E-Business
Nigeria Apps Developers Individually Motivated, Economically Starving
Mobile Apps are really changing the way people communicate, work and play. At the global level, app development has grown into a massive, profitable industry estimated to be worth over 120 billion dollars by 2016, according to Ovum and Gartner, who hinted also that apps are winning over mobile web.
Even in Nigeria, the trend is catching-on, but challenges before apps developers are innumerable.
Most of the publicity and media spotlights currently fall on superstar consumer apps like such as Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, BBM, etc.
These success stories have certainly highlighted the massive scale and revenue potential of mobile apps, reaching from zero to billions of users in record-breaking time.
Recently, market research firm, Gartner, estimates that this year alone, mobile users across the globe will pay more than $25 billion to buy “mobile applications”, games, social net-working tools, productivity and entertainment-based mini programmes for mobile phones despite the fact that 80 per cent of these will be free downloads this year.
So far, apps have become the business with the fastest turnaround time in the software industry.
Of course, the obvious success of international apps like twitter, facebook, WassApp, EverNote, etc, has contributed to lure young Nigerians to the space.
These have helped people who have ideas see how that one simple app can become a global player in business. Now, people are taking apps or software development as a career.
Although, it is one that still in its infancy, but about five years ago it was not, probably, as common and for obvious reasons. We have seen App brands like BudgIT, Traclist, Efiko, Jobs In Nigeria, WeCyclers, Genii Games and Maliyo Games come out from Co-Creation Hub Nigeria and they are trending.
However, the state of technology, generally, in Nigeria is still not a way of life.
That whole space of application development or software industry is one that is gradually growing, because people are beginning to see more, opportunities that exist.
The odious task of making people realize how important it is to their lives holds the fulcrum to swing the ball afar.
There are glisters of hope in the industry.
For instance, Mr. Tobi Asehinde, chief executive officer, Vibe Web Solutions Limited, told Nigeria CommunicationsWeek, that there is a huge potential in app development in the Nigeria Market, especially the mobile applications because of the presence of low cost smartphone manufacturers that run Android OS.
Etching to 200 million connected lines and over 132 million active lines according to NCC statistics, it is unarguable that mobile application development has a huge potential.
Well, this is a good market share number for any mobile application owner to leverage on.
Asehinde cited TNS Africa and Middle statistics which shows that 25% of mobile line subscribers use smart phone meaning, developing an app relevant to this 25% which a population of over 25 million people is already a ready market and bargaining power. “The interesting part of the trend is that this number is growing exponentially every year,” he said.
Essentially, consumer apps are trending, however, the game changers will become enterprise apps, as organisations of all shapes and sizes are integrating mobile apps within their business processes.
This mobilisation creates a demand for off-the-shelf or custom mobile apps and services, translating into new and bigger opportunities for mobile app developers.
The Vibe Web’s CEO subscribed to this as “growing number of businesses now depend on apps like Box, Evernote and Trello to help them be more productive in their work.
Enterprises are now allowing employees to use the apps they love at work, inside the corporate Intranet. These are fanning up the desires in many young Nigerian developers to queue-in and make changes in our environment”.
Statistics are hard to come by on the financial worth of the Nigeria’s apps market, however, Mr. Tunji Eleso, director of Incubation, Co-Creation Hub (Cc-Hub), Nigeria also told Nigeria CommunicationsWeek, optimistically that, there are prospects that soon locally developed apps will fly at the international arena, creating employments, and will shoot up the IT contributions to the nation’s gross domestic project exponentially.
He believes the notion that app publishers that target business and productivity markets have a much better chance of generating sustainable revenue than those targeting consumer markets.
“We should not forget that, although, about four year ago everybody was interested in cloning. For instance, Facebook for students, Facebook for Nigerians or Facebook for traders, it became quite obvious that it will not work, because Facebook is unique; they have the power and machinery to make it a global business. Gradually, people are shifting away from that towards solving local problems. That is why we are seeing a lot of prospects on applications that can compete globally,” he added.
He swiftly affirmed that prospects in the industry revolve round identifying challenges in one’s immediate environment, regional, Africa as a Continent; then the global relevance cannot be denied.
Eleso said, “For instance, the Tropal app, a fitness and life-style application has the potentials to serve the global market, because it is helping in galvanizing a community of people who are interested in fitness. That is locally identifiable problem, but it can be easily spotted across the globe. The truth is that scalability of the business is important; if you must play at the international arena, you cannot just be locally minded.
