JOSH JONES CEO & Co-Founder Rise & Hustle
My vision is initially a Pan-African financial empowerment model. Although that seems a bit buzzword-y, it's true. We want to expand into as many countries in Africa as possible. We believe this is a way to empower people financially and allow them to enjoy the content at the same time.
enter, integrate methods and create the games we want to create. All of that is in our control because we own all that IP.
Why is Nigeria the ideal testing ground for the Rise & Hustle model?
Anthony: We looked at various markets where we as a team have strong connections and the rise and hustle mentality of Nigeria came out on top. Just Google search rise and hustle and Nigeria comes up. We felt aligning with that theme would get us resonance on the ground and that's been key for us since launch. We kept a low profile for a while but in the last two to three weeks we've seen our social media grow drastically, we're making an editorial splash and that's because we've got down into the weeds with the people who are playing the games. Tat's where we really see the growth of the brand and what's going to help us to retain players.
Our marketing strategy is having hundreds of agents on the ground in t- shirts and branded caps giving out leaflets. Tey're taking people on a journey, showing them how to use the game and build squads. Other activations we're doing include launching street football tournaments across six different cities in Nigeria. Tese are month-long football tournaments we're sponsoring, giving away football kits and prizes. Tere are also viewing centres in Nigeria which are big screens where people congregate to watch Premier League games. We're sponsoring dozens of these to bring people together and pay for them to watch sport together.
Altogether we have 360 agents on the ground. We don't want and never wanted to have a faceless brand which comes into a market and spends millions on TV and radio. Tat wasn't really what we wanted to do. We wanted to get in and give something back with an amazing and exciting game.
Josh: At a high level it's going to be the same. Our current focus is on Nigeria and having people on the ground, understanding the local context, ensuring the brand resonates with our users. Of course, all these things you can apply to Ghana and Kenya but we're also cognisant of the fact that they are different cultures. Tis is applicable across all manner of things, from the terminology we're using all the way through to what sort of payment methods we're aggregating on the real money side.
For instance, what is the equivalent of an airtime integration in Ghana and Kenya? All these localisation aspects are under consideration - from our game content and lobby personalisation through to UX and user flow. All those granular details are super important to get right.
What's the ultimate vision for the both of you?
Anthony: I'd like to see this game adopted in the countries we've mentioned: Kenya, Ghana, Cameroon, South Africa. We have a whole list of markets we want to be in the next 12-24 months. My vision is to bring this game to people. I'm excited by what we've built, and I believe in the depth of what we're building.
Josh: My vision is initially a Pan-African financial empowerment model. Although that seems a bit buzzword-y, it's true. We want to expand into as many countries in Africa as possible. We believe this is a way to empower people financially and allow them to enjoy the content at the same time. Once we have managed that goal of being a Pan-African company, we will then venture into other markets such as Latin America and the Middle East.
93
Expansion into Kenya and Ghana is slated to complete by the end of this year. What localisation steps are in the works to replicate early success in Nigeria?
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172 |
Page 173 |
Page 174
