Day 15 — Competing With Zero

Distributing to the base of the pyramid

Hey everyone,

This is Day 15. Halfway already! It’s been such an interesting run, and today I want to touch on something I’ve always found fascinating: distributing to the base of the pyramid.

I first heard that phrase a few years ago during a business program, and it completely changed how I think about markets. It’s the idea that at the base of the pyramid are the people whose alternative isn’t another product, it’s nothing. They’d rather not use anything at all. That means you’re not competing against another brand; you’re competing against zero.

And that’s a completely different distribution game.

See, at the top and middle of the pyramid, you compete for preference users are already buyers; you’re just convincing them to switch. But at the base, you compete for adoption, you’re convincing people that the category itself is even worth their attention.

That shift changes everything: your pricing, your channel strategy, and even your product design.

In FMCG, this is old news. Companies like Unilever and Coca-Cola built entire empires on base-of-the-pyramid distribution. They learned early that if people can’t afford your product, you don’t lower the quality; you redesign the package. Smaller sachets, smaller bottles, same experience, different unit economics. It’s genius.

Dano Milk does this exceptionally well. You’ll find them everywhere: kiosks, roadside stores, and community markets. They’ve mastered how to move products to people who would otherwise never reach for them. That’s distribution at work, not marketing campaigns, but physical reach engineered into the business model.

Now, let’s bring this thinking into the tech world.

Distributing tech products to the base of the pyramid means designing delivery systems that make technology accessible, affordable, and usable for low-income or under-served users.

Start with accessibility. Some of these users have low bandwidth, limited internet access, or low-end devices. That’s why USSD payment systems are so brilliant with no app, no data, no problem. Accessibility isn’t a feature; it’s the foundation of distribution here.

Then there’s affordability. You can’t price for aspiration; you have to price for consistency. That’s why pay-as-you-go and micro-transaction models work. Even if each purchase seems small, the collective behaviour at the base of the pyramid compounds on a scale.

Next, localisation. And this one’s both cultural and linguistic. If your interface, tone, or payment flow doesn’t feel familiar, people drop off. Look at Opay, they understood this deeply. Their communication feels local, their language is familiar, and their touch-points mirror how people actually interact with money. That’s how they grew.

But here’s one of my favorite ideas, using humans to scale digital distribution.

It sounds counter-intuitive, right? In tech, we’re taught to automate, not humanise. But in base-of-the-pyramid markets, humans are the infrastructure. That’s what the agent network model proves.

Moniepoint nailed this. Their growth didn’t just come from performance marketing; it came from people. Agents, one after another, are expanding the reach physically. A human distribution layer built on top of a digital product. It’s one of the most efficient scaling models in emerging markets.

Telcos are another brilliant example. I once heard someone say that telcos are the original tech companies, and it’s true. Look at how MTN or Glo grew, they handed out SIM cards for free or at a minimal cost, charged micro-amounts for airtime, and built trust through ubiquity. Their USSD and SMS systems still power millions of transactions today. MTN and Glo are probably the earliest examples of infrastructure-led marketing distribution that sell themselves by being embedded into daily life.

Even now, many tech brands are learning from that playbook, using SMS and WhatsApp as distribution interfaces. I’ve seen small utilities that let you pay for electricity through WhatsApp where I live. That’s distribution adapting to where your users already are.

M-Pesa did this too. It didn’t just build a mobile wallet; it built trust through accessibility. No need for an app, smartphone, or internet. Distribution like that doesn’t just reach users; it redefines what a market even looks like.

And then there’s uLesson. They realized that to reach families with poor internet access, they needed to design an offline-first product. They developed learning kits, offered flexible payment plans, and enabled students to study with minimal data. That’s a perfect example of designing distribution directly into the product experience.

When you think about it, the principle is the same whether it’s milk or mobile apps:
How do you make someone who would normally choose nothing choose you?

That’s the essence of distributing to the base of the pyramid. It’s not just about reach; it’s about relevance. Marketing can create awareness, but distribution is what creates participation.

At the base of the pyramid, that’s where real innovation happens, not in features, but in accessibility, pricing, and trust.

Because when people who would normally choose nothing start choosing you, you’re not just selling, you’re changing behaviour.

And that’s the hardest, but most rewarding kind of distribution there is.

See you tomorrow for Day 16.

Cheers,