When Marketing Almost Destroyed Us

In the early days of eTranzact, I was the marketing guy. Fresh. Ambitious. Ready to prove myself.

We were operating fine. One major client—UBA. Heritage Tower, third floor. Everything running smoothly.

But I couldn't understand why we weren't making “noise”.

So, I did what any ambitious marketing person would do: I placed an ad in the newspaper.

Then, I organized a press conference in our conference room to explain what we were about.

The story was published the next day.

Within days, Bank of Ghana (BOG) called.

"Why are you operating without a license?"

At that time, there was no licensing regime for what we did. We hadn't broken any rules—or so we thought.

But my marketing campaign had woken the regulator up.

BOG summoned us. Their message was clear: "You cannot just wake up and do whatever you like."

They threatened to sanction us for operating without a license.

I immediately called the newspaper to stop the subsequent ads we'd already planned.

We had to organize an emergency delegation to engage BOG on the matter.

I sat in that meeting thinking: We were fine. Completely fine. Until I opened my mouth.

The irony wasn't lost on me. I was the marketing guy who was supposed to know better. I thought my job was to shout. To make us visible. To get attention.

I learned from this experience that attention isn't always good. Sometimes it wakes up giants you aren't ready to deal with.

In tech, where innovation often runs ahead of regulation, noise can trigger regulatory nightmares. Fortunately, the terrain is different today, with many regulators exploring sandboxes following the success of the BOG sandbox.

Another giant is competition you're not ready for. A startup making noise before cementing its competitive advantage risks inviting competitors with deeper pockets and better scaling capacity.

A final giant—a double-edged sword—is premature investment. Innovative startups attract venture capitalists with offers beyond a founder's projections. While tempting, taking money before you're ready can derail your vision.

The humbling eTranzact lesson sat with me quietly for years.

Fast forward to when Nsano started.

I'd launched several businesses before. Some failed. Some left us in debt. So, when Nsano began finding its market fit, I carried two fears: failing publicly and making noise that would invite scrutiny we weren't ready for.

Beyond the noise you make yourself, I quickly realised that even the noise others make for you—awards, 'rising stars' lists, international speaking engagements—could trap you. They take your focus away from building and towards keeping up appearances.

My fears and hard lessons led to something that would become Nsano's operating philosophy.

But I didn't fully understand it yet. Not until one night in 2018, when we won our first major award.

That night would crystallize everything that press conference had tried to teach me.

[Part 2 coming soon]