How to Start & Build an Online Business in a Developing Country

For years, many people have believed that starting a business in a developed country is far more profitable but what if it is easier and more lucrative to start an online business in a developing country, scale it and get good returns on investment with little upfront cost?

Understandably, there’s a lot of well known issues in developing countries like inconsistent policies, infrastructural deficits etc. that has discouraged a lot of new businesses from setting up but looking at the stats there are also a lot of benefits for brands established in these countries.

For example, developing countries offer less operational costs for most businesses. Secondly, it also offers a less saturated market which provides opportunities for local businesses to thrive with less competition and finally, access to international market makes it easy for online businesses founded in growing economies to earn more abroad, regardless of their location.

As a young person, except for very specific reasons, you do not have to wait to get to a developed country before you launch your business.

And as someone that’s been running a business in a developing country for some years now, I’ve experienced both the pros and cons of starting a business here and in this guide, I’ll share insights on things I’ve learned and how you can navigate the journey to start your own business.

Create your Business Goals

You can’t start a successful online business in a developing country or anywhere without at least a single goal or any solid plan of how your small online business is going to grow and make profit.

Unfortunately, a lot of young entrepreneurs have made this mistake. So many times, people get to meet me about their intention to start an online business like content marketing for example but when I get to ask them important questions like; how do you want your business to make money online?

The first idea that usually comes to their mind is that they will make money by placing targeted ads on their platforms. Now, do not get me wrong. There’s nothing wrong with using ads to make money for your blog or other online business, but this is not exactly how it works.

Starting out an online business with the sole aim of making money via ads can get you disappointed and burned out at the end of the day.

Considering that you’re from a developing country; in most cases, some of the advertising programs like Google AdSense for example may have to put you through rigorous scrutiny before accepting your account.

In some cases, there are outright bans on accounts from some selected third world countries even on affiliate sites. So, If you want to build an online business from a developing country, you don’t want to build your business around third party ads and affiliate products from international vendors alone.

If your ultimate goal for starting your online business is to make money online then you’ll have it at the back of your mind that for this to happen; you’ll need to create a product alongside whatever other strategy you have.

And for people to patronize your product, they’ll need to know about it.

Get a Business Plan for your Online Business

A business plan is like a road map that directs your business journey. Sometimes out of ignorance most entrepreneurs in developing countries do not bother about things like that. I did not have a business plan when I started my business but you do not have to start without one.

You must realize that your business needs a business plan. And this business plan needs to incorporate your business goals, growth goals and marketing strategies that will attract clients to your business after your launch.

Your goals should form a core part of your business plan. And this plan has to include strategies that will help you achieve these goals. Let me explain. Let’s say you plan to make “X” amount in revenues over “Y” number of years, your business plan should cover the steps that will get you to make that amount.

Keep in mind, your business plan does not have to be something elaborate at the start. You can keep it as simple and flexible as possible as far as it captures the major details including your goals, marketing strategies and approaches you plan to take towards achieving your goals.

You can always edit and improve on your business plan as you continue to gain clarity and understand the basis.

Choose a Business Model

A business model is your ultimate value proposition and money making strategy. It describes vividly, how your business is going to make money repeatedly.

Generally for online businesses in developing countries, there are some popular business models that will ultimately leads to the generation of either passive or active income.

A business built around passive income could involve businesses that rely on making money from any of the following; Ad placements, Affiliate Marketing, Digital Products, Ebook publishing etc.

On the other hand, a business built around active income will revolve around providing direct services to clients like Web Design, Digital Marketing, Graphics, SEO services etc. and getting paid in return for these.

As you’ll notice, these two business models will definitely need different strategies but you want to choose the one that suits you.

How to Choose the right Business Model

Choosing the right business model is very critical to the success of your online business. Since you’re running your online business from a developing country, using either an active or passive income business model will require that you have certain key skills you can offer online in exchange for money.

Running a service based agency business for example will need you to learn the right skills and be available to provide these services to your clients. Where you don’t have these skills, you’ll have to learn them before getting started.

Likewise, creating a digital product on the other hand as a passive income strategy might demand you spend hours creating content, building an audience and then creating a product you can sell to your audience.

At the end of the day, you’ll notice that both business models have their own peculiar requirements and to be very effective in either of them you have to consider your peculiar situation.

This means you need to consider your skills, goals, resources etc. and then work on choosing a business model that will suit your peculiarities.

Launch Your Business

After creating your online business model, you can now launch your business.

That said, one thing that’s very peculiar with online businesses in developing countries which you must keep in mind is that there can be a very low level of trust in the system in some countries.

Since the market is still relatively underdeveloped in some cases, the existing buyers are usually going to focus on the existing businesses with a relevant track record whom they can trust with their business.

As a new business, you need to use a handful of strategies to get around this, if you really want to create a name for your brand and subsequently, acquire new customers.

This strategies will definitely include creating some buzz around the business before you hit the ground running. And also, taking steps to improve your online credibility using indicators like strategic storytelling, online reviews, testimonials etc.

You can also amplify this by creating promotions across the social media, leveraging influencer marketing, friends, well wishers and see where you can collaborate, to promote the business before the launch date.

