The UK-Africa Communications Gap Nobody Talks About

When I moved from Lagos to Reading in 2022, I brought with me two decades of communications experience built in one of Africa's most competitive markets. I expected to find that the fundamentals translated easily. In many ways they did. Good writing is good writing. A clear narrative is a clear narrative. Journalists everywhere respond to a story that is genuinely interesting.

But I also found differences that nobody had warned me about — differences that I now see trip up African businesses trying to build credibility in the UK, and UK businesses trying to build trust in African markets, every single time.

The credibility gap runs in both directions

African businesses entering the UK often have extraordinary stories to tell. They have scaled in difficult environments, navigated complex regulatory landscapes, and built products that work for customers with very different needs to those in Western markets. That experience is genuinely valuable — but it does not automatically translate into credibility with UK investors, partners or media.

The UK market tends to assess credibility through specific signals: third-party validation, recognisable institutional associations, a track record that can be verified through named sources. African companies that have not deliberately built these signals into their communications find themselves in a frustrating position — strong fundamentals, weak visibility.

The reverse problem is equally real. UK businesses entering African markets frequently arrive with communications strategies built for a very different context. They lead with credentials that carry weight at home but land differently in Lagos or Nairobi. They underestimate the importance of community-level trust, local partnerships and earned media in markets where institutional credibility means less and personal relationships mean more.

The error is assuming that what makes you credible in one market will automatically make you credible in another. It rarely does. Credibility is contextual.

What I learned from working both sides

At Airtel Nigeria, I managed communications for a company that was simultaneously a local market leader and a subsidiary of a global brand. That dual identity required constant code-switching — different messages for different audiences, different channels, different proof points. What the Central Bank of Nigeria needed to hear was not what Reuters needed to hear, and neither of those was what our customers in Bauchi needed to hear.

Later, working with the Great British Railway Transition Team and at Wimbart in London, I saw the same challenge from the other direction. Smart organisations with real impact, struggling to make their story land in a new context because they had not done the work of understanding what credibility actually looks like to their new audience.

The organisations that navigate this well share a common trait. They invest in understanding the specific signals of trust and credibility in each market before they start communicating, not after. They find local validators — journalists, partners, investors — who can vouch for them in the language their new audience already trusts. And they are patient with the process, because cross-market credibility is built over months, not weeks.

Three things that actually work

First, earned media in the target market matters more than you think. A mention in a publication your new audience reads and trusts is worth more than ten press releases. Before you expand your communications into a new market, know which publications your target audience actually reads and build relationships with the journalists who write for them.

Second, find your bridge builders. In every market there are people who are trusted on both sides of the corridor — diaspora business leaders, development finance professionals, consultants who work cross-border. These people can introduce you, vouch for you and translate your story in ways that land. Invest in those relationships early.

Third, localise your proof points. The metrics that impress a London investor may not impress a Lagos partner, and vice versa. Understand what success looks like in your new market's terms and learn to articulate your track record in that language. This is not spin. It is translation — and it is one of the most underrated communications skills in cross-border business.

Why this matters now

The UK-Africa economic relationship is growing. African clean energy, fintech and technology businesses are increasingly looking to UK capital markets, and UK businesses are increasingly recognising the scale of opportunity across the continent. The communications infrastructure to support that relationship — the people and practices that help stories travel credibly between markets — is still being built.

That is the gap Story in Motion was created to help close. Not because it is an interesting niche, but because I have spent twenty years learning what it takes to tell a story that travels — and lands.