How to get your first users for your app in Nigeria

Write down ten people who have the problem your app solves. Real names, not “students” or “small business owners”. The cousin who runs a shop and keeps her stock in a notebook. The friend from your class who complains about splitting bills. If you can't think of ten, spend a week finding them before you spend another month building.

Paul Graham, who started Y Combinator, tells founders the same thing. Early on, you go out and get users one at a time, by hand, even though it feels too slow to matter. It does matter, because those first people show you what to build next.¹

Nigeria had about 109 million people online in late 2025, but only around 47.8 million social media accounts.² So any one platform reaches fewer people than it seems, and the right one depends on who you're building for.

• Apps for young people and creators: TikTok and Instagram. TikTok could reach about 47.8 million adults in Nigeria in late 2025.
• Tools for businesses and professionals: LinkedIn, which had about 13 million members in Nigeria, and the WhatsApp groups your users already belong to.
• Developer tools: X, where builders share what they're working on.
• Anything local: the WhatsApp groups for an estate, a church, a market or a school. Ask the admin before you post. A message dropped into a group with no warning gets ignored, or gets you removed.

Those platform figures are advertising reach, not daily users, so treat them as a rough guide.²

A post to everyone gets a few likes. A message to one person gets a reply. Keep it short: what the app does in one line, why you thought of them, and one thing you'd like them to try. Then offer to help them set it up, on a call or in person.

The founders of Stripe were known for this. When someone agreed to try it, they'd ask for the laptop and set it up right there, instead of sending a link.¹

Watch people use it if you can, and say nothing while they do. Note where they stop, what they tap that does nothing, and what they expected to happen. Ask what they used before your app, and what it cost them.

Fix the biggest problem within a week, then go back and tell them it's fixed. People who see their feedback acted on tend to come back, and they tell their friends.

Many people pay for every megabyte, and plenty of phones run short of space. Google's own Android guidance says people often skip apps that look too big to download, especially on slow networks or plans with data limits.³ Keep the download small, make the first screen load quickly on a weak signal, and let people try something before they have to sign up.

On Prow: Posting your project on Prow is free. People browsing can try it with one tap and leave feedback on your page, and you can reply to each one. When it starts making money, connect Stripe, or send Paystack or Flutterwave screenshots, so the numbers show on your page too.

• You've written down ten people who have the problem, by name.
• You know which platform they actually use.
• You message people one at a time, and offer to set it up for them.
• You watch the first users and fix the biggest problem within a week.
• The app is small, quick on a weak signal, and easy to try before signing up.