To scale throughout many markets like Gozem has, you should centralise your operations and automate all processes, in accordance with Gennate Hassad, the worldwide head of financing at Gozem.
Gozem penetrated the Francophone Africa market in 2018 and 2019 by means of Togo and Benin, and is now a number one supply and ride-hailing service throughout francophone African nations. The corporate has expanded to Gabon and Cameroon. Earlier this 12 months, they raised $30 million to drive growth, and lately acquired approval to launch in Congo.
In a Moonshot 2025 panel session with Osarumen Osamuyi, founding father of The Subtext, Hassad famous three issues corporations ought to know after they’re seeking to increase. “Just remember to affirm [the] traction on your merchandise and your supply in your first market,” she stated. “So we didn’t launch all of them [the market operations] on the identical time. We launched them sequentially. We began with Togo, and after we felt snug with our merchandise, our tech, our operations, we addressed different markets.”
Whereas increasing, Hassad additionally emphasised the significance of constructing replicability and reproducing productive practices when scaling throughout markets. Whereas the formulation won’t be the identical for all markets, she defined that having replicable elements of a market growth technique is essential.
“We had been rather more environment friendly in opening Congo than we had been after we opened the [Benin] market,” she stated. “And this was realized by means of expertise, by means of constructing this replicability, centralising some features and automating among the processes in an effort to make it smoother.”
Along with replicability, adaptability is one other contributor to profitable growth throughout markets. Hassad added that having native context is necessary for adaptability. For Gozem, 80-90% of the technique is written down (fastened), and the opposite 10-20% of the technique is constructed for flexibility. “We launched [in] Gabon after Benin and Togo, and we tried to duplicate the identical race, the identical technique for transport, addressing the mass market pricing technique,” she stated. “We realised after two months that the market was utterly completely different. The consumer wants had been completely different. They had been anticipating a extra premium supply, which was not that necessary in different markets.”
In response to this suggestions, Gozem adjusted the pricing, high quality of service, and the kind of automobiles that the platform utilized in Gabon. A transparent and fixed suggestions loop will enable for seamless adaptability throughout growth.
Hassad additionally famous having key areas of consideration when increasing. “We all know that we need to spend money on what we name tier two markets that aren’t very aggressive. We’re in search of some regional integration, so that you see from the nations that we have now operations in that it’s a type of integration between these nations by way of regulation of forex and programs.”
It’s doable for a enterprise to truly launch a market, Hassad stated, in closing. Gozem’s growth technique was one thing the corporate realized alongside the best way, she famous, including that increasing into new markets was actually inside attain for companies desirous to increase.
Do you know TechCabal has a brand new bilingual e-newsletter targeted on understanding tech innovation in Francophone Africa? It’s written by funding supervisor and Launch Africa, Lina Kacyem, and arrives in your inbox each Tuesday at midday (WAT) if you subscribe. Click on the hyperlink under to learn a previous version and subscribe:
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