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.

Main Issue

I’ve been sceptical of influencer marketing for a very long time. To my defence, I’m a millennial, and this is quite a Gen Z phenomenon.

Growing up exposed to traditional business models, it felt very bizarre to imagine someone posting an Instagram or TikTok video, garnering millions of views, influencing customer sentiments, and generating thousands of leads.

Like many from my generation, I was slow to adopt, just as I hesitated with Bitcoin and many other life-changing innovations of this ama2k era.

My scepticism? It was unwise! That’s putting it conservatively — it was pretty dumb in all honesty.

In this newsletter, I aim to nudge you away from walking the same misguided path I did.

Why Influencer Partnerships?

People trust people.

People listen to people.

People will choose people over brands.

And there lies the power of influencers. They have engaged audiences that admire and trust them. When they speak, their followers listen.

When we tried the influencer approach, this newsletter grew exponentially. We learnt that a potential subscriber is much more likely to listen and consider the recommendations of someone they follow than respond to a random social media-sponsored post.

These are the 3 lessons we learnt when we started influencer partnerships:

1. The endorsement of a trusted name lends immediate legitimacy to a brand.

2. Such partnerships help in tapping into audiences one might not otherwise reach, often in new markets.

3. Partnerships can generate the kind of attention that traditional advertising might not.

Big brands worldwide have already proven the impact. McDonald’s saw a 10% sales spike after introducing the Travis Scott meal. Like us, many African startups are seeing similar success and dramatic results by partnering with influencers.

Influencers can either make or break a product. If you are a bit of a tech enthusiast, you’d know Marques Brownlee (MKBHD) and remember how a simple review was the final nail in the coffin of the much-lauded and anticipated AI device - the Humane AI Pin.

Find An Influencer With A Following That Accurately Represents Your Niche.

The first rule of influencer marketing is alignment. This can not be emphasised enough. Collaborate with personalities whose values align with your brand’s mission.

Also, do you have a deep understanding of your target market and their heroes?

The influencer you partner with must be on the same wavelength as your target audience.

Misaligned partnerships can backfire. Think of Oprah tweeting about Microsoft’s Surface from her iPad. Ensure the influencer genuinely believes in your product.

Also, you must understand your target market. Are you targeting Gen Z? Techies? Or millennials? Choose influencers who already speak to your desired audience.

Where do the people you are targeting hang out?

Globally, Instagram remains the top influencer marketing platform, used by 89% of marketers. YouTube and Facebook follow at 70% and 45% respectively.

However, this should not dissuade you from using other platforms such as X and TikTok. Global statistics are important but they might not truly reflect the statistics of a niche market, generation or country. The platform that works better with tech product reviews might not necessarily bring the same success for food or fashion reviews.

Don’t Underestimate the Power of Micro-Influencers

Where possible choose a local influencer (micro-influencer), even if small but with a devout following. It is no secret that big names come with big price tags.

Micro-influencers (those with 1,000 to 50,000 followers) often deliver higher engagement rates. Their audiences trust them more because they’re relatable and accessible.

If you run a bakery in Accra, partnering with a local food blogger can have a more significant impact than hiring an A-list celebrity.

Rihanna is a celebrated artist and her brand, Fenty, is well-established globally. But when Fenty was launching in Africa, it did not just rely on Rihanna’s star power. It collaborated with local influencers in Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe thus Rihanna’s creating a localized buzz that drove sales.

64% of marketers prefer working with micro-influencers due to their higher engagement rates and lower costs

Build Win-Win Relationships

Successful partnerships aren’t one-sided. You’re not just paying for exposure — you’re weaving a story together.

To make your pitch irresistible to potential partners consider doing the following:

• Offer Value: Beyond payment, what can you provide? Access to exclusive products? A chance to co-create? Opportunities for mutual growth?

• Collaborate, Don’t Dictate: Give influencers creative freedom. They know their audience best and can craft messages that are creative, original and authentic.

• Long-Term Over Short-Term: A lasting relationship can be more impactful than a once-off campaign. Think and enlist ambassadors, not transactions.

Equip Influencers with Memorable Tools

As you explore partners, it is essential to educate your influencers about your brand. Provide them with a toolkit that includes key talking points, product benefits, and even short, memorable web addresses to make it easy for their audiences to connect with your business.

Influencers often face challenges directing audiences to brand websites due to platform constraints. Equip them with short, memorable web addresses that are easy to share in videos, captions, or bios.

Measure the Impact

A partnership is only as good as its results. Define your goals early on and identify tools to track your success. Tools like Google Analytics, social media insights, and UTM codes can help you track the ROI of your campaigns.

For us at African Hustle we mainly look at how many new subscribers we have after every campaign. Some of the things you can consider are:

1. Are your posts getting likes, comments, and shares?

2. Are more people visiting your site after a campaign?

3. Did sales go up? Did new customers sign up?

4. Are more people talking about your brand?

Around 80% of brands track sales generated by influencers, and over 80% agree that influencer marketing attracts high-quality customers.

