- Bringing operational efficiency means being able to deliver delta 4 experiences i.e. supremely efficient solutions.
- Common inefficiencies in Africa are around price, availability, information and time.
- We define operational excellence as the ability to be rigorous, data-driven, biased to action, focus on delivering the best experience, clearly articulating expectations of what is a considered a ‘good standard’ and having clear information flow.
A lot of founders and eco-system thought leaders have gone before us and laid the foundations of start-up success principles. We have the lean methodology, agile product development, doing things that don’t scale, customer obsession and making something what people want, among many others. These core principles have been spreading across the globe and for the most part, they work really well! Good ideas spread.
There are however other nuanced principles that are market/regional specific. Those context-specific realities that sometimes compete or sometimes even complement the current widely accepted start-up truths.
The African Tech ecosystem is currently uncovering a lot of truths and learnings about the principles that hold true in this market.
A key principle that we have seen being shared and applied by founders has been: operational excellence. To specific- the fact that operational excellence is a core driver of success for startups in the African market. And we dare say- not technological innovation. At least not in isolation.
African founders who focus on bringing operational efficiency in their market win.
How do we define efficiency?
We think it’s the ability to give a delta 4 experience.
What’s a delta 4 experience?
It’s a concept that Kunal Shah (an Indian entrepreneur and venture capitalist) uses to describe an experience where people interact with such great efficiency that they go screaming to other people that there is a better way to do things.
It’s the extreme version of building something people want (in a really good way). With the delta 4 experience, the customer gets such a huge ‘aha’ moment that they can’t believe they used to do things any other way. More than that, the customer gets irritated when other people do things the inefficient way i.e. before using your product. Thus they SCREAM at others.
A good example is how people in Kenya can scream at you for not using mobile money. You realise that very quickly when you arrive as visitor in Kenya and the first thing you sought to get is a sim card and mobile money registration. Mobile money is a delta 4 experience.
You can watch him explain the concept in a very clear and funny way here: