- Zoho, an Indian software company, has announced a price adjustment to align with current market conditions in Nigeria.
- In an email sent to Nigerian users, the company stated that the updated pricing structure, effective August 2024, aims to “ensure the sustainability of high quality services.”
- Kehinde Ogundare, the company's country manager, confirmed that the price review is necessary due to the rapid devaluation of the naira, from ₦350 to $1 to about ₦1500 in less than two years. He mentioned that the decision to update prices had undergone months of internal deliberation before the email notification was sent to users.
Due to the devaluation of the naira, startups in Nigeria have increasingly considered local alternatives. In February 2024, Techpoint Africa reported on how the founder of Alvative, a Nigerian talent sourcing company for junior developers, started moving his team's operations to Zoho, shifting away from Google products that had been integral to their personal and business requirements for nearly two decades.
Kehinde noted that the company waited for 4years before implementing a new pricing structure despite the country’s economic conditions. He also said that the price for Nigerian users was fixed in 2020 following a CBN policy that made it difficult to charge consumers in dollars.
“We pegged the price of its One suite at ₦7,500. 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,” he added.
In 2021, the company announced a price change applying to all global geographies and regions, excluding Africa, South America, Latin America, China, and Japan. It emphasised that the exempted regions and countries would not see a price increase at the time.
In November 2023, the company revealed a growth of 50% in the preceding year. Ali Shabdar, Regional Director, MEA, Zoho described it as a direct result of Nigerian businesses embracing cloud technology, especially unified platforms, to digitally transform and build resilience to adapt to challenging market conditions.
