controls access to the customer? If for example, now a bank already has maybe over 100,000 customers, they already have access to the customer. You're thinking, how can we partner with this bank? How can we partner with this payment provider? How can we partner with this merchant of records? So those are some of the questions you want to ask when you are thinking about the opportunity in the African market. Number 7 is, how long is the enterprise sales cycle? And this is a very, very important question, especially for technology companies.

14:23 How long is the enterprise sales cycle? And let me give us an example. Imagine that a company is trying to sell enterprise AI solution to maybe banks, to insurance in Africa, let's say Nigeria, for example, right? And then based on research, based on maybe what Gartner had mentioned, right? They had mentioned that the sales cycle is 13.6 months. That is more than 1 year, for example, based on the pricing of that enterprise AI solution. Now, it will not be so wise for a company like that, considering entering into the Nigerian market, to get an office, to hire people, because the sales cycle does not match with the investment they are putting in place.

15:12 So it's a very important question to ask, how long is the enterprise sales cycle for our products? So that those are the things that would help you move from market opportunity to market revenue. It is not every company that, like I said earlier, that entering into Africa is easy, but building repeatable business flow, revenue generation flow, that is what is hard. So, and these are the questions I want to help you unpack, some of those things. How long is the enterprise sales cycle? It gives you certain insights on how you want to enter the market. And finally, is how much capital before validation. How much capital before validation, right? That you have, maybe you now have 1 or 2 customers, does not mean that, you know, the market is fully ripe for you? You still need to check, OK, considering the sales cycle in other markets, considering how much we are generating in other markets, do we think this market is actually OK for us or ripe for us?

16:17 For example, if in other regions you are generating 10x of what you are generating a particular market in Africa, you want to check before you validate your products in that market. So these 5 questions are very, very important. And like I used to say that the gap between opportunity in Africa and revenue is not information. And those are some of the things we are going to unpack this afternoon. The gap between opportunity and revenue is not information. You can get the information everywhere. It is the strength of your execution. It is the strength of your execution. And those are some of the things we want to show this evening, right? How can you execute seamlessly in different African market? Before I go to execution, please don't forget the 2 things I've mentioned. Number 1 is that Africa is not a market, you know, so to speak.

17:10 Africa is a continent with different markets, right? 54 countries as it were, right? With different customers, with different, you know, buyer personas, with different, you know, purchasing power, with different currencies, you know, with different things, right? That's the first thing for everybody to pay attention to, considering the African market. The second thing is that the market opportunity exists, that demand exists somewhere, does not necessarily translate to revenue, right? So you must pay attention to that. So let's move to execution. Let's move to execution. So this is it, right? This is the pattern that we have seen at Voronex. In Voronex, we work with global companies working on African revenue, right? And this is some of the problems we actually observed, you know, and even in certain conversations up to now, we still see that this is what is most likely obtainable for companies in Canada, in other regions that are considering the African market.

18:14 Most people would get or most companies go for market reports. And market report is very important. Market report gives you certain intelligence, gives you the market context, it gives you the look up, it helps you contextualize the local environment, It gives you a lot of information. It gives you certain insights. And then when these guys get market reports, they move to selecting a particular country based on the market reports, right? And then when they select the particular country, maybe East Africa, or they select, you know, a country in West Africa, like Nigeria, they then move to distributor, they appoint distributors or partners. The second thing that we also see is that people just go ahead and open office.

19:01 And then they hire the team, marketing will start, and then they are now asking where are the customers. So they've done the market reports, they've selected a country based on the market reports, because of course there are certain intelligence in market reports that can point you to a country, right? That you should go for. So those are some of the things we see. So they select a country, they open their office, you know, they hire some certain guys with good MBAs, right? And then they launch in the market. Then they are not asking, where are the customers? 18 months and a 7 figure commission later, the first customer conversation finally happens. Now they've wasted a lot of time, you know, the sales cycle is now so long, they are paying a lot of, you know, they've already paid for the office space, they are already paying salaries every month, right?

