DIGITAL MARKETING IS BECOMING A MAJOR DRIVER FOR AFRICA$$S SMALL AND

MEDIUM SIZED BUSINESSES

Small and mid$-$sized businesses are increasingly turning to social networking sites and

mobile apps to tap into the burgeoning African internet economy, seen more than doubling to

US$$200$ billion by $2025.$

A joint survey, dubbed the Africa MSME Survey Report $2023,$ tracking $440$ small and

medium$-$sized businesses in Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa and Ethiopia shows more than half

of these businesses have gone online.

Some $53\%$ are marketing their businesses over the internet, $45\%$ sell products and services

online and $24\%$ use digital platforms to stock up on wares, according to the survey by

research firm GeoPoll together with Africa $118.$

$$Online advertising is dominant across all industries apart from agribusiness, food production

and manufacturing, where most businesses use online channels to sell,$$ said survey

researchers.

Social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and WhatsApp are the most

popular product and service promotion channels used by $67\%$ of small businesses in

Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa. Conversely, most $(47\%)$ companies in Ethiopia rely on

billboards and traditional media to advertise.

These businesses are looking to spend more on digital advertising in $2023,$ albeit at a slower

rate, bucking similar global trends. $59\%$ of businesses confirmed spending more on digital

marketing platforms, which is less than $71\%$ in last year$$s study.

Growth in reliance on internet$-$based platforms was higher in Kenya, Nigeria and South

Africa, which recorded a slight increase from $72$ per cent the previous year to $75$ per cent in

$2022.$

African e$-$commerce users have grown at a compounded annual rate of $17\mathrm{.}9$ per cent since

$2017$ when there were only $139$ million users. According to the United States Department of

Commerce International Trade Administration $($ITA$),$ e$-$commerce users on the continent are

expected to exceed half a billion over the next three years.

Rising internet, smartphone penetration and growth in the world$$s youngest population are

fuelling this growth.

$$Africa leads mobile device web traffic generation, with $69\%$ of its total web traffic consisting

of mobile internet users as of $2021$ and is forecast to be almost exclusively mobile$-$based

market by $2040,$ said ITA.

These trends are mirrored through the rise in funding towards e$-$commerce startups, now the

second most funded ventures in the continent after Fintechs.

Disrupt Africa$$s tech startup funding report $2022$ shows the sector$$s fundraising, which

enjoys a four$-$year boom, recorded annual growth of $70\mathrm{.}7\%$ to US $$556\mathrm{.}7$ million from $74$

startups and accounts for $16\mathrm{.}7$ per cent of all funds raised by African startups last year.

$$Over these years, retail$-$tech has emerged as an area attracting substantial investor

interest, and has helped drive the growth in the sector,$$ said The Disrupt Africa report.

The World Bank estimates that small businesses account for $90\%$ of all businesses in Africa,

with data from MasterCard showing that Sub$-$Saharan Africa alone has $44$ million micro,

small and medium enterprises $($MSMEs$).$

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QUESTION ONE $[20]$

Explain the key factors driving the growth of digital marketing for SMEs in Africa and how SEO

plays a pivotal role in this context. Additionally, discuss the challenges that SMEs may

encounter when implementing digital marketing strategies and SEO in the African market.