1 Introduction
1.5 Commissioning company
AfriPro is a startup company located in Finland and was established in June 2021 by John Samuel, an ex-Nigerian professional footballer. AfriPro now has a team of two, hence the founder and CEO John Samuel and business associate Tuukka Ylälähti who is the CTO.
Services rendered are essential services at a 15€ one-time reoccurring fee for a year and 150€ for premium player profile service.
AfrIpro is a digital platform that empowers African footballers to create their profiles and upload their CV / Youtube links / Transfermarket links. It gives them the digital visibility needed to be scouted and monitored faster and efficiently by top football teams across Scandinavian regions. AfriPro is a gateway to stardom. It is a business idea to connect
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African professional and amateur footballers with the desire to play in Europe with teams looking for undiscovered talent.
Africa’s population is rapidly growing, even at over 1.2 billion populaces, Africa is dubbed the ‘New Asia ‘as its population projection is taunted to grow from 17% in 2020 to 26% in 2050 and 39% by 2100, while the share of Asia will fall from 59% in 2020 to 55% in 2050 and 43% in 2100. Africa has the world's largest free trade area and a 1.2 billion person market. The continent is creating an entirely new development path, harnessing the potential of its resources and people. There has been no better time for investors to invest and business development to be implemented, and the need for more startups has been on the rise in Africa in the last decade. ( World Bank 202).
With over 100 million men and women vying to become the next big football star and a one-time fee of 15€ yearly reoccurring charges, the addressable service market is 1.5 billion euros. ( Afripro 2021).
10 2 Lean Start-up theory
The Lean Start-up approach offers a framework to identify customer needs, market oppor-tunities, and product/market fit as part of the opportunity identification and venture crea-tion process. It also provides firms the opportunity to develop dynamic capabilities to en-gage a competitive and ever-changing marketplace (York JM & York JL 2019).
The Lean Start-up provides a scientific approach to creating and managing startups and getting the desired product to customers' hands faster. The Lean Start-up method teaches you how to drive a start-up-how to steer, when to turn, and when to persevere and grow a business with maximum acceleration. It is a principled approach to new product develop-ment. (Lean startup 2021).
Too many startups begin with an idea for a product that they think people want. They then spend months, sometimes years, perfecting that product without ever showing the prod-uct, even in a very rudimentary form, to the prospective customer. When they fail to reach broad uptake from customers, it is often because they never spoke to prospective custom-ers and determined whether the product was interesting. When customcustom-ers communicate, through their indifference, that they do not care about the idea, the startup fails. (Ries 2018).
2.1 The Lean method and how it works
A new methodology for launching companies, called "the lean startup," has replaced the old regimen in the past few years. Traditionally, a venture's founders would write a busi-ness plan, complete with a five-year forecast, use it to raise money, and then go into
"stealth mode" to develop their offerings, all without getting much feedback from the peo-ple they intended to sell to. Lean startups, in contrast, begin by searching for a business model. (Blank 2013.)
They test, revise, and discard hypotheses, continually gathering customer feedback and rapidly iterating on and reengineering their products. This strategy reduces the chances
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that startups will spend a lot of time and money launching products that no one will pay for. (Blank 2013.)
Simply put, it is an approach (also known as Build-Measure-Learn) that helps entrepre-neurs use their available resources in the best and most efficient way possible to manage startup risks, and at the same time, also search for a repeatable and scalable business model. (Pearbits 2011.)
It is based on the belief that “the theory that is the foundation of Toyota's success can be used to dramatically improve the speed at which startups find validated learning” (Ries 2011,188).
The attraction of the lean startup approach is straightforward. It seeks to offer a "scientific approach to the creation of startups," pushing entrepreneurs and innovators to undertake structured experiments based on an underlying hypothesis
and incorporating feedback from these experiments directly into a process of rapid itera-tion and innovaitera-tion. The lean startup has also
introduced a shared vocabulary for discussing startup activity and has provided several valuable tools and concepts, including
the business model canvas, the minimum viable product, customer development, and vali-dation, and pivoting. (Ries & Blank 2013.)
