The verdict in three sentences
A European or North American agricultural equipment maker that wants to sell in Africa needs a dedicated export website, not a translation of its home-market site. A reasonable 2026 budget is 15,000 to 28,000 EUR (roughly 16,000 to 30,000 USD) for a technical catalogue, a dealer locator, country pages and a WhatsApp-linked quote form, all optimised for 3G. That equals one stand at SIAM in Meknes or FIARA in Dakar, except the website works twelve months a year.
Three ways to approach the African market online
Export managers usually compare the site with the trade fair budget. The right question is: how many qualified requests does each option produce over a year?
| Criterion | Translate existing site | Dedicated export site | SIAM or FIARA trade fair |
|---|---|---|---|
| Budget | 4,000 to 8,000 EUR | 15,000 to 28,000 EUR | 10,000 to 25,000 EUR per edition |
| Timeline | 3 to 5 weeks | 10 to 14 weeks | 4 to 6 months of preparation |
| Content | Translated home pages | Country pages, crops, standards, financing | 4 to 6 days of live demos |
| Technical catalogue | Heavy PDF sheets | Filterable HTML sheets, PDF on demand | Paper brochures |
| Contact | Email form | WhatsApp + email quote, routed by country | Business cards |
| 3G performance | 4 to 8 MB pages | 400 to 900 KB pages | Not applicable |
| Lifespan | Short, content mismatch | 3 to 5 years | 1 week of exposure |
Translation almost always fails for the same reason: the home site speaks to European or Canadian farmers (standards, subsidies, regional dealers), whereas the African buyer is a distributor, a cooperative or a donor-funded project. They want required horsepower, spare parts availability, delivery time to the ports of Dakar, Abidjan or Casablanca, and a reachable contact.
The content that makes the difference
| Module | Indicative budget | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Filterable technical catalogue | 3,500 to 6,000 EUR | Filter by crop (rice, groundnut, cocoa, cereals) and power |
| Dealer locator | 1,500 to 3,000 EUR | Lightweight map and list, 3 countries at launch |
| Country pages (Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, Morocco) | 2,000 to 4,000 EUR | Regulations, ports, financing, local references |
| WhatsApp quote and qualified form | 1,000 to 2,500 EUR | The dominant B2B channel in West Africa |
| 3G optimisation and light images | 1,500 to 3,000 EUR | Pages under 1 MB, load in under 4 seconds |
| Multilingual FR/EN, Arabic option | 2,000 to 5,000 EUR | French for francophone Africa, Arabic for the Maghreb |
For a Rotterdam or Toronto manufacturer, French is the language that matters most: it is the business language in Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire and widely in Morocco. English covers Ghana, Nigeria and Kenya. A dealer portal with protected price lists and technical documents can be added in a second phase for 4,000 to 8,000 EUR.
Timeline and watch-outs
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Plan 10 to 14 weeks. The longest task is rewriting technical sheets for field use: heat, dust, maintenance without a specialised workshop. Have a local dealer review the country pages before launch. Finally, test the site on an entry-level Android phone over 3G, the real device of most of your prospects.
Mini case study
Thomas, export director of a 90-employee manufacturer of seeders and hullers near Strasbourg, spent 20,000 EUR a year exhibiting at FIARA. The fair produced about 30 contacts, including 4 serious quote requests. He invests 22,000 EUR in a dedicated export site plus 2,400 EUR of annual maintenance. After six months, the site receives 18 quote requests per quarter via WhatsApp, 5 of them qualified. With an average order of 45,000 EUR and a 25% margin, a single signed order brings 11,250 EUR of margin. Two orders in the first year cover the investment, and the fair can be booked every other year. The same logic applies to a Dutch or Canadian manufacturer with similar order values.
FAQ
Can we keep the same domain name? Yes, a subfolder such as /africa/ or a subdomain works well. A subfolder passes on the main site's SEO authority more effectively, which speeds up rankings by 2 to 4 months.
Why WhatsApp rather than a plain form? In West Africa, the vast majority of B2B conversations happen on WhatsApp. A WhatsApp quote button often doubles or triples the number of contacts compared with a form alone.
Should we display prices? Rarely: prices depend on freight, customs duties and the dealer's margin. Display a response time (48 h) and power or capacity ranges instead.
What page weight should we target for 3G? Under 1 MB per page and useful content in under 4 seconds. That means compressed WebP images and no autoplay video.
How many countries should we launch at once? Three well-documented countries beat ten empty pages. Adding a country later costs 700 to 1,500 EUR.
Let's scope your project. Tell us your product ranges, target countries and existing dealers: we will price an export site between 15,000 and 28,000 EUR, delivered in 10 to 14 weeks. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