19:51 Sometimes they even get the wrong partner and there's no wrong partner locked in, as it were, vendor locked in, locking. So those things can happen, right? And they now realize that I think this market is not for us. And that is what we have seen. I can mention a lot of companies, you know, that we've engaged or based on some of the research we've done in the African market. This is what is most likely obtainable for global companies entering into Africa. But now, what are we doing differently? And for everyone who is considering African markets listening right now, stop asking, how do we enter Africa? And you do everything. You get market reports. You get market insights. And then finally, you are now looking for customers. That's not the way to go about it. The question you should be asking is what must be true for us to win in this specific market?

20:44 What must be true for us? And the way I want you to think about it is, you know, you are thinking about Africa. So let's give an example. Maybe you are considering a CPaaS solution, Customer Platform as a Service, or any solution at all, right? And you are considering, oh, let's go for maybe Kenya and Nigeria, you know, 1 company in East Africa, 1 company in West Africa. There are 8 things that we suggest that you pay attention to, and I'm going to unpack these 8 things, right? So that it helps you make certain decisions. Number 1 is a customer in a buyer with a budget authority. By the time you are considering the African mark and that's where Voranex exists. I'm going to speak to that you know towards the end of this presentation right?

21:34 Before you start to think of oh local incorporation, payment infrastructure, before you start to think of partnership, Before you start to think of local incorporation, payment infrastructure, before you start to think of partnership, before you start to think of hiring, different kind of things, before you even start to think of customer, you want to ensure that we have a named buyer with a budget authority, with budget authority. And you know, a company like Veranik can help you with that, you know, and then you see certain tractions, right? And then you begin to work from there. The second thing is your product. Is your product relevant to the local markets? Is it a very urgent problem? That a particular product is solving a problem globally does not mean that the robot will meet the road in a particular African country. The rubber can even meet the road in East Africa, but maybe not in West Africa.

22:25 So you want to check what is the relevance of this product to the problem in this market. Another thing you want to check is the pricing what this markets we actually pay Right. There are different markets that I'm starting markets that very the purchasing power is high So you want to check in other market? What is the pricing? You know, how can we go about this? The next one is the channel, how you physically reach the buyer, right? So how do you physically reach the buyer at the end of the day? What are the channels you want to put in place? The fifth thing is the partner who had access, who have the access you cannot build. I mentioned that earlier, that if you see like a merchant of records, an employer of records, a bank, a payment infrastructure, a payment provider, payment service provider, they already have the access.

23:14 They can be a strategic partner. Number 6 is sales motion. What is the cycle length? What is the sales cycle? What are the proof? Sales motion is very important and you want to consider those things. What are the references? Number 7 is the operations, and which we're going to talk about as well. What are the operations modality, the delivery, the support, the invoicing, the collection, right? For example, at Voronex, we partner with a company called LeadHot, right? Is a AI CRM tools. We partner with them to ensure that operations is seamless for any global company entering Africa. So operation is a very important conversation to have. And those are the things that will make you win in a particular market. And finally, is economics, right? The unit margin that survives at scale. That you are making money in a particular market does not mean the market is validated, right?

24:07 You know, you can be making certain money, you know, so it doesn't mean that, you know, the revenue you are generating commensurate to what you have invested in that market makes any sense. So you want to check these things. Please don't forget the customer, the product, the price, the channel, the partner, the sales motion, the operations and the economics as well. Time is moving so fast. And I want to quickly just introduce to us the framework we always recommend for any global company coming to Africa. You know, the framework we and we've given a like an acronym for it, you know, VESA, right. And, you know, V means to validate the opportunity in the market. E means to establish product market relevance. I've mentioned some of these things, so I'll just run through them so that we can have more time to unpack certain questions.

25:00 R means the routes to the markets. S is set up execution and A is accelerate what works. So let me break this down a bit. Validate the opportunity. The first thing you need to pay attention to is the markets. I'd mentioned to you earlier that we have the theoretical markets, we have the addressable markets, we have the accessible markets, and we have the winnable market. They are these 4 different things. So you want to check, is there enough addressable, reachable demand in this particular market. Not continental demand, but demand you can save. And there are many examples. You know, there are certain African countries right now, let me just use WhatsApp Business API, that are not open yet to WhatsApp business API.