2.2 Application of Lean Method
In this chapter, the author will explain and overview how the Lean Method is applied to starting a venture with every attribute, factor, and step taken to use the lean method.
To implement the lean method, it all starts with a hypothesis based on assumptions, as shown in Figure 1
12 Figure 1. The Lean Start-up Process – Diagram
2.3 Build - Measure – Learn
Build, Measure, Learn sounds simple. Build a product, get it into the real world, measure customers' reactions and behaviors, learn from this, and use what you have learned to build something better. Then, repeat, learning whether to iterate, pivot, or restart until you have something that customers love. (Blank 2015.)
2.3.1 Build (Hypothesis):
In contrast, a hypothesis means an educated guess that requires experimentation and data to validate or invalidate.
These hypotheses span the gamut from who is the customer(s) to what is the value prop-osition (product/service features), pricing, distribution channel, and demand creation (cus-tomer acquisition, activation, retention, etc.)
That the Lean Startup begins with acknowledging that your idea is simply a series of un-tested hypotheses is a big idea. It is a big idea because what you build needs to match the hypothesis you want to test.
BUILD
MEASURE
LEARN
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The minimum viable product you will need to build to find the right customers is different from the minimum viable product you need for testing pricing, which is different from an MVP you would build to test specific product features. And all these hypotheses (and mini-mal viable products) change over time as you learn more (Blank 2015.)
Lean startup places a firm emphasis on experimentation and the scientific validation of hy-potheses through customer interaction. It puts less emphasis on hypothesis development itself. For this reason, the lean startup tells founders to stop spending time planning or theorizing and to get out of the proverbial office to talk with, listen to, and interact with cus-tomers. Rather than waste time planning, startups should quickly develop a "minimum via-ble product" and get rapid customer feedback and input. Business plans are actively dis-couraged by the lean startup approach because "business plans fail on contact with cus-tomers" (Blank,2013; cf. Blank & Dorf, 2012).
Instead, founders and managers are told to interact with potential customers to iterate and learn from them as soon as possible. The central logic is that customer interaction ele-vates startup hypotheses from the realm of guesses to the realm of facts and data (en-couraging learning and pivots), thereby rendering startup activity more scientific and evi-dence-based (Blank & Dorf, 2012,37).
2.3.2 Measure (Testing Hypothesis):
Before the hypothesis is tested, it is first put into diagrams to visualize it using Alexander Osterwalder's business model canvas presents a visual overview of the nine components of a business on one page. They are:
• value proposition, product/service the company offers (along with its benefits to customers)
• customer segments, such as users and payers, moms, or teens
• distribution channels to reach customers and offer them the value proposition
• customer relationships to create demand
• revenue streams generated by the value proposition(s)
• activities necessary to implement the business model
• resources needed to make the activities possible
• partners 3rd parties needed to make the activities possible
• cost structure resulting from the business model
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Steve Blank stated that '' once these hypotheses fill the Business Model Canvas, how does an entrepreneur go about testing them? If you are a scientist, the answer is easy:
you run experiments. The same is true in a Lean Start-up. (The National Science Founda-tion described the Lean Launchpad class as the scientific method for entrepreneurship.)’’.
At this stage, the hypothesis will be tested after the customer development process has been concluded. This hypothesis will then lead to Customer discovery captures the found-ers' vision and turning it into a series of business model hypotheses. This, in turn, leads to a series of experiments developed to be tested to get customers' reactions and perception of the hypothesis and turn them into facts. For the experiments to be practical, potential customers will be asked a series of questions to prove a minimal viable product to help customers understand the solutions to be provided
So, another big idea here is startups are not building minimal viable products to build a prototype. Instead, they are building minimal viable products to learn the most they can.
2.3.3 Learn
Finally, the goal of designing these experiments and minimal viable products is not to get data. The data is not the endpoint. Anyone can collect data. Focus groups collect data.
This is not a focus group. The goal is to get insight. The entire point of getting out of the building is to inform the founder’s vision.
