Welcome to African Hustle! Your bi-weekly dose of inspiration and smart insights into African entrepreneurship — featuring real stories about tech, culture, startups, founders, and innovations shaping the future of the continent.

Today we are standing on business!

Main Issue

I’m fascinated by how entrepreneurship does not care for a man’s religion. I’ve encountered both rich and struggling Christians, Muslims and African traditionalists. And something that fascinates me even more is a tenet of scripture those biblically inclined would know which says:

Time and chance happen to everyone. And to those who position themselves strategically enough, it happens more often than not. The most successful founders don’t merely work harder, they leverage hidden advantages that compound over time.

Today we are sharing some cheat codes — proven insights and strategies that can help you create your own luck and better position you to win the entrepreneurial race.

Luck isn’t random, it’s created by putting yourself in the right situations, taking risks, and acting decisively.

22 Strategies, Hacks & Cheat Codes

Surround Yourself with High-Ambition Founders

What is the reason Silicon Valley produces more unicorns than most cities combined? The density of talent, ambition, and capital elevates everyone. Success is contagious. The environment you immerse yourself in has a direct impact on your level of ambition, creativity, and execution. If you want to accelerate your success, embed yourself in environments with other driven entrepreneurs. Mastermind groups, co-working spaces, and networking events can provide these high-energy surroundings.

Steal and Implement Proven Strategies

Remember last week when we said there is no need to reinvent the wheel? Success leaves clues. Vigilantly study how top founders optimize their businesses and integrate their best practices. Whether it’s hiring strategies, marketing hacks, or operational efficiencies, adopting what works will give you an edge. Biographies, podcasts, and industry conferences are treasure troves of insights.

Relentlessly Focus on Distribution, Not Just Product

A great product without effective distribution is guaranteed to fail. While founders often obsess over refining their offerings, companies that master growth, through viral marketing, partnerships, and demand-generation strategies, win the long game.

Own Your Audience

Social platforms control your reach; email lists do not. Build direct access to your customers through a newsletter, community, or SMS list. This gives you control over your message and audience engagement.

Say No to 99% of Distractions

Every new idea, feature, or opportunity comes at a cost. It is all potential distraction. The best entrepreneurs protect their time fiercely, focusing only on what moves the business forward. Implement a ruthless prioritization system.

Speed Is a Moat

Execution speed is a competitive advantage. If you can test, launch, and iterate faster than your competitors, you’ll have a greater chance of dominating your industry. AI companies exemplify this point best.

Customers don’t care about your work-life balance. They want solutions. The fastest companies win.

The release of DeepSeek R1, a generative AI model from a Chinese company in January 2025 generated a trillion-dollar shock wave. Now as Deepseek is reportedly accelerating the launch of R2, companies worldwide have been spurred to accelerate their own efforts.

Be Where the Industry’s Movers Are

Strategically position yourself. Be in the rooms where key industry conversations happen. Conferences, invite-only groups, and high-value communities provide access to insider knowledge before it becomes public.

Identify One Killer Insight

Most breakthroughs don’t come from doing many things well but from identifying one counterintuitive advantage that others miss. Whether it’s a niche market, a pricing model, or a marketing loophole — find it and exploit it.

Extreme Customer Obsession Wins Long-Term

Companies that listen to their customers, solve their pain points, and iterate based on feedback create strong, defensible businesses. Customer obsession leads to product virality and organic growth.

Other People’s Audiences

Instead of spending years building an audience, partner with those who already have one. Influencers, affiliates, and guest appearances can accelerate growth. You can explore our previous article The Influencer Strategy You Never Knew You Needed to explore more on this.

Make Your Company Media-First

Content is a magnet for customers. Blogs, podcasts, newsletters, and YouTube channels reduce customer acquisition costs and build brand authority. Content is king. Your brand should act like a media company.

Hire People Smarter Than You, Then Get Out of Their Way

Micromanagement stifles growth. The best founders hire top talent, give them ownership, and let them execute independently.

Make Your Product a Habit

Products that create daily or weekly habits (Slack, TikTok, Notion) become indispensable. Build behavioural loops that keep users engaged.

Eat The Elephant

Problems that linger only grow. If an employee isn’t fit, if a strategy isn’t working, or if a pivot is needed — act fast. Delaying difficult decisions compounds their negative impact.

Create Your Ideal Customer Profile

Many businesses waste time chasing the wrong customers. Define your ideal customer profile early, narrow your focus, and optimize everything toward serving them.

The Words You Speak Matter

Communicate your vision with conviction. Teams and investors rally behind confident leaders who articulate big goals.

It All Compounds

Mindset isn’t just personal, it affects your company culture. Stay solution-focused, encourage constructive feedback, and avoid toxicity.

