Building Trust in Emerging Markets Without Apps

We spent millions on a front-page ad in the biggest newspaper in the country. We paid for a front page advertisement in the largest newspaper in Sri Lanka during the early days of PickMe. We expected the office phones to ring constantly with drivers wanting to join. Nobody called. I learned that day that a large marketing budget cannot compensate for a lack of trust in the market. Founders often try to buy growth before they have established their presence on the ground. In emerging markets like South Asia and the GCC, you cannot “blitzscale” with a Silicon Valley playbook and a massive ad budget. You have to scale from the ground up. Here is the 3-step pivot we made to reach 100K+ daily operations: 1. Go to the Source (The "Street-Ops" Phase) We stopped the ads and went to the taxi stands. We spoke to drivers one-on-one. We didn't pitch a "vision"; we solved their immediate pain. Scale starts with unscalable conversations. 2. The "Data-First" Bait Instead of charging a subscription, we gave the tool for free. Why? Because the data was more valuable than the fee. We needed to see the supply patterns to build the algorithm. 3. Build the "Invisible" Infrastructure We stopped managing "drivers" and started managing "zones." We built the tech to handle the chaos of the streets so the user experience felt like magic. If you have Product-Market Fit but your operations feel like they’re hitting a ceiling, I’ve documented the exact frameworks I use to fix this. I’ve written a deep-dive article on "Moving from Traction to Predictable Scale" on my website. You can read it here: https://lnkd.in/gF4u7tYZ Ps; If you have found traction and want to turn that momentum into a predictable company, we should speak. #Scaling #BusinessGrowth #ScalingInAsia #EmergingMarkets

People often ask me for "networking hacks" in Vietnam. There aren't any. Business here follows trust, and trust takes time. That isn't what most people want to hear, but it is the only durable principle I've found for building a real network in this market: be useful, and be patient. This is structurally different from ecosystems like Silicon Valley or New York, where networks are broader and move faster at the surface. In those markets, a founder can meet someone at an event, get a warm introduction, and be in term sheet conversations within days. The mechanics reward speed. Vietnam runs on different physics. People are warm, but decision-makers are protective of their relationships, and in an ecosystem where everyone genuinely knows everyone, most of the best opportunities are off-market. Reputation, good or bad, travels quickly. I have watched a single bad relationship quietly close doors for investors and founders who never understood why. Real access tends to arrive later, after people have observed how you show up and whether you are genuinely useful when there is nothing in it for you. The strongest networkers I know in Vietnam rarely attend networking events. What they do, consistently, is help the people they already know with things that actually matter: a key hire, a difficult negotiation, an introduction made at exactly the right moment. There is a quiet advantage embedded in this kind of ecosystem. Because it is smaller and more relationship-dense, one respected operator vouching for you can compress years of network-building into a single conversation. In Vietnam, trust is the network effect. Usefulness is how you earn it.

🔴 In Africa, Uber lost to the boda driver with a phone number you can actually call. That's not a failure of technology—it's a masterclass in what truly drives financial inclusion. In a recent FS i-Hub session with Hugo Pacheco - The Barefoot Economist and Rob Sanford, CEO of SafeBoda (mobility fintech super app), revealed something profound: in markets where 80% of workers are informal and trust is scarce, embedded finance isn't about APIs—it's about understanding people. The conversation cut through the hype: 📍 Platforms aren't just apps—they're economic infrastructure 📍 Financial wellness comes before financial growth 📍 Trust beats speed in low-trust environments ‣ Rob's insight hit home: "Traditional banks can't underwrite a boda driver—but we can, because we know their work, income patterns, and ambitions." SafeBoda doesn't just move people. It embeds insurance, vehicle loans, land credit, and same-day payouts directly into daily work. Drivers repay loans through rides, build credit histories through activity, and move from instability to asset ownership. This is what financial inclusion looks like when it's designed from the ground up—not imported from the top down. Key insights from the session: • Local platforms win because they build trust through human support, not just technology • Embedded finance works when it's lived daily, not layered on afterward  • Africa needs 12 million new jobs yearly—platforms are filling the gap that formal systems can't • Smart regulation should enable platform innovation, not strangle it Hugo brings us conversations that challenge conventional wisdom and spotlight what's actually working in African fintech—not what sounds good in boardrooms. Because the future of work and finance in Africa won't be written by those chasing global playbooks. It will be built by those who understand local realities. 👇 Read the full insights from the session  🎥 Watch the replay (link included in the article) What's your take? Can global platforms ever truly compete with locally-rooted solutions in emerging markets? #Fintech #Africa #superapp #FSiHub

