Success Factors for Nigerian Web3 Builders

Preamble: A detailed background on global startup realities

Nigerians are a 'plague' and 'very low value users.'

Those aren’t my words; those are the words of @WazzCrypto. While clearly derogatory and bordering on hate speech, the deeper concern lies in the fact that this sentiment reflects a broader, misguided perception held by parts of the global crypto community. Yet the data tells a very different story.

According to a 2024 Chainalysis report, Nigeria ranks second globally in overall crypto adoption, surpassed only by India. The same report places Nigeria:

Second in retail centralised service value received,
Second in DeFi value received,
Third in retail DeFi value received,
Fifth in centralised service value received.

Notably, these rankings exclude P2P exchange volumes, which are particularly significant in Nigeria1.

This research piece indicates two key points:

Nigerians are not “low-value” users in the global crypto ecosystem
There is strong demand for quality Web3 products among Nigerian users

However, demand alone doesn’t guarantee startup success, both in Nigeria and globally. This is evidenced by the fact that global startup failure rates are at ridiculously high levels. A 2025 research by EXPLODING TOPICS highlights that 90% of global startups fail, a trend that has remained constant in the past 5 years2. Even high-demand sectors like AI are not exempt. In fact, according to Ken Smythe, a seasoned investor and the founder and chief executive of Next Round Capital Partners, 85% of AI startups are doomed to fail in the first 3 years3.

This already makes things look bad for founders, and they are, but it doesn’t tell the whole story. When broken down, the data paints an interesting picture: Only 10% of startups fail in their first year. However, this number rapidly rises to 75% with an expansion to the first 15 years1. According to the data, 34% of startup failures are attributed to a lack of product-market fit, single-handedly making it the leading factor behind the overall 90% startup failure rate.

Yet despite all of the above, Techeconomy reports that African startups raised $1.35 billion in the first half of 2025 alone4. In June alone, fundraising by African startups was at $350m, which is the highest monthly total in almost a year. But that’s not all:

238 startups raised $100k+ (42 were Nigerian)
108 startups raised $1m+ (21 were Nigerian)
40 startups raised $10m+

45% of the total funding went to fintech startups ($640m), followed by Energy & Water (20%), Health tech (11%), and Logistics & Transport (8%). 78% of the total funding raised in H1 2025 went to startups in South Africa (25%), Egypt (24%), Kenya (16%), and Nigeria (13%)5.

It is necessary to point out that Nigeria’s $176m half-year performance is its lowest since H2 2020. However, on a broader scale, things look a lot more promising. The data above reveals that there has been a noticeable increase in the number of startups able to successfully raise $100k+. Meanwhile, according to Nairametrics, Nigerian startups raised over $100 million in just the first quarter of 20256.

CNBC published a list of the top 300 top 300 global fintechs of 2025 in partnership with Statista based on KPIs like revenue and growth. Five of those were Nigerian fintechs, namely PalmPay, Moniepoint, OPay, Piggyvest, and Interswitch7. This becomes even more remarkable considering the fact that Palmpay, Monepoint, and Opay are all under 15 years old.

The state of Web3 startups in Nigeria

Nigeria’s relative startup success is not limited to Web2 companies. Several Nigerian Web3 startups are gaining traction despite infrastructural and regulatory hurdles. For example:

Nexcrow, a blockchain-powered escrow service, has already achieved $8k+ in total value locked and onboarded 2000+ active users.
Cryptonia, Naira to USD stablecoin conversions, has processed over $6m worth of transactions, with $1m+ coming between January and April 2025 alone!

Still, these are outliers. There are hundreds of Nigerian Web3 startups, but only a fraction achieve sustained success. This gap between demand and viability highlights a crucial question: What exactly determines success for builders in the Nigerian Web3 market?

This research article aims to provide detailed, actionable answers to that question by focusing on four primary objectives:

Define what successful product adoption looks like in the Nigerian market.
Examine Nigerian user behaviours and preferences toward Web3 products.
Identify key factors that determine product-market fit and influence long-term viability.
Propose actionable strategies for achieving product-market fit in Nigeria and similarly challenging markets.

To ground these insights in a real-world context, the research will draw from NectarFi and Ribh Finance as practical case studies.

About NectarFi: NectarFi is a stablecoin solution that powers cross-border stablecoin transfers and yield generation via savings7.

About Ribh Finance: Ribh Finance is a decentralised ecosystem for global on-chain commerce, marketplace, and payments8.

Why Even Build for Nigeria?

