Why B2B Venture is Better than B2C in Nigeria, Dr. Ola Brown of Flying Doctors Shares Insight

Starting a business in Nigeria – whether Business-to-Business or Business-to-Consumer – is an uphill task that requires proper research and consultations before one embarks on the journey. It gets harder if it’s a novel business idea; it would mean there is no model to draw lessons from.

This is exactly the story of Dr. Olamide Orekunrin-Brown, who founded the award-winning Flying Doctors Nigeria, the first indigenous Air Ambulance in West Africa that has been in operation for nearly ten years.

In her experience from running Flying Doctors, which operates the B2B model, Brown believes that the alarming rate of poverty in Nigeria makes it difficult for a B2C business to break even because of affordability issues on the part of the consumer, unlike a B2B venture that serves corporate consumers. Companies that serve consumers directly often rely on many customers to patronize them before they can break through. Whereas, with a few clients, a B2B company can easily cover its operational costs, at the least.

“In countries like Nigeria with high levels of poverty, people may want what you’re offering but may not be able to afford it. So, in some respect, B2B may be easier, but most times, B2C businesses are more likely to become unicorns,” she told TechCabal in an interview.

However, Brown said it took Flying Doctors nine months before it landed its first client, underscoring the horrific episodes entrepreneurs experience when starting out in business.

ALSO READ: Nigeria’s Flying Doctors set to invest $1 billion in Africa’s healthcare sector

She also shared how she was not sure of the viability of the business in the beginning. According to her, she needed expert opinions to validate her idea – to determine if there was indeed a gap in that market, and if the gap was worth investing in.

In search of validation, the 34-year-old dumped her £23,000 paying job in London and moved to Tokyo to seek mentorship from those she believed were knowledgeable about finance while admitting that a bit of luck was involved in her success story.

“…For me, that bit of luck was moving to Tokyo and getting mentorship from my friends who were always talking about finance. Through that, I got some of the validation I needed. I decided that instead of going back to London at the end of my fellowship, to move back to Lagos,” she said.

Despite the challenges she faced at inception, Brown said the only thing she didn’t have to struggle with was her credibility. She said having a degree in Medicine and Surgery automatically made people assume that she must be smart and that she could be trusted. She advised entrepreneurs to leverage whatever opportunity – family name/network – that can give them credibility.