Connect African manufacturers directly to global wholesale buyers—take a cut of every deal.
Monetization
Freemium
Difficulty
Intermediate
Time to first
4–8 weeks
Market signal
$1M–10M/mo
Why it works
A Finance & Money product in this shape is already a proven earner — real businesses here run at roughly $1M–10M/mo. See the live example for exactly how it's packaged and sold.
Who it's for
A Nigerian founder who understands local manufacturing (textiles, cosmetics, agro-processing, electronics assembly) and can build trust with both factory owners and international resellers.
How to build it
1. Map 20–50 verified manufacturers in Nigeria (cosmetics, fabrics, processed foods, handicrafts) who already export or want to. Vet their capacity, pricing, lead times. Sign them to a simple listing agreement (10–15% commission per order).
2. Build a bare-bones listing site: product pages with photos, specs, MOQ, pricing, factory info. Use Airtable + Webflow or simple Node.js + PostgreSQL. No payment processing—orders route directly to factory + buyer. You confirm and take commission.
3. Cold outreach to 100+ existing resellers in East Africa, Europe, Asia (find them on Alibaba, Global Sources, Tradekey). Show them 5–10 live listings. Offer them direct factory access at better terms than Alibaba.
4. Run Telegram/WhatsApp groups where buyers ask for products ("looking for bulk organic shea butter") and you match them to factories in 24 hours. Add friction to every match so they'll pay fo
Suggested stack
Webflow or simple Next.js for listing sitePostgreSQL for order/factory dataStripe or Paystack for collecting commission (seller invoices buyer; you collect margin via invoice splitting)Telegram Bot API for order matching alertsFigma for product UIGoogle Sheets or Airtable for initial factory CRM
Your edge as a builder from anywhere
You are physically close to verified factories. You can vet manufacturing capacity in person. You speak the local language and understand credit/payment risk. No Western competitor can build trust with Nigerian cosmetics or textile factories as fast or cheaply as you. Your cost to acquire a factory seller is ₦0–50k (a visit + phone calls); theirs is $500–1500 (ads + sales team). You can also tap r
Market signal
Real ad-market activity behind this proven pattern — from public ad libraries.