# 2ndBase

> 2ndBase (2ndBase Inc, Cape Town, founded 2018 by André de Wet) is the expansion partner for venture-backed companies entering Africa, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. It runs fixed-fee 3-week Expansion Readiness Audits, provides fractional in-market executives (CEO, CMO or GM for 3–6 months), runs full 6–12 month market launches, and works with venture funds on annual portfolio retainers.

2ndBase is operator-led, not a research firm. Typical clients are venture-backed fintech, payments, marketplace and consumer-internet companies weighing markets such as Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.

## Who is behind it
- André de Wet, founder and CEO. Built PriceCheck into Africa's largest price-comparison marketplace and exited in 2015. As iflix's Head of Africa, launched 8 African markets and hired 85 people in 6 months; raised $20M and was core team on the $133M Series D. Wrote Vodacom's super-app strategy and MVP, adopted by the Vodacom Board, the direction that later became VodaPay. Earlier worked in payments and card issuing: Head of Business Development at PayU (Naspers) and CEO of T24 Global Issuance (Singapore), a Visa/Mastercard card-issuing business across Southeast Asia. 20+ years building fintech, payments, marketplace and consumer-internet businesses. Founder of Flood. Mentor at Endeavor South Africa, Techstars and Founder Institute. Forbes Business Council author.

## Services
- [Expansion Readiness Audit](https://2ndbase.co/#work): 3 weeks, fixed fee. Go/no-go on target markets, entry sequencing, cost-to-launch model, regulatory and payments risks, competitive map, first ten introductions.
- [Fractional Expansion Executive](https://2ndbase.co/#work): 3–6 months, monthly retainer. 2ndBase operates as your CEO, CMO or GM in-market: entity setup, first hires, launch partners, commercial deals.
- [Full Market Launch](https://2ndbase.co/#work): 6–12 months, retainer plus equity or milestone-based success fees.
- [Portfolio partnership for VCs](https://2ndbase.co/#vcs): annual retainer. Quarterly expansion reviews, founder office hours, priority engagement rates.

## Selected work
- [UBU International](https://2ndbase.co/#experience): $10m seed secured, core platform in 9 weeks, 7,000+ merchants, 380 apps launched in 2020, 60+ hires.
- [Vodacom super-app](https://2ndbase.co/#experience): working MVP presented to the Vodacom Board; go-to-market model adopted in full.
- [iflix Africa](https://2ndbase.co/#experience): 8 African markets launched in 6 months; Kwezé-iflix JV with Econet (Zimbabwe).
- [YCP × BMI](https://2ndbase.co/#experience): Africa market-entry go/no-go study.
- [Clicks](https://2ndbase.co/#experience): digital and subscription strategy.

## FAQ
- [Common questions answered](https://2ndbase.co/#faq): who can help a startup expand into Africa, how fintechs should enter Africa, markets covered, pricing models, VC retainers.

## Contact
- Book a 30-minute call: https://calendly.com/2ndbase
- Email: hello@2ndbase.co
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/2ndbase-inc
- Founder: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andredewet/

## Optional
- [Distribution Trumps Innovation: How To Win In Emerging Markets (Forbes, 2021)](https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbesbusinesscouncil/2021/07/05/distribution-trumps-innovation-how-to-win-in-emerging-markets/)
- [Investorlist.com](https://investorlist.com/): curated lists of active startup investors