From Cape Town, the heart of Africa’s tech scene and a city I’m fortunately enough to call home, there’s an undeniable vibrancy in the air. While the “African tech boom” narrative has evolved, one truth remains clear: Africa’s tech sector isn’t just expanding; it’s maturing, consolidating, and demonstrating remarkable resilience. For tech companies looking to enter this dynamic market, understanding the public relations and digital marketing landscape is paramount to your success on the continent.
Having supported numerous innovative tech companies across Africa over the past 30 years, I have witnessed a sector that has weathered economic headwinds, and emerged stronger, more focused, and ready to shape its future. For new entrants – and especially for global brands eyeing this continent – this means moving beyond generic global strategies and embracing a deeply nuanced, locally-attuned approach to how you communicate and connect with Africa’s people and businesses.
Crafting Your Narrative for a Maturing Market
The African tech story is no longer solely about rapid, speculative growth; it’s deeply rooted in sustainable impact, real-world solutions, and long-term value. As you step into this market, your public relations and digital marketing strategies must echo this maturity. We’ve seen that while initial funding figures still grab headlines, the market now truly seeks substance. Your PR narrative, therefore, should emphasise problem-solving, community contribution, and genuine local partnerships, rather than just valuation milestones. This is particularly crucial for global brands, who must shed any notion of “parachute marketing” and truly invest in the local story. It’s about showing, not just telling, how your technology tackles tangible challenges for African businesses and consumers. Think of the relevant case studies and authentic testimonials that can truly illustrate your potential impact in Africa. Furthermore, highlighting your company’s adaptability and commitment to navigating Africa’s unique complexities builds immense trust, positioning you as a reliable and dedicated long-term player.
Mobile-First: The Non-Negotiable Pillar of Engagement
In Africa, mobile phone penetration is nearing ubiquity, making a mobile-first approach not just a suggestion but the fundamental cornerstone of any successful PR and digital marketing strategy. This pervasive mobile connectivity has allowed African tech companies to leapfrog traditional infrastructure, delivering essential services directly to a vast population. For incoming tech companies, this insight translates directly into your communications. Every piece of content – from press releases and blog posts to social media updates and website copy – must be seamlessly accessible, visually appealing, and quickly consumable on mobile devices. Consider designing “data light” versions of your content to be truly inclusive. We’ve also seen that moving beyond traditional email marketing is essential; widely used messaging apps like WhatsApp and SMS are powerful tools for direct customer engagement, support, and targeted marketing campaigns, fostering a more immediate and personal connection. While data costs are decreasing, affordability remains a barrier for many, so your digital campaigns should be designed to be data-efficient, perhaps even exploring partnerships for sponsored data access.
Take Mukuru, for instance, a leading financial services platform. DUO meticulously utilised an integrated B2B and B2C PR strategy, including digital channels, to build brand awareness as they shifted from remittance-led services to a broader financial inclusion platform. This involved optimising content for mobile consumption and ensuring their message reached a wide, mobile-first audience through diverse, accessible channels. Similarly, MTN Group, though headquartered in South Africa, serves as a powerful illustration across the continent. Their success is deeply rooted in revolutionising financial inclusion through MTN Mobile Money. Their extensive digital marketing prominently features SMS campaigns, WhatsApp, and social media to promote services and engage with customers, demonstrating a masterful understanding of mobile-first PR.
Hyper-Localisation: Beyond a One-Size-Fits-All Approach
While Lagos, Nairobi, Cairo, Johannesburg, and Cape Town stand as some of the prominent tech hubs, the true dynamism lies in a sprawling and diverse ecosystem that includes emerging centres like Accra, Kigali, Addis Ababa, and Dakar. This decentralisation of innovation demands a hyper-localised PR and digital marketing approach. A campaign that resonates in Cape Town might fall flat in Nairobi, and this is precisely where global brands often falter if they don’t truly commit to understanding the ground realities. You need to invest in understanding local customs, languages, socio-economic factors, and communication styles, because authenticity is paramount.
