General News
Why in-House R&D Often Beats Acquired Tech when it Comes to Giving Customers Great Software
By Andrew Bourne, Region Manager, Africa, Zoho Corporation
When it comes to choosing technology providers for their businesses, CTOs and IT leaders have two options. The first is adopting a ‘best-of-breed’ approach, which involves hand-picking several disparate apps and products by different vendors, each one serving a specific need effectively. The second option is to take a ‘single vendor/integrated stack’ approach, choosing one tech provider who offers a suite of pre-integrated applications that addresses multiple business requirements in one go. Customers today increasingly prefer the second option to streamline their business processes.
In a bid to cater to this demand for unified software suites, technology companies—especially those that provide best-of-breed apps, are racing to expand their capabilities. Often, they do this through mergers and acquisitions (M&A), buying up apps to satisfy customers’ growing needs. While this approach has some appeal — most notably, it allows vendors to quickly secure market share without building something from the ground up — this is inherently flawed.
By making extensive use of M&As, software vendors risk ending up with a poorly integrated “Frankenstein’s Monster”-style technology stack which falls short of the promise of application consolidation and doesn’t really add value for customers.
The trouble with M&A – Cultural and technological integration issues
M&A activity comes with an array of complications, including culture clashes, redundancies, office politics, increased attrition rates, and tech integration challenges. In fact, a 2016 Harvard Business Review article went as far to say that “M&A is a mug’s game, in which typically 70% – 90% of acquisitions are abysmal failures.”
Those failures ultimately impact the customer, by putting them in the same situation they’d be in if they were trying to work with a string of different products.
Even the biggest companies struggle when it comes to successfully integrating acquisitions. In the consumer space, users know this all too well. Take Yahoo for example. When it bought Tumblr for US$1.1-billion in 2013, it thought it had a surefire winner on its hands. Yahoo’s idea was to strengthen its social media platform services by integrating Tumblr’s blogs more tightly into its network using the former’s personalization technology and search infrastructure. Unfortunately, Yahoo never managed to properly integrate the micro-blogging social network and even stripped it of some of its most celebrated features.
Similarly, Microsoft’s difficulties with Skype are well-chronicled. Having acquired the peer-to-peer calling and messaging service for US$8.5-billion in 2011, Microsoft initially planned to integrate Skype’s telephony architecture into its user communication platform and a few other services. That integration took so long and had such flawed execution that consumer confidence took a massive hit. As a result, when the Seattle-based tech giant launched Teams in 2016, it developed its own video-calling feature in-house instead of leveraging Skype’s capabilities to ensure aesthetic consistency as well as a more streamlined fit among its enterprise collaboration solutions suite.
On observation, it is typically public companies that spend billions acquiring disparate technologies, in order to inherit massive customer bases and expand sales to satisfy investor demands for constant growth. Unfortunately, when an acquisition fails, it’s the customers who bear the brunt of incompatible integrations and broken user experiences. Rather than banking on high-profile acquisitions that hold higher odds of failure, vendors that have their customers’ best interests at heart could also consider investing in developing their own software and services.
The case for going in-house
Developing native technologies and building products in-house surely takes its sweet time. Of course, an integrated suite of business solutions that’s built on a unified tech stack can take even longer, and also religious investment across in-house R&D/innovation capacities, homegrown talent, and resource upskilling. But the investment is worth the effort. Not only does it save big money and make things simpler, it also projects trust and credibility, helping build long-lasting customer relationships.
Creating complementary applications from scratch also ensures that they contextually integrate with one another from the get-go. It also provides a consistent look and feel in performance, making its customers more likely to accept the new product. On the other end, customers too benefit from a set of applications that work in perfect unison to drive better organisational processes and improve collaboration.
When it comes to building great enterprise technology that lasts, therefore, it’s much better for vendors to build in-house than to try and buy their way to growth and expansion.
Cellulant, a leading Pan-African payments company enabling seamless digital transactions across Africa, has appointed Mr. Freddie Oduro as its new Country Manager for Ghana.
Mr. Freddie Oduro, New Country Manager for Ghana.
Freddie’s appointment is a key step in Cellulant’s broader strategy to deepen its presence in priority markets by accelerating the acquisition of in-country enterprise businesses and strengthening its position as the payments partner of choice in Africa.
Freddie brings over a decade of commercial and strategic leadership experience in the telecommunications and financial services sectors, with expertise in sales, business operations, and market expansion.
In his new role, he will drive merchant acquisition, strengthening partnerships, oversee collections and payout operations, while ensuring strong internal controls and regulatory compliance.
He joins Cellulant from Payaza and previously served as Sales Director at Cellulant, where he helped significantly expand the company’s footprint in Ghana.
Cellulant has been powering payments in Ghana for leading brands in sectors like e-commerce, utilities, oil and gas and retail, helping them offer their customers a wide range of secure digital payment options.
