Flutterwave Ltd.: A Cross-Border Payment Solution For African Business

Flutterwave Key Strategy

Flutterwave Ltd. is a Silicon Valley-based start-up company providing payment solutions to businesses across African countries. Flutterwave has also provided chances to SMEs to create their websites and start selling their products online through the interaction of sellers providing a platform for African merchants to sell their products and services to different regions and acquiring new customers from different parts of the country. The company comes under Fintech company and has also processed 200 million transactions valued at over 16 billion dollars across 34 countries in Africa. The company is currently serving more than 9,00,000 customers (Apori, 2021).

Flutterwave has decided to make growth in its business through a cross-border expansion strategy. The company is currently operating its process in African certain countries like Nigeria and South Africa and wants to change the gateway of payment transactions in the Business-to-Business sector at the global level. The company wants to connect the African business to the global level and vice-versa. Through its platform, the company will provide payment tools and solutions to the businesses for successful checkout of items and different methods of transfers and accept payment tools to process transactions as well as providing buyers and sellers a platform to buy and sell products. The company-new cross-border expansion strategy indicates the company’s vision of expanding its business in cross-border payment systems. The company is also investing in its growth expansion strategy by acquiring new companies to increase its customer base across the world (Yoder, 2019)

Value: Flutterwave has created an online platform for both sellers and buyers to perform seamless transactions globally and domestically. The company is also charging fewer transaction fees for international payments. The company has also provided solutions including online tools and platforms for the buyers and sellers to interact indulging in buying and selling of products and services. The company has also developed its equity and value in the African market.

Rare: The company rarity depends on the service the company is providing. The company is providing both digital solutions for payment structures globally and also provides tools and APIs where users have the opportunity to create virtual cards for online payments. Users can create cards for a team, has options of spending limitation, and can also make cards site-specific. This technology is being particularly launched by Flutterwave knowns as Barter which indicates peer-to-peer reviews between buyers and sellers (Geraldes, da Costa & Geraldes, 2019).

VRINE Analysis of Flutterwave

Inimitability: Flutterwave is a fintech company and there are other Fintech companies providing solutions to the customers and also helping businesses to complete transactions. The business model of Flutterwave can be imitable by brands at a global level as large global brands are also operating in the same sector for example PayStack, Vogue Pay, and Interswitch. The main advantage of Flutterwave Ltd. is Its service quality which is providing a premium offering to businesses at a reasonable cost (Chatzoglou et al., 2018).

Non-substitutability: non-substitutability indicates the position of the company’s service in getting substituted by other companies. Flutterwave's business model indicates providing a payment platform for clients including transfer and receiving the option, API tools implementation, Barter system for peer-to-peer reviews and Flutterwave Store providing a platform for clients to buy and sell products online. The company has adjusted all these features in one platform to provide customers with a seamless experience. The products of the company can be substituted by other brands but need a strong position in the market like Flutterwave.

Exploitability: Flutterwave has already raised 234 million dollars reaching the valuation mark of $1 billion. The company through its all-in-one e-commerce platform service and low international cost-structure of charges in processing transactions can enable clients to sell their products in Africa through a cross-border expansion strategy. The company can bring disruption in the online payment market through the varieties of services and products the company is offering to every business worldwide (Sheehan, 2020).

The power of buyers in this situation is high. The power of buyers indicates the bargaining power of the buyers and the price sensitivity factors. Flutterwave Ltd has created a market position in Africa through brand value and low-cost transactions charged from customers. the company has also provided an online e-commerce store called Flutterwave Store for buying and selling products online creating a channel of direct interactions between clients. Buyers can move to other companies if provided a better quality of service than Flutterwave Ltd. (Sheehan, 2020).

The power of suppliers is medium in this case. Suppliers' power deal with influencing price and also impact the availability of resources and inputs (Prasad & Warrier, 2016).  Flutterwave suppliers are sellers trying to sell its product to buyers. Change in the pricing of sellers and irregularity in transactions processing can make suppliers move to other companies for better value. Although due to increased demand suppliers can stay relevant with Flutterwave for better profits.

Six-Forces Model

Threats of substitutes are medium in the case of Flutterwave. The company has created a brand identity in the market and more than 9,00,000 customers are using the service of Flutterwave. The company has different tools for providing digital payment solutions including Checkout, barter, invoice, and virtual card. Substitutes can make an impact in the Flutterwave business it creates a new model of tools that provides a better solution than Flutterwave Ltd (Ahmed et al., 2022).