25:46 So the likes of Infobip, Clickertel, Gulp Shop, they now decide to focus on certain particular markets in Africa, right? So you need to be able to pay attention to the markets, you know, the theoretical markets, the addressable market, the accessible markets, and the winnable markets. Number 2, is customer. I've mentioned this already. Who actually holds the problem and who signs? These are frequently not the same person. So pay attention to that. I'm sure that most people listening to me, you understand this framework already. Value proposition, is the problem urgent enough locally to displace the current workaround, right? So for example, now let's say a global company is trying to bring in an HR solution, right? To a particular, let's say Kenya or Ethiopia, right? You know, that's the country you are thinking about. So you want to check the value proposition of your solution, right? Is it very relevant to that market?

26:44 What are they currently doing? Does it just solve a part 1 problem that you know, their current system does not solve? So we want to pay attention to those things. What is the value proposition? What is the USP? And then the fourth one is the commercial model. Will they pay your price? You know, pricing is very interesting in every market but again in African markets. So for example, you can say we are running the SAS model, right? You know, you pay monthly, you do this, you know, in the African context, you can say, oh no, that is not the direction. We want our customers here to just make payments annually and then they can pay 15% for SFA fee and all those kind of fee, no recurring fee, right? So you check, we pay your currency, right? Are they paying in dollars? Are they paying in Naira? Those are some of the questions you need to ask. Number 5, is there a route to market? A route to market.

27:42 Are we leveraging distributor? Are we leveraging reseller? Or we want to leverage a company like Voranex. I'm going to speak a bit about Voranex, who can be your strategic partner for your African market expansion. Number 6 is the operations. Can you deliver, support, invoice and collect reliably every month? What are the operational infrastructure that you want to put in place or that is already in place that can help you drive market entry validation? These are your market entry validation stack and you need to pay attention to them. And finally, is economics. I've mentioned that already. After all of the above, does this become a business or a subsidy? I've seen complaints that they are literally not making any money in the African market because of the wrong choice of the markets.

28:28 So you want to check the economics as well. So validate sequentially, spend in proportion to the evidence you already hold. And that is where I want anyone thinking about the African markets, validate the opportunity. Validate, I may not need to speak to this a lot, right? But maybe when it comes to the Q&A, we can unpack country prioritization. What kind of country can you prioritize? Now let's look at established products market relevance. I'm going to run through this as well. There are 5 questions before you commit capital. You know, who exactly is the first customer? I'd mentioned that your first 2 customers to ensure that you are able to do the markets. The second question is what problem are they already spending money to solve?

29:20 What problem are they spending money to solve already? So you can look at their past, by instance to see, I think we can enter into this particular market, and there's a product that fits for this particular industry. Number 3, is who influences or control access to them? Is it consultants? You may want to enter into a particular industry, but you need to enter through it, through that industry entirely. So who influences or control access to them? Number 4 is what must change in our product pricing or proposition locally, right? For example, you know, let's say you are bringing an enterprise AI to an African market. You need to check what's, you know, can we do this in different languages? What are the compliance? What are the integration system? What are the support hours?

30:09 Is a product that is self-service in another market may not be self-service in a particular African market? So you need to be able to pay attention to those things, so that maybe you want to create like an asset that will support hours. What are the payments times? I've seen a situation where in other markets, customers are paying monthly, but in African markets, they have payment terms. We paid, we'll just pay one time fee, and then we are getting more money through, or we are paying every other year, or every other month, or based on certain usage. So those are the things you want to pay attention to. And finally is what evidence would justify committing more capital? Please pay attention to this time is really running and let me go to how your route to market because of time. Route to market.

31:04 A local partner can accelerate entry or delay it by 2 years. A local market, a local partner rather, can accelerate entry or delay it by 2 years. And your route to market is very important. How do you want to enter the African markets? Right? So you want to check market, a partner rather, that has credibility. So Direct access to your target buyers, technical and commercial capability, credibility that transfers to you, dedicated execution capacity. And that's where VoraNext Africa comes in. I'm going to mention that towards the end of the presentation. Incentives aligned to your outcome. Right? Incentives allowed to your outcome. So let me just give an example of that, right?

31:51 You know, you may say, okay, let's say you are working with Voronex Africa right now for a particular African market. There is a way you are paying based on the results you are getting. So you want to get a partner that understand that frame of reference. In the numbers, number 7 is life customer relationship, not contacts. You know, some partners just have contact, but there's no customer relationship. And then you want to also go for a partner that accept targets and accountability. For example, one of the ways we work in Voronex Africa is to say, okay, by the time we sign you in, no matter your industry, no matter the market vertical you're entering, we agree on the results. And then the engagement is based on the results. So you want to also consider a partner worth signing.

