In Sub-Saharan Africa, the partnership model is being redefined by an element that’s even tougher to break through than growth: trust. After years of aggressive acquisition cycles, inconsistent broker performance, and short-term market entrants, the region’s trading ecosystem is becoming more selective and more mature. In this environment, partnerships are no longer judged only by how much activity they generate, but by whether they can sustain credibility over time.
In this interview, Saheed Akinbiyi, Exness Country Manager, examines what that shift means in practice. Why retention is becoming a more meaningful signal than volume, how broker performance now shapes partner reputation more directly, and why the most valuable partnerships in Africa are the ones built to last.
Q1: The IB and affiliate model in Africa has been through several cycles. Where does it stand today, and what has changed?
The model is still growing, but in a much more demanding environment than before. The region has gone through multiple cycles of aggressive acquisition, short-term incentives, and brokers entering the market without building for the long term. That history has shaped trader behavior. Traders are now more informed, more cautious, and much more selective about whom they trust.
At the same time, the ecosystem itself has matured. Expectations are higher, and the old growth model, the one that prioritizes marketing over performance, is becoming less effective. The primary factors in decision-making are now platform reliability and stability.
This creates structural pressure on the IB model, which now needs to align with long-term trader outcomes rather than short-term onboarding.
Q2: Trust is a word that gets used a lot in financial services. What does it actually look like in practice for traders and partners in the region?
In our sector, trust isn’t an abstract metric. It’s operational with traders experiencing it in very practical moments, like withdrawal processing without unnecessary friction, execution with limited delay, and favorable trading conditions in general, especially when the market becomes volatile.
For partners, trust is even more tangible as their reputation is directly linked to the trader’s experience. If the broker underdelivers, it’s often the partner that absorbs the consequences first. That’s why trust in this market isn’t built through marketing alone but through repeated experience.
Q3: The traditional IB model has been the backbone of growth in retail trading across Africa. Where does it fall short?
The traditional model was built for acquisition efficiency, not sustainability. It was excellent at rewarding onboarding and activity, but not necessarily at supporting trader longevity or better long-term outcomes. That creates misalignment.
The problem is that a model can look successful on paper while still producing high churn and inconsistent experiences beneath the surface. In today’s market, that’s no longer enough. A partnership model has to work across the trader’s entire experience.
The way I think about it, the IB ecosystem operates as a trust chain: trader, partner, and broker. Each link depends on the integrity of the next. The traditional model was designed without enough regard for that chain. It focused on the first connection, getting the trader in, that is, without building the conditions that keep the chain intact over time.
Q4: You describe the IB ecosystem as a trust chain. What happens when one of those links fails?
When the chain holds, everyone benefits. When it breaks, the impact moves through all three levels immediately. If the final layer fails, due to unstable conditions, execution issues, or withdrawal delays, the effect doesn’t stop at the broker level. It moves straight to the partner’s credibility and then to the trader’s experience.
That’s why retention should be understood as an ecosystem outcome and not just a performance metric. This way, it indicates whether the relationship holds across all three levels.
Q5: What are experienced partners prioritizing when they evaluate a broker today? Has that calculus changed?
Experienced partners are increasingly prioritizing the elements that shape long-term trust: execution consistency, spread stability, withdrawal reliability, and overall platform performance and consistency. They are part of the commercial foundation of this partnership.
What has changed is that partners are looking more closely at what traders actually experience after the referral. Not just whether they signed up, but whether they stayed, whether they remained active, and their experience matched what the partner promised. That’s a more mature standard, and it’s reshaping the market.
Q6: Infrastructure is often talked about in technical terms. How does it impact the partner relationship?
Infrastructure has become a reputational layer for partners, which is not how most people think about it. When systems fail, whether due to execution issues or withdrawal delays, the impact is immediate, and that credibility erodes faster than it was built.
The practical reality is that a partner’s ability to grow their business depends on what happens after the referral. If the trading environment holds up under pressure, the partner builds a stronger community. If it doesn’t, they spend their time managing complaints rather than building relationships. That distinction has significant commercial consequences over the long term.
Q7: The African trading ecosystem is built heavily on communities and networks. How does it shape the way trust is established and maintained?
Communities in Africa are not just distribution channels; they are the environment in which trust is formed. A trader’s first decision about who to use is rarely in isolation. It comes through a recommendation, a conversation in a trading group, or an observation of how someone they respect is positioned.
That means the quality of the broker’s delivery not only affects individual traders. It affects the entire network around them. A single negative experience shared within a community can travel quickly. A consistently positive one becomes the foundation of organic growth that no acquisition campaign can replicate.
For brokers operating in this market, that dynamic is both an opportunity and a responsibility. It means that getting the fundamentals right is not just about the conditions under which community trust can grow.
