Expanding to multiple African countries at once? Here's what you should know
- Last updated: March 20, 2025
What business secrets, local insights, and insider knowledge hide behind the scenes of great African multi-country success stories? When organisations can navigate the notoriously complex African business scene in not just one, but several countries at once, the one question that comes up most often is: how?
Having supported 400+ companies during their African expansion, many of which have expanded to multiple countries, we have performed analyses to determine which factors have, in our experience, been predictable factors for success in multiple African countries.
In this article, receive 5 practical insights to help you expand in more than one African country.
1. Good product-to-market fit
We cannot stress this enough: Africa is no monolith. While it is tempting and easy to do so, you cannot adopt one “African” expansion and business strategy and use it as is across different African countries. If anything, this type of generalist approach is a sure way to fail. Because there are a thousand obvious differences and subtleties between African countries; South Africa and its neighbour Zimbabwe for instance are extremely different in terms of their history, heritage, culture, demographic makeup… Similarly, Ghana is completely different from Morocco, even if the two countries share great diplomatic and historical relations. Though they may share similarities, even countries in the same region will have significant differences, so the key is to adopt highly localised and customised strategies. This can only be achieved by understanding the local culture, the needs of the local population, their habits, finances, beliefs and their aspirations among other things. Only then can companies truly make informed choices to boost their chances of success when expanding in multiple African countries at once.
2. Understanding the local working culture
Once businesses have ensured that their product or service is a good fit for the markets they are expanding to in Africa, comes the question of running the business – and specifically the workforce. Many companies expanding to Africa choose to employ expatriate managers to instil their company culture and vision. While understandable, it is important to highlight that company culture should not clash with the working culture present in specific African countries. Otherwise, this will cause tensions at work and might create a misalignment in values among the staff. It is important to be culturally conscious when employing local workers, and to consider the local work habits and customs – both spoken and unspoken – to ensure a smooth working relationship and to prevent high employee turnover. In some countries, like South Africa for example, the payment of a 13th-month salary is not mandated by law but is customarily offered. In Mauritius on the other hand, the 13th month is mandated by law.
3. Understanding local legislation
Like culture differs from country to country across Africa, so does legislation. Where the minimum wage in Cameroon is approximately $70.63/month, in Zimbabwe, the minimum recommended wage is set at approximately US$150/month. In Burundi on the other hand, the minimum wage depends on where the employee lives: in rural areas, employees earn at least $0.036/day, but in Bujumbura and Gitega, the minimum wage is at approximately $0.054/day. In South Africa, the minimum wage depends on the nature of the employee’s job. Similarly, the number of hours worked across different African countries also varies, as do the requirements for monthly and yearly taxation, employer contributions, employee deductions… and these rules keep changing. Only recently in 2025, Egypt raised the minimum wage in the country. So not only does legislation differ from country to country, but it also changes periodically – so it is crucial to keep up with these changes and to not have a generalist approach to legislative compliance in when expanding to multiple African countries.
4. Managing payments in different African currencies
The financial landscape in Africa is interesting to say the least. While all African countries have their respective currencies, payments are sometimes also made in foreign currencies like the US dollar, because the local currency sometimes has relatively no value. Something similar to this happened in Zimbabwe, where locals used US dollars alongside the local currency as legal tender. When you are expanding to multiple countries in Africa, understanding these subtleties is the first step to ensuring that your payments can be made. The second step is understanding the practical aspects of these money transfers – which can be difficult to do on your own without established connections.
5. Avoiding the headaches of administration
Some troubles are simply not worth taking on all by yourself: they only add to your burden and slow you down. When expanding to different African countries all at once, this is the risk you run when you take on expansion, payroll, employee onboarding, and regulatory compliance by yourself. You overstretch your time and resources, investing them in the running of your business rather than in your core operations.
An employer of record (EOR) in Africa can help you bypass all these issues, enabling you to focus solely on expanding your business and turning it into a success across the different African countries you are expanding to. With over 15 years of experience supporting 400+ businesses like yours in Africa, Africa HR Solutions is the partner for all your EOR needs in Africa.
To see how we can help you expand in multiple African countries, send us a message here.