32:39 The partner that will cost you is a partner with a prestigious name and a big office, promises, political connection as they are called for, no dedicated team assigned to you, no measurable pipeline, right? They resist targets and reporting. So pay attention to this kind of partner, they will not help your African market expansion. So let's move to HES, right? And this is where the rubber meets the road. You know, for everyone considering the African markets, you know, for us in Voronex, we call something Voronex launchpad, right? It helps you face your African markets expansion. So the first thing is discover, all right? Which you can do on your own. Market intelligence is very important, you know?

33:28 Even though we don't do market intelligence, but market intelligence is very important. You can engage consultants, you understand the competitive landscape, you understand the customer and ecosystem mapping, which is very, very, very good. But when you have discovered that there's opportunity in Africa, where would then move you to? Is validate. You need to validate the theoretical market. Like I said, there's a theoretical market, there's the addressable markets. So validate means that we then help you engage customers directly, right? Direct conversations, right? And then we check your value proposition testing. We want to ensure that your product has product market fits. You know, your high CP is important for each market. For example, in Veranex, we work with at least for now 5 African countries. So we check across those 5 African countries.

34:24 Now, pricing and commercial assumptions, very important as well. That your pricing is working in another market does not necessarily mean it's going to work in another, in maybe 1 African market. So we help you validate your assumption based on your market intelligence. Now, the next thing is you then enter the market, right? You don't necessarily need to come. For example, now, you have a scale up in Canada. You don't necessarily have to come, you know, fly down, you know, you fly down your management team to Africa, you know, because you say, let's go and enter African market. No, you know, we just, you just need a partner like Voranex that helps you with your business development, that helps you with your partnership activation, that helps you with your pipeline generation, very important, pipeline generation.

35:12 And that also helps you with your market representation while you are still in Canada. So you're in Canada, for example, every week you get your reports, or every week you see what is happening, every week you can see your revenue increasing, why you are still there. Now, we then move from entering the market to operating in the market. This is full scale, right? Where there's proper sales execution, customer support coordination, we're organizing product demonstration, commercial operations, collection. So at this point now, we then begin to partner with Merchant of Records, payment service provider, to ensure that you can properly operate in the market. And then when you have now seen enough revenue over the time, right, then you can then move to scale. At this point in time, we are now thinking, I think we need a deeper local presence. You know, can we bring the management team, let's go to, you know, to Africa, a particular country there, right, and then let's really go and, you know, set up there.

36:11 So, but you don't need to start with this skill, you don't need to, you can start with discovery, you know, discover, discover, you know, the market, true market intelligence, and then, you know, Voranex, through the Voranex launchpad, we help you validate, enter and operate until it makes sense for you to scale. You know, so that is the launchpad and setup is very, very important for you. For the setup, we are trying to check, you know, is the opportunity real? Is the opportunity real? There's an assumption that, yes, our product is working in another market, it's going to also work in the African market. So we're also helping you to check, can you acquire customers? Qualified pipeline built for you, not promised to you, you know, qualified pipeline. Then can you deliver successfully?

36:56 You know, there's a point that we can even sign a contract with the customer, but can you deliver successfully based on what you have signed? Can they get enough support? Can they do the things that you've promised that they are going to do? Those are the things we do for you at the validation phase. Can we repeat the sales motion and can we scale profitably? That is the head part of the framework that we use at Voranex. And then of course the last one is, Accelerate What Works? Accelerate What Works, right? I don't need to speak to this, I mentioned it already because I want to unpack a few questions that we are going to have you know this afternoon. So let me give us in practice what does market ambition, how can we move a company in Canada from market ambition to local execution.

37:48 A company in Canada thinking of African opportunity. How can we move you from market ambition or market desire or market intelligence to proper local execution that delivers African revenue? So, and I'll just, I don't want to mention the name, but let me just give this use case. There's a particular company, an international B2B tech company with a proven product in home markets, you know, and they are seeking African expansion. And we realized that this company, now they have a very clear ambition, You know, very clear ambition. They are doing well in other markets, right? They are generating revenue in Asia, in Europe, you know, they are really expanding, right? But for African markets, they are missing out on African revenue.

