Migration as a Service ✈️

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In this week’s Tech Safari Takes, we teamed up with Vesti to look at migration-as-a-service.

They’re helping people solve the challenges of migration using tech.

We’ll be hosting a webinar on the 15th of May at 5pm WAT, with Olusola Amusan, CEO of Vesti to talk about how the startup is using tech to help Africans migrate.

Register here to save your spot.

This week we’re excited to team up with Sheriff Alimi, founder of Next Capital, to write this edition on Migration-as-a-service.

Let’s dive in!

Nigeria had its biggest youth protest, EndSARS in 2020.

According to its government, over 3.6 million people have left the country since.

But it’s not just Nigeria.

Millions of Africans are leaving the continent for better opportunities.

The migration industry in Africa makes billions annually.

And where there’s this much demand, there’s a startup to be built.

The Story

Migration is such a huge culture in Nigeria that people invented a name for it - “japa” which means “run”.

Leaving is considered an escape from the country’s problems.

And for decades, millions of Nigerians have left for countries in the West.

But it’s not just a Nigerian thing - over 17 million. Africans currently live outside the continent.

And every year 440,000 Africans leave the continent.

What are these people running towards?

A better life and more opportunities.

The average Nigerian who migrates earns way more over their lifetime than someone who stays home.

And because japa is an economic decision, most people are headed for the US, UK, Canada, or Australia.

There are many ways to migrate - but none are straightforward.

The Context

Most migrants leave by three main routes - school, work, or family.

But these routes are expensive and complicated.

For example - the study route can take seven months to apply for, and cost up to $6,000 - that’s not including tuition.

It’s roughly equal to the average annual income in Africa.

For many, moving abroad means selling their assets or taking a loan.

But money is one-half of the question - the other half is figuring out how to migrate.

There are different visa categories, and migration laws change all the time.

People soon turned to the internet for information.

Online forums like Nairaland have threads with thousands of posts on moving abroad.

Here, people share tips for going from a dream to a new life in a different country.

But the process is still so complex that an economy of “visa agents” has popped up to aid the process.

And this isn’t just a thing in Nigeria - it’s a global issue.

In 2022, $14.2 billion was paid to visa agents.

They help people create a winning migrant profile, apply for visas and even book flights - all for a fee.

But dealing with visa agents can be opaque, and things can go wrong.

Despite the risk, the visa agent industry is still growing.

And this leaves an opportunity for tech to change how things work.

The Tech Safari Take

Introducing: Migration-as-a-Service.

Tech can be used to bundle the immigration process and make things simpler for everyone.

These guys are an example of that already happening.

In 2018, Olusola Amusan started a Telegram community called Moving Abroad in 12 Months.

He’d moved abroad for his tech job at Microsoft and had seen how daunting the migration process was.

The requirements, migration laws, fees, and different pathways could make it a tricky process for anyone.

So, he built a community to help people craft and execute a migration plan.

His Telegram group shot up to 6,000 people - and so did the problems he started to see.

And as they came up, he started building solutions to many of the challenging questions migrants face:

1. The question “Where do I even move to?” turned into a personalised roadmap for different migration paths.

2. “How do I raise money to travel?” became an app with a savings plan and eventually offered access to migration loans.

3. “How do I manage my finances when I move?” became digital wallets built to help migrants hold money in different currencies.

He rolled up all these solutions in one app and called it Vesti.

But Olu soon realised this solution could be bigger - so he moved it out of the group, scaled it across Africa, and today, Vesti is going global.

Vesti is now building financial and immigration rails for 281 million immigrants globally.

And they’re not the only startup going after this market:

• GetIn helps more Nigerians get into foreign schools more easily.

• PaveHQ helps Africans win study scholarships

• Pay4me helps migrants pay for all their travel-related fees

• And Flutterwave Send solves cross-border payments for international students.

These startups are turning a big, stressful process into something easier.

And as migration grows in Africa, we’ll see Migration-as-a-Service grow too.

What do you think of Migration-as-a-Service?

Let us know here - and don’t forget to join our webinar next week.

Tech Safari Finds

💡 Someone created a website where you can drive and listen to the radio in any city on Earth. Check it out here.

🤯 Ever heard about a company that helps other companies die? Read about Sunset HQ here.

💸 Meta’s shareholders aren’t feeling Zuck’s latest moves in AI and the stock took its worst beating in years last week. Read about it here.

Tweet of the week

We can always learn a thing or two from rap beef.

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