Mitchell Elegbe: African Businesses Must Adapt Global Strategies to Local Markets

African entrepreneurs should learn from successful business models around the world while adapting them to the realities of the markets they serve, Interswitch Founder and Group Chief Executive Officer Mitchell Elegbe has said.

Elegbe made the remarks during his keynote presentation at The Platform 2026, hosted by The Covenant Nation in Lagos. He used his “Tropical Savannah” framework to describe the distinctive environment in which African businesses operate.

“The Tropical Savannah is not Silicon Valley. African entrepreneurs should learn from successful business ecosystems around the world, but the strategies and assumptions behind those models must be adapted to local market conditions,” Elegbe said.

He said entrepreneurs need to look beyond the surface of successful business models and understand what makes them work. Factors such as infrastructure, purchasing power, access to capital, logistics, market structure and consumer behaviour can shape how a business should be designed, positioned and grown.

The advice comes as Africa’s entrepreneurial and technology ecosystem continues to mature. Greater access to global capital, technology and knowledge has created new opportunities for businesses across the continent. At the same time, entrepreneurs can develop models rooted in the specific needs and characteristics of their markets.

Interswitch’s development offers an example of this approach. The company began by addressing a specific challenge in Nigeria’s payments ecosystem, building an online, real-time payment system suited to the local market. It later developed the people, technology, systems and partnerships needed to support its growth.

The lesson, Elegbe suggested, is not to choose between global knowledge and local experience, but to bring them together. Entrepreneurs can draw on established principles in business, technology and management while adapting them to the customers, economics and operating environments in which their businesses must succeed.

The “Tropical Savannah” framework calls on African entrepreneurs to pursue the continent’s opportunities with both ambition and an understanding of local conditions. The goal, the article argues, is not to reproduce Silicon Valley in Africa, but to build businesses that understand African markets, apply global knowledge effectively and develop solutions capable of sustainable growth.