Have you ever searched for information about an African startup or tech product only to be greeted with “no result found” or an unhelpful response? This frustrating experience is a common occurrence due to the lack of comprehensive and easily accessible resources on African innovation.
Sharing a common frustration with product research, Adeola Adebayo, Chiemeka Okeke, and Vincent Ugwueze decided to do something about it by creating Bidhaa — a digital platform for founders, product managers, product owners and product enthusiasts to ideate, brainstorm, strategise and optimise groundbreaking product ideas.
Individuals with different backgrounds but a common problem
As a product manager at Gumi and Company, a technology & innovation firm in Lagos, Adebayo was constantly faced with the question of how to speed up the business ideation and innovation process of new players in the African tech ecosystem.
“I noticed that many of our clients, both within Africa and the Middle East, were attempting to solve problems that already had existing solutions,” Adebayo said over a call. “I envisioned a platform that would provide clients with access to a comprehensive market research library, eliminating the need to reinvent the wheel and saving them valuable time and resources”
She shared her thoughts with her boss, who encouraged her to pursue it. She began developing a solution on an Excel spreadsheet, which eventually evolved into a more comprehensive concept. In 2020, she left the country to pursue further studies at the Imperial College Business School in London, where she met and subsequently joined forces with her co-founders, who were equally passionate about addressing the problem.
The severity of this problem became apparent to Ugwueze, an experienced Senior Cloud DevOps Engineer when he had to modify his Master’s project due to a lack of data.
“There was this assignment where I struggled to find comprehensive information on African startups,” he said. “I was primarily able to gather basic details about founders and funding rounds, but I lacked insights into business models and operations. To access more in-depth information, I ultimately had to shift my focus to a different country.”
Chiemeka, an experienced investment banker who had worked at KPMG Nigeria, was familiar with the challenge of gathering essential information due to limited public data.
“As an investment banker, I often found it difficult to effectively communicate the potential of an investment opportunity without strong supporting evidence. Inaccurate information could expose both the company and the bank to significant legal risks,” Chiemeka said.
Faced with this shared obstacle, the trio began experimenting with a more holistic approach to addressing their issues.
Development and prioritising data collection
When the trio began their research their focus was on identifying successful startups, including those that had pivoted or faced challenges but ultimately achieved stability. They wanted to learn from the startups’ journeys, focusing on the reasons for their success or failure. Their case studies examined these startups as products, analysing their solutions, design processes, founders, and business models.
“We analysed the market policies that facilitated the success of these startups and aimed to provide insights for future entrepreneurs. Our criteria included startups that received funding from prominent accelerators, raised significant amounts of capital, or originated from smaller African markets,” Adebayo said.
“By studying these pioneers, we hope to inspire others to create innovative solutions within their own communities and share them with the world.”
A typical research day for the Bidhaa team involves poring over numerous articles and organizing information using tools like the business model canvas. Despite abundant online resources, research has been hindered by the limited availability of relevant information.
Nevertheless, the team has made strides in overcoming challenges related to data collection, thanks to the growing transparency of startup founders.
“For instance, with Lazerpay, we learned from the experiences of a startup that shutdown during funding droughts. This public accountability to investors and the public provided valuable lessons,” Adebayo said.
Today, Bidhaa has over 350 relevant product case studies and the team is continually striving to improve the platform, leveraging AI to enhance their capabilities.
By using AI to analyse Bidhaa’s database and web data, users will get more relevant information and suggestions to support their decision-making processes. This includes using AI to answer questions and offer recommendations based on their specific needs.
Bidhaa’s user interface: from ideation to action
Upon accessing the platform, users can quickly overview various products across sectors like fintech, healthtech, proptech, climate technology, and AI. This initial overview provides a concise understanding of each product, enabling users to decide if they want to explore further.
By clicking on a particular product, users can access detailed information, including the problem it solves, the product’s features, and the founders’ backgrounds. Additionally, the platform offers a business model map that outlines the company’s value proposition, revenue generation, and potential partnerships.
Beyond the library, the platform has received feedback from private beta users expressing their desire for more resources. The platform includes a documentation section where users can organise their ideas in folders and notes. To facilitate the transition from ideation to action, the team is developing tools like “ideate” and “validate.”
“The ‘ideate’ tool helps users structure their ideas and identify key milestones for validation. These milestones are supported by market data. If users are unable to confidently validate their assumptions, our platform will highlight the associated risks,” Adebayo says.
The platform’s Ideate tool serves two types of users: those with ideas and those seeking inspiration. For users without ideas, the AI-powered tool helps identify potential opportunities based on their interests and target markets, providing users with clear problem statements, relevant data points, and insights about existing players in the space.
For those with existing ideas, the tool goes further by helping users identify their unvalidated assumptions and creating action plans to test these assumptions. The Validate tool leads users through a three-step process to assess market demand, evaluate technical feasibility, and confirm the business viability of their idea or project.
For example, if someone is building a sustainable fashion startup, the Ideate tool might flag an assumption like “There’s significant demand for eco-friendly clothing.” The Validate tool would then suggest specific actions, such as interviewing 30 eco-friendly retail stores across key markets to verify this assumption. The tool generates a risk score based on validation results and provides structured templates for user interviews and market surveys.
Users can track multiple ideas on their dashboard, complete with clear timelines. Users can also organise their research and thoughts using the platform’s Notes & Folder feature, including the ability to bookmark favourite products and business models from the library.
Currently, Bidhaa is in a beta test phase, with users having limited access to the library, the ideation tool and the AI assistant. The team has intentionally restricted access to manage the volume of feedback effectively.
According to Adebayo, the team has received positive feedback from beta test users, such as Nigerian and UK university students and professionals in tech and consulting, allowing them to concentrate on enhancing the platform.
“By working closely with a smaller group of users, we can gather valuable insights and iterate on the platform. We maintain open communication through regular updates and encourage user feedback,” Adebayo said.
“The goal is to create an ecosystem that empowers individuals to confidently take their ideas from conception to market, while also learning from potential mistakes.”
