Nigerian open banking startup, Okra, has officially made its entrance into the cloud infrastructure market on the wings of its new service, Nebula. Nebula is a new cloud service designed to support local innovation and reduce reliance on foreign solutions.
This feature positions Nebula competitively against local rivals like Nobus, Galaxy and Layered – all homegrown cloud providers positioning themselves as alternatives to global giants such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure, especially in a market grappling with severe currency devaluation.
The launch marks a seismic shift for Okra as it seeks to diversify its offerings in response to local economic conditions and the evolving needs of businesses across Africa.
Okra’s CEO, Fara Ashiru, emphasised the importance of supporting local innovation in a recent LinkedIn post.
“For too long, Africa has leaned on imported solutions, paying premiums for software and services,” she wrote, emphasizing Nebula’s ability to accept payments in naira, much like its local competitors Nobus and Layer3, which gives it a competitive edge in a country where currency devaluation has hit hard.
The introduction of Nebula comes at a critical time for Nigerian businesses, many of which are increasingly looking to reduce their exposure to US dollars amidst the naira’s depreciation. Companies across sectors are grappling with higher costs for international cloud services, billed in foreign currency, adding to the financial strain of operating in a challenging macroeconomic environment.
Okra’s entry into the cloud is a response to a larger trend of Nigerian tech firms aiming to capture market share from global providers by promoting homegrown solutions. Moreover, Nigeria’s National Cloud Computing Policy, which encourages government agencies to prioritise local cloud service providers, makes these local options even more appealing. Several local cloud companies have opened discussions with state and federal institutions, advocating for increased government support.
For Okra, the introduction of Nebula is expected to help it expand its revenue streams and offset potential losses from its open banking business, following reports of discontinued products.
To make it easier for businesses to make the switch, Okra is offering powerful resources at no cost to test Nebula without any financial commitment. The scale-up programme provides ₦5,000 free credits and up to ₦150,000 free credits, with eligibility based on the startup stage and affiliation with Okra’s partners.
This launch is timely for Nigerian businesses, many of which are seeking to minimise their exposure to the US dollar amidst the naira’s depreciation. Over the past year, cloud computing costs have more than doubled for Nigerian companies relying on AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud, all of which charge in US dollars.
Okra claims to have been using its Nebula for the past three months.“Over the last 3 months, we have migrated all our workflow and applications on Okra to Nebula Cloud, saving us in costs, reducing latency, and increasing our deployment efficiency,” said Abisoye Olaomi, a DevOps engineer at Okra.
In April 2020, Okra raised a $1 million pre-seed investment from TLcom Capital, followed by a $3.5 million seed investment a year later to expand across Nigeria.
