Selection and baseline
Review the product, customer, commercial records, fulfilment capacity and current sales channels.
Merchant Growth
LTTW Merchant Growth Pilot
A structured institutional programme for established African consumer brands. It combines commercial diagnosis, controlled customer testing and a clear readiness assessment.
Proposed cohort: 10 businesses
Proposed duration: 10–12 weeks
Purpose
Move beyond generic training and test how businesses perform in the market.
The pilot is designed for institutions that already serve merchants but need a stronger view of which businesses can acquire customers, fulfil reliably and use further support responsibly.
The first cohort will validate programme delivery, establish comparable merchant data and produce a practical case for recurring institutional deployment.
Merchant criteria
Businesses should already have evidence of real demand.
Operating history
A trading business with existing customers and a product already in market.
Commercial records
Basic sales, cost, payment and fulfilment information that can be reviewed.
Digital readiness
A functioning payment channel and willingness to improve the customer journey.
Delivery capacity
The ability to fulfil additional demand without damaging product quality or service.
Founder commitment
Management participation and consent to share programme data with the institutional partner.
Programme structure
A progression from diagnosis to evidence.
Commercial improvement
Strengthen the offer, product pages, checkout, pricing presentation and customer follow-up.
Controlled market test
Run a measured customer-acquisition test with a defined budget, audience and reporting method.
Readiness assessment
Produce an individual merchant report and a portfolio-level view for the institutional partner.
Measurement framework
Commercial evidence, not attendance.
Area
Measures
DemandConversion, customer-acquisition cost and order quality
EconomicsGross margin, contribution after direct costs and campaign payback
OperationsFulfilment time, delivery success, returns and customer complaints
RetentionRepeat purchase, customer follow-up and early cohort behaviour
ReadinessManagement discipline, record quality and capacity to absorb further growth
Proposed pilot outcomes
A clearer merchant pipeline for the institutional partner.
The pilot is expected to produce ten commercial diagnostics, controlled acquisition tests, merchant-readiness reports and a portfolio-level summary of the strongest businesses.
It is suitable for payment companies, banks, commerce platforms, corporate sponsors and development organisations seeking measurable merchant outcomes.
Discuss the Merchant Growth Pilot