Nigeria has a pretty interesting relationship with cryptocurrencies. Up until December 2023, crypto trading, or even ownership, was illegal in Nigeria9. In addition to this, Many centralised exchanges like OKX had to limit services offered to Nigerians. Binance, the biggest centralised exchange in the world, even had its compliance officer, Tigran Gambaryan, arrested and detained on charges of money laundering for about eight months10. In fact, it was not at all uncommon to read news of individuals arrested and remanded on charges of crypto-related activities.

Yet in that same period and despite the heavy crackdown on crypto-related solutions, Nigeria has still managed to become one of the fastest-growing crypto markets globally. An October 2024 Chainalysis report details that in 2024, Nigeria ranked second in terms of global crypto adoption rate11. But what is really interesting about this rate of crypto adoption in Sub-Saharan Africa, and Nigeria in particular, is that one of the primary drivers of activity is the foreign exchange (FX) crisis. According to the 2024 Chainalysis report cited earlier, Nigeria recorded a rise in stablecoin inflows in periods of currency devaluation.

Source: Chainalysis

It was important to mention this because it gives a unique insight into the mindset and mental model of money in the Nigerian market. Simply put, it would appear that Nigerians, and Africans at large (particularly those with major FX issues), are constantly searching for working solutions to present problems.

In other words, the Nigerian market is a market of inefficiencies, and builders can capitalise on these inefficiencies to guarantee profitability and PMF, but I am getting ahead of myself here. However, there is historical evidence that proves that Nigerian consumers are willing to adopt new products provided they solve their pain points.

For example, companies like Opay, Palmpay, and Moniepoint identified the need for speed, ease and simplicity in the banking sector. They built products that effectively addressed these inefficiencies, and now the results speak for themselves. Within 15 years, Opay and Moniepoint have achieved unicorn status (meaning $1 billion or more in valuation), and Palmpay is considered a soonicorn, which means it is widely expected to reach unicorn numbers soon12, 13.

Statista estimates that the Nigerian crypto market will reach a revenue of $2.5 billion by 2026, at a growth rate of 3.46%. In addition, user penetration is expected to almost touch 12% by 2026. Analysts at Statista also expect the average revenue per user to keep rising14.

Source: Statista

So what does this mean for you as a founder (or prospective founder)? According to Donald Thomas Valentine, the “father of Silicon Valley venture capital,” a good market trumps every other thing when building a startup. He said,

“My position has always been: you find a great market and you build multiple companies in that market. Our view has always, preferably, been: give us a technical problem, give us a big market when that technical problem is solved so we can sell lots and lots and lots of stuff.15”

This is a sentiment also echoed by Andy Rachleff, the co-founder of Benchmark Capital. He said,

“When a great team meets a lousy market, market wins. When a lousy team meets a great market, market wins. When a great team meets a great market, something special happens.”

“ If you address a market that really wants your product — if the dogs are eating the dog food — then you can screw up almost everything in the company, and you will succeed. Conversely, if you’re really good at execution but the dogs don’t want to eat the dog food, you have no chance of winning.15”

Generally, the global crypto market is relatively new in terms of adoption. However, the crypto markets in Africa, specifically Nigeria, are relatively just starting out. For example, Statista estimates that the projected revenue of crypto for Europe is $26 billion for 202516. Africa’s projection stands at $4.8 billion for 2025. However, since Africa’s user penetration currently stands at 5.5% compared to Europe’s 30.35%, the growth potential is clear17. For Nigeria, user penetration is at 11%, meaning there is so much room for growth14.

So to recap: Why build for Nigeria?

Many exploitable inefficiencies
Strong demand for quality solutions
Emerging market with incredible growth potential

The Peculiarities of the Nigerian Market

Understanding market peculiarities is the difference between building a product that succeeds versus one that fails, especially in harsh ecosystems like Nigeria. The Nigerian market has several unique characteristics that ultimately determine what products succeed or fail, irrespective of how they perform in other markets.

For example, Easy Taxi, a ride-hailing service that enjoyed a lot of success in Brazil and raised $10 million, only lasted 3 years in Nigeria. The reason cited? Lack of proper market penetration18. WeChat, one of Asia’s biggest social media platforms, failed to gain dominance in the Nigerian market simply because it didn’t understand how to adapt its offerings to market realities19. Even popular phone brands like Wiko were very unsuccessful in their ability to breach the Nigerian market, losing out to competitors like Samsung and Tecno, who understood the market better.

So the question is, what are these peculiarities?

