Everything you need to know about working with a Pan-African research agency.
About Onyx Africa
What does Onyx Africa do?
Onyx Africa is a Pan-African research agency offering African market research and strategy, qualitative research across Africa, and strategic consulting at the intersection of FinTech, Web3, culture, and the African digital economy. We help global organisations decode Africa’s emerging markets with clarity, conviction, and context — producing intelligence that changes product, brand, and policy decisions.
What makes Onyx Africa different from a traditional research firm?
We are not a traditional research firm. We operate as a Pan-African intelligence layer — combining African futures research, original cultural narratives, and mobile-first qualitative methods to produce insight that actually shapes decisions. Where most agencies extract data and deliver decks, we partner around the problem until the research has changed something measurable.
What is the African Renaissance perspective behind your work?
At Onyx Africa, we explore how Africans build systems, narratives, and institutions on their own terms. It is the lens that shapes our African tech trends research and Africa digital economy insights — moving beyond extractive research models toward intelligence that respects local context and creates lasting value for African communities.
About Onyx Africa
Which African markets does Onyx Africa cover?
We operate as a Pan-African strategy consulting firm with active fieldwork across Southern, East, West, and North Africa. As a South Africa market research agency at our base, we extend coverage into Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Rwanda, Egypt and beyond — generating African emerging markets intelligence for organisations entering, scaling, or repositioning on the continent.
What types of organisations do you work with?
We partner with global technology companies, FinTech and Web3 ventures, foundations, investors, and policy organisations that need Africa consumer insights and Pan-African strategy consulting.
Methodology
What is WhatsApp ethnography and why does it matter for Africa?
A mobile-first qualitative research methodology that captures consumer behaviour where Africans already live — inside the messaging app they use every day. In several key African markets, WhatsApp penetration among internet users exceeds 90%, making it the most powerful channel for real-time Africa consumer insights, voice-note interviews, diary studies, and moderated community research.
How is qualitative research conducted across Africa?
Our qualitative research approach captures the cultural nuance and lived experience that traditional focus groups and surveys consistently miss in African emerging markets.
Sectors & Specialisms
Do you offer FinTech research in Africa?
Yes. We support payments, remittance, neobank, lending, and embedded-finance ventures with consumer research, competitor mapping, regulatory context, and go-to-market strategy across African emerging markets — including specialist work on the stokvel economy and informal finance.
Do you offer Web3 and crypto research in Africa?
Yes. Our work blends quantitative market sizing with qualitative research (Africa-wide) to surface adoption drivers, trust signals, and culturally resonant narratives.
What sectors do you currently explore?
We currently focus on eCommerce, FinTech, Web3, digital health, financial empowerment, consumer behaviour, the stokvel economy, e-hailing, and EdTech — sectors where African tech trends research and Africa digital economy insights are reshaping how the continent participates in the global digital economy.
Engagements & Deliverables
What deliverables can I expect from a project?
Depending on scope, deliverables include market landscape reports, consumer segmentation, jobs-to-be-done frameworks, opportunity maps, narrative strategy, product recommendations, and African futures research scenarios… Every project ends with an actionable roadmap — not a report that lives on a shelf.
How quickly can a research project be delivered?
Timelines depend on scope and geographic coverage. A focused single-market WhatsApp ethnography study can be delivered in 3–5 weeks, while multi-country African emerging markets intelligence engagements typically run from 6–12 weeks.
How do I start a project with Onyx Africa?
Visit our Get A Quote page or book a discovery call via Koalendar. We will scope the brief, align on outcomes, and propose a tailored engagement — whether you need a one-off African market research and strategy sprint or an ongoing intelligence partnership.
Still have questions about working with us? Let's talk.
Book a discovery call and we’ll walk you through it.