Despite Africa’s growing tech ecosystem over the past decade, startups continue to struggle to be overlooked and misunderstood due to poor narratives on their transformative solutions and innovations. New report from Talking Drum Communications a public relations firm.
According to the report, strategic narrative is essential for attracting investor’s confidence, credibility, as well as long-term growth. It should be treated with priority. It noted that many African startup companies are not able to create a strategic infrastructure that will allow them to communicate their functionality to global stakeholders effectively, leaving a large perception gap. This could be a driver of growth for these startups, causing them to be misrepresented and undervalued.
The report cited a report from 2021 Village Capital that ranked communication as the third most underfunded capability among African startups. It was only behind talent and product design. It also stated that lack of visibility, which leads to a distorted understanding of startups’ value propositions affects their ability to attract talent, funding, and credibility.
The report states that in many cases African startups rely heavily on their founders personal journeys to tell their stories. It stated that while compelling in the beginning, it could lead a one-dimensional story that does not reflect the company’s mission, vision, and social impact. “…over-reliance on this could overshadow the company’s broader mission and impacts”especially in complex sectors such as B2B infrastructure or healthcare logistics.
The article also highlighted the dangers associated with product-led storytelling. This is when the focus is on the company’s products, features, or services instead of the reasons why they are important. It says that while this approach may appeal to early adapters, it alienates investors, regulators or the general public who are interested in mission and values as well as societal relevance.
According McKinsey & Company research many international investors and partners lack confidence in African startup companies due to outdated narratives and fragmented information. Even high-performing startups can be undervalued or overlooked because their stories don’t resonate with global stakeholders.
“Companies who neglect purpose-driven narratives run the risk of being perceived as interchangeable, forgotten, or irrelevant over time. The report stated that those who focus their communications on real-world results, community impact or societal relevance build deeper trust, stronger emotion resonance and more enduring brands equity. It also highlights several success stories where storytelling helped African tech companies overcome barriers to credibility and maintain market leadership. Zipline, which is the world’s biggest autonomous logistics system, used narrative to position their drone-based medical supply system as not just a flashy technology, but an essential healthcare infrastructure. Now, it has been expanded from Rwanda to include other African countries such as Ghana, where the program has led to a 56% decrease in maternal deaths, and a 25% rise in skilled deliveries, in the Ashanti Region.
Duplo is a B2B payment infrastructure company that took a data driven approach to simplify and digitalise how African business make and receive payments. This made it a trusted partner in a place where informal processes, fragmented information, and legacy systems are still dominant. The report highlights that as a new breed of tech companies emerges with strategic narratives, owned media, proactive public relations, executive visibility and cross-market narratives are key strategies to improve the perception and confidence of stakeholders and the public. Talking Drum offers two frameworks to help African tech companies operationalise the insights from the report: the Narrative Maturity Ladder, which shows how companies can evolve from a startup to a legacy institution through effective communication and storytelling; and the Return on Investment Model, which helps them measure how strategic storytelling impacts them in four core enterprise value areas: brand equity, crisis resilience, deal flow, and employer reputation.
According to the report, founders, investors and the communication department should define “why”fund startups’ storytelling to create value, and give the communication team a strategic narrative that aligns with growth goals and stakeholders expectations.
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