How are growth operators building in a market that doesn't trust easily?
Operators from across African tech on the work of earning trust: the products, channels, systems and hard-won lessons behind building where belief is the scarcest resource.
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Case studies on earning trust
“I woke up and saw on Twitter; my money is missing on Cowrywise.”
How do you retain trust as you scale?
“…they’ll ask, ‘Eight percent? When someone else can give me 40%?’”
Designing for trust: how do you design products for people who have reasons not to trust them?
“We might describe it as a network timeout, but the customer does not care that it was a timeout.”
Building the Infrastructure People Can Trust
“A customer told us: ‘If this company can trust them, then I should check them out too.’”
The cost of breaking trust in B2B fintech
“Trust is not something you can easily build or buy through catchy advertisements.”
How do you make people transfer money through WhatsApp?
“Your career is safe with us… nothing will go wrong.”
How do you build trust with enterprise clients?
“What works in Accra may not work in Kumasi. What works in Accra may not work in Lagos or Ibadan.”
What does it take to build a mobility business from the ground up?
“If your executives make decisions based on instinct… you are not really operating a data-driven business.”
The role of data in a low-trust market
“How do you ask people to invest in a company they may never visit, meet the founders of, or easily sell their investment in?”
How do you get users to trust an unfamiliar investment product?
“People want to know: What can I actually use crypto for? How do I get my money out if something goes wrong? What will a transaction actually cost me? What fees will I eventually have to pay? And if something goes wrong, who can I contact and who is accountable?”
What does building for Nigerian crypto users teach you about product experience?
“…the thing you’re ultimately selling is not the technology itself. You’re selling confidence in a decision.”
When trust is your product: how do you market a company that exists to reduce risk?
“Customers can forgive a problem. It’s much harder to recover from feeling ignored or misled.”
Building trust in African businesses
“…it’s important to be your own internal signal rather than waiting for customers to tell you your product is failing.”
Growth without trust is a leaky bucket
“Get your data right. The data tells you the truth.”
The relationship between trust and product usage
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Lines worth keeping
I’ve come to see trust as something that can’t sit with one team. Marketing can communicate a promise, but every interaction a customer has with the product, support team, and company either reinforces or weakens that promise.
Regulation gives you a trust vector. It means you’re traceable, you’re liable and you’re answerable to somebody.
Our strongest insights at Bunce have come from paying attention to our customers and asking what they actually need.
Developers don’t necessarily care about how large your company is. If the product isn’t solving their problem, they’ll replace it. Our biggest wrong assumption was thinking that building more features automatically meant creating more value.
Downloading an app might be relatively inexpensive, but there can be many issues such as device size, no internet, exhausted data, or not having enough space on your phone. These are real Nigerian problems.
Whenever you need a case study, whatever the industry, I hope this becomes your go-to.
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Join the community →The team who asked the questions
Every case study began as an interview. The team sat down with the operators and drew out the stories.
Kadijat Okeowo
Product Growth ManagerProduct growth manager and tech marketer with 7+ years across fintech and technology in Africa and beyond. Mentors emerging marketers and holds an MBA with Distinction from Miva Open University.
Mercy Elijah
Marketing & Communications StrategistHelps brands tell clearer stories and build stronger relationships with their audiences, across SaaS, FMCG, healthcare, real estate and consulting.
Christiana Olawumi
Writer, Editor & Growth MarketerContent and email marketer who writes The Customer’s Corner, a newsletter that pulls practical marketing lessons from successful brand campaigns.
Dorcas Emmanuel
SEO Strategist, EmbarqueTurns organic search into measurable growth for fintech, media and consumer brands. Co-founder of RiseInTech, a nonprofit teaching secondary school students tech skills.
Amatullah Mahmud
Data Engineer & Technical WriterBuilds with Python, SQL and AWS, and writes to make complex ideas clear and accessible. An active volunteer in the tech community.
Victory Emmanuel
Tech Journalist & EditorCovers technology, digital infrastructure and the African startup ecosystem, breaking down complex landscapes with research-driven work.