Africa is unique. Our culture, storytelling traditions, and tight-knit communities mean that the right influencer can feel like family to their followers. This makes partnerships all the more powerful.

Whether you’re collaborating with a tech YouTuber, a fashion icon, or a footballer, remember that it’s not about the size of their following; it’s about the strength of their connection to your audience.

Start small and stay strategic.

Local Hero

Meet Ngwekazi Makaba

Ngwekazi Makaba aims to ensure rural Eastern Cape pupils don’t miss school because they lack sanitary pads.

She founded an NPO, Nam Foundation in 2020, Her foundation works with schools, offering talks to children aged 10 and older. They focus on menstrual hygiene and reproductive health.

Since its inception, Nam Foundation volunteers have visited 20 schools and donated sanitary packs to 1,500 girls, who each receive three packs.

Each school is also given a pack of 100 sanitary towels to keep at reception.

Proverb Of The Week

Quiz/Trivia

Last Week Recap: SpaceX was founded by which South African-born innovator?
Answer: Elon Musk

What is the name shared by the currency units of "Algeria and Tunisia?

Did You Know?

Did you know that the world's highest-paid influencer is Cristiano Ronaldo? With over 600 million followers on Instagram, he earns over US$3 million per sponsored post!

StartUp To Watch

Our startup of the week is Delivery Ka Speed.

Delivery Ka Speed initially started as a food delivery service for the townships (ekasi). Its founding belief was to bring accessibility to townships and elevate the township lifestyle.

The company was founded in July 2021 by Godiragetse Mogajane from Hammanskraal, South Africa. The name Delivery Ka Speed means “Speedy Delivery” in Sepitori. The company is on a mission to overcome location barriers and bring rapid delivery to where it’s needed most.

What began as a food delivery service quickly diversified to include groceries, parcels, and more. The team didn’t stop at townships — they brought their speed and quality to suburban areas too.

You can find the full version of the article here: Revolutionizing Township Logistics in South Africa with Delivery Ka Speed 

Community

Your voice matters. This is your space to share feedback, ideas, and experiences. Participate by sharing answers to the questions that will be posed weekly. Your insights and experiences just might be what another entrepreneur needs today!

Last week we asked the following question:

Which African entrepreneur inspires you the most and why?

Louis Gabriel answered:

Aliko Dangote is the African Entrepreneur who inspires me the most. How he started with Cement manufacturing and now he is a leading name in the Food Industry and he has built a Petroleum Refinery.

Next week’s question is:

What’s the best advice you’ve received?

Billboard

Share your hustle with us — what you do, where you're based, and your links — and you could be one of the two entrepreneurs featured in our next edition! You can help the featured entrepreneurs by visiting, liking and sharing their social media platforms.

Name: Ofentse Madlala
Name Of Company: OpIndie Solutions (PTY) Ltd.
Services: Hello, we are OpIndie Solutions – your trusted business services partner, specializing in Payroll Services, Business Support, and Business Development. We handle the essentials, so you can focus on what you do best.
Location: Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa. Links:

@Twitter : https://twitter.com/OpIndieSolution 
@LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/opindie-solutions-a8132127b/ @Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/opindiesolutions/ 
@Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/OpIndieSolutions 
@YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOK42LaMT07i4PCzcvt_rGg @Pinterest: https://za.pinterest.com/opindiesolutions/ 
@TikTok : https://www.tiktok.com/@opindiesolutions?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc

Get celebrated. Each week, we’ll feature an African entrepreneur, highlighting what they do, where they’re based, and their links. This is your chance to showcase your hustle to a thriving community of dreamers, doers, and changemakers! Your story deserves a stage — let it be this Billboard.

To share, drop us an email with the information in this format:
Name:
Name Of Your Company:
What You Do: [Two lines describing your work/business]
Location: [City/Country]
Links: [Website link] | [Social Media]
Picture/Logo: [Optional]

#ShoutOut

We’re spotlighting incredible Africans making waves in Africa and globally. From ground-breaking innovations to inspiring success stories, this section celebrates the brilliance of our people. Know someone making a difference? Tell us, and they might be featured in our next edition!

Dr James M. Manyika is a Zimbabwean-American academic consultant and business executive. He is currently a Senior Vice President of Research, Technology, and Society at Google-Alphabet. In his Research, Technology & Society role for Google and Google DeepMind, he focuses on Google’s most ambitious foundational and applied innovations in AI, Computing and Science and in areas with potential for broad beneficial impact on people and society. He also oversees Google Research - researchers pursuing cutting-edge foundational and applied advances in AI/ML and Computer Science, Quantum AI, Science and Society – and Google Labs - Google’s home for the latest AI experiments and technology.

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