Recently, Humaniq conducted a survey among some of our Tanzanian users, asking them some basic personal information and their overall situation. The goal was to ‘draw a portrait’ of the average user in Tanzania, including their online habits and economic position. The results were in some ways surprising, and we thought it would be an amazing idea to share them!

A young user base for an even younger country

The first, and possibly the most obvious question, was the age of the participants. The range was fairly tight, with the youngest person being 18 and the oldest 31. The median, or most prevalent age in the data set, is 21 years.

Our users might seem very young, but they are in fact older than the national average: the median population in Tanzania is an astounding 17.7 years, according to the CIA World Factbook. There are 217 ‘older’ countries in the world, which is ultimately not particularly surprising: Africa in general, and especially Tanzania, has experienced very large population growth rates in the last few decades. Most recently, from the 45 million counted during the latest census in 2012, the country is now home to almost 54 million people, according to CIA estimates.

The vast majority of our users (84%) live in urban contexts, including those defined as ‘semi-urban’ — the outskirts of major cities. This is in stark contrast with the national average of 33.8%, showing that the country still has a long a way to go towards full urbanization. What’s more, the vast majority of the rural 67% are farmers, a group that needs access to financial tools the most.

Family ties are powerful

Moving onto questions about the financial well-being of the respondents, we’ve discovered that only about 10% are completely independent financially. About half of all the respondents are supported by their families, while the remaining 40% are in turn helping their relatives.

Coupled with the fact that only about 40% have finished or are enrolled in higher education, the picture painted is not a rosy one: most people simply can’t afford an independent life, and family ties acquire an immense importance for providing support to each other. Most of the students are supported by their families, but not all of them, and there are even cases of students providing financial help to their relatives.

It’s not just about blood relatives, either, as 63% of the respondents have stated to be married or living with their partner. Considering the median age, this information might seem strange to a person from a Western society, but this isn’t uncommon in the developing world, and a few decades ago the same was happening in what is now the ‘first world’.

The importance of the internet

Humaniq users are definitely very tech-savvy! On average they spend more than 5 hours per day online, and 71% of them use the internet for business or education. Of course, compared with the just 23 million total internet users in Tanzania, it’s an extremely high statistic that is caused by the obvious sampling bias: since Humaniq is a mobile app, all of our users are familiar with the internet, and most of them are enthusiasts.

The apps of choice for our users are not unlike what we see in Europe or the US: Facebook, Whatsapp, Youtube, Google are the most used web products. A notable exception is Opera Mini, a browser that is virtually unheard of in developed countries, where 4G is plentiful. The peculiarity of this app is that it compresses the byte size of the pages by up to 90%, a very valuable function in a country where even 3G is only available in the major cities.

A little more than half of our users are familiar with crypto and have some holdings, which is an encouraging statistic: our goal is to spread the app among people who can benefit from it, not necessarily those who are already deeply involved in cryptocurrencies.

Curiously, 80% of the respondents have heard about Humaniq from a friend. This shows the effectiveness of word-of-mouth, which remains by far the most effective marketing strategy. Harnessing this effect through social bonuses and referrals becomes crucial for the long-term user acquisition strategy.

In conclusion, this research has provided many valuable insights to Humaniq, and we hope it sheds some light on what an African country like Tanzania is really like to those who may never have wondered about it.

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