38:34 Right? So the challenge is, you know, who is going to be our local commercial partner, right? Who is going to be our buyer and all those kinds of things. They are just asking questions. They came to us And then what we did for them is what everything I've been saying, right? Market validation and customer discovery. So we checked the 5 African countries, right? And we engage, this is not a theoretical engagement or market research. We engage with real customers, ask real questions, do normal products, you know, engagements, you know, sales demonstration, we did everything, right? And then we're able to move them from market validation to local business developments, right? And then we got a partner for them, right? They still work with us. We do their business development for them. Within 3 months, this particular customer is already generating African revenue.

39:26 And month on month, the revenue increase. So I'm saying this to say that, you know, there's a way you can move from market ambition, market intelligence to local execution, where you follow some of these frameworks that I've mentioned. And interestingly, Voronex Africa, you know, is doing that for companies already in Canada and in other parts of the world. Africa reward companies that combines ambition with execution and this is where I'm going to be wrapping up now. Africa reward companies that combines ambition with execution. You know, Anyone can dream about Africa. Anyone can dream about market entry into Africa. Anyone, like I said, African market entry is easy, but generating revenue consistently is much harder. That's what is hard. So Africa reward companies that combine ambition with execution, you know, and that's why you have to choose deliberately.

40:25 You have to validate locally, you have to execute relentlessly, and you have to scale intelligently. And the companies that will win in Africa will not necessarily be those with biggest budgets. We always mention this to some of our partners and organizations that we work with. You may not necessarily have the biggest budgets, but If your operational framework can be top-notch, you have a chance in Africa. So the companies that will win in Africa, they will be those that learn fastest and execute best. And ambition without a proper execution, you know, we delay many things. Your save cycle is long, your revenue, your pipeline is so so thin, as it's where you are generating low revenue, things are not working so well, you know, because your execution strength is very low, you know, but for with companies like, you know, Voronex Africa, what we help you do is we help you validate the market based on some of this framework, no matter your industry, no matter your product, you stand a chance in the African markets, but not in Africa as you are not just thinking Africa, you are focusing on specific markets, right? And you are seeing how can we validate our products in this market? How can we enter this market? How can we operate?

41:45 And how can we grow across African market? So that is what we do, you know, for our current customers at Vuranix Africa. And it is interesting, you know, the partnership we have with Canada Africa business chamber has also opened us up more you know to companies in Africa, in Canada rather, we're going to be in Canada in October right, it's going to be another conversation to meet Canadian businesses. But I'm, I've just given you that context that African markets is huge. African market is big. African markets, you know, there is revenue, you know, we have the young people in Africa, you know, Africa is now, you know, is as portable as it's where you know, a lot of things happening.

42:31 But the key questions you know, where I'm going to wrap up this afternoon it's not about the African market intelligence or how come it's report it is about market execution And the companies that we win in Africa, they are not just the ones with big ambitions. They are the ones with strong execution capacity or capability. And then as Voranex Africa, we are happy to partner with everyone thinking about the African market and help you generate the African revenue and help you scale as you generate those revenues. So that's where I'm going to stop this afternoon in Lagos, Nigeria. And then Garrett, I'm sure that he has 1 or 2 questions for me, and then I'm sure that we have 1 or 2 questions as well that I'll be happy to unpack and answer, and then we can take it off from there. Thank you everyone, and over to you, Garrett.

43:28 Thank you so much, Olonrewaju, And congratulations on the successes to date and the incredible insights. Feel free at this point to end screen share if that's useful, and we'll start bringing up some of the questions and discussions. I think one of the key insights that's come about is that your first few markets that you look at as a business are not necessarily the bigger markets and you're saying let's move beyond just assessing the market opportunity right down to how we're able to execute. So for a company sitting on the call now and I've got a medium-sized firm in particular, you know, looking at having identified a few markets, desktop research, what would you say is the correct way to do it, assuming they're sitting with you after this call and saying, maybe everything we've been looking at is actually incorrect because of the execution factor you've described. Any insights there?