Cultivating relationships with local journalists, tech bloggers, community leaders, and social media personalities is also incredibly important; these individuals hold immense sway and are your conduits to local trust. Furthermore, demonstrating a tangible commitment to the local market, whether through a physical office, a local team with a knowledge specialist to speak to the media, or strong partnerships, significantly enhances your credibility and PR narrative. It shows you’re here to stay, not just to extract. For global brands, simply translating a website isn’t localisation; it’s about embedding your brand within the cultural fabric.
Google offers a compelling example here. Their investment in local ecosystems, such as their AI hub in Ghana, was launched with culturally relevant PR strategies that emphasised their contribution to local innovation and talent development. They don’t just import solutions; they adapt and co-create, focusing on making products like Search, Maps, and YouTube accessible and relevant to diverse African users, including features that perform well on lower-bandwidth connections – a testament to deep localisation in their PR messaging. Closer to home, for Telviva, a South African market leader in cloud-based business communications, DUO has consistently leveraged strong media relationships to secure tier-1 placements in publications like Tech Central and Business Day, alongside consistent LinkedIn campaigning to maintain visibility among high-value audiences. This localised approach to media engagement is crucial for building sustained authority, which we now know is the silver bullet for AI search.
Diversify Your Story: Beyond Fintech’s Shadow
While fintech has historically dominated the African tech landscape, driven by critical financial inclusion needs, we are now witnessing rapid growth and innovation across diverse sectors like cleantech, healthtech, agritech, deep tech, enterprise applications, and auto tech. This diversification presents rich opportunities for your PR and digital marketing. We’ve found that African audiences and media are deeply receptive to stories about positive societal change. Go beyond commercial benefits which brands are so tempted to do and highlight how your technology addresses specific continental challenges, whether it’s access to education, sustainable energy, or healthcare. It’s about crafting sector-specific narratives that speak directly to the unique pain points and opportunities within your niche, demonstrating a clear understanding of the local context. The current phase is less about disruption and more about practical, impactful solutions that solve real problems. Your communications should reflect this focus on tangible value delivery and real-world applicability.
When working with redAcademy, a tech skills development program, for instance, DUO’s PR strategy focused on addressing South Africa’s critical shortage of tech skills, highlighting redAcademy’s direct impact on youth employment and the future workforce. This approach resonated strongly by demonstrating a clear societal benefit and contributed to a powerful narrative. Similarly, for Parket, a turnkey parking technology solution, DUO launched a strategic B2B PR and digital marketing campaign that resulted in extensive media coverage and a speaking opportunity at Africa Tech Festival. The campaign emphasised how Parket alleviates real-world pain points of parking management, clearly demonstrating tangible value and a practical solution.
The Imperative of Authenticity and Long-Term Commitment
Africa’s youthful, tech-aware population and growing demand for digital services create a fertile ground for innovation. Governments are increasingly recognising the importance of fostering this sector, and global tech companies continue to invest, validating the continent’s long-term promise.
For tech companies entering this market, your public relations and digital marketing efforts must consistently convey genuine engagement. Africans are discerning, and global brands must understand that authenticity is earned, not assumed. You need to demonstrate a true understanding of the market, a willingness to listen, and a long-term commitment to its development. Avoid superficial campaigns or a sense of ‘cultural tourism’. Position your company as a collaborator, not just a service provider. Highlight genuine partnerships with local businesses, communities, educational institutions, and governments. This builds trust and shows profound respect for the local ecosystem. Global players, in particular, must proactively seek out and uplift local voices and solutions, rather than simply imposing their own. Finally, while acknowledging challenges, consistently emphasise your company’s ability to innovate, adapt, and commit within the unique African context. Your PR should speak to your agility and staying power.
DUO’s long-standing relationships with clients like Vox (over two decades) exemplify this commitment to deep understanding and integration into a client’s team and culture. This fosters a collaborative PR approach that goes beyond a transactional agency-client relationship, building trust and delivering sustained visibility. Similarly, Microsoft’s “4Afrika” initiative and Google’s (PR by Irvine Partners) extensive support for start-ups and developers across the continent are prime examples of global brands building strong relationships and demonstrating a long-term commitment by actively investing in local talent and ecosystems. Their PR consistently highlights these initiatives, positioning them as true partners in Africa’s tech journey – a far cry from a mere “market entry” strategy.
By Judith Middleton, CEO of DUO Marketing + Communications
