After nearly a decade of entrepreneurial experience, my perspective on running a business—and, to some extent, a startup—in Africa has evolved significantly.

Coming from a tech background with a strong influence from Silicon Valley culture, my initial approach was to build something bold, raise substantial funding to scale, and think about profitability later. However, I failed to recognize that the funding ecosystem in Africa is not as mature as it is in the regions that shaped my entrepreneurial philosophy.

With the benefit of experience and a deeper understanding of the unique dynamics in the African entrepreneurial ecosystem, my philosophy has now shifted: focus on building your business to be profitable from day one.

Now, I believe that the moment you consider starting a business, you should identify how to reach profitability as quickly as possible. This requires an intense focus on generating revenue rapidly while tightly controlling costs, particularly personnel costs, which can easily become the largest operational expense.

Even if immediate profitability is not feasible, it’s crucial to have a clear roadmap to reach it in the shortest possible time. Unlike other regions with abundant funding opportunities and low interest rates, Africa lacks the financial landscape that enables startups to raise large amounts for growth, so it’s vital to adapt to what works best in our environment.

Of course, this does not apply to every kind of business. There are certain businesses, that need to attain a certain scale and experience the benefits of network effects, to become inherently valuable to users. Think Uber or PayPal. These are businesses that you cannot build without raising a significant amount of money and growing very quickly.

However, these kinds of businesses make up less than 0.5% of entrepreneurial ventures in Africa. For the vast majority of African entrepreneurs, you’ll be focusing on building a business that solves an existing problem, and it will help you better to focus on profitability right from day one.

I will always be more impressed by an African entrepreneur who has built a thriving, profitable company than by one who has raised substantial capital without achieving profitability.