Negativity compounds, so does positivity

Centralize Your Data and Make It Accessible

Founders often make poor decisions because data is scattered. Unify and make it actionable.

Specialize First, Expand Later

The best companies niche down before expanding. Master a specific market before diversifying.

Work While Others Rest

Weekends and off-hours? The best founders build while others take breaks.

Trust Your Instincts

Trends change, investors flip-flop. The best entrepreneurs trust their convictions over external noise.

Personal Touches Scale Loyalty

How connected are you personally with your customers? Handwritten notes, personalized messages, and customer appreciation efforts build lifelong fans.

Knowing these cheat codes is one thing. Executing them is another. The best entrepreneurs take action, move fast, and iterate relentlessly.

By integrating even a handful of these strategies into your business, you’ll dramatically increase your chances of success.

Local Hero

Mariéme Jamme – Senegal

Work: Founder of iamtheCODE.

Impact: iamtheCODE is the first Africa-led global movement to mobilise governments, businesses and investors to support girls and young women in STEAMD (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics, and Design) and teach 1 Million girls and women how to Code by 2030.

Proverb Of The Week

Quiz/Trivia

Last Week: What is the name of the mobile money service launched in Kenya that revolutionized financial inclusion and has been replicated globally?
Answer: M-PESA

Which two African countries are the world’s largest exporters of shea butter, a $600m global skincare ingredient?

Did You Know?

Sudan has more pyramids than Egypt, with over 200 Nubian pyramids built by the ancient Kingdom of Kush.

StartUp To Watch

Traditional banking remains inaccessible to millions in Africa. Cross-border payments are expensive and slow. Enter Chipper Cash.

Chipper Cash

In 2018 Chipper Cash introduced fee-free transfers for personal payments — providing a frictionless way to send and receive money cross-border and enabling financial inclusivity across the continent. Since then, Chipper has increased its product suite by offering personal investment products and business solutions and expanded its reach into the US.

Led by co-founders Ham Serunjogi (Uganda) and Maijid Moujaled (Ghana), this fintech startup is focused on a mission to provide the most trusted and accessible financial services for people living in Africa and beyond.

What They Do

Chipper Cash is a mobile-based financial platform that enables seamless, low-cost and instant money transfers across Africa. It offers a fee-free peer-to-peer (P2P) payment system, virtual dollar cards, crypto trading, and business solutions, making it one of Africa’s fastest-growing fintech startups.

How They Do It 

Chipper Cash leverages a mobile-first approach with a simple, user-friendly app that allows individuals and businesses to send and receive money across multiple African countries, including Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, South Africa, Uganda, and Rwanda. By bypassing traditional banking infrastructure and integrating with local mobile money services, Chipper Cash reduces costs and transaction times.

Their freemium model, offering free personal transactions while monetizing through merchant services and crypto trading, has fueled massive adoption.

To Whom? 

Chipper Cash serves the everyday African — from students and gig workers to SMEs and freelancers who need affordable, fast, and secure financial services. It also empowers entrepreneurs and businesses by offering payment solutions that facilitate seamless transactions across African markets.

Why It Matters 

Financial inclusion is one of Africa’s biggest economic challenges. Over 350 million Africans lack access to banking services, making cash-based transactions inefficient and costly. Chipper Cash is breaking these barriers by making cross-border payments accessible, affordable, and reliable.

Their journey is an inspiration to African entrepreneurs — showing that the right combination of technology, vision, and market understanding can solve big problems and scale across borders.

Key Takeaway 

Chipper Cash didn’t just build a product, they solved a real problem that millions face daily. Their success proves that fintech in Africa is about creating solutions that improve lives.

Community

• Applications open for the 6^th edition of the OceanHub Africa accelerator programme. This initiative aims to support up to twenty-four (24) of Africa’s most promising impact-driven for-profit startups dedicated to preserving and restoring the health of the ocean.

• Applications are now open for the 2025 African STARS Fellowship Programme. The Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation at Stellenbosch University (South Africa) and the Institut Pasteur de Dakar (Senegal) invite applications for the African STARS Fellowship Programme, in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation. This prestigious initiative is designed to train the next generation of African leaders in genomics, diagnostics, vaccine development, and biotechnology innovation. Apply here.

#ShoutOut

Tope Awotona - Nigeria

Founder of Calendly, a scheduling automation platform valued at over $3 billion. Born in Lagos, Awotona immigrated to the U.S. and bootstrapped his company to success, proving that African entrepreneurs can compete in global tech markets. As of 2024, Calendly app has 10 million users, according to Forbes making Awotona one of the wealthiest immigrants in America.

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