75% market share within the first two months. Maintained during entire contract.

The competitors had the same product, the same price, and two months too. What they didn't have was a van in the right parking lot on day one.

Challenge: Three providers entered a new market simultaneously with identical deadlines and similar services.

Approach: Focus on operational readiness rather than product differentiation.

Result: Achieved 75% market share within two months and maintained it throughout the contract.

Case study

In 2010, a government in East Africa issued a competitive tender for import certification services. Three companies, including my employer, won the tender simultaneously. The contract required all three to be fully operational within two months of signing. Same deadline, same market, same service.

Immediately after those two months, we captured 75% of the market. That share remained for the duration of the contract.

 

Here is what we did differently, and why none of it had anything to do with our product.

The project manager moved there. I relocated for the duration of the startup. This single decision led to every advantage that followed. I met the right people, spoke to the architect and ISP providers, and solved problems before they became delays.

Competitors reduced costs and managed things remotely through hired agents. 

The funding was secured in advance. Before anything else, I obtained advance approval for expenses from the regional Finance Controller, bypassing the standard regional process. While competitors were waiting for budget sign-off, we were signing leases.

We leveraged existing local infrastructure. This meant drawing on our local affiliate's market knowledge — where to find the right office, which ISP to trust, and how to hire well — borrowing their staff before our own people were hired and trained, and using their IT infrastructure and phone lines before ours was installed.

We published our local office phone numbers before our new phones were connected. We had rented the office, trained the receptionist to handle enquiries, and placed the advert in local newspapers — all before the government made its public announcement. The moment they did, our advert ran. The phones rang. The orders came.

Competitors were still negotiating their office leases.

 

75%                market share after two months throughout the contract  

3                      competitors, same service, same deadline

Luck was on our side: the government’s phone numbers were not working… To local businesses, we were the saviours in troubled waters. Our phone lines could barely keep up.

We brought seasoned staff from our established office in Kenya, unlike competitors who started from scratch locally. The newly hired Uganda manager travelled to Nairobi to learn the trade. As a result, customers did not notice our learning curve. We were operating at full capacity from day one.

Key lesson

First-mover advantage goes to whoever solved the logistics problem fastest.

The product didn't win the contract. Being ready to answer the phone first did.