The threat of new entrants is high in the case of Flutterwave. A company has already reached the valuation of 1 billion dollars through big investors for global reach, new entrants can enter the African market with better solutions to clients regarding lesser processing fees for international transactions, more virtual payment options, enhancing security features, and advanced APIs tools to attract customers of the company. A new suite regarding better UI experience and more ease payment gateways can be brought by new entrants to impact the performance of Flutterwave Ltd (Anichebe, 2019).

The competitive rivalry is high in the case of Flutterwave. Competition in the Fintech industry in Africa is the high due presence of customers like PayStack and Interswitch. Interswitch has already created a list of active merchants of 190,000 and crossed the valuation of 1 billion dollars like Flutterwave Ltd. The company is the market leader of Nigeria and 90% of the electronic transactions are processed by Interswitch. The company has its credit network called Verve. Flutterwave has to establish a strong network connection of merchants with a more advanced technology solution to sustain itself in the market (Ahmed et al., 2022).

Compliments of Flutterwave are high in terms of its premium service quality offering. The main complementors of the company are Uber, Microsoft, MTN, Chipper, and many more. The company has claimed to be trusted by more than 600,000 businesses worldwide and wants to connect more through alliances and merging (Flutterwave, 2022). The value proposition of the company in providing its clients with better business engagement, revenue lines, and managing of better expense system of businesses has created an identity for Flutterwave in the African Fintech market (Khurram, Hassan & Khurram, 2020).

The cross-border opportunity created by Flutterwave as a part of global strategy is to resemble its business outside Nigeria and South Africa to different African countries and also help other countries to connect with African digital business. From a strategic importance point of view, the African Market population is going to double by 2050 to 2.5 billion estimated. Due to the enhancement of globalization and digitalization everyone has smartphones and can connect with different users worldwide (Apori, 2021). E-commerce momentum in Africa is also booming in emerging rate while the volume of digital payments in African countries has shown significant growth of 144% over the past five years and crossed the 12 billion dollars mark. The internet potential in Africa is going to contribute $180 billion to Africa's economy and grow to be $700 billion by 2050 (BCapitalGroup, 2022).

Power of Suppliers

The lucrative opportunity to digitize payments in Africa has provided an opportunity for Flutterwave to establish a cross-border strategy to provide service to African merchants and establish its network with different countries' businesses helping both parties to gain profit by selling its products in the African continent. The company is also looking to gain a competitive advantage by acquiring new companies in 2021 the company has acquired Disha a creator platform that enables digital creators to sell digital content worldwide (Oluwole, 2022).  The company aims of acquiring to help the creators of Disha in earning value of their content and at the same time enabling growth opportunities for Flutterwave in the digital creation market. The company is looking to establish its network by gaining a market of other African countries like Egypt and Morocco in order to revolutionize the digital payment business and online e-commerce business with a new business model providing sellers and buyers resources to create their website for selling products worldwide (Vasiljeva  & Lukanova, 2016).

Africa is a continent that is emerging in recent times providing better opportunities for companies to invest in the market and gain-long term sustainability. The rising economic value of the continent has lifted the processing power of financial institutions such as banks, Fintech processors, credit unions, and many more. The solutions that can help Flutterwave in implementing its strategy  for better opportunities are:

• Further Geographical expansion through network building
• Expansion of e-commerce capabilities
• Expand its variety of suite of Fintech services

Many of the African countries' merchants are yet to join e-commerce for selling online. Flutterwave Ltd. Can help this merchant to join the platform enabling a path for both parties to gain profit mutually. E-commerce in Africa remains in the early-stage therefore the company has a great opportunity to capture this position and become the leading digital payment platform of the continent. Flutterwave should consider investment Flutterwave store to enhance its product functionality and provide clients more options regarding experience and providing value to sellers and buyers through its Flutterwave market. (Gabor & Brooks, 2017).  

Flutterwave can expand its businesses to different suites for gaining a competitive advantage. The company can expand its services to different operations like salary advance services and receivable financing and other adjacencies to create deep relationships with customers and at the same time increase its market demand reach. The African continent is vast and consists of 54 countries and Flutterwave should diversify its network through collaboration with other payment creators to bring innovation in its solutions providing better value to businesses (Gomber, Koch & Siering, 2017).

Threats of Substitutes

Conclusion

The above report has recognized Flutterwave's online digital platform to connect businesses across Africa provides an opportunity for the brand to establish its business in a fast-paced changing environment where people are using technology to interact with each other socially and the same goes with businesses. The company has proposed value for the customers through its various services and tools. Flutterwave's aim to digitalize Africa can put a significant impact on the country’s economy and generate revenues for the company at the same time.  

References 

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