Speed over features

Market survey and historical overview show that Nigerian consumers will consistently choose a faster and simpler solution over a feature-rich but slower alternative. There are very good reasons for this. The unreliability of multiple sectors and infrastructural challenges in the country, from data and electricity to transport and population issues, make speed a survival necessity, not a luxury.

Immediate utility over long-term benefits

While European or American users might appreciate investment products with 5-10% annual yields, Nigerian users gravitate more towards solutions that solve immediate problems. The mental model is often “what can this do for me today?” rather than “what can this do for me next year?”

It is necessary to point out that this is not as simple as saying other people are more forward-thinking than Nigerians. Instead, it’s a behavioural pattern influenced significantly by economic stability and investment infrastructure type and accessibility.

Simplicity over sophistication

One of the major drivers of Opay’s successful market penetration in Nigeria is its simple interface and seamless user experience. This explains why digital banking alternatives like OPay and Moniepoint could rapidly gain market share and user adoption in a space filled with traditional banking giants.

It also explains why tier-1 centralised exchanges like Binance can have millions of users in European countries like Germany and France, and significantly high market penetratio,n yet struggle to penetrate Nigeria’s crypto scene

Utility over speculation

Nigeria has one of the highest global crypto adoption rates. This is remarkable in itself, but what is even more interesting is the usage patterns fueling the adoption. The 2024 report by Chainalysis holds some interesting details1:

Between July 2023 and June 2024, Nigeria generated $59 billion in crypto transaction volume.
The crypto activity is largely in smaller denominations (under $1 million) and driven by retail investors.
Stablecoin transactions alone account for 40% of the total volume generated in the country.

Source: Chainalysis

Trust over marketing

One unique feature of the Nigerian market is the high level of trust people place in other people’s opinions. Advertising campaigns are decent, but what really ensures deep market penetration in Nigeria are agent networks, made up of real people in local communities who can vouch for the service. When it comes to committing money, Nigerians don’t trust brands; they trust people.

Gradual commitment over all-in adoption

Users typically start with small transactions and then gradually increase their exposure as trust builds. Consumers are usually eager to adopt new solutions, but they are extremely risk-averse in how they go about it. In other words, Nigerian consumers exhibit conservative excitement about new products.

Regulatory factors

Many countries all over the world have made giant strides in crypto regulation. For example, Countries like Singapore and Thailand already have solid frameworks in place20. The U.S. just passed the GENIUS Act for stablecoin regulation into law last month, and there are already deliberations on the Clarity Act (a legislation that seeks to clarify the regulatory landscape for digital assets)21.

In Nigeria, however, crypto regulation is still a long way off. Security agencies in the country have been known to crack down hard on individuals involved in any crypto activity, even after crypto was certified as legal by the President. As such, many users (and potential users) are very hesitant or even outrightly unwilling to engage with anything that involves cryptocurrencies or Web3. This poses a significant threat to crypto startup health.

Successfully building Web3 products for the Nigerian market requires solid frameworks that effectively address all of these peculiarities. Otherwise, product market fit will still be a long way off.

So, WTF is Product Market Fit (PMF)?

“Value hypothesis is an attempt to articulate the key assumption that underlies why a customer is likely to use your product. Identifying a compelling value hypothesis is what I call finding product/market fit” —Andy Rachleff15.

The above is a perfect definition of PMF that clearly outlines the factors involved in achieving this outcome. However, it is important to note that although the definition is a great start, it is incomplete. Marc Andreessen of a16z described the final component when he said,

“Product/market fit means being in a good market with a product that can satisfy that market15.”

In other words, to achieve product-market fit, you need to have achieved 3 core criteria:

You need to have identified a core need of potential users (market inefficiencies)
You need to have a product that solves this problem excellently.
You need to consider building in a good market.

“Good market” here means that people are willing and able to exchange money for whatever services you're offering. This, of course, also ties into other factors like global and local economic conditions, purchasing power of people, and stability. It should be said that while there will always be outliers that profit even in harsh market conditions, whatever growth they record will be incomparable to what's possible in a good market.

The problem with many startups (especially in Web3) is that they focus more on building a product that “should” satisfy the market without considering whether the market at the moment is good or not. According to Andreessen,

“You can obviously screw up a great market — and that has been done, and not infrequently — but assuming the team is baseline competent and the product is fundamentally acceptable, a great market will tend to equal success and a poor market will tend to equal failure. In a terrible market, you can have the best product in the world and an absolutely killer team, and it doesn’t matter – you’re going to fail.”15

In summary, PMF can only be said to have been achieved when there are three things in place:

Good market
Good product
Interested users

What does PMF look like for the Nigerian market?

