There is a growing need for Data Backup and Recovery Services
What happens if a fire, flood or deadly computer virus affects a business and all the data on its computers are lost or destroyed? Will years of highly valuable financial data, business operations records and sensitive customer information be lost forever? These are situations that every serious business has to plan and be ready for. To remain successful in business, disaster recovery (especially data backup), is becoming a major concern for both small and large organizations, whether government-owned or private businesses.
Though this market is still in its early days of development in Africa, the potential is huge. As more people, businesses and organizations look for easy, safe and convenient ways to store and access their data, entrepreneurs can provide affordable services to meet the demands of this growing market.
There is also another interesting angle to the data backup and recovery market that could offer huge opportunities for African entrepreneurs. Due to the current trends in data privacy and financial crime investigation, we anticipate that over the next few years African countries will introduce laws that will force businesses to domicile data in the countries in which they operate, and not foreign territories as is currently the case. Countries like Australia already have these laws in place and it may not be long before Africa adopts a similar model.
Business Concept
You don‘t have to be a security software developer to become hugely successful. A much better approach would be to search for great computer security software and devices that exist on the global market. Get in touch with the manufacturers (many of them are eager to get their products into Africa) and aim to become the sole distributor for a certain country or region in Africa. In order to make a strong case, it will help if you have a local IT or security company set up that has been operating for a while – this will give you more credibility.
Niche Idea
Backup & Data recovery services for:
Small and medium-sized businesses
Large organisations (such as banks, NGOs and government offices)
Top Countries & Policy Guidance
Your best market would be in countries with high internet filtration, among whom are Northern African countries, Nigeria, South Africa, and Kenya – but your products must be slightly more compelling.
Action & Tips
Visit one of the many tech accelerators that you find in several African countries such as Kenya‘s iHub and Rwanda‘s Klab, or call in at a local IT company. There you will find people who are well informed about IT products that are currently available on the market and they can probably tell you something about the gaps.
Get in touch with companies abroad that have products with security features that are not yet widely available locally.
Success Stories
Justin Stanford – ESET (South Africa)
South African-born Stanford is a software entrepreneur and venture capitalist. After dropping out of high school, Stanford set out to launch an internet security company which flopped. When he came across ESET, a Slovakian anti-virus software package, he negotiated with its manufacturers and cornered the exclusive, lucrative Southern African distribution for the product.
Today, Stanford‟s ESET Southern Africa operates the ESET brand in the region and sells ESET‟s range of internet security products in about 20 sub-Saharan countries, leveraging on an extremely successful internet business platform and digital distribution model for online software sales and service.
Today, Stanford‟s ESET brand records over $10 million in annual turnover and controls five percent of the anti-virus market in Southern Africa. IronTree (South Africa) IronTree is a South-African based company that provides secure online backup solutions to the South African business community. Founded in 2004, the company has become one of the leading players in this space due to its strong partner program and loyal customer base. In the coming years, we expect that similar companies will spring up across the continent.