On how apps developers make their money, Mr. Yinka Adenaike, application Service Delivery Manager of Vibe Web Solutions Limited, said making money as a app developer is very straight forward, “you either charge for developing for others or you develop one for yourself targeting a good market niche and leverage on numbers of users of your app to get advertising revenues however, if your app is an essential tool then you can charge for each download. Basically you can even go as far charge for subscription especially if it is a mobile application for a magazine”.
But, Eleso thinks enterprise application is an interesting area. Apparently, a lot of people are not very aware of it for obvious reasons.
“So, when you have a solution that works, you need the link to be able to get into the organizations. For those in the consumer-goods-service such as good tracking, and things like that, are what people are thinking of doing. Therefore, the right network to get into places like the oil and gas industry to help with their operations or the banking sector; some people are doing it for a while, but in the current dispensation, a few people are beginning to think about enterprise apps as the way forward. Even though the market pays, but it is a very smaller market that requires technical know-how and the ability to know link up,” he added.
Literally speaking, there have been interventions to help app developers heave sigh of relief, nevertheless, the journey has not been palatable for start-ups, basically for societal misunderstanding of the relevance.
For example, the Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Communication Technology launched the National ICT Incubation Programme tagged Information Technology Developers Entrepreneurship Accelerator (iDEA) in Lagos and Cross River States; original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) such as Samsung, Nokia, Tecno, and data & cloud management companies like Google, IBM, Microsoft, and network providers-MTN, MainOne, etc., have at some points intervened.
More so, private incubation hubs are not giving up, yet it remains a drop of water in an ocean.
As shocking as it may sound, Nigeria cannot boost of having at anytime, 50-100 app developers working on a particular project at same time.
To add insult to the injury, many government agencies are out of touch with technology, thus, they view anyone coming around as a threat.
Mr. Peter Ihesie, chief executive officer of ComplurTech, told Nigeria CommunicationsWeek how the Nigerian Police Force and societal disbelieve initially truncated the launch of iPolice app. iPolice was developed by Ihesie and his team last year as a community policing application.
Ihesie, while alluding to the growth potentials of the industry, said, “I will say that the industry is gradually growing. People are beginning to appreciate the importance of apps and with the increase in adoption of mobile devices especially the low cost devices that are hitting the market. We foresee a lot more adoption. It has been encouraging compare to what it has been in the last three years.
The future of the industry lies on the shoulders of the younger generation. They are growing up, meeting the mobile devices. They way they interact with the devices, is entirely different from the way the older generation do.
We are looking at the exactly the way they are going: gaming, enterprise; in any case, the industry has shown glisters of a multi-million dollar strength in Nigeria.
“The issue we had in the process of developing i-Police app revolved around data. It is a data intensive application. It is a personal security application that allows users access to all police contacts, emergency numbers of all the States; security situations around your neighbourhood: office, home, in fact, it is a community policing app. But the issue of data gathering to feed the app was challenging.
“If you go to the websites of relevant agencies you can get enough facts, figures or current issues addressed. Even when we contacted some police stations, they were like we are treats to them, but this is such an app they need to make their operations easy.
“Organizations that understand that technology has come to stay are now open to change. That is why those who got the hint earlier are ahead of others. For instance, GTBank is one that understands the essence of mobile apps and they quickly integrated it into their system. Today, they are recognized as the smartest bank in Nigeria. No sector should be left behind”.
To Eleso, scaling is a challenge and will continue to pose challenges in the sub-sector, because the know-how is still the biggest challenge in the market.
“Skills: people having the fundamental skills to tackle challenges and the skills to build or turn them to what people can consume. It is the biggest challenge because our university system is still not really producing talents at the rate that will help the ecosystem scale. Those we are celebrating like IrokoTv, IbakaTv, Jobberman, etc, are self-motivated. They took the time, burnt the mid-night candles to learn what they are producing today. That is not a scalable model; what we need is such that from the Secondary School level people are taught.
“That way they can take the skills and build things. I don’t think I have a team of 50-100 developers working on a particular solution. The truth is that you cannot find them in that kind of number. To develop a solution for global relevance requires a lot of skills, the OEMs giving trainings and for people to see apps or software development as a career”.
Speaking from experience, Adenaike backed up Eleso’s remarks, hence he said, the challenges faced by mobile developers are mainly around (organic) discovery and acquisition as well as retention and monetization.
“However,” he said, “This is a core issue that depends on your business idea, strategy and customer lifecycle marketing strategy. The problem here is that many app developers focus on acquisitions only rather than a process that put all four into consideration discovery, acquisition, retention and monetize. The major or end goal is to monetize, however, the idea needs to be one that would bring people back to your app, it has to be essential or encourage retention then only would your discovery and acquisition strategy yield good returns and numbers for monetizing”.