44:17 Okay, all right, good. Just like I mentioned, thank you, Garret, for that question. Thinking about African markets, I will not start with the GDP size, I will not start with the intelligence I've gotten, I will start with the product fits or the product market as it were. So normally I would encourage, maybe on HSEMI considering African market, you can look at 5 things, right? Or you can look at customer concentration, right? In a particular African market, what are your, what's the customer concentration like in that market? Another thing you want to look at is what is the purchasing power, you know, of the customer in that particular market, right? What was their purchasing power? You also want to look at maybe competitive intensity. Do you have other competitors there?

45:04 So let's say there is a global HR company right now doing so well in other markets. And then you are saying, oh, we are coming to a particular, and you're a small business, right? And you're considering African market. You want to also check what is the competitive intensity? Do we have, you know, is this market really saturated, right, with a lot of HR solutions, right? You know, and what was the competitive intensity? But even with that, you can still get your USP. Maybe your USP is very unique, right? And then you want to also check what is the ease of access? How do we access this market? I'd mentioned some of those things. Can you partner with maybe a company that have access to majority of your customers, right? And then what is our rights to win in this particular market? So those are some of the things you want to check. The mistake is to rank countries only by market size. I've seen people that, you know, your SME or African market is great, but you are ranking those countries by market size. Oh, Lagos is very, Nigeria is very big and all those kinds of things. But a smaller market where you can reach decision makers quickly can help you transact easily.

46:13 So you need to check those things, not just that, oh, this is the theoretical market and let's just go in. Pay attention, what is the customer concentration? What is the purchasing power in this particular market, right? And the country may be small, but the country can be a very good starting point, like your low-hanging fruit. So I would encourage any maybe mid-sized companies when you are trying to look for a fit, you know, pay attention to the customer concentration, the purchasing power of those customers and maybe the competitive intensity as well. You know, there's red ocean, there's blue ocean, so pay attention to those things and you know by the time you come to Voronix as well, we can help you unpack some of these things. So that's to answer that question, Garrett. Thank you. Brilliant. Thank you so much. And a question with a view to a larger company, shareholders, a board, If a CEO comes to you and says, look, there's urgent trade diversification we're undertaking, it's something you're hearing across Canada now and have been even in the lead up to the last few days. And the question is, I don't have, we don't necessarily have millions as a company to start off with to test whether our senses that we're right on the opportunities in Africa.

47:22 What can you do for us? And here's the question. What would you be able to do within a 90 day period in terms of market research and the like that that CEO can then take back to his or her board and is 90 days perhaps a little bit too much on the short side. Any thoughts on that in terms of how you would approach it? Okay, good question as well. I think the first thing to look like, just like I mentioned is, you don't consider a market by the market size, right? You consider a market by the customers in that market. So at Voranet, for example, one of the things we are going to do for you is to get your quick wins. Quick wins. And quick wins for us is getting you the right ICP customer, your ID customer profile, right? You know, by the time, for example, now maybe you are selling a particular product in a particular, maybe a particular industry.

48:18 We want to get to your right customers in a particular market. And then within 3 months, based on the sales cycle, now there are some sales cycle that are very long. There are more than 3 months, right? Now You need to maybe engage with different stakeholders and all those kinds of things. However, there are some industry that maybe the products you are offering them, the sales cycle is just 1 month, 2 months. So within that 2 months, we'll get you a first revenue in African markets. And then you can go to your board and say, oh, I think this particular market is really, really making sense. Now, for industries or products that have more sales cycle, maybe 6 months sales cycle, 12 months sales cycle.

49:04 One of the things we want to give to you is to help you with your pricing validation, right? So you want to do your pricing validation because you may not close a deal within those, within the first 90 days, but can you do your pricing testing within the first 90 days? Can you get your ICP customers, like, in their numbers within the first 90 days, right? Can you even sign maybe some MOUs and NDAs within the first 90 days? So if those things are put in place, right, within the first 90 days, you can go back to your board and say, wow, I think there's an opportunity in this market. Because you have a very long sales cycle. Are we together now? But for companies that have products and the sales cycle is less than 90 days. Our promise to them is we get to your first customer within maybe the first 1 month or between 1 to 2 months. You have your first customer, first paying customer or second paying customers, and then you are sure that the market has been properly validated.

