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Country manager, Nigeria for Zoho, Kehinde Ogundare has explained that the recent price increase for users in Nigeria was an uneasy decision for the company and an outcome of careful consideration. According to him, despite the economic realities of the country, the company waited for 4 years to effect a new price regime. 
This follows a recent email sent to Nigerian users by the software company that it has reviewed its pricing upward to “reflect the current market conditions better and ensure the sustainability of high-quality services” beginning from August 2024. 
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According to Kehinde Ogundare, the continuous devaluation of the Naira from N350 to $1 to about N1500 in less than 2 years made the review a necessity. “Before we sent the price update email to our users, it had been through months of deliberation internally”, he said. 
Zoho uses a local currency billing strategy in key African and Middle Eastern markets. Speaking with media representatives at a session in Lagos, Kehinde explained that the present price for Nigerian users was fixed in 2020 following a CBN policy that made it difficult to charge consumers in USD. Hence, his team had to ‘quickly come up with prices in Naira’ to comply with the local currency directive. 
He also noted that the pricing in the local currency was significantly discounted for Nigerian users. “We pegged the price of its<a href="https://www.zoho.com/one/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> One suite</a> at N7,500. At that time, that was about $6. Compared to the $30-$35 paid by users in other countries, that is a significant reduction. We are not charging that amount even in other African countries where we have operations- Kenya and South Africa.” 
According to the country manager, this decision stems from the company’s policy of stability before profit. “Often, people ask me: How do we make money with these prices? Well, our strategy is to support young businesses to the point where they can scale and start making big spends.” 
Read also: <a href="https://technext24.com/2024/02/12/kehinde-ogundare-zoho-offerings-naira/">“If you are buying our products in Nigeria, you are paying about 22% less”- A chat with Kehinde Ogundare about Zoho’s offerings in Naira, innovation and safety</a> 
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 Team Zoho Nigeria
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For Kehinde, this explains why the company has one of the best customer life values among other software companies globally. He added that the company experienced a 700% growth in the past year alone, with one million users globally and over one billion dollars in revenue. 
The company’s growth in Nigeria is primarily driven by Zoho One, its operating system for business, and Zoho Workplace, a unified enterprise collaboration platform. Zoho CRM Plus (unified customer experience platform), Zoho Books (accounting software), and Zoho Desk (helpdesk software) are the other top-selling products in the country. 
This growth has been driven by a series of partnership collaborations with SME-focused communities to empower business owners across the country. Last year, the software company grew its partner network by 22% and more than doubled its employee count in 2022 in Nigeria to reinforce its local presence and better serve its customers. 
Recall that the company announced a <a href="https://technext24.com/2023/11/17/zoho-announces-partnership-startupsouth/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">partnership with StartupSouth</a>, an organisation that supports the development of startups from South and South-East Nigeria as part of its&nbsp;<a href="https://www.zoho.com/startups/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Zoho for Startups</a>&nbsp;programme. 
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 L-R: Ali Shabdar, Regional Director, MEA, Zoho, Uche Aniche, Convener, #StartupSouth and Kehinde Ogundare, Country Head, Zoho Nigeria when Zoho announced a partnership with StartupSouth to empower startups in Nigeria in 2023
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As part of this partnership, startups associated with StartupSouth, new customers for Zoho, can avail of Wallet credits worth ₦ 470,000. Zoho will also provide its contract management solution, Zoho Contracts, free for three months to help businesses improve compliance with the Nigeria Data Protection Law. 
The Nigerian Data Protection Law came into force earlier this year. NDPL mandates all businesses to ensure that their contracts include provisions for data security and breach notifications, third-party vendors adhere to NDPA standards, and international contracts fulfil the criteria for cross-border transfer of personal data. In case of non-compliance, businesses risk the loss of consumer trust and potential legal action, apart from a potential fine of up to ₦10 million or 2% of annual gross revenue. 
Asked by this reporter if the company is considering exiting the Nigerian market. Kehinde assured that Zoho is in the Nigerian market for the long haul.

Zoho price update: “The economy gave us no choice”- country manager, Kehinde Ogundare

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