Navigating Fragility with Innovation and Context

To culminate the SOMINA Programme, the participants had a very influential panel session on developing robust businesses in fragile and conflict-affected regions. The session featured Hannah Blyth, a Senior Operations Officer at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and Muneb Shadahmet, CEO of Business Bay Square Mall (BBS), and this provided contrasting insights from the international development and tech-enabled retail contexts.

The one strand that ran through the discussion was that fragility is not a barrier to business, but rather a fact of life that requires sensitivity, planning, and intention. Hannah emphasized the need for conflict-sensitive investing practices, citing her work in nations such as Central Africa and Honduras. “You can’t approach fragile markets with the same approach as stable ones,” she said. “Investments must be guided by an awareness of social dynamics and history, or they will support instability rather than address it.”

From a business perspective, Muneb illustrated building a virtual shopping mall across troubled African markets. The issues he faced with currency controls, lack of infrastructure, and policy loopholes were real but not insurmountable. He highlighted the importance of local adaptation, citing that success depends on adapting business models to community needs and consumer preferences. “You don’t scale by copy-pasting a global model,” he said. You grow by listening, responding, and solving local problems.

The panel also touched on financial protections in fragile economies, such as the use of escrow accounts in third-party countries to backstop liquidity where local systems break down. Also important, Hannah said, is establishing relationships with local partners who understand regulatory shifts, political tides, and informal mechanisms that can drive business results.

Among the typically overlooked variables in unstable markets is trust. Hannah described how participatory involvement across the community specifically with women and youth can ease tensions and build long-term commitment. This requires going beyond token consultation to design partnerships based on mutual value. “Development is not about capital,” she stated. “It’s about credibility.”

Technologically, Muneb discussed how platforms like BBS Mall drive e-commerce in underserved markets and offer logistics and visibility support to neighborhood vendors who would otherwise remain outside formal supply chains. But even for those selling online, he reminded the participants that ground realities must be adjusted, from bandwidth constraints to ad hoc competition and fleeting consumer trust.

Finally, the panelists left SOMINA participants with a pragmatic and hopeful message: Fragile markets are not places to avoid but innovation frontiers, impact zones, and resilience buffers. But to move through them requires humility, a willingness to learn from the ground up, and a business approach that puts people and place at its center.

Learn more about SOMINA here

Article by Miriam Wafula