A new model for market entry · Africa & Asia

Your in-country team in Africa and Asia. By the month.

GSD provides fractional country leadership for deep-tech and impact ventures. We open markets, navigate regulators, and build partnerships on the ground — then hand it off when you're ready to hire your own.

On the call: we pressure-test your target markets, tell you whether GSD is the right fit, and suggest the first country to validate.

Coverage
Active across 19 countries
Africa & Asia, on the ground.
Model
By the month
Flex up, down, or off.
Cadence
4 weeks
To a documented go/no-go decision.
Approach
Operator-led
Discovery happens in country.

Active in

Selected engagements

Nigeria · Kenya · Tanzania · Uganda · Ghana · Côte d'Ivoire · Rwanda

Tomorrow.io

Ghana · Malawi

JDC ImpactWell

Indonesia · Philippines · Thailand · Tanzania · Rwanda

Rescue.co

Kenya · Tanzania · Zimbabwe · Zambia · South Africa · Nigeria · Ghana · Rwanda · Uganda · Ethiopia

ILRI · CGIAR

TRUSTED BY CLIMATE-TECH, HEALTH-TECH AND IMPACT VENTURES OPERATING IN EMERGING MARKETS

The argument

Most GTM consultancies sell decks. We send people.

01

What we are

GSD is your in-country leadership team — fractional, by the month, in your priority markets. Our country leads live where your customers are. They speak the languages, know the regulators, and follow up in person.

02

How an engagement looks

We start with a Discovery Sprint — a fixed-scope engagement returning a documented go/no-go decision by Week 4, with a full market thesis by Week 8. When the work proves out, we expand into ongoing country support: modular, by the month, by the geography. We scale up when programs land, and wind down on your timeline.

03

Why this beats your alternatives

You have three options for entering a new market. Build a country team yourself — 18 months and seven figures. Hire a fixer — one deal landed, no strategy. Or work with GSD: a senior operator who already lives there, working under you, by the month.

Where we go deep

We don't take work outside what we know.

Who we serve

Climate-tech and weather-intelligence ventures — including TIME100 honorees — landing programs with ministries, national meteorological services, and pan-African research bodies.

What we solve

Country entry, regulator navigation, and partner development where relationships determine whether the work moves.

Outcomes we've delivered

  • Multi-year country playbook across eight-plus markets in Africa and Asia for a $1B+ weather-intelligence company.
  • Two-plus years embedded as the in-country team for a Gates-funded climate advisory program in Nigeria — convening the partnership across funder, national meteorological agency, telecom, and implementing partner.
  • Two-plus years embedded as the in-country team for Tomorrow.io's Africa rollout.

In the press

  • Premium Times · NiMet, Tomorrow.io and MTN partnership: DCAS pilot for 100,000 farmers · Feb 2026 ↗

Featured client

Tomorrow.io

Also working with

What clients say

Proof from the field.

Three sectors. Three hard-to-enter markets. One operating model.

EMS
GSD played a pivotal role in enhancing our market knowledge, needs and opportunities within the healthcare ecosystem in sub-Saharan Africa and South East Asia.

Caitlin Dolkart

Managing Director, Rescue.co

JAN 2025

HEALTH-TECH
GSD's knowledge of the niches of African private sector — and the intersection of business and development — is unmatched.

Hannah Friedland

Health Programs Manager, JDC ImpactWell

OCT 2024

CLIMATE FINANCE
Strong expertise in synthesizing complex data… I recommend GSD for research, strategy, or advisory work with great confidence.

Dr. Todd Crane

Principal Scientist, ILRI · CGIAR

MAY 2025

How we work

One door at a time. Then the next.

PHASE 01 WK 1–2

Listening tour

We run in-country interviews with ministries, operators, and funders. We come back with a sharper version of your problem than you arrived with.

PHASE 02 WK 1–8

Discovery Sprint

A fixed-scope engagement that delivers your country playbook, regulatory map, partner shortlist, and pricing framework — with a documented go/no-go decision at Week 4 and a full market thesis, customer pipeline, and regulatory pathway by Week 8.

PHASE 03 MONTH 2+

Country support

A modular monthly retainer with a senior country lead and business-development support. You flex up when programs land, and wind down when you're ready to hire your own team.

PHASE 04 MONTH 6+

Handoff

We help you hire the in-house team that replaces us, running the interview panels, sharing comp benchmarks, and making the warm introductions. The exit is the point.

Who we work with

We're not the right fit for everyone.

GOOD FIT

  • You're a Series A+ deep-tech or impact venture with proven product-market fit, entering 1–3 priority markets in Africa or Emerging Asia.
  • You need senior in-country capacity to access stakeholders and build regulatory relationships before hiring a full team.
  • You're ready to work in-country with regulators, ministries, hospitals, funders, and enterprise partners over months of embedded engagement.
  • Entering Africa or Asia is a board-level strategic priority with funding allocated and CXO time committed.

BAD FIT

  • You're pre-Series A or still validating product-market fit at home — emerging-markets expansion is aspirational, not funded.
  • You want a 60-page deck or a signed contract in 90 days — these markets reward embedded execution, not advisory or speed.
  • You want a vendor that scopes, delivers, and disappears — we operate as embedded country leadership across months, not point solutions.
  • Africa or Asia is a backup plan or a grant-application story — we put social capital on the line for clients who've decided to win.

Connect with us

Get in touch to start a conversation about how we can work together.

For ventures

Expanding into Africa or Asia

Book a 30-min discovery call. We'll tell you whether GSD is the right fit — and if we're not, who is.

Engagements typically start with a Discovery Sprint (Weeks 1–8, with a Week 4 go/no-go milestone), then move into monthly country support. Best fit for venture-backed teams entering 1–3 priority markets.

Book a 30-min discovery call

For funders

Co-designing market-entry programs

We help funders design and implement evidence-driven market entry across portfolios.

Partner with us →

For operators

Joining a global network of market entry operators

CoMEC is GSD's network of verified country-entry operators across Africa and Asia. We route relevant country-entry work to verified operators. Apply to join.

Apply to CoMEC →

Or write directly — hello@gsdglobal.io

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