Lead image for How a Regional Company Beat a Global Competitor to a US$ 170Mn Kenyan Contract .
Organisations looking to grow into new markets must understand the market, identify the stakeholders who matter, and build credibility with them over time. Writes Sharon Cheramboss, Senior Growth Director, APO Group.
In 2014, I watched a global technology company lose a government digital infrastructure tender in Kenya. The project was valued at about USD 170 million and attracted strong international and regional competitors. On paper, the global company looked like the obvious winner. It had delivered similar initiatives across multiple continents, had deep technical expertise, substantial implementation capacity, and an international reputation.
The contract went to a regional technology company with a fraction of the global company's footprint.
My first assumption was that the technical evaluation or commercial proposal must have favoured the regional bidder. But nothing that emerged afterwards supported that. There was no indication the proposal had been weaker, no suggestion the pricing was uncompetitive, and no flaw in the procurement process to point to.
In the weeks that followed, I spoke with people involved in East Africa's tech ecosystem and looked more closely at the two organisations' presence in the market. A pattern emerged. The regional company had spent years becoming part of the market it wanted to serve. Its executives regularly shared perspectives on issues decision-makers faced, from digital identity and data governance to the practical realities of implementing public sector technology in East Africa. They spoke at regional forums alongside regulators, development finance institutions, and government agencies. They wrote for the publications policymakers and senior executives read.
What builds trust in Nairobi isn't necessarily what builds confidence in Dakar.
By the time procurement began, it was no longer simply another bidder. It had become recognised as an organisation that understood how the sector worked.