Market Opportunities in Nigeria : Rideascout's Zero Emission Vehicle and Lagos Market

Nigeria, the economic heartbeat of Africa and the most populous black nation on Earth is plagued by a continuing threat of pollution proliferation spreading through her like a cancer, crippling economic buoyancy and adversely affecting the quality of life of her people and the environment. The devastating effects of air pollution are felt mainly in the metropolis of the world with both developed and developing cities having to face this demon. Several efforts have been channeled into stemming the tide of this increasingly adverse phenomenom but all efforts have proved abortive so far. Sometimes for inadequate funding and other times as a result of deficient environmental preservation policies and education, hence the need to develop an unorthodox alternative to tackling this menace. Rideascout, a Finnish startup mainly into engineering activities and related technical consultancy are developing a Zero Emission Vehicle which aims to be a solution at tackling air pollution. In order to learn about prospective markets and understand the viability of their produt in said markets, the company decided to carry out a voracious market research. As an active part of the research exercise, I hope this thesis will provide an amalgam of knowledge and information on how the product can have a seamless transition into Nigeria as a whole and Lagos in particular as well as its possible uses. This literature attempts to conduct a holistic analysis of the Nigerian market and explore ways in which the Zero Emmision Vehical can penetrate and thrive in the prospective market. The author employed deductive reasoning and qualitative research as the primary methods of collating the pieces of information used in this text. All of the information utilized in this thesis was gathered from disparate sources. Primary data were assembled through a series of unstructured interviews with prospective consumers as well as the manufacturers. While secondary data were collated from different reliable sources varying including journals, books, internet sources, and articles. Theoretically, this thesis employs PESTEL analysis and Porter’s Five Forces as the main marketing tools to evaluate external factors including the current market situation, as well as competition, opportunities, and threats while the Empirical part is made up of three subsets also backed by PESTLE analysis. Porter’s Five Forces was employed in the analysis and examination of the competition in the auto industry, as well as draw up possible strategy development and market entry suggestions. The thesis therefore advocates for Lagos as a possible prospective market as there lies untapped potential and a sea of prospective customers in Nigeria’s Center of Excellence should the case company consider entering into the international market