In Africa's (and literally the World’s) rapidly evolving entrepreneurial environment, innovators are increasingly disrupting traditional business practices, challenging long-standing incumbents, and carving out their own spaces in the markets. This happens majorly, not by luck but, as a result of deliberate, strategic approaches rooted in the concept of “decoupling.” As Professor Thales Teixeira, a former Harvard Business School professor explains, decoupling involves analysing the customer value chain — basically, all steps from identifying a need to eventually disposing of a product or service. In many cases, established companies bundle all these steps together, hoping customers will navigate the entire chain happily. Here lies the opportunity for innovators: by focusing on one specific step where customers face friction or dissatisfaction, innovators can attract customers and build their own value proposition around providing better solutions to pain points formerly overlooked by incumbents. How innovators compete Innovators usually unlock new business opportunities by directing their efforts at the “weakest link” in the customer journey — those points of friction, inconvenience, or frustration that established businesses often overlook. Through targeted solutions, innovators create innovative, customer-centered experiences that large companies struggle to provide as a result of legacy constraints which, in themselves, often limit incumbents’ capacity for flexibility to address prevailing customer needs. In Africa, some companies have disrupted legacy industries by decoupling customer value chains as exhibited by Ghana’s mPharma. mPharma’s decoupling strategy in healthcare At its inception, mPharma – a health startup operating across Africa – sought to simplify access to affordable medication. Traditional pharmacies in Africa often face challenges in supply chain management, leading to high costs and limited stock for essential medicines. mPharma decoupled the medication supply chain by working directly with manufacturers to supply and manage stock at pharmacies, helping to stabilize prices and ensure availability. This focus on distribution — one of the most difficult links in the medical value chain — has allowed mPharma to address a critical pain point- making healthcare more accessible and affordable for patients. Different paths to success Professor Thales provides three types of decoupling through which innovators wisely position themselves against larger players and create distinct, valuable offerings. This involves isolating a part of the customer journey that adds enjoyment or intrinsic value and offering it independently. An African example is Showmax, which provides on-demand African entertainment without the traditional cable setup. By offering streaming services focused on African content, Showmax decouples the viewing experience from the restrictive and costly cable bundles, allowing customers to pay for exactly what they want to watch. This appeals particularly to young Africans seeking culturally relevant media on-demand. Value-eroding activity decoupling This approach targets steps in the customer journey that are inconvenient or unappealing. For example, YEGO CABS in Rwanda has decoupled the chaotic experience of finding reliable and safe transportation in busy urban areas. YEGO CABS leverages a tollfree number (9191) and mobile app to connect users directly with vetted, experienced drivers, removing the burden of price negotiations and safety concerns. This allows customers to bypass the unpredictability of traditional transportation, creating a coherent, trusted experience. Value-capturing activity decoupling This model separates payment from the actual use or enjoyment of a product or service, often with a freemium model. An example is the fintech startup Paystack in Nigeria, which decouples the payment process for businesses by offering a flexible, easy-to-integrate platform that allows companies to receive payments online flawlessly. By enabling businesses to capture revenue with minimal setup costs, Paystack has helped drive digital transactions in Africa, giving smaller enterprises a chance to participate in the digital economy. Decoupling offers African innovators a powerful way to disrupt markets, find their footing, and build unique customer bases by targeting specific pain points within the customer journey (customer value chain). By focusing on a part of the process that established players overlook or fail to improve, innovators can create competitive advantages that attract customers seeking better, simpler or emotionally-fulfilling experiences. The author is a blogger and opinion writer on politics, technology and economic matters.
