From Lagos to London: How Nigeria’s Top Brands Are Winning Global Trust in Tech & Finance

Jeremiah Musa, International PR Expert and Head of Content at The Bit Gazette, an international Tech and Finance company. He reveals how he’s helped Nigerian firms secure global recognition, in the face of Africa’s unique credibility challenges.

As both a PR strategist and Head of Content at The Bit Gazette, you bridge African tech/finance and the global stage. What’s the biggest credibility gap you see for Nigerian firms?

The perception gap. Many Nigerian firms are innovating at global standards, but without the right platforms validating them, they’re stuck fighting stereotypes. My PR strategy cuts through this by securing features in elite publications like Bloomberg and Financial Times, not necessarily as ‘African startups,’ but as global standard setters. When the world sees your fintech solution analyzed alongside Stripe’s in a TechCrunch deep-dive, or your CEO quoted in Forbes about emerging markets, that third-party credibility becomes your most valuable asset.

Nigerian CEOs often complain about exclusion from global finance conversations. How true is this, and can this ever change?

Of course, a number of Nigerians are changing the narrative. The strategy is; don’t beg for attention; rather, force inclusion. When the international companies begin to hear about a particular brand on Bloomberg, Forbes, New York Weekly and the rest, the believability rate skyrockets. It really doesn’t matter who founded the company or the brand. That’s the power of affiliation. It’s high time Nigerian and African brands gained the international respect they deserve.

*when you first started in PR, what broke your heart about how Nigerian brands were perceived abroad?

It hurt to see brilliant Nigerian founders reduced to stereotypes. A client once told me a potential investor actually asked if they had ‘real offices’ or just worked from internet cafes. That moment lit a fire in me. These aren’t charity cases – they’re world-class businesses that happen to be African. My mission became helping the world see that.

As Head of Content at The Bit Gazette, how do you help shift narratives?

Early on, I noticed Western media only covered African tech when something went wrong. So we started creating undeniable success stories. When we featured a Nigerian blockchain founder who’d coded her solution during blackouts, it wasn’t just inspiring – it forced global platforms to take notice. Now that story gets cited in international tech conferences.

What’s your advice to Nigerian founders who feel invisible on the global stage?

I tell them: ‘Your struggle is your strength.’ A client’s delivery trucks getting stuck in bad roads became our PR gold: we positioned them as logistics innovators who’d mastered what Amazon struggles with in emerging markets. The very things they’re ashamed of are often what makes them extraordinary.

How do you handle it when clients lose hope after facing discrimination?

I remind them of the Nigerian fighting spirit. You can try to relegate a Nigerian, but he always pushes through and challenges to reach his goal. We recently worked with a manufacturer who kept losing bids to inferior Chinese products. So we stopped competing on price and instead, pushed up their international reputation. That emotional connection won them a luxury European contract at triple their usual rate.

What keeps you up at night about Africa’s PR challenges?

The wasted potential. For every Dangote or Flutterwave, there are a hundred brilliant businesses the world never hears about. But when I see a client’s face when they land that first international deal, or when their kids can proudly say ‘My dad’s company was featured in Forbes’ – that’s why I do this.

What’s your parting word to Nigerian entrepreneurs?

Jeremiah: “The world isn’t waiting for Africa to catch up, it’s racing to copy what we’re doing right. Your job isn’t to beg for a seat; it’s to prove the table is obsolete without you.”

For enquiries, reach out to Jeremiah via 08064697829 or through https://url-shortener.me/1EH8