In 2020, Nigeria reportedly had the highest startup failure rate of Africa's biggest tech ecosystems (61%)22. According to this report, more than 70% of the failures are ultimately due to a lack of PMF. Initially, it could seem that the PMF problem is easily foreseen and solved, but that isn't the case at all.

From the definition of PMF above, it has been highlighted that a product needs three things to achieve product-market fit:

Good market
Good product
Interested users

Nigeria already has the interested users, and for some companies, the good product parts locked down. The “Good Market” component is where the major challenge is. To be clear, Nigeria's market has huge potential with digital adoption on the rise and a growing tech-savvy population. However, things get tricky with limiters like:

Economic instability (naira volatility, inflation)
Limited purchasing power for many segments
Infrastructure challenges (power, internet)

Now this is where all the pieces come together. In the section on peculiarities of the Nigerian market, I identified some key peculiarities of the Nigerian market, including the fact that products that get the most traction are those that address real, urgent problems (not nice-to-haves). It's important to reiterate this because it played a very important role in determining the products I chose to review for this research.

Speaking of the review, it's finally time to get started with it.

A Product-Market Fit Overview of NectarFi and Ribh Finance

Earlier I mentioned that 3 key factors determine if a product has successfully achieved PMF namely:

Proper identification of a core need of potential users (market inefficiencies)
A product that solves this problem(s) excellently.
The presence of a good market.

This in-depth review of how NectarFi and Ribh Finance have been able to achieve PMF in Nigeria's harsh market will focus on these three indicators. Without further ado, let's get right into it.

NectarFi: The Inflation-hedging Solution

NectarFi is a Solana-native product that allows users to save profitably with stablecoins. Unlike most traditional banks that barely offer up to 5% APY, NectarFi offers up to 12% in stablecoin yields with zero lockup, no ridiculous processing fees, and a fast transaction completion rate. In addition to this, NectarFi also provides users with an easy on-ramp from and off-ramp to Naira, and free virtual accounts for receiving payments in NGN, EUR, and USD.

PMF Evaluation

NectarFi launched on May 16, 2025 and in less than 3 months, the project has been able to achieve impressive numbers like:

$50k+ saved (over 61 million naira)
$150k+ in total transaction volume (over 90 million naira)
300+ active savers

Initially, these numbers look small, however considering the fact that Piggyvest, a savings-focused company that has now paid out trillions of naira to its users, only managed to record 21 million naira in savings between its launch in January 2016 and January 2017, the impact NectarFi has had in just 3 months takes on a new perspective23.

How did they achieve this? Here’s a PMF analysis breakdown based on the earlier stated guidelines:

According to Statisense, the Nigerian Naira has experienced 1,187% in inflation between January 2004 and December 2006. What this means is that the currency has lost value massively to the point where 8000 naira in 2006 has more purchasing power than 100,000 naira in 202424.

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s present inflation rate, low standard of living and persistent currency volatility mean it is not practical for people to save in Naira anymore. Because of this, more and more individuals are looking to hedge against inflation by saving in USD or other foreign currencies.

This market inefficiency presents an excellent area for NectarFi to capitalise on, and there’s more. According to Chainalysis, Nigeria received approximately $59bn in crypto value between July 2023 and June 2024 alone. More than 60% of these transactions fell in the $10k to $1M range. Over 23% were between <$1k and $10k. As a product that offers seamless on-ramping and off-ramping plus the ability to send and receive payments in other denominations, NectarFi is perfectly positioned to capitalise here.

Source: Chainalysis

To cap it all, institutional attention on stablecoin products is on the rise, fueled in recent times by the GENIUS and Clarity Act. Meanwhile, crypto adoption is also on the rise in Nigeria. This essentially means that the Nigerian market is a perfect place to build a crypto-native stablecoin product.

Nigerians need an easy way to save in dollars to hedge against inflation —need
NectarFi’s core proposition is that it allows users to easily on-ramp naira to a crypto stablecoin for savings (plus interest) and provides them an easy off-ramp path —a solution that solves the need
According to a 2025 report, more than 76% of young Nigerians save (consistently and occasionally)—a willing user base.

Recall that Andreessen’s definition for PMF is being in a good market with a product that can satisfy that market. According to Rachleff, the greatest test of user satisfaction with a product is word of mouth, something NectarFi is enjoying a lot of.

