888Africa’s CEO Christopher Coyne has claimed the company is looking to grow fast, eyeing 10-15 years’ worth of progress across the next five years. 

The continent remains an emerging market with plenty of potential opportunities for operators in the near future. 888’s CEO has claimed that Africa is not behind nor slow as he broke down the industry landscape but there are blossoming opportunities, including in Malawi.

Charlie Horner, Media Manager at SBC, sat down with Christopher Coyne, Co-Founder and CEO of 888Africa, for a discussion about the continent’s iGaming landscape on the latest episode of the iGaming Daily podcast.

“It’s not to say Africa is slow or unimaginative,” Coyne explained. “It’s just different—different handsets, different languages, different conditions. But it’s moving fast, and in the next three to five years, we can grow 10 to 15 years’ worth of progress.”

“Africa is 54 markets, around 30 of those have regulation for online. It’s not one market—it’s a continent of over a billion people, with immense diversity in languages, infrastructure, and regulation.

Speaking to that potential growth, he also revealed how direct their business plan is for reaching the top of the market. “We literally have a checklist. There’s nothing stopping us being in 20 markets. 

“It’s very, very important to think about what’s our right to compete in this market? We have an ambition to be podium position in every market where we operate.

“By podium position, we mean top three in every market that we operate somewhere in a reasonable amount of time. So I would say 18 months to 24 months from when we put the market live, our ambition is to be podium.

“We have an organic strategy, but we have an inorganic vision as well. Where we can’t get podium of our own organically, we will be looking to make acquisitions that supercharge us up the rankings in a given market and get us to podium in a different way”

In terms of strategic market selection, it comes down to factors such as: Population size (ideally 20M+), mobile penetration, economic growth, stability (avoiding conflict zones), favorable tax/licensing regimes and a competitive landscape with room for growth.

One country that could fit such criteria would be Malawi, given its low competition, high growth potential, and improving conditions. “Malawi is very interesting,” Coyne began.

“Malawi is a market that we’ve been focused on, both in setup and then operation, for probably 12 months now. It’s a market that is lighter on competition” 

Whereas the biggest markets include the likes of South Africa, Nigeria and Egypt, the potential for growth in Malawi could represent a chance to obtain more of the market share for 888 Africa, in which Coyne claimed that 888 is “on the road” to podium in that market in the future.