A lot of people get excited about business in Nigeria mainly because of the high-level opportunities in the market – largest population and GDP in Africa.
Although the last two years have seen a downturn in the Nigerian economy, with a recession due to a drop in oil prices, Nigeria is still projected to be one of the top 20 economies in 2030.
In an effort to find out what the business sentiment was on-ground, we surveyed close to 100 business owners, entrepreneurs, and aspiring business builders in Nigeria and here’s what we found.
Business in Nigeria Survey 2019 Results
Here are some of the key findings of the survey
Main goals for businesses in the next 12 months
– Increase revenue; Finding and retaining new customers.
What challenges are businesses facing?
– Changing regulations; Finding competent personnel and local partners (for those living outside Nigeria).
Here is an Infographic detailing the results of the survey.
What people were actually saying…
To get a better sense of the sentiment and the actual words used by respondents. Here are the word clouds for each question.
“What do you want to achieve in the next 12 months?”
“What would it mean to you to achieve those goals?”
“What are your greatest challenges or frustrations?”
“An ideal solution will look like…”
Comparison with 2017
When compared with a similar survey for Nigerian businesses – performed in 2017, the challenges were quite similar. Although in 2017, businesses were more concerned about the fluctuation in currency/foreign exchange. This time around that the currency fluctuation did not pop up as a major issue.
The major challenges for businesses on-ground are finding and retaining personnel, access to funding, and an obscure regulatory landscape that changes frequently. This is why a lot of respondents raised their frustration with what they call a “hostile business environment”.
Add these challenges to the lack of sufficient credible business resources to get quality market data, making it difficult to find your target customer base, along with infrastructural issues and you soon get a picture of why business in Nigeria, although filled with opportunity, can be very tough.
Providing value to a business in Nigeria
It’s important to keep these results in mind as you plan to start or expand your business in Nigeria. Whether you have a service or product that you believe can add value to these businesses, you’ll have to focus on the benefits that your solution can bring by keeping your prospect’s goals, aspirations, and challenges in mind.
This is also important if you are looking to partner with a Nigerian business as your entry strategy into the market.
