Building for the Long Game: Retention Starts at Acquisition

Semiloore Akoni, a growth and product marketing leader with extensive experience across Africa’s tech landscape, argues that true retention isn’t something you fix later—it’s built into the initial user experience.

Akoni’s perspective challenges conventional wisdom in growth marketing. While many focus on bringing users back through lifecycle strategies, he maintains that retention is determined before sign-up. Users acquired through hype or incentives may convert initially but lack genuine engagement.

“If someone joins because of a discount, the moment that incentive disappears, they leave,” Akoni explains. “But if someone joins because the product solves a real problem, retention becomes natural—you’re fitting into something they already need.”

The Localization Misconception

The same principle applies to market expansion. Many companies translate words but fail to adapt behaviorally to suit new cultural contexts. Akoni emphasizes that growth requires understanding how people actually spend, trust, and make decisions in each specific market.

He points to a personal experience where a direct-to-consumer approach targeting individual users proved unsustainable. By pivoting to focus on acquiring administrators of existing savings groups (ajo/esusu), they achieved greater reach with less investment—demonstrating the power of understanding local context.

Prioritizing First Value

In his previous role, Akoni implemented a simple yet transformative change: measuring time-to-value rather than just sign-up rates. By prioritizing the speed at which new users experienced tangible benefit (defined as their first successful transaction), they streamlined onboarding and reduced friction.

The result? Product activation climbed from 1.6% to 3.4% in three months, with monthly website visits around 300,000—proving that when users quickly experience value, retention follows naturally without needing additional incentives.

Akoni’s insights underscore a critical point for African tech entrepreneurs: sustainable growth isn’t about acquiring more users; it’s about creating meaningful experiences that keep them coming back.