Category: Events

Let’s talk about Product Market Fit in Ghana.

Philip built an e-commerce loyalty store. It was an idea he was very passionate about and spent time fantasizing about the idea. He jumped into action afterwards by getting a skilled software developer to create the product. He modelled existing e-commerce stores and was enthusiastic about the potential of disrupting the market. Development of the site took about 3 months which was very intense. The launch date was filled with a lot more excitement and based on projections, he was going to make millions in less than 18 months.

What happened afterwards, he didn’t expect or prepare for. Acquiring customers took a very long time and when they visited eventually, they barely returned. The few customers who returned didn’t purchase enough on a regular basis to make the business profitable. All his other assumptions fell to the ground like a pack of cards. The next few months were filled with trial and error and 18 months later, the business had to be shut down. Incidentally, the 18-month mark was when he estimated to make the first million. His failure was inevitable as he had ignored certain things.

His is a classic case of designing the market and not designing for the market. There’s a subtle difference between both, the former assumes that people would love the product, the latter understands customers and the market before developing a product.

Unfortunately, Philip’s story is similar to millions of businesses that die every year abruptly.

This is the reason why there’s an importance to consider Product Market Fit in the early days of your product development.

Developing a product or an idea is only the first part of the puzzle. Finding Product-Market Fit (PMF) is the second and most important part of the puzzle. Products and ultimately companies often fail because of the inability to reach Product-Market Fit.

This is why we’ve brought together 2 astute speakers who have achieved Product Market Fit.

Who’s Speaking?

Eyram Tawia’s love for comics and video games helped to spur his interest to learn to program at an early age, and quickly found a home as an experienced game designer and developer, and co-founded Leti Arts on his conviction that Africa will make a salient contribution to the world of game development thus helped to pioneer the industry.

Eyram won the British Council Young Creative Entrepreneurs Media Awards 2012 due to his diligence and passion for transforming the creative media industry. In 2013 he was selected by Google Africa as one of 6 Innovation Heroes in Ghana pioneering the use of the Internet and Innovation, and also took home two awards at the 2013 Ghana top app awards – Best Entertainment App and App Developer of the year awards. He was an MTV Africa Music Awards 2014 nominee, Vodafone Global Appstar 2014 winner and winner of the Most Heart for Africa prize at the Africa Entrepreneurs Awards 2015

Eyram is a regular public speaker, appearing at the Game Developers Conference 2013 in San Francisco where he spoke on The Emerging Landscape of African Game Development, at the US-Africa Business Summit 2014 in Washington DC, and at TedxAccra in 2015.

Chidi Nwaogu is a Nigerian serial Internet entrepreneur who has been featured on several national papers for his achievements. Nwaogu was the keynote speaker at the 2012 IT Leaders West Africa Summit, where he gave a thirty-minute lecture on the role of social media and mobile in developing nations.

He started his entrepreneurial journey at 16 with the creation of 9ja Boi Interactive, a video game. He went on to co-found and sell 2 companies. Today, he is the Co-founder and CEO of Publiseer, a digital publishing platform, described by Konbini, as “one of the largest digital publishers in Africa”.

Publiseer was a finalist at a Harvard Business School New Venture Competition and Disrupt Africa Live Pitch Competition. It has been accepted into several accelerators and incubators, such as Microsoft’s Accelerate Labs and University of Cape Town’s Venture Incubation Programme.

Attending this event would put you a step closer to achieving PMF for your product. In addition, you will have the chance to network with Product Managers, Design Thinking Experts, Analysts, CEOs and Product Enthusiasts.

Event Details

Date: Saturday, February 2, 2019

Time: 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM (GMT)

Venue: MEST Incubator Accra, 19 Banana Street, East Legon, Accra – Ghana.

This event is organised by Product School’s community manager Kayode Daniel. You can reach him on LinkedIn and via mobile.

On Saturday 5th January 2019, Nsesa Foundation will launch its book, STEM WOW Chronicles along with its 2019 programmes at a tech event which will bring together Project iSWEST Alumni and the tech community in general.

Nsesa Foundation is an education nonprofit whose vision is to spur an “Innovation Revolution” in Africa, a movement in which young Africans are building solutions to problems around them using STEM.

Since 2013, Nsesa has run Project iSWEST, an intensive innovation boot camp for high school students held every year in the summer. In 2018, they launched two more projects; SuaCode, a mobile-based online coding course to teach millions of people across the African continent how to code; introducing learners to basic coding in the Processing language using their smartphones.

They also launched STEM WOW (STEM Woman of the Week), a project to tell the stories of young inspirational African women on the continent and in the diaspora who are achieving great feats in the field of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM). Every week, a new woman is featured on their website and on social media site.

Since February, STEM WOW has featured 48 women from 14 different countries and has had a total reach of over 430,000 on Facebook. In 2018, STEM WOW won the Anita Borg Pass It On Award where they received a grant of $1000 which was put into compiling the stories of these women into a book; STEM WOW Chronicles which will be launched as part of the event.

