Learn more about Building Products in Emerging Markets from this presentation.

1. www.productschool.com
Building Products in Emerging
Markets by mPharma PM

2. Join 35,000+Product
Managers on
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3. C O U R S E S
Product
Management
Learn the skills you need to land a
Product Manager job

4. C O U R S E S
Coding
for Managers
Build a website and gain the
technical knowledge to lead software
engineers

5. C O U R S E S
Data Analytics
for Managers
Learn the skills to understand web
analytics, SQL and machine learning
concepts

6. C O U R S E S
Learn how to acquire more users and
convert them into clients
Digital Marketing
for Managers

7. C O U R S E S
UX Design
for Managers
Gain a deeper understanding of your users
and deliver an exceptional end-to-end
experience

8. C O U R S E S
For experienced Product Managers looking
to gain strategic skills needed for top
leadership roles
Product
Leadership

9. C O U R S E S
Corporate
Training
Level up your team’s Product
Management skills

10. Emmanuel
Bediako Addo-
Yirenkyi
T O N I G H T ’ S S P E A K E R

11. Emmanuel Bediako Addo-Yirenkyi
Product Manager, mPharma
Building Products for Emerging
Markets

12. ● BSc Biochemistry
● MEST Class of 2011
● Co-Founder of ClaimSync
○ Product Designer &
○ Implementation Manager
● Acquired by GenKey BV
○ Product Designer
○ Software Engineer
● Product Manager at mPharma
Who am I?

13. Why Emerging Markets?
1) Demographics
2) Technological & Business Innovation
3) International Focus Investment

14. Emerging Markets
Emerging markets offer a broad opportunity set for investors. However,
many investors focus on the high-profile stories in Asia and Latin
America,
IMF upgraded many countries in the region –
Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda
and Zambia – to "emerging market" status.
Emerging markets will account for over 90% of new mobile subscribers
by 2020

15. ALMOST 3 BILLION PEOPLE IN
SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA BY 2060

16. Technology
● “Leapfrogging” allows the adoption of new technologies that bypass
legacy models or systems.
● African companies are now leapfrogging over obsolete technologies
and going straight to modern solutions, which are often cheaper and
more sustainable than older technology.

17. International Investments
● Tech Giants / Unicorns are investing in Africa

18. Common Challenges
1) Low connectivity
a) Internet Speeds
2) Literacy rates
3) Power or Electricity
4) Unclear and Slow Regulatory Policy

19. Common Challenges

20. Poor Connectivity
● Many of our potential users don’t have access to internet
● If they do the speed is slow or unstable
● Mobile data is still rather expensive

21. ● This may vary depending on the target users
● In older demographics your product may be within one of the first 10
software products they use
Tech Literacy Rates

22. ● Power Outages are common in Africa.
● This means that the devices need to have stored power to enable
them run even when the power goes out which is why laptops and
mobile phones work well.
● But even they have limitations, more devices have almost 8 hours of
battery life.
Power Outages

23. Building with Empathy

24. Building with Empathy
Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.
Sometimes the only way you can understand what people are going
through is by living their lives and walking in their shoes
Spend time with your users, understand their lives and their day.
Research the problems they face and use the data to shape your products

25. Building with Empathy
Understand the literacy levels of your users
Ensure that you are solving their problem, even if its only one of their
problems and build on that iteratively and measure the impact and
improve on it.
Choose a form-factor that suits them best and that doesn’t require them
to change their behaviour too much

26. Ensure your services are reliable and easy to use
Think Offline as well
Some Tips

27. Strip everything down to the essentials
Some Tips

28. Know your user and understand the nuances that exist in their use case
Some Tips

29. A Nuanced Approach

30. A Nuanced Approach
It's important to understand that tech users in Africa fall across a broad
spectrum of experience, resources, education, and tech savviness.
1. Everyone is different
2. Different phones, different screens
It is therefore important that we work with our designers and engineers
attempt to accommodate these differences

31. A Nuanced Approach
Ensure that you are solving their problem, even if its only one of their
problems and build on that iteratively, measure the impact, and improve
on it

32. The Ideal Product Process

33. Reach me via Email:
emmanuel.yirenkyi@mpharma.com
Thank you

34. References
http://emergingmarkets.blog.franklintempleton.com/2019/04/12/opportunities-
africa-frontier-emerging-markets/
https://speakerdeck.com/addc/addc-2018-eli-ganim-facebook-lite-building-for-
emerging-markets?slide=10

35. www.productschool.com
Part-time Product Management, Coding, Data Analytics, Digital
Marketing, UX Design, Product Leadership courses and Corporate
Training