For many homegrown businesses in Africa, expanding beyond the continent has historically been considered a daring move. African startups have a long-standing record of choosing neighboring African countries for their international debut instead. Even after record-smashing investments in recent years, penetrating a non-African market is still a long shot for many local companies. Lately, this long-purported risk is changing. Instead of looking for growth opportunities in neighboring countries, some companies are actively skipping continental expansion and heading directly to overseas markets. Plentywaka, a Nigerian bus-booking platform, today announced that it has been accepted into the Techstars Toronto accelerator program. In addition to this and the new capital from Techstars, Plentywaka is looking to scale its platform across Africa and North America. Akumah says this global expansion plan will start with a city in Canada, most likely Toronto, on or before Q4 2021.
SOURCE: QUARTZ AFRICA
More Stories
Making the DRC’s Streets Safe Again
Planting Spree Helps Ghanaian Women
Streamlining Africa’s Hospitality Value Chain
Mali Declares Period of National Mourning Following Deadliest Attacks by Islamist Militants
Significant Wildlife Translocation Completed in Malawi
Harare’s Informal Economy Hardest Hit by Power Outages
Abuja Threatens to Leave Ecowas
Kagame and Blinken Meet on Sensitive Issues
VP Announces Nationwide Curfew after Security Forces Clashed with Demonstrators in Freetown
Kenyans Still Don’t Know Who their Next President Will Be
Movie Review: Refugees Turned Sommeliers
Helping African Tourism Companies and Experiences Space Do Business Online Cheaper