The event, dubbed Celebrating 5 Years of Nsesa’s Innovation Revolution Agenda will celebrate Nsesa Foundation’s impact over the last 5 years and will feature numerous stories of the innovations by members of the Nsesa community.

Aside the launch of STEM WOW Chronicles, other highlights of the event inccude the launnch of the 2019 editions of Project iSWEST, STEM WOW and SuaCode, Nsesa Alumni Reunion and a STEM Community Networking.

The event will take place at the Impact Hub, Accra on Saturday, January 5, 2019, from 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM GMT.

Register for free at http://bit.ly/nsesa-launch-2019.

About Nsesa

Nsesa Foundation is an educational nonprofit whose vision is to spur an “Innovation Revolution” in Africa, a movement in which young Africans are building solutions to problems around them using STEM. Nsesa is led by team of innovators:

President – George Boateng (Computer Scientist & Engineer, PhD Candidate ETH Zurich)

Vice President for Operations – Isaac Sesi (Electrical Engineer, CEO of Sesi Technologies)

Vice President for Finance & Administration – Victor Kumbol (Pharmacist, Master’s Student, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology)

Esoko is powering rural communities through digital transformation and financial inclusion. Our solutions include mobile and web-based tools for data collection coupled with field deployment; an SMS/voice-based communication platform for farmer management; and an electronic extension mobile and web app.

Esoko started in 2005 as an experiment to see how the emergence of mobile technology in Africa, could improve the lives of rural communities across the continent.

The first project enabled the delivery of market prices via SMS, in support of work that FoodNet was doing with MTN in Uganda. Over time Esoko realized farmers needed much more than price information, and added weather alerts, crop advice, and linking buyers with sellers. Various research finds such services can improve incomes for farmers by roughly 10%.

Esoko sponsors the “Best Online Food Delivery Platform of the Year” category at the Ghana eCommerce Awards on the 30th November at Swiss Spirit Alisa Hotel.

Nominees

MARKETEXPRESS

Market Express is Accra’s online grocery supermarket. We enable busy homemakers in Accra to purchase groceries at an unbeatable price and have them delivered to their office or home. The team at Market Express sources our products either directly from manufacturers or from carefully selected key distributors guaranteeing you access to high quality brands at affordable prices.

To vote for Marketexpress, text GEA BOF MARKETEXPRESS to 1903 on all mobile networks

JUMIA FOOD

Jumia food is Ghana’s most convenient online food ordering site, connecting people with over 200 of Accra’s best restaurants around them. We believe food is a pleasure and food ordering should be fast and definitely fun experience. The Jumia Food app makes it simple for anybody to use a mobile device to look over the menu of the best restaurants and place an order for home delivery.

To vote for Jumia Food, text GEA BOF JUMIA FOOD to 1903 on all mobile networks

PIZAREA

Pizarea is an online food ordering platform available as a mobile application on the Google Playstore and as a website. It enables people to access nearby restaurants, browse their menu, place orders with them and have it delivered to their doorstep. There are several restaurants on the platform with varieties of menu items available including local (Ghana food) and continental cuisines. Pizarea is within Accra, Tema and beyond.

Online shopping in Ghana was not as popular as it is today let alone online food ordering . However, Pizarea has been designed to suit your every food ordering need. Ranging from the best restaurants in Accra to various cuisines, quality customer care and efficient delivery service.

To vote for Pizarea, text GEA BOF PIZAREA to all mobile networks

FARMART

Farmart is the top online farmer’s market in Ghana that links farmers to homes and businesses in a whole new smart way. We do this by sourcing fresh local produce and groceries from farmers in Ghana and deliver to homes and businesses when an order is placed on the website.

Customers can shop all their fresh farm produce and groceries right online at the comfort of their homes and have them delivered on the same day anywhere in Accra, Tema or Kasoa by our well-trained delivery personnel.

To vote for Farmart, text GEA BOF FARMART to all mobile networks

If you trade online or do business with online merchants, online shops, or you are a Fintech, digital bank, telco, courier service, etc. the Ghana eCommerce Awards is your industry event! Happening live at SwissSpirit Alisa Hotel, Accra on 30 November at 7 pm!

Book your tables today and secure places for all your team. Tables are sold on a first come, first served basis, so the sooner you book the closer you’ll be to the action!

The Ghana eCommerce Awards provide great networking opportunities, the evening is also a great social occasion. The food and wines.. always first class, and there’ll be great entertainment into the early hours.

Book Tables for all your team:

1. Table of 12 guests: Register for 12, pay for 10 (GHS 5000)
2. Table of 10 guests: Register for 10, pay for 8 (GHS 4000)
3. Half Table of 5 guests: (GHS 2500)
4. Double Ticket GHS 1000
5. 1 Single Ticket GHS 550

Your ticket includes:

• Pre Dinner Drinks Reception
• Three Course Meal
• 1/2 a Bottle of Wine
• Awards Entertainment
• Awards Ceremony

More information here: http://www.ghanaecommerceawards.com

Book Your Tickets or Dial *714*42#