A regional technology company won a Kenyan government digital infrastructure tender valued at about USD 170 million in 2014, beating a global competitor with a larger international footprint. The outcome was not driven by a stronger proposal or a lower price, according to people involved in East Africa’s technology sector.
The global company had delivered similar projects across multiple continents and brought deep technical expertise, substantial implementation capacity, and an international reputation. The regional company had a fraction of that footprint. The same pattern has been observed over more than 14 years across East Africa’s technology, telecommunications, and innovation sectors.
Why the regional bidder won
The regional company had spent years becoming part of the market it wanted to serve. Its executives regularly shared perspectives on issues decision-makers faced, from digital identity and data governance to the practical realities of implementing public sector technology in East Africa. They spoke at regional forums alongside regulators, development finance institutions, and government agencies. They wrote for The EastAfrican and Business Daily, publications read by policymakers and senior executives.
By the time procurement began, the company was no longer simply another bidder. It had become recognised as an organisation that understood how the sector worked.
Signals of market preparation
Organisations reveal their readiness long before submitting a proposal. Some ask how quickly they can generate leads, who the largest customers are, or how soon they can begin selling. Others ask different questions:
- Who influences this sector?
- Which ministries, regulators, or industry associations shape decisions?
- Which publications do policymakers and business leaders read?
- Which conferences matter?
- Which conversations should we be contributing to before we have something to sell?
Those questions indicate an organisation is preparing to participate in a market, not transact in it.
Country-level credibility versus regional presence
The distinction becomes clearer when leaders describe their strategy. Saying they are expanding into Africa or Sub-Saharan Africa often signals an organisational presence rather than a commercial one. They may have established a regional office, but they have not yet developed a market position.
The conversation changes when leaders begin naming countries, sectors, institutions, publications, and stakeholders. Credibility is built market by market. What builds trust in Nairobi is not necessarily what builds confidence in Dakar.
A contrasting case
A private education company with a technology-enabled model for reaching underserved communities entered several African markets, believing its global reputation would open doors. It had a proven model, technology built for the market, and funding behind it. What it never built was local visibility.
Its coverage, interviews, and public statements were aimed at donors and international financiers. The story it told was about global scale and capital, not local relevance. Its own impact report, the document that should have built confidence in the market, was never published in local media. It existed for an international audience and never made it home.
The slow investment problem
Before organisations commit millions of dollars or award strategically important contracts, they rarely rely on proposals and presentations alone. They look for evidence that a company understands the market, has invested consistently in the sector, and has earned credibility with the people and institutions that shape it.
This is not about private networks or knowing the right people. It is about building a public track record of expertise over time: publishing informed perspectives, speaking at respected industry events, contributing to policy discussions, and demonstrating an understanding of local priorities before asking anyone to buy.
Any organisation can do this, but very few do, because this kind of investment is slow. It costs for two or three years before it produces anything a finance team can point to. It cannot be attributed to any specific contract, because by design it happens before the contract exists. And it usually must be approved by a head office that sets budgets against near-term pipeline.
The people who understand this best are often the ones least able to fund it. The country director who knows exactly which forums matter and which relationships take years to build is asking a global chief financial officer to spend against a return that will show up in someone else’s reporting period.