Way forward
Just as it is with social apps, it’s about analytics with mobile apps. “When you’re competing with hundreds of thousands of other mobile apps (and short user attention span), you need to figure out the essential triggers quickly.
What appeals to your highest lifetime value (LTV) users–that is, those who are more likely to spend and spread the word about your product with their friends and family? How can you keep them more engaged? What makes them return? You need to answer these questions and leverage on them,” Adenaike.
Actually, Nigeria expect that in the next three to five years the IT industry would have tripled its contribution to the nation’s GDP, because it is one area youths can be engaged.
With the right support and mentoring, it can become a very viable force for employment generation, which is another area we must look at beyond contribution to the GDP.
Also, like Eleso said, “The more you create interesting applications; technology becomes a way of life for the general masses. People still do not consume technology as a way of life and that needs to happen. The sub-sector has potentials to rival other sectors of the economy”.
It still falls back on education, education and education, which remains the currency to buy a lucrative tomorrow. Universities should start thinking of replacing boring lecture sessions with CodeCamps, to say the least.
Kike Technologies, a Nigerian technology firm, has launched ‘Kike AI’, a revolutionary artificial intelligence-driven kitchen application designed to transform Nigeria’s food and cooking gas industries.
The app aims to enhance convenience for consumers while optimising gas supply through predictive technology.
Speaking at the launch event, Femi Oye, CEO of Kike Technologies, highlighted the app’s ability to address a common household issue, unexpected depletion of cooking gas.
“Using advanced algorithms and data analytics, this app can forecast when a user’s gas cylinder is running low, enabling them to order refills ahead of time,” Oye explained.
Beyond individual household benefits, Kike AI is expected to have a broader economic impact by creating jobs within the logistics, gas retail, and food industries.
“We anticipate significant job growth as the app gains traction, particularly in delivery and gas station services,” Oye noted.
The app is also designed to bridge the digital gap, specifically targeting women and marginalised groups by providing them with opportunities to showcase their culinary skills and earn a sustainable income.
According to Oye, this initiative will not only empower women economically but also help preserve Nigeria’s rich culinary heritage.
By leveraging AI technology, Kike AI aims to revolutionise everyday cooking experiences, support economic development, and create essential employment opportunities in Nigeria’s growing tech and food sectors.
The application is expected to drive a shift towards more efficient cooking gas management, ensuring affordability and ease of access for millions of users.
Data workers in Africa often have a hard time, according to a report published in theconversation.com, a nonprofit, independent news organization dedicated to unlocking the knowledge of experts for the public good.
The article by Mohammad Amir Anwar, senior lecturer in African Studies and International Development, University of Edinburgh, found that data workers in Africa face job insecurities – including temporary contracts, low pay, arbitrary dismissal and worker surveillance – and alarming physical and psychological health risks.
The consequences of their work can include exhaustion, burnout, mental health strain, chronic stress, vertigo and weakening of eyesight.
Data work includes text prediction, image and video annotation, speech to text validation and content moderation.
The world of data work is built on labour arbitrage – exploiting the fact that workers earn less and have less protection in some countries than in others.
Large technology firms often outsource this work to the global south, including African countries like Kenya, Uganda and Madagascar, and also India and Venezuela.
The result is complex production networks that are generally opaque and shrouded in secrecy.
Workers and researchers have issued many warnings about data workers’ health.
Despite numerous court cases in multiple jurisdictions, nothing much has been done to address these issues either by tech companies or by regulators.
Still, the news of the death of a Nigerian content moderator, Ladi Anzaki Olubunmi, who was found dead in her apartment in Nairobi, Kenya on 7 March 2025, came as a shock.
While the circumstances of her death are still unclear, it has renewed calls for wider systemic change.
Her death has sparked condemnation from the Kenyan Union of Gig Workers, which demanded an investigation.
Since 2015, we have been studying the central role of African data workers in building and maintaining artificial intelligence (AI) systems, acting as “data janitors”.
Our research found that companies rarely acknowledge the use of human workers in AI value chains, thus they remain “hidden” from the public eye. In other words, the world of AI is built on the toil of human workers most people are unaware of.
In this article, we outline key steps needed to protect these data workers in Africa.
They include business process outsourcing regulations, ensuring quality rather than quantity of jobs, and providing social protection. There is also a need to name and shame companies that maltreat data workers.
Data work needs tighter regulation.
Regulation
Business process outsourcing is the practice of procuring various processes or operations from external suppliers or vendors.