The insight may come from analyzing customer responses. Still, it may also come from ig-noring the data or realizing that what you are describing is a new, disruptive market that does not exist. Therefore, you need to change your experiments from measuring specifics to inventing the future. (Blank 2015).
2.4 Digital Platform
In this chapter, the author will discuss the digital platform, its meaning, its theory, and why it is the core functionality that transforms the existing player acquisition model into a digit-ized concept.
In business enterprise terms, a digital platform can be thought of as the sum of a place for exchanges of information, goods, or services to occur between producers and consumers as well as the community that interacts with said platform. (Watts 2020.)
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In today's world, people use digital platforms for everything. The global issue with the coronavirus pandemic has compelled businesses providing virtual physical chains to mi-grate to virtual value chains using digital platforms. However, the digital platform serves various purposes depending on the business model used, target customer, etc., some conspicuous digital platforms examples.
• Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn
• Knowledge platforms like Stack Overflow, Quora, and Yahoo! Answers
• Media sharing platforms like YouTube, Spotify, and Vimeo
• Service-oriented platforms like Uber, Airbnb, and Grub Hub (bmc 2021).
2.5 Competitors and repositories
As mentioned in previous chapters, Africa is a continent lacking existing data. This has of-ten debarred so many businesses in investing in Africa or having difficulties carrying out feasibility studies due to a lack of existing data.
However, there are existing competitors in the business who have already digitized the concept of player acquisition using repositories such as YouTube, Transfermarket plat-form. These competitors are Wy scout, Yooscout, and 11transfair. These platforms are designed to scout ready-made or established footballers; their platforms are expensive, difficult to use, and designed for premium agents and teams, leaving African players at the mercy of predatory agents.
AfriPro, on the other hand, was designed to empower African footballers to create their profile, upload their YouTube links or videos at inexpensive annual reoccurring at 15€, and give the digital visibility needed to be monitored and scouted easier and faster by top teams in Scandinavian regions. AfriPro repository uses personal know-hows, personal contacts, and local networks. This model is straightforward and personalized to target un-discovered talented African football players.
Although Africa has the highest rate of poverty, yet it is rich in many ways. Africans are tech-savvy; hence, an average African owns a mobile phone, regardless of their location in their respective country, and most phones are smartphones. As a result of this re-search, AfriPro was designed to have mobile functionality, designed to be 100% mobile-friendly (meaning players can use the platform on their mobile with ease, with imagery onboarding support, etc.). From the moment the App is downloaded, player onboarding is animated with a few texts support to enhance the onboarding process and make it easy.
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During the onboarding process, players are asked a series of questions that helps the val-idation of these players to confirm who they say they are (Identity confirmation)
17 3 Research Methods
In this chapter, the author explains and justifies the choice of research methods utilized in the study. Each research phase with corresponding research methods will be described in detail to internalize the study's structure better.
3.1 Research design
A research design is a strategic framework for action that serves as a bridge between research questions and the execution or implementation of the research. Research de-signs are planning that guide 'the arrangement of conditions for collection and analysis of data in a manner that aims to combine relevance to the research purpose with economy in procedure' (Sellitz, Jahoda, Deutsch & Cook. 1965, 50.)
The figure below portrays the research process. In this study, research is divided into three phases, used at intervals for a common goal. Due to the lack of existing data for quantitative analysis, the author decided to utilize qualitative research meth-ods in the study. Therefore, the first phase of the research began with an online sur-vey to ascertain the need for the platform and proceeded with a second phase, a semi-structured theme interview aimed at finding answers to IQ 1 & 2. These results help the author to understand the value proposition of existing competitors and facil-itate research during comparison analysis with existing platforms and mediums of the player acquisition model.
The data collated from these interviews requires further research on IQ 3 & IQ 4 on understanding what features are needed to deliver a first product version (Beta ver-sion) of the platform. Based on all the data collected and analyzed in the study, the author will discuss and conclude the results to answer the research question.