In West Africa, I learned something many FinTechs still don't understand: People don't trust apps, they trust the people behind them. We obsess over instant payments, seamless UX, AI-powered everything. But when money is at risk, users don't care about features. They want one thing: a human who answers when it matters. I've seen people walk away from sleek apps to send money through someone with a notebook, because that person would pick up the phone at 2 AM. Trust isn't built by innovation alone. Trust is built by presence under pressure. And this doesn't change in GCC corridors: UAE → Pakistan KSA → Egypt UAE → Africa If you disappear when something breaks, you're forgotten, no matter how good your tech. FinTech won't be won by speed alone. It will be won by those who stand behind the transfer. #FinTech #Payments #DigitalBanking #CustomerTrust #MENA

In Africa, money doesn’t move in straight lines. It flows in circles. A mother pays her child’s school fees through her church treasurer. A trader in Lagos sends value to her sister in Accra through a bus driver. A young man in Nairobi converts remittances to airtime and sells it to pay rent. This isn’t chaos. It’s choreography: the real economy moving through trust and memory. Yet every “fintech for Africa” pitch begins with how to formalize it. How to “bring them into the system.” But what if they are the system? We were told financial innovation means compliance and structure. But the woman selling maize who gives two days’ credit isn’t inefficient, she’s doing credit analytics in her head. The bus conductor rounding fares isn’t informal, he’s maintaining social liquidity. The barber’s ledger? That’s decentralized data. We’ve mistaken paperless for progress. Automation for innovation. Western design for universal truth. They built wallets. We built relationships. Their systems remove friction. Ours manage it gracefully. Because in Africa, friction is how we negotiate fairness. It’s how we build trust. It’s how we stay human. Here, innovation isn’t erasing friction, it’s translating it. Financial innovation isn’t an app. It’s adaptation. It’s a mechanic with five bank accounts because any one could fail. A savings group using USDT because the naira is melting. An auntie who becomes her neighborhood’s Western Union because she travels often. No protocol matches the flexibility of survival. That’s resilience by design. We’ve tried to automate empathy, to make nuance machine-readable. But you can’t automate “I trust you.” You can’t program “I’ll pay when my child gets well.” You can’t code human grace. It’s time to redefine financial innovation: Not as making humans more like machines, But making machines more like humans. Innovation isn’t replacing the market woman. It’s equipping her. Not erasing social capital, but digitizing it without diluting it. Because our greatest financial system isn’t built on code. It’s built on culture. The future of fintech won’t just move money. It will move meaning. It will honor the truths that kept us solvent when systems failed. It will build rails that curve, because our lives aren’t linear. The world asks how to bank the unbanked. We’re asking how to unbank the broken. Because the future of finance won’t be built in Silicon Valley. It’ll be built wherever people still believe that trust, not technology, is the ultimate currency. Innovation isn’t new tech. It’s renewed truth. This is the philosophy with which we have built BoundlessPay. Ndubuisi Ekekwe Tekedia Institute Tekedia Capital EMURGO Africa Tether.io Arnoud d'Yve de Bavay Shogo Ishida Vincent Li