Firms that do this are sometimes trying to evade local regulations (like minimum wages) and responsibility towards workers’ welfare (via sub-contracting and the use of temporary employment agencies).
This is happening in Africa as some data training firms and digital labour platforms circumvent local labour laws.
But there is more to the story.
Data work is also seen by lawmakers and practitioners as a solution to the rampant unemployment and informality across Africa.
African governments have actively created regulatory environments that enable these practices to thrive, despite adverse outcomes for workers.
Nonetheless, new regulations have been proposed lately, like the Kenyan government’s Business Law (Amendment) Bill, 2024 targeting the wider business process outsourcing and IT-enabled services sector.
Particularly, it makes business process outsourcing firms responsible for any claim raised by employees. It ensures some accountability for firms bringing data work to Africa.
Other governments should follow with similar measures ensuring worker rights are enforceable. Some data workers are hired on contracts as short as five days and get paid less than the local minimum wage.
Firms found violating labour standards should be penalised.
In fact, there is an urgent need to create regional or continent-wide regulatory frameworks covering the business process outsourcing sector, limiting the space for firms to exploit workers.
It’s possible, however, that jobs might be lost as firms relocate to places with favourable laws, an everyday reality in the outsourcing networks.
Quality, not quantity
African governments should prioritise the quality of jobs and not quantity. Policymakers should think about wider national economic development plans, particularly structural diversification and upgrading of their economies.
Historically, these strategies have resulted in success in some states, addressing social and economic issues such as unemployment, poverty and inequality.
Another option for African governments is to enhance social protection among data workers.
Financing this is a serious issue, so proper taxation and compliance among workers and employers is urgently needed.
Finally, there is a role for naming and shaming firms that treat their data workers poorly. There is evidence that such efforts improve compliance and firms’ behaviour.
Worker movements
African data workers have taken risks in openly speaking about their experiences.
But these kinds of approaches work well when combined with collective bargaining.
Workers have historically won their labour and civil rights after long and hard-fought struggles.
There is a long history of African worker movements and trade unions resisting the apartheid and colonial regimes across the continent.
While the freedom of association is enshrined in the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and most governments have legislation committed to collective bargaining, it is rarely implemented in the new outsourcing sectors, particularly data work.
It is also difficult to organise workers in the industry, because of the high churn rate. For instance, data training firms like Sama offer short-term contracts to employees, often as short as five days.
Some firms are hostile to workers’ organising activities.
But numerous data worker-led associations have emerged in Africa recently, some led by the co-authors of this article.
Techworker Community Africa, African Tech Workers Rising, African Content Moderators Unions and Data Labelers Association are among them.
These initiatives are crucial to ensure workers have decent remuneration, work-life balance, adequate working hours, protection against arbitrary dismissal, safe working environments, and contributions towards their health and welfare.
Several high-profile court cases are currently being pursued by African data workers against Meta and Sama.
There is precedent. In 2021. Meta was ordered by a Californian court to pay US$85 million to 10,000 content moderators.
AI-dependent tools such as ChatGPT or driverless cars would not exist without African data workers. They are tired of being “hidden”. They deserve to be treated with respect and dignity.
Mophat Okinyi, Kauna Malgwi, Sonia Kgomo and Richard Mathenge co-authored this article.
National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) said the National Identification Number (NIN) is a mandatory requirement for securing government loans.
NIMC said on its social media platform that the identity number has become compulsory for Bank of Industry (BOI) loans.
NIMC said, “Enroll for your NIN today to access business aid and other opportunities from the Bank of Industry.
“To access the services of the Bank of Industry (BOI), enroll for the NIN.”
Recall that the federal government, through the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Investment (FMITI), established three funds totaling N200bn to support businesses across Nigeria.
The fund will be accessed at nine per cent interest, to be disbursed by the Bank of Industry (BOI).
The funds established by the government were the Presidential Conditional Grant Scheme (PCGS), the FGN MSME Intervention Fund, and the FGN Manufacturing Sector Fund.
The government appointed BOI as the executing agency for the funds and is empowered with the responsibility for their day-to-day administration.
“The Presidential Conditional Grant Scheme (PCGS) is a N50bn grant scheme to support eligible Nano Business owners. The grant will be disbursed to a minimum of 1,000 beneficiaries, especially women and youths, per Local Government Area (LGA) in the 774 LGAs across the nation and the six Council Areas in the FCT.
“The target Nano businesses include traders, food vendors, ICT businesses, transporters, artisans, and creatives, among others,” said Dr. Olasupo Olusi, managing director/chief executive officer, BOI.
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