• Green Rising
  • Posts
  • How to market green consumer products in Africa

How to market green consumer products in Africa

Clue: Unlike in Norway. Few sustainable businesses understand how to sell on the continent

Author

Green Rising
November 21, 2024

Welcome to Green Rising – Business failure in consumer markets is often self-inflicted. 

It should be obvious. Know your customers, duh! Africa’s green economy is no different.

And yet, this is a major hurdle for sellers of solar panels, cookstoves, electric vehicles, etc.

Green commercial culture on the continent is significantly different from the US & EU.

For starters, African consumers don’t buy out of guilt – as they didn’t cause the climate crisis.

Until sellers understand their buyers, Africa’s green economy will be limping along.

That’s why we’ve created a how-to guide for avoiding do-good, know-nothing salesmanship.

⏳ Today’s reading time: 4 mins

EVENTS UPDATE | Thursday, November 21

📆 South Africa hosts Super Return Africa (Dec 3)

📆 Morocco hosts a sustainable urban mobility conference (Dec 10)

📆 Zimbabwe hosts the Solar Week Conference (Dec 5)

ALSO PLEASE SEE OUR JOB BOARD BELOW

1. 🚁 Heli view: This green product is cheap, trusted and what?

Over the past month, 2,800 Kenyans have searched for solar panels online (see the Google dashboard above). But only 2,100 clicked on a search result.

  • There is interest in buying solar kits for home use among consumers.

  • Yet sellers say very few of the searches convert to sales. 

The market: Africa’s green product sector is growing - though not due good marketing.

  • The number of green ventures in Africa has surged by 300% in the past 15 years.

  • In a survey, 84% of Kenyans said it’s crucial for businesses to prioritise sustainability.

  • But green consumer sales remain modest (unlike green business-to-business sales).

The bestsellers: A few green consumer product categories are successful across the continent. They can be counted on one hand. 

  • Over 4 million solar home systems are installed, costing up to $13,000 each.

  • Basic portable solar chargers for mobile phones ($20-50) are ubiquitous. 

  • Ethiopia claims to have 100,000 electric vehicles on its roads.

  • Clean cookstoves cost less than $40 thanks to carbon credit subsidies.

  • Greenspoon, the grocery chain, was successfully sold to growth investors.

The failures: That stands in contrast to a string of green-tinted businesses that could not prosper regardless of vast cash injections. 

  • EV platform WhereIsMyTransport raised $26m, expanded to 50 cities, then failed.

  • Pay-as-you-go clean cooking gas pioneer PayGo was rolled up into rival Sun King.

  • Jumia, the “African Amazon”, struggles regardless of embracing sustainability. 

Why? African consumers, unsurprisingly, are unlike those in more developed regions. Tactics don’t necessarily translate. 

  • Local consumers find guilt-inducing marketing approaches patronising or irrelevant.

  • Use cases are frequently misunderstood or ignored. Many e-bikes sold in Africa are designed for urban China with flat roads. They're not great for going up hills carrying a whole family and a goat and some furniture on a rough track.

Local failure: Clueless marketing is not limited to foreign companies. 

  • Many African marketers fail to articulate benefits that address consumer pain points. 

  • They also ignore that women are responsible for 70% of consumer spending.

Killer app: Branding is often overlooked or misunderstood – fatally. Branding is more important in Africa than the west. 

  • The continent is home to over 2,000 distinct ethnic groups. Brands that resonate with local cultures and can forge deeper connections. 

  • Brand consciousness is also linked to the fact that most consumers cannot afford for a product to fail. Quality matters more than many sellers think. 

  • Consumer tastes may be influenced by Western culture but many prefer brands that stand for local values. Yet, excessive localisation dilutes brand identity.

What market: Where and how people buy goods – green or otherwise – is key. 

  • Many consumers prefer informal markets where pricing is negotiable over official retail channels. Even in cities, many have personal relationships with vendors.  

  • Many consumers pool resources or share expenses for larger purchases – they buy in communal groups. 

Right direction: Green consumer firms successful in Africa reinvent marketing playbooks.

  • Ndintambwe Feeds Limited are adopting circular economy principles, reducing waste while positioning the brand as a leader in sustainability.

  • Twiga Foods has incorporated sustainable packaging as part of their marketing strategy. 

Vital players: Green consumer goods markets are growing in Africa. They should and can grow much further still. 

  • The LED battery light market is projected to double by 2028.

  • Electric two-wheeler sales might grow 25% every year until 2031.

  • Yet will they? Marketers have a vital role to play in the green transition.

2. Cheat sheet: 18 green marketing tactics that (don’t) work in Africa

These work well: 

  • Credit (buy now, pay later)

  • Neighbourhood canvassing

  • Entertaining public events 

  • Product placement on TV

  • Social media campaigns

  • Hiring online influencers

  • Live product demonstrations 

  • Customer testimonials

  • Discounts & cash rewards

These rarely work: 

  • Guilt (Africans have fewer climate sins to atone for)

  • Search engine optimisation (lack of expertise)

  • Online ads (often lack targeting data)

  • Run a blog (social is more popular)

  • Coupons (undermined by fraud)

  • Traditional print media (ailing)

  • Billboards (effective but disproportionately expensive)

  • Direct mail and buying mailing lists (usually no mail)

  • Creating an affiliate program (lack of trust)

3. Number of the week 

…is the number of tons of carbon stored in the peatlands of the Congo Basin, an amount equivalent to three years of global greenhouse gas emissions. The area absorbs approximately 1.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide annually.

❝

4. Network corner

👉 Uganda’s AgriShare wins a Consumer Goods and Services Digital Excellence Award.

👉 Spiro, Africa’s leading EV manufacturer, partners with India’s electronics provider PG Electroplast to manufacture EV batteries.

5. What we’re reading

  • African cities 2.0: The World Green Economy Organisation will support greening 11 African cities under the Carbon Neutral Cities Initiative, launched in partnership with United Cities and Local Governments of Africa. This initiative, targeting cities like Chefchaouen in Morocco, Nouakchott in Mauritania, and Jinja in Uganda, will focus on reducing carbon footprints through tailored interventions, including green urban planning, energy-efficient infrastructure and climate-smart policies. (WAM)

  • Rich hazard: Cobalt mining in DR Congo poses severe reproductive health risks to women, including miscarriages, birth defects and gynaecological diseases. Preliminary research links these issues to pollution from mining waste with 56% of local respondents reporting an increase in such health problems. Despite mining regulations, poor enforcement and corruption exacerbate the problem, leaving women more vulnerable. (Mongabay)

  • Electric scooter market: A new report forecasts $84.3 million in e-scooter sales by 2030, with a 7.5% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2025. Driven by rising environmental concerns and the shift from traditional vehicles to electric, the market has seen a notable 57.7% revenue share in the retro/self-start segment as of 2024. (ResearchandMarkets)

6. Top green jobs from…

📬 Did a friend send you this newsletter? Welcome, sign up here using their referral link.

Thanks to the Green Rising team for putting this together.

Reply

or to participate.