50:05 So that is what I would encourage or that's the approach we use at Vora next year. Thank you, Gareth. Okay, Gareth, you're muted. Thank you so much. It actually gives me time to refine the question that I just received. It goes to the issue of localization. So when you are in a local market and you're adapting to the way things are done. Based on the current clients that you've worked with so far, what in your experience is some of the non-negotiables where you'll say to a company, yes, you can change strategy, you can change pricing, but these are the areas where fundamentally you help a company keep its core offering. Just a bit of talk through that because I think adapting to different markets is obviously key, but for those not yet in African markets, what does that look like and what are the non-negotiables in your experience?

51:16 Okay, good question as well. Just to mention that localization does not mean abandoning what makes your business successful, you know, at the moment. So, when we speak to localize, So I think companies sometimes misunderstand localization. So your company is already successful in a particular region. So localization does not mean that you abandon what makes your business successful. Localization is adaptation. You adapt the part of your commercial model that prevents customer from buying or succeeding with you. And I'm going to explain that, right? So for example, now, you may be successful with a product in another region, right? But when you are thinking of the African context, you are thinking of adaptability, you know, you are thinking of, you know, intellectual property safety standards, you know, brand integrity, you are thinking of things, you know, that are very particular to that particular market.

52:19 Your core product is still the same. Like I used to, let me just give an example of maybe an HR solution that is doing well in Canada right now. Maybe somebody is building an HR solution, solid product, and they are really making revenue. When you are thinking of localization in the African context, you should know that leave management, absence management in Africa may be different from absence management in other region, right? You should know that maybe performance management is different in other region, right? You should know that, you know, there are different modes when it comes to, you know, HR solutions and all. So what you then do is that you engage adaptability, you know, you adapt to the market so that you can do well in the market.

53:07 So it does not mean that you abandon what makes you successful but it just means that you adapt and certain things that may happen. Let me just give maybe 4 examples of localization so that you know we can get the context. Pricing is one thing right? I mentioned that earlier. So you can localize your pricing so that you know the customers are paying in USD or Euro or pounds in other regions does not mean that you have to pay in those particular currencies. So you can work around localizing your pricing. Another one is payment frequency. I'd mentioned that earlier as well. You know that it's a monthly payment or weekly payment in a particular region does not mean that it's going to be like that in this particular region. So you can localize based on the context.

53:55 Another thing is you can localize, for example, sales cycle may require more face-to-face engagement. You know that there are certain regions that you can just send emails, finalize the deal, and all those kind of things. In certain markets, the CFO wants to see you. The procurement manager wants to see you. People want to see you. So those are the things you have to think about localization. That's how do we localize our sales process for this particular market. Another thing maybe is implementation model. And for certain products, right, implementation model can be self-service. That's, you know, a customer will just go do everything and they are fine. But in other markets, localization would mean that your implementation model must embrace local support.

54:41 So that you do have a local support or you don't have a local support in a particular market does not mean you don't have a local support in a particular African market they are entering into. So I can go on and on like that, that you know, you need to think about localization in a very big way, but the core thing about localization is adaptability. Don't, the thing that is making your product successful, right, don't throw it away, but when you enter into the African market or specific African markets, embrace adaptability. I don't know if that helps somebody, right? Gary, thank you. Brilliant, Thank you so much. I'm getting a thumbs up here on the members line and great appreciation. Before we close, I know many of our members and guests at Africa Accelerating in Toronto October 6 to 7, we'll get a chance to meet you, a chance to know you as we build these relationships over the long run. But could you, in closing, just on a personal note, give us a bit of a sense of your work prior to founding Voronex and a little bit about what guides your passion and why you chose Canada, fortunately for us, as a key partner in building your company?

55:48 Thank you Garrett for that interesting conversation so far. And so a bit about what led us to Voronix. I've been in technology space for over a decade, right? Just selling technology solutions. I started with selling Microsoft solutions and I worked with a bit of OEMs as well, different OEMs like Oracle, just engaging with all their products. And then I moved to, you know, selling to, you know, proprietary solutions to the financial services in the African market. But, you know, something changed, I think, like 6 years ago when I started to work with global companies, I worked with Gulp Shop.

