Why 70% of African Startups Fail - and Why Clarus Says It’s a GTM Problem

Why 70% of African Startups Fail – and Why Clarus Says It’s a GTM Problem

African startups continue to struggle, with 70% failing in the first five years. Clarus argues the real problem isn’t money, it’s faulty go-to-market strategy and weak execution.

Why 70% of African Startups Fail. When Joovlin, a Nigerian fintech helping micro-suppliers manage payments, shut down in early 2025, it became another name in Africa’s expanding startup graveyard. Despite early traction, 2,000 active resellers and over 6,000 listed products, the company admitted that its user base hadn’t grown fast enough to sustain operations without external funding.

Joovlin’s story is common. Experts estimate 70% of African startups fail within the first five years, with at least 33 shutdowns in the last 30 months. While founders often cite funding shortages, deeper issues like weak go-to-market execution, premature scaling, and unclear market fit repeatedly emerge as the real killers.

Amid this crisis, Clarus, a fractional go-to-market leadership firm founded by Victor Ekwealor, is making a case:
African startups don’t have a funding problem, they have a GTM problem.

The End of the “Easy Money” Era

Ekwealor describes 2015–2023 as Africa’s “sunshine decade,” when global enthusiasm for African fintechs and big exits (like Paystack) created an era of forgiving capital. Raising money became a proxy for progress.

But the market has changed dramatically:

Funding dropped 22.7% in 2024, to $2.2 billion
Interest rates are higher globally
Investors now demand traction, not storytelling
Retention and unit economics overshadow “user signups”

“Execution sells now – not promise,” Ekwealor says.

This shift exposes structural weaknesses that earlier funding masked.

Why African Startups Fail: Clarus Identifies 5 GTM Gaps

According to Clarus, failing startups often struggle with the same GTM issues:

1. Weak Positioning

Founders try to sell to everyone and end up reaching no one.

2. Channel Guesswork

Startups burn cash on TikTok, influencers, or ads without measuring ROI.

“That’s not GTM. That’s gambling,” Ekwealor warns.

3. Retention Neglect

User acquisition is easy; keeping them is the real problem.

4. Siloed Teams

Product, marketing, and sales move independently, killing focus.

5. No Operating Rhythm

Startups confuse activity for progress, lacking dashboards or cadence.

These GTM failures lead to poor unit economics, low LTV, and ultimately, death by inefficiency.

African startups fail — Why 70% of African Startups Fail

Back to Basics: The “Reset” of the African Ecosystem

Clarus believes the African startup ecosystem is undergoing a behavioral reset:

Fewer vanity metrics
More emphasis on discipline
More focus on retention vs. acquisition
Unit economics taking center stage

Investors now ask deeper questions:

What’s your activation rate?
What are your CAC and LTV?
What percentage of users return after 30 days?

African startups are slowly shifting from hype to health.

“The ecosystem is not dying. It’s detoxifying,” Ekwealor says.

The Story Behind Clarus: An Operator Turned GTM Builder

Ekwealor’s experience spans over 11 years across Africa, the UK, and Europe. He has worked in media, marketing, and tech, and even ran small businesses like a fish farm and fashion brand.

This background gave him two things:

Creative problem-solving from Africa
Operational discipline from Europe

He openly admits he made the same mistakes many founders make today, betting on ideas instead of structure, assuming momentum equaled validation. These lessons shaped Clarus into a firm focused on clarity, not vibes.

How Clarus Helps Startups Fix Their GTM Problems

Clarus operates as a fractional GTM partner, offering embedded senior leadership without the cost of full-time hires.

Step 1: GTM Audit

Positioning
Messaging
Customer profiles
Funnels
Channel performance
Retention loops

Step 2: Blueprint & Systems

Clarus builds the frameworks founders lack:

Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)
Channel & funnel math
Lifecycle frameworks
CAC & LTV benchmarks
Dashboards & weekly cadences

The result?
Repeatable growth, not random spikes.

“Growth should be deliberate, not accidental.“

See Also:

Clarus Growth Lab: GTM Infrastructure at Scale

Clarus is launching the Clarus Growth Lab, a cohort-based program designed to embed GTM fundamentals inside:

Accelerators
Venture funds
Startup hubs
Innovation programmes

Instead of stopping at Demo Day, the Growth Lab builds:

Operating cadences
Conversion frameworks
Traction dashboards

It gives investors a clearer view of portfolio health and equips founders with systems they can run independently.

“Most accelerators stop at demo day. We start where they stop.“

A New Era: Structure Over Speed

Ekwealor predicts that the next decade of African innovation will reward:

Clarity
Retention
Operational maturity

Founders who build with discipline, not hype, will attract the best capital and teams.

“I want Clarus to make structure normal.“

The ecosystem is still learning. But Clarus believes the companies that survive this reset will become Africa’s next giants, not because they raised millions, but because they mastered go-to-market discipline.

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