The United Kingdom is emerging as a key international base for African technology companies. It offers a combination of corporate incorporation, operational presence, regulatory licensing and access to capital. This is according to a new report by TLP Advisory.
The report is titled Home and Away: Tracking African Tech’s Global Footprint. It examines 100 technology companies across Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Egypt, Ghana and Morocco to understand why African businesses establish connections with international markets, particularly the UK, United States and United Arab Emirates (UAE).
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The findings show that 84% of African tech companies with UK affiliations are incorporated there. 47% have an operational presence and 19% hold regulatory licences. This compares with regulatory licensing figures of just 3% for US-affiliated companies and 4% for UAE-affiliated businesses.
The US primarily serves as a destination for financing-linked incorporation, while the UAE is more focused on day-to-day operations, with 87% of UAE-affiliated companies maintaining an operational presence.
Speaking at the report’s launch, Odunoluwa Longe, Co-Founder and Partner at TLP Advisory, said: “Most African tech companies have a legal structure somewhere abroad in addition to their home country. What’s striking about the UK is how often it comes with more than only incorporation. It comes with licences, teams on the ground and customers. A round closed in Delaware and a licence in London are both important but they play very distinct roles. Our recommendation to founders is to be deliberate about what they want to achieve in each market, and to build the right networks, partnerships and commercial relationships to turn that presence into growth.”
The report also features perspectives from African technology leaders, including Flutterwave CEO Olugbenga Agboola, who said, “Africa was always going to be home. It was where we understood the nuance of the problem we set out to solve, where our customers were, and where we believed we could make the greatest difference. But we also understood quite early that building a business of this scale would require access to capital, talent, and opportunities beyond Africa.”
Alex Forsyth-Thompson, Founder & CEO of Float, a South-African fintech, said: “The UK didn’t feel foreign to us. We’re only one or two hours off South African time, the business culture is familiar, and there are a lot of South Africans here, so we had social capital from day one. The market suits us too: more than 55 million credit card accounts, and a very fintech-friendly environment.”
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