The Pains of Doing Online Business in Africa

Take it or leave it, Africa is a great continent. It is my beloved continent with an estimated population of 1.216 billion people.

There are approximately 7 billion people with unique skills, talents, knowledge and experiences. God bless humanity.

So if you are thinking of the right market to sell your goods or services, come to Africa.

That’s the optimistic part of this story. It’s good to start 2017 positive and optimistic.

Now let’s get down to reality. The world has gone digital. But the transition from the analog to the digital age in Africa is still sluggish.

Corruption, illiteracy, poverty, lack of social services, lack of trust, lack of knowledge about what it takes to run an online business are some of the factors that speak against Africa and Africans.

Internet penetration on my beloved continent is 28.7 percent. Compared to North America, which has a penetration rate of 89 percent, this is a far cry.

That means North America, with an estimated population of 579 million people, is more digital than Africa. But Africa has the market. In fairness, companies on the continent strive to the best of their ability.

Many Africans know little or nothing about online business and think that people who do business online are either scammers or criminals.

That is not true. There are real and fake business owners everywhere, including the internet.

Trust has also made it impossible to do business online. As the world becomes one global family, business owners no longer need to meet physically to transact business. In this digital age, there are no limitations to running businesses.

Anything and everything could be sold online and money could be transferred from one part of the world to another in local and foreign currencies.

But my good friend in Lagos, Nigeria, who has a master’s degree from one of the oldest universities in our country, knows little or nothing about running an online business.

We spoke yesterday and he told me bluntly that he knows next to nothing about online business.

This allows him to conveniently transport his vehicle parts from one place to another in search of customers.

These are the pains some high potential online entrepreneurs in Africa are going through.

But the pain of not attracting enough clients from Africa to your business is temporary. As the Bible says, this will pass.

So in 2017, I am confident that more and more business owners will overcome the hassle of switching from analog to digital in Africa.

I have a feeling deep down that in ten years time history will change for the better and internet penetration in Africa will increase.

Thanks to Emmanuel Udom | #Pains #Online #Business #Africa