Nigerian open banking startup Okra has made a bold move into the cloud computing space with the launch of Nebula, its cloud infrastructure service. The October 2024 rollout places Okra in direct competition with local providers like Nobus, Galaxy, and Layer3, as well as global giants such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure.
This strategic shift signals a significant expansion beyond Okra’s core API business. The company, which was founded in 2019 and secured over $16 million in funding, built its reputation in financial data infrastructure. However, soaring infrastructure costs, forex fluctuations, and the naira’s devaluation have forced many Nigerian startups, including Okra, to rethink their operational models.
Okra’s CEO, Fara Ashiru Jituboh, highlighted that infrastructure expenses—mostly billed in dollars—were among the company’s biggest financial burdens, second only to payroll. The instability of foreign exchange rates made it increasingly difficult to manage costs, prompting Okra to explore an alternative. That search led to Nebula, a locally built cloud service designed to offer businesses a cost-effective and reliable solution.
Okra is not alone in this pivot. A growing number of Nigerian businesses are turning to local cloud providers to reduce costs and stabilise operations amid economic uncertainties. By positioning Nebula as a viable alternative to expensive foreign services, Okra hopes to capitalise on this trend and carve out a space in the competitive cloud market.
The key question now is: Can Okra truly compete with global cloud giants, and how much of the market can it capture?
