Beyond the Model: Why African Entrepreneurs Need a Stronger Footing
By Iyanuoluwa Joseph Akinnusi,
Across Nigeria (and Africa at large) entrepreneurship is often not a matter of passion or innovation. For many, it’s a matter of survival.
People do not always “start businesses” in the traditional sense, they sell what they can, from where they are, to meet their basic needs. There’s rarely time, resources or even the will to attend business school or complete a startup bootcamp. The idea of mapping out customer segments or drafting a business model feels far removed from the market stall, the WhatsApp customer, or the bag of chin-chin they’re trying to move before nightfall.
Even those who are passionate, educated, or strategically inclined often find that foundational business tools, like the acclaimed Business Model Canvas, feel alien. Designed for convenience, it ironically overwhelms many early-stage entrepreneurs across the continent.
And that’s a problem.Because if the very foundation of a business feels unstable or impossible to define, how can the structure stand?
“If the foundation is bad, even the upright will stumble.”
This proverb stayed with me. It reflects what I’ve observed again and again in my work coaching and advising aspiring founders, particularly in informal or transitional markets. I began to wonder: What if the business model isn’t even the first foundation? What if we’ve been starting too high up?
That’s when I remembered something from construction…
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First, There’s the Footing
Before a builder lays a foundation, there’s something even deeper that must be set into the earth. It is called a footing; a structural element that distributes the weight of the building into the soil beneath. Even the best foundation needs a footing, or it will shift, crack, or collapse under the weight of what’s above it.
And that’s when it all clicked.
Maybe what African entrepreneurs need -before business model mapping, investor decks, or formal structure- is a Business Footing: a tool that anchors the identity and logic of the business in language they can own.
So, I built it.
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The Business Footing Framework
Instead of intimidating founders with jargon, I guide them through three foundational questions:
– What? – What exactly is your business about? (Field, niche, identity)
– Why? – Why does it exist? What do you aim to achieve with your Business? (Vision, values, personal conviction)
– How? – How will it be carried out? How will achieve my goal? (Approach, model, market, brand personality)
These aren’t asked in MBA-speak. They’re asked in plain language; in the voice of the person who will run the business with their two hands, (probably) their one phone, and their daily grit.
The result? Clarity. Direction. Confidence.
It’s the footing upon which a proper business model, structure, and growth plan can finally be built.
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Case Study: Asake
Let me introduce you to Asake. Like many Nigerian undergraduates, Asake had dabbled in multiple businesses – fashion, catering, beauty – but she always knew she had a passion for food. After graduating, she came to me with a fresh idea: she wanted to launch a food processing line.
The dream was vivid, but the path was foggy.
We started with the Business Footing Framework. I listened to her business history, understood her instincts, and helped her unpack what was buried under trial, error, and “just make it work” hustle.
Her answers to What, Why, and How changed everything. She discovered that her true “why” had to do with family, cultural pride, and empowering healthier alternatives for working mothers. From there, we mapped out her plan.
Months later, Asake didn’t just launch her own processed food brand, she secured funding and expanded distribution into three Nigerian states.
That is what happens when entrepreneurs start from clarity, not chaos.
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From My Story to My Mission
This journey isn’t just theory for me, it’s personal.
I grew up watching my mother trade at market stalls and my father transition into entrepreneurship after a government layoff. Business was never abstract, it was life. I started selling sweets in class as early as JSS1, flipped OMR sheets by JSS3, and sold eggrolls by SS3. At university, I pivoted to building platforms for student entrepreneurs, organizing fairs, setting up safe-trade systems, and coaching peers on how to grow.
With degrees in Plant Biology, Human Resource Management, and dual MBAs, I’ve worked across government and private sectors, startups and nonprofits. Through it all, my desire has remained constant:
To help African entrepreneurs build the businesses they deserve, from the inside out.
As a business analyst, I diagnose.
As a literacy advocate, I teach.
As a consultant, I walk with them.
And as an aspiring investor, I prepare to fuel them.
Because I believe, as Vusi Thembekwayo once said,
“Africa doesn’t need unicorns. It needs zebras.”
Businesses that are resilient. Rooted. Real.
And I, Iyanuoluwa Joseph Akinnusi, am doing my part to raise them.
(The writer is a Business Analyst | Business Literacy Advocate | Founder, Business Footing™ Framework)