Building on something I shared recently about transient markets like the UAE, there’s another insight I’ve consistently observed across the MEA region: Here, trust is personal before it is professional. In many European B2B markets, you can sell a solution to a company you’ve never spoken to. Trust is built through: 🔹 Proof of work 🔹 Case studies 🔹 Product comparisons 🔹 Facts, data, and outcomes In MEA, even when you present the exact same information, the decision process often looks different. Some context that explains why: 🔸 According to multiple B2B sales studies, over 70% of buying decisions are influenced by perceived risk, not just price or features. 🔸 In fast-moving, relationship-led markets, risk is reduced through people, not decks. 🔸 High leadership turnover means decisions are often anchored in who you trust today, not who had the strongest story three years ago. This is why I’ve seen situations where: 🔹 A stronger relationship beats a better solution. 🔹 A familiar face wins over a cheaper offer. 🔹 A trusted introduction accelerates decisions that would otherwise stall. Not because the buyer is irrational. But because relationships act as shortcuts to trust when time and stability are limited. That’s also why in MEA: 🔸 Events outperform cold outreach 🔸 Introductions carry disproportionate weight 🔸 Community creates credibility faster than content alone Brand building here isn’t just about visibility or messaging. It’s about presence, consistency, and human connection over time. You don’t just sell a solution. You sell confidence. And confidence is almost always transferred through relationships.

Forget the 10-minute delivery wars for a second! While metros are obsessed with how fast a packet of chips can reach their door, a much bigger revolution is happening in the "Real India"—and the rules there are completely different. Meet Venkataramanan Reddy, a 58-year-old farmer from Andhra Pradesh. For years, his grocery shopping was a struggle—bad quality staples and high prices at the local shop. Today, he’s a regular at a supermarket called SuperK. He isn't looking for "instant" delivery; he's looking for Value, Quality, and Trust. Here is why startups like SuperK, Rozana, and CityMall are winning where the "big players" often struggle: 1. Value is King (Not Speed) 👑 In small towns, people don't mind waiting a day if it saves them money. The Strategy: Instead of expensive bikes racing around, these companies aggregate orders and deliver in batches. The Result: Prices that beat the local neighborhood store. 2. A "Handshake" Still Matters 🤝 In Bharat, trust isn't built on a shiny app; it’s built on people. Rozana uses 36,000 "Peer Partners" (mostly local women) who act as the face of the brand. Glamzy builds physical stores because, for skincare and makeup, people want to "try before they buy" and ask questions to someone they trust. 3. Get Your Shoes Dirty 👟 You can't solve for a village in UP from a high-rise in Bengaluru. The founders of these successful startups actually moved to the towns they serve. They roamed the streets, spoke to the customers, and lived like them. They realized that a two-pack of Gulab Jamun for ₹29 sells better than a massive, expensive box. The Big Picture 🇮🇳 -60% of new e-commerce shoppers are now coming from Tier-3 towns and beyond. -91% of India’s grocery is still sold through Kirana stores. The "Bharat" market isn't just a smaller version of Mumbai or Delhi. It is a different world that requires a different heart. The startups winning today aren't just selling products—they are valuing the aspirations of millions of people who were ignored for too long. Which do you think is harder to build in India: a 10-minute delivery network or a trust-based rural retail chain? Read my book (on Amazon) on the 'Brand Bharat': https://amzn.in/d/0g7NgT9d Ref: Mint 3rd Feb. #Bharat #StartupIndia #RetailRevolution #Growth #IndiaEconomy #Entrepreneurship Brand Vibe Consulting

𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐀𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬. 𝐈𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. In many markets contracts come first. In Rwanda, relationships come first. Before any deal, people quietly evaluate: Can I rely on you? Do you deliver what you promise? Are you consistent over time? I've seen this firsthand in Kigali. Investors with strong capital and solid plans still struggled, not because the opportunity wasn't there, but because they hadn't built trust first. ✅ Reputation spreads faster than marketing ✅ Consistency builds more value than persuasion ✅ One trusted relationship outperforms dozens of cold leads ✅ Trust compounds but it can also be lost instantly The real competitive advantage is not capital or ideas. It is being known as someone who keeps their word. In emerging markets, trust is currency. What role has trust played in your business or career journey? #RwandaBusiness #AfricaBusiness #BusinessStrategy #SUNAAdvisory