Early-stage or not, NectarFi is a product that has achieved a form of PMF. Next steps have to involve implementing the “agent marketing” route of PalmPay and OPay in order to fully break into the Nigerian market space.

Ribh Finance: the cross-border payment solution

Ribh Finance is a decentralised ecosystem for global on-chain commerce, marketplace and payments. What this simply means is that Ribh Finance helps businesses in Nigeria and Africa send, receive and manage global payments.

Ribh Finance is probably one of the most successful products out of the Nigerian ecosystem. Just 6 months after winning a global Solana Hackathon, Ribh has crossed $10.5M in cross-border SME payments. How did they make that happen? You’re about to find out.

PMF Evaluation

It goes without saying that Nigeria does a lot of cross-border payments, but most people don’t realise just how significant this is. According to a 2023 report by the National Bureau of Statistics, in Q4 2023 alone, Nigeria’s total trade stood at 26, 801.95 billion Naira (worth around $29.6 - $31.5 billion then). Those are just the numbers for foreign trade alone.

In January 2025, Punch reported that Nigeria’s diaspora remittances for the last 5 years are over $90 billion. According to the Chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, December 2024 alone saw an inflow of 40 billion Naira (over $25 million)25. Meanwhile, a March 2025 report estimates that Nigeria’s cross-border payment landscape will hit $290 trillion by 2030.

So obviously, good market ✅

The problem with cross-border payments and remittances, particularly for businesses and users targeting the African market, is that inefficiencies pile up.

Currency volatility makes profitable market participation a nightmare
Expensive taxes and tariffs (for example, according to the New York Times, the US President proposed a huge 3.5% tax on remittances made by non-US citizens). Meanwhile, there is a current tariff war raging on.
Slow execution: Settlement of cross-border payments by traditional banking routes takes hours or even days to complete. Those are key market hours that could potentially have a huge negative impact on business profitability.

So need ✅

As far as willing users are concerned, consider this: According to a 2024 Chainalysis report,2024 Chainalysis report, stablecoins account for 43% of sub-Saharan Africa’s total transaction volume. This number is more than twice the size recorded for Bitcoin (18.1%) in the same period.

Source: Chainalysis

According to Chris Maurice, CEO and Co-Founder of Yellow Card, Foreign Exchange volatility and shortage in order to retain growth and remain profitable. Maurice also explains that the other reason for this increase in stablecoin adoption is its use in cross-border payments. He said,

“People don’t care about crypto, instead the focus in the region lies instead on crypto’s practical use cases.”

Rob Downes of Absa Group backed up this sentiment when he said,

“Our institutional clients are particularly interested in using stablecoins as a tool for managing liquidity and reducing exposure to currency volatility.”

So interested users/market participants ✅

Now, considering that Ribh has managed to pull in $10M plus in volume with little to no advertisement other than word of mouth, there is no doubt that this is a product that has attained product-market fit.

Bonus review —PAJCash: payments made simple (and fast!)

PAJCash is an interesting Solana product designed with one simple goal: to bridge the gap between crypto and cash. With PAJCash, users can directly convert ANY token on Solana into Naira, and vice versa. This includes memecoins, stablecoins, and even the $SOL token itself. It is important to mention that PAJCash isn’t the only crypto <-> fiat settlement layer on Solana. However, it does have a unique edge: speed.

If I had to make a comparison to a successful Nigerian fintech solution, products like OPay and Moniepoint come to mind. The interface is simple, clutter-free, and settlement happens in seconds!

PMF Evaluation

As of August 12, 2025, PAJCash has recorded impressive numbers like:

$150k+ in volume
5000+ transactions
1000+ users

According to SuperteamNG’s product catalogue, PAJCash is less than 1 year old. And in that period, it has managed to process over $150,000 in volume. Let’s answer the question of how:

Identified market inefficiency

Current economic conditions make having “dollar savings“ a non-negotiable for the average Nigerian. Meanwhile, the “save in dollars” anthem that’s currently popular in Nigeria’s social airspace is easier said than done. A common problem Nigerians have is how to easily and safely convert Naira assets to USD.

Domiciliary accounts aren’t generally available since requirements like the need to have guarantors who also have “dom” accounts prevent wide adoption. Other options like contacting local bureau de change “dollar aboki” sellers before going to a bank to transfer via Western Union are equally as unsavoury. Fees are high, and the process is tedious. Bybit peer-to-peer exchange is an option, but seeing as users do get scammed, plus there are KYC requirements, which could take ages, it’s not an ideal solution.