Phase 1 Online
18 Figure 3. Research design
Qualitative research
Qualitative designs rely on description quality; rather than quantifying large samples of people or units, qualitative designs rely on detail in reporting human processes. For exam-ple, field research is primarily a qualitative design, where researchers go into a field set-ting to observe people, collecset-ting detailed information about some smaller group, process, and interaction. Content analysis is another qualitative design, where cultural artifacts are examined to provide context and derive meaning from what people create. Both designs offer a wealth of detail about social patterns. (Abbott & McKinney 2013).
Quantitative research relies on numerical analysis and measurement of the data collected through a set of structured questions with predetermined response options to many re-spondents. In contrast, qualitative research aims to understand a phenomenon through analyzing and interpreting non-quantified data collected by observations (Burns & Bush 2014, 146).
Considering the geographical location, the volume of the target respondents, and the lim-ited we decided to use the survey method to research. This enabled us to collate data and analyze the data, and it would be convenient to administer and flexible for computing.
3.2 Research design phases and processes
Before the author could embark on creating and designing the platform, a series of phases had to be undergone to test the concept, prove the concept and develop the con-cept. First, this was done to understand the demand for the concept in the market and cre-ate awareness for the concept in Africa. Then, with the details gathered, the platform's creation was designed based on the data received during these phases.
Below are the phases of data collection leading to the creation of the platform, AfriPro.
Phase 3 Online
Survey
Quantitative
survey
19 Phase 1: For the players
The Phase process began during weeks 23-34, 2021 (from 11.6.2021-
18.6.2021). A survey questionnaire was created on google form with the intent to inquire from footballers of all ages of an idea,' what if we have this type of solution, would you be interested '? The questions were shared with the community of footballers online, personal contacts, and via WhatsApp and WhatsApp groups of footballers.
These questions were strategically constructed to understand the needs and demand for a digital platform for players to be monitored and scouted by top teams across Europe.
The respondent had one week to answer the questions. The responses were able to help us validate the design model and how to create the platform that would meet the needs of the players from a player's perspective.
The questions asked that be seen in the appendix (see Appendix 4)
Phase 2: Early-bird access
Feedback received from Phase 1 was incredibly positive and overwhelming, which prompted us to initiate phase 2. It was pretty evident the need and demand for this plat-form are high hence the need to proceed to phase 2.
We applied for an innovation voucher (a business grant) from Business Finland on June 26th, 2021, and the same day we created our Instagram page. The grant was approved three weeks later. The grant was meant to develop the first version of the App. To prove our MVP, we proceeded to launch our marketing website, www.afri.pro on July 27th,2021.
The purpose of creating the marketing website was to get 1000 early-bird signups in 3 months who would get one year of free access to the platform when launched and see if the platform's demand is genuinely out there. Marketing content for the early-bird signups was also launched with a video ad, as shown below in figure 4. These contents were shared using a paid ad model on Instagram and Facebook to target most sub-Saharan Af-rican countries. As a result of these ads, we got over 600-page views daily, as seen in the image below. The questions asked for the early-bird signup and responses can be seen in the appendices below. (See Appendix 5)
20 Figure 4. Marketing content
Surprisingly, it took less than 2.5 weeks for us to get over 1000 early-bird signups, as seen in the image below.
Figure 5. Early-bird signup responses
The above result confirmed an urgent need for the platform to be set up to provide these football players digital visibility.
Phase 3: Interviews for the coaches and team representatives
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The interviews were carried out during weeks 31-32 and 33, 2021 (from 02.8.2021- 12.8.2021 and from 14.8.2021-16.3.2021). The third phase of the thesis is conducted through qualitative methods, which entails interviewing coaches, football team administra-tors, and football team owners.
A personal interview approach was made via zoom sessions with each of these represent-atives for validation purposes, which would help service design. During this interview, the interviewer was able to understand better the existing player acquisition model, the per-ception of the interviewees of African and African footballers, and the interviewer was able
A personal interview approach was made via zoom sessions with each of these represent-atives for validation purposes, which would help service design. During this interview, the interviewer was able to understand better the existing player acquisition model, the per-ception of the interviewees of African and African footballers, and the interviewer was able