“We are happy to welcome Freddie back to the Cellulant family,” says Richard Gesimba, Chief Revenue Officer at Cellulant. “Ghana remains a critical market for us, with immense potential driven by rising digital payments adoption.
“As we sharpen our focus on in-country enterprise customers, Freddie’s leadership and industry insight make him the ideal person to steer our Ghana operations.”
The appointment comes at a transformative time for the company. Following a strategic shift between late 2023 and early 2024, focused on streamlining operations, doubling down on enterprise payments, and strengthening customer intimacy, Cellulant achieved profitability in 2024 and continues to build on this momentum.
The company now processes close to 4.5 million transactions daily for businesses across Africa, reinforcing its position as a fintech leader.
“I am honoured to return to Cellulant and lead the Ghana team at such a defining moment,” says Freddie, Country Manager for Cellulant Ghana. “Ghana presents a tremendous opportunity.
“We will ramp up our efforts to sign on more local merchants, strengthen our compliance and control frameworks, and introduce innovative solutions like Tingg Edupay, our automated school fee management solution that eliminates reconciliation delays by validating payments in real time and instantly updating student accounts.
“We will build on Cellulant’s strong foundation to deliver real value, reliability, and economic impact.”
Ghana’s digital payments sector continues to grow steadily, supported by increased mobile money usage and a progressive regulatory environment. Between January and October 2025, the value of mobile money transactions hit about GH¢ 3.6 trillion, up sharply from GH¢ 2.37 trillion in the same period of 2024.
Registered mobile money accounts now exceed 79 million, demonstrating strong consumer and business confidence in digital financial services and in turn creating many opportunities for payment innovation.
This leadership appointment underscores Cellulant’s commitment to building a resilient, high-performance organisation geared towards playing a pivotal role in the next era of Africa’s digital economy.
Looking ahead to 2026, Cellulant plans to further enhance the user experience on its payment platform, Tingg, and expand its footprint across Ghana.
Nigeria’s startup ecosystem received a fresh injection of momentum as top emerging ventures secured funding and investor attention at the iHatch National Demo Day, where Interface Africa clinched the highest prize of $15,000.
The 4th cohort of the NITDA–JICA-backed accelerator brought together founders, policymakers, and venture stakeholders in Abuja, showcasing innovations ranging from clean-energy financing and digital food marketplaces to next-gen fintech tools.
The startups went rounds of running through state-level selections and regional competition. iHatch was established in 2021 as a strategic partnership to create an enabling environment for young Nigerians to develop and scale their innovative solutions.
The iHatch National Demo Day (4th Cohort), is an initiative by NITDA and JICA which provides a clear pathway for homegrown talent to contribute significantly to economic diversification and digital transformation.
After rigorous selection processes, the top founders converged to pitch their innovations, recognised the standout performers, which are:
Interface Africa with $15,000, the firm is driving Nigeria’s clean energy transition by enabling structured and affordable solar financing.
Ahioma with $12,000, the firm enhances food accessibility with a digital marketplace connecting consumers directly to trusted vendors.
Linia Finance with $10,000, the firm is helping Nigerians take control of their finances with tools for budgeting, tracking, and smart money planning.
Chapta got a laptop reward. They delivering an offline-capable school application ensuring consistent, accessible learning for students everywhere.
Softdrop also got a laptop reward, they solve logistics challenges through a modern delivery platform designed for speed, convenience, and efficiency.
Fidelity Bank Plc, a leading financial institution, will host a free virtual training on the Nigeria Tax Act 2025 (NTA) as part of its commitment to helping small businesses prepare for the upcoming legislation.
Fidelity Bank
The masterclass is scheduled for 10:00 AM (Nigerian time) on Friday, 12 December 2025. It will provide participants with clear insights into changes in the tax framework, the impact on income and business operations, and practical steps to avoid penalties in 2026.
Attendees will also learn strategies to stay ahead in an evolving regulatory environment.
The Nigerian government enacted major tax reforms on 26 June 2025 when President Bola Ahmed Tinubu signed four tax bills into law.
These Acts will take effect on 1 January 2026 and represent a significant overhaul of the country’s tax system.
The reforms aim to modernize and harmonize Nigeria’s tax framework, improve revenue generation, broaden the tax base, and create clearer rules for individuals, businesses, and government agencies.
“Our decision to host this masterclass reflects our commitment to empowering businesses with the right information ahead of the commencement of the new tax regime.
“Information is money and a well-informed business owner is already steps ahead in the race to success.
“This is why we are bringing experts to provide accurate details and demystify the tax act,” said Osita Ede, Divisional Head, Product Development, Fidelity Bank Plc.
Interested participants can register via https://bit.ly/2026TaxLawMasterclass .
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