Golden Steps: launching an app in Africa and the Middle East

Golden Steps was one of the apps in BeYou’s portfolio, and we ran both its product and its marketing.

In these markets, paying through the mobile carrier was the only option. Many users had slow or unreliable internet, and many reached the app through an SDK rather than an app store.

Each country was a new launch. The product had to work on poor connections, and acquiring a subscriber had to cost less than what that subscriber brought in.

• Made sure the product worked well for people with little or slow connectivity.
• Worked through what the SDK channel meant for engineering, design, marketing and go-to-market.
• Worked with Orange’s team on carrier billing.
• Launched Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal and the UAE, one after another.
• Reviewed marketing every week with CAC and LTV models, and optimised ads and metrics.
• Grew through ambassador networks, community referral loops and celebrity collaborations. The biggest campaign was with Ronaldinho in 2019, with a meet and greet.
• Led the development team and external agencies, with the focus on conversion and revenue.

More than a million subscribers billed through carriers across these markets. In 2019 the business in one of its markets was sold to a private investor.

I worked on EIT Food grants and projects with PepsiCo, Givaudan, Siemens, the University of Reading and KU Leuven, and on a corporate wellness product that launched at the end of 2019.

Launching country after country only works if you know every week what a subscriber costs and what they bring in.