56:35 Gulp Shop is a company headquartered in India. And then I moved to work with a company in East Africa as well. And then I worked with Dyna AI, which is also in Singapore. It's a company focused on AI as a service company. In working with those companies, I began to see the gaps. And of course, working with other global companies trying to expand to Africa, I began to see certain gaps around execution, right? Most of them have big ambitions, you know, they love Africa, you know, but some of the gaps are the thing that led us, you know, to start Voraneka. I met my managing partner, Sheye, we've been together for years, and then we begin to, you know, he has been in the banking space for over 15 years. And then we came together to see how can we address this problem for global companies? How can we make their execution seamless in Africa? How can we ensure that they generate revenue faster? How can we ensure that they're able to validate the market faster as well? So those are some of the things that, the problems we saw and that made us to start VoraNext Africa. And it's been interesting so far.

57:52 We were at the Canada Africa Business Conference some months ago, and we'll also be at Toronto in October just to engage, you know, Canadian business as well. But I'm saying all these things to say that that's a problem we've seen, right? And the problem is obvious, but only few people are solving it. And so I think this is a good, we are very good steward as it's worth addressing this important pain points for global companies coming to Africa. So in wrapping up, I want to say that it's been a very, very great collaboration and partnership with Canada-Africa Chamber of Business. Through this partnership, we've gotten a lot of Canadian business engagement as well. And as well, so plans being Toronto in October is gonna give us an opportunity to also engage more with businesses that are considering the African market and considering African revenue. So looking forward to that, right?

58:58 And again, thank you, Garrett, for the question and thanks everyone as well for joining in to this conversation. Just before I hand over to Garrett, I want to mention that if we have anyone on the call open to the African market, you want to generate African revenue. Just to mention that, VoraNext Africa, we are here for you. And I'm sure that Gary will speak to that as I hand over to him as well. All right, thank you. Over to you, Gary. Brilliant. Thank you so much. And yes, absolutely. To anyone who wants to reach out, please do so. Members at CanadaAfrica.ca to connect with Alain Rwaju, with the company. It'd be our pleasure and of course then to have some meetings and some important conversations in October.

59:44 Well, thank you so much and without further ado, for closing remarks to this webinar, I'd like to welcome up Toya Abioye, a special envoy to Nigeria, a key part of the growth and work of this chamber, including our historic conference in Lagos last month. Sorry, in the months and Toya to conclude this conversation today, I'd like to hand over to you. Thank you so much. Thank you very much, Gareth. Thank you, Olanrewaju. I'd like to thank even our partners at 6. So distinguished guests, colleagues, and ladies and gentlemen, thank you. As we end through this session, I want to thank everyone who's joined us and contributed to this conversation. I would like to say on behalf of the Canada Africa Chamber of Business, I want to particularly thank you, and I want to thank Vora Next Africa for collaborating with us to create this platform.

1:00:37 One thing that is clear from today's message, from this discussion today, is that the opportunities between Canada and Africa are quite significant and at a time like this where Canadian businesses are seeking to diversify and it's great that we have this opportunity to be able to share information of what's possible with a market of 1.4 billion people but as you've pointed out that opportunities do not necessarily translate into the businesses simply because they exist. So we need the right connections, the credible partners to help us, good market intelligence like you said, and then of course the practical execution pathways that move those conversations, the young conversations, into transactions. And this is where the Canada-Africa Chamber of Business has this key role to play.

1:01:23 The work we do creates bridges between businesses, investors, markets, decision makers across Africa and Canada. And so we want Canadian businesses looking at Africa to have credible pathways which is into African markets, which is why we think that this opportunity with Voronex is a key one and something for us not just to listen to us what we've done here but also to go re-listen again and say, okay, I need to take notes of particular markets and look at what areas. So the Canadian, the Canada-Africa Chamber of Business is here, even to help you, even to be able to make those markets opportunities real. Equally, we want African businesses with stronger products, services, and ambitions to understand how they can position themselves also for opportunities in Canada and internationally.

1:02:12 Today's session, therefore, should not be seen just as the end of a conversation but rather a starting point as we look forward to Africa accelerating in October. I encourage everyone here to follow up on the connections, on the conversations and we look forward to welcoming everyone. So I want to say thank you once again to Polariwadu, to Voronex and we look forward to making those partnerships, even to go beyond just partnerships, into transactions and transactions to sustainable economic impact on both sides of the world. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.