Advancing Africa Digitally: Bluegrass Digital To Expand To West Africa

                                           

From London to Lagos. Bluegrass Digital, a London born, Cape Town based digital agency is bridging the gap between South and West Africa. Experts in website technology, development, online marketing and forward thinking, Bluegrass have now set their sights on the West after working on exciting digital projects in collaboration with various ad agencies in Nigeria. The most recent being the creation of a microsite for Dettol using one of the world’s leading content management systems, Umbraco, developing a mini flash game for Morteins andMobile Money banners for Stanbic Bank.

“A huge opportunity exists in Africa as an emerging digital market”, says Bluegrass Operations Director, Mark Hawkins. Digital spend increased by 58% in 2012 and is expected to increase this year, most notably in the home and mobile sectors. Interestingly enough, although South Africa’s mobile internet penetration is 70%, its desktop internet penetration is only 11% compared to that of Nigeria where both mobile and desktop penetration are over 20%.”

Mark adds, “There’s demand for digital services as countries like Ghana and Nigeria need to outsource work internationally because there aren’t many digital agencies with the skills to provide a specialised service locally.”

The Great Trek

Bluegrass Digital is looking to broaden their business reach into Africa via a trip to Ghana in May this year. The expedition is looking to include five to ten local Cape Town businesses with a desire to tap into the West African market. The mission’s aim is to gather knowledge and begin building business relationships with the ultimate goal to attract new partner agencies and business in West Africa.

Managing Director, Nicholas Durrant says, “As the internet is continuously growing, we understand the need to grow with it and that means identifying emerging online markets and helping these grow too.”