If you’re building your online business around the active income model, you may need some social proof to boost your expertise and garner new clients.

And to this, you may want to offer some of your services free to some worthy clients, get some testimonials in return and use them as part of your portfolio.

Sell, Sell & Sell

Many new business owners are scared of selling. Either because they feel they are not good enough compared to the older businesses in the industry.

Personally, I was scared when we started. But I had to find a way to make sales. Because selling or exchange of value is the real essence of owning an online business.

And if you can’t sell then you’re wasting your time. And it won’t be long before you get to fold up.

Doesn’t matter whether you’re starting your online business in a developing or developed country, forget about the fact that you’re new in the industry.

The first thing you should remember is that you have something unique to offer. That’s why you’re running an online business.

So, focus on making your offering very unique. And different from what other businesses are offering. And afterwards, go ahead and sell.

If you’re very scared of selling, start with building sales pages on your website and online platforms. You don’t have to be present here.

To take things further, you can also start with talking to people you already know like friends, family etc. Let them introduce your business to people they know that will be interested. Makes things easier for you.

And if things still get difficult, learn about marketing and sales or hire experts to get your sales fixed if you can afford that.

As you take the first few steps, eventually, selling will become easier for you.

Build a Relationship with your Clients

There’s one mistake a lot of new online business owners make. They focus on selling before even getting started. This in return creates doubts in the minds of the audience.

Instead of building your online business this way, you want to build a robust relationship with your audience and target clients…

Give them the chance to Know, Like and Trust you by giving them real value in exchange for their attention and engagement with your business.

This can be in terms of creating and sharing content on topics around your business area, providing a great customer experience or creating excellent product or services that will get them coming back to patronize your business.

Learn, Unlearn & Re-Learn

Launching your online business is just like the first step on the ladder to building a business.

To effectively build a successful business, you want learn, relearn and unlearn so many things, as you continue to evolve your business.

You’ll be surprised that even after creating content for over 7 years and training many people, I still attend trainings myself.

Yes! Because when it comes to online businesses, trends change very fast.

Most times the things that worked just two years ago might not be working anymore. So learning everyday keeps you at the top of your game.

And you don’t have to spend a ton of hours learning because time is of essence. You can learn in bits.

Also, be sure to try your hands on the new body of knowledge you’ve learned. Use this to evolve your business.

Focus on Key Growth Areas

Forget about working on what gives you maximum pleasure. Work on areas that’s delivering the most results.

That old 80/20 rule also applies in the online world. In most cases, 20 percent of what you do is what will give you 80 percent of the results you get. Find that 20 percent and give it the most of your attention.

The 20 percent could be promoting your content across social media, writing on a particular social media platform, or producing a particular kind of content.

Find out that thing that really helps you achieve your business goals without much effort and focus your time producing more results in that area.

Model Industry Experts

Learn and apply what works for the successful people in your niche where necessary but before modeling them, test the strategy if it can work for you.

For instance as an online entrepreneur, Gary Vaynerchuk was able to build a large audience by producing daily video content on YouTube.

Many people copied the strategy. Of course so many new online business owners have grown their business using this formula. But that doesn’t mean it’s the only way there is. Or that it’s going to work for you too.

I have seen so many aspiring digital entrepreneurs quitting and leaving their online business because they feel they can’t make it work.

Most of them didn’t even evaluate their strategy to find out if they are using the wrong strategy or business model.

Consider the “advertising model” for instance, so many newbie content marketers and bloggers come up with this idea of setting up a blog, posting content and making money through Google adverts”.

Then sometimes they set up these blogs, write content, apply to Google and then where Google refuses to accept their blog for Google Adsense. Then, the trouble begins.

You have to realize that there’s actually no one size fits it all when it comes to setting up a successful online business in any developing country. Be it in Nigeria, India or any other Third World country.

Strategies work based on a combination of circumstances. And things change so fast here in the online world. You must understand this.

Against all odds, you must understand that despite the challenges, there are still a handful of successful online businesses in developing countries. And yours can be one of them.

Connect and Collaborate

Connect and collaborate with people both within and outside your niche. One of the advantages of starting a business in developing countries like Nigeria, Kenya, India etc. is that you can easily get to collaborate with other starters or mid level businesses like yours.

Feel free to tell them about what you’re doing. Ask for recommendations where necessary. You don’t know who would really want to help you until you approach the person.

And in fact, you can also collaborate and barter your services by helping someone with what they want and getting something you need in return.

For example, you can help a fellow online business owner get some good and honest review based on your experience with their business while the same person also gives you a review or something else in return.

And where you don’t have clients to get testimonials and reviews, you can start with freemium offers. This gives you access to gather some decent reviews for a start.

Final Words

I could have gone on and on, listing steps you should take in order to start and build an online business in a developing country. But, these are about the most fundamental steps you need to get to use, to evolve a successful online business, no matter where you are.

Always remember that until you get started, nothing gets done, so; beyond having the ideas about starting your online business, you need to go out there and make it happen.

And should you need us to hold you by the hand as you get to build your online business, you can get to reach out to us here.

Now, the question is; which of these strategies are you planning to use in building your online business? Let’s have your views in the comments section…