Op-Ed: Why Thoroughbreds Will Outpace Unicorns in the Race Towards Profitability
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Op-Ed: Why Thoroughbreds Will Outpace Unicorns in the Race Towards Profitability (The National)
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By Isaac Kwaku Fokuo, Founder and Principal, Botho Emerging Markets Group
January 22, 2021
Entrepreneurship will drive economic growth and innovation in the Middle East and Africa, but the short-term gains are more likely to be realised by tech-driven businesses that are focused on enterprises rather than consumers.
Covid-19 has exposed the volatility of the market, which can leave consumer-focused businesses more exposed.
While business-to-consumer (B2C) companies often require a long runway to achieve the kind of scale necessary for profitability, business-to-business (B2B) firms can generally achieve sustainability more quickly. Instead of B2C unicorns, entrepreneurs in the Middle East and Africa should consider how they can build B2B ‘thoroughbreds’.
In this article for The National, Isaac covers how:
Business-to-business spending in this region outpaces consumer spending, which opens the door to forward-thinking entrepreneurs to tackle enterprises’ pain points.
Enterprise partnerships are often the pre-cursor to acquisition. Given the cost of acquiring customers can be high in the Middle East and Africa relative to North America and Europe, offering a large corporation a means to solve its internal business challenges and better serve or extend its customer base is a surefire way for entrepreneurs to enhance their visibility in the market.
Instead of chasing consumer businesses dependent on massive amounts of cash and users, entrepreneurs should explore how they can create value for the local business community by finding innovative solutions to business challenges.
Read more here.