The Efficient Solution

Identifying the problem isn’t enough; it has to be backed up by an efficient and effective solution, another thing PAJCash has gotten right. The payment solution prides itself on being able to on-ramp and off-ramp crypto <-> fiat payments within seconds, a huge advantage over currently existing traditional banking solutions and crypto-based alternatives.

Meanwhile, the platform’s interface is simplistic with no KYC requirements or confusing interface, making it easy for everyday users to understand what they’re interacting with. The best part, however, has to be the fact that the platform has integrated brilliantly with popular Nigerian banking options, making it easy to on-ramp and off-ramp payments.

Possible lessons for other builders

The takeaways for current and intending builders for the Nigerian and African ecosystem at large are pretty obvious if you’ve followed so far. In summary, they include:

Conduct proper market research before building. Build in a “Good” market
Your product has to be solving an important need in “any” sector in the Nigerian market for you to attain PMF.
Simplicity is best. Build for efficiency, not sensationalism. Keep it simple and sweet
Trust is everything.

One key problem most builders have is that they don’t ask the right questions and comprehensively assess the market before building. With that in mind, here are the core questions that need to be asked before building for harsh markets like Nigeria:

Q1: What problems are you trying to solve?

Are they core needs?
Are you building on the blockchain to make your product cooler, or does building on the blockchain actually give you an edge over other TradFi competitors?
Do people know that these needs exist?
If they do or not, are these problems they actually want solutions to?

Q2: Who Are You Building For?

What is the ideal user journey from download → transact → withdraw for a Nigerian user?
What behavioural frictions exist, and how do you plan to resolve them?
What does consumer behaviour look like?
What are the usage patterns?
Is your target audience willing to pay for your product, and how much is your target audience willing to pay for your solution

Q3: What are the immediate problems of the adoption of that product in Nigeria?

Regulations
Competition
Costs
Mindset of users and risk aversion
Are they surmountable?
Short and long-term implications

Q4: How much complexity is too much?

What does the simplicity vs. complexity user profile look like?
How do these impact PMF?
Simplicity vs long-term viability (for example, building on WhatsApp or Telegram is cool, but you can get banned at any time, so the risk is ever-present).

Q5: How much flexibility do you need?

Changing regulations, wrong profiling by law enforcement?
How is regulatory risk managed: by design, by silence, or by avoiding certain payment flows?

Q6: How to approach marketing for the Nigerian audience?

Trust factor
Trust in the product and how it affects adoption
How do users actually learn about these tools — from friends, influencers, and communities?

Q7: Special “shock and awe” features

Does your product go beyond the regular to deliver supercharged performance?

Conclusion

It takes a lot more than having a good idea to build a successful Web3 product for the Nigerian market. Success is ultimately determined by the right understanding of timing, execution and reality. Reality states that the startup failure rate is high (over 70%); however, data also shows that success is possible with the right approach.

That said, note that success doesn't come by trying to replicate Silicon Valley playbooks, but by addressing genuine inefficiencies and challenges that Nigerian users face daily. This includes building solutions for inflation hedging, cross-border payments, and crypto-fiat conversion.

For builders considering this market, the opportunity window is now**.** Early movers like the companies profiled in this piece are already establishing solid network effects and user trust. But with 11% user penetration and projected growth to 12% by 2026, the market is far from saturated. There's substantial room for solutions that genuinely serve user needs.

Ultimately, the question isn't whether to build for Nigeria, but whether you can build the right product for Nigeria's realities. The market will reward those who do with loyal users, organic growth, and sustainable revenue streams. For those who don't, the 70% failure rate awaits.

The opportunity is there. The playbook is clear. How you approach it? Entirely up to you.

Need. Performance. Regulations: What really determines success for builders in the Nigerian Web3 market?

Table of contents

Preamble: A detailed background on global startup realities

The state of Web3 startups in Nigeria

Why Even Build for Nigeria?

The Peculiarities of the Nigerian Market

Speed over features

Immediate utility over long-term benefits

Simplicity over sophistication

Utility over speculation

Trust over marketing

Gradual commitment over all-in adoption

Regulatory factors

So, WTF is Product Market Fit (PMF)?

What does PMF look like for the Nigerian market?

A Product-Market Fit Overview of NectarFi and Ribh Finance

NectarFi: The Inflation-hedging Solution

Ribh Finance: the cross-border payment solution

Bonus review —PAJCash: payments made simple (and fast!)

Possible lessons for other builders

Conclusion

References

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Toluwase Ajayi

Toluwase Ajayi