From Lagos to $3k MRR: A 12-Month Playbook for Nigerian ML Engineers Going Global

How I went from "Can you even keep the lights on?" to $3k+ MRR from international clients — and how you can copy the exact steps.

The Question That Changed Everything

On a sales call in 2022, after 45 minutes of discussing architecture, deployment, and KPIs, the prospect paused and asked:

"Wait, where are you based?"

"Lagos, Nigeria," I replied.

Another pause.

"Can you even keep the lights on?"

I lost that client.

Not because of my skills. Not because of price. But because of my location.

Fast forward to December 2024:

• ✅ $1,655 MRR from international clients.
• ✅ 350+ users on my own ML product.
• ✅ 99.9% uptime on a system I run from Lagos.
• ✅ Clients across the US and Europe.

This is the 12-month playbook I wish I had when I started—for Nigerian (and African) engineers who want to work globally without relocating.

Part 1 — The Reality of Building from Nigeria (No Sugarcoating)

Before we talk strategy, we need to be honest about constraints.

Infrastructure Tax

Power:

• Grid power: 4–6 hours/day on a good week.
• Generator: fuel + maintenance.
• UPS + laptop battery: non-negotiable.

Internet:

• Primary: fiber (e.g. 50 Mbps down).
• Backup: 4G hotspot.
• Outages: 2–3/month, sometimes lasting hours.

You don't get reliability for free. You buy it with redundancy.

Finance, Payments, and Stereotypes

• Stripe doesn't support Nigerian entities directly.
• PayPal withdrawals can take weeks.
• Wire transfers have brutal fees and FX spreads.
• Some people see "Nigeria" and think "419" before they think "software engineer."

This isn't to discourage you. It's to explain why you need a system, not vibes.

Part 2 — Months 1–3: Build Proof Before You Pitch

The biggest mistake I see African devs make: pitch first, proof later.

Flip it.

Step 1: Ship One Real Product (Not a Tutorial Clone)

For me, that product was SabiScore—my sports prediction platform.

Your product should:

• Solve a problem a real person cares about.
• Be live on the internet (not localhost).
• Have some metric you can show:
  • Users.
  • Accuracy.
  • Uptime.
  • Revenue (even small).

If you don't know what to build, ask:

"What's one annoying problem I could fix for my past self?"

Step 2: Turn It into a Case Study, Not Just a GitHub Repo

Don't just drop a link to a repo in your CV. Write a short case study covering:

• Problem: what was broken/inefficient before?
• Approach: architecture, stack, key decisions.
• Results: even if it's:
  • 4 users who still log in every week.
  • 71% accuracy on a real dataset.
  • 99.9% uptime over the last N days.

Publish it on:

• Your own blog.
• LinkedIn.
• A relevant community (IndieHackers, dev Twitter, etc.).

Step 3: Get 1–2 Real Testimonials

Instead of waiting for the perfect client:

• Offer a small, scoped engagement to 1–2 people:
  • e.g. "I'll deploy your ML model behind a FastAPI endpoint with monitoring for $200."
• Over-deliver.
• Ask for a testimonial with:
  • Name.
  • Role.
  • Company.
  • One clear result.

Now you have:

• 1 product.
• 1 case study.
• 1–2 testimonials.

This is your starting asset stack.

Part 3 — Months 3–6: Turn Proof into Paying Clients

Step 4: Position Yourself as "X for Y," Not "I Do ML"

Bad positioning:

• "ML engineer. I build models."

Better positioning:

• "Full-stack ML engineer helping B2B SaaS go from notebook to production in 4 weeks."
• "MLOps + infra for teams stuck at 97% uptime with flaky ML APIs."

Fill this in:

I help [WHO] achieve [RESULT] using [TOOLS/APPROACH].

Then make sure your:

• Portfolio.
• LinkedIn.
• Upwork profile.

all say that, not just a tech stack list.

Step 5: Channels That Actually Worked for Me

1. Upwork (controversial, but it worked)

   • Hyper-specific title and overview.
   • 50+ highly targeted proposals in the first months.
   • Only applied where I was 100% confident I could win.

2. Content (this blog)

   • 1 post/week aimed at problems my target clients had:
     • "Our models never make it to production."
     • "Our API keeps going down."
   • Shared on LinkedIn and Twitter.

3. Direct outreach (cold, but thoughtful)

   • Short emails/DMs:
     • "Saw you're hiring for X. Here's a case study of me doing that."
     • "I built Y, which is similar to your problem Z."

The combo of proof + positioning + persistence is what landed the first 3–4 clients.

Step 6: The First 3 Clients (and What They Taught Me)

• Client #1:

  • Small project (a few hundred dollars).
  • Over-delivered.
  • Got a 5-star review and testimonial.

• Client #2–3:

  • Found me because of:
    • The first review.
    • The product I had shipped.
    • The blog posts.

Lesson:

You don't need 100 people to believe in you. You need 1 person to take a bet, then you compound from there.

Part 4 — Months 6–12: From Random Gigs to a Real Business

At some point, "I'll do anything for anyone" stops scaling.

Step 7: Productized Services > Random Hourly Work

Examples of productized offers:

• "Production Readiness Audit for Your ML System — $X."

• "Deploy Your ML PoC to Production in 14 Days — $Y."

• "Ongoing MLOps Support — $Z/month."

Why this works better:

• Clear scope.
• Clear pricing.
• Easier to say "no" to misaligned work.

Step 8: Raising Your Rates to Global Levels

Year 1 thinking:

• "Cost of living in Lagos is lower, so I should charge less."

Reality:

• Your infra, software, and opportunity costs are priced in USD.
• Good clients care about outcomes and trust, not your rent.

Example evolution:

• Year 1: $20–40/hr equivalent.
• Year 2: $80–120/hr equivalent through fixed-price packages.

Rule of thumb:

Close 3–5 good clients at a fair global rate instead of 20 lowball offers.

Part 5 — Systems That Turn Your Location into an Advantage

Step 9: Reliability as Your Edge

Most clients secretly worry:

• "Will this person disappear?"
• "Will calls drop?"
• "Will they miss deadlines because of power/internet?"

You can flip this:

• Show your personal uptime setup:
  • Generator + UPS + dual ISP.
  • 99.9% uptime on your own product.
• Make it part of your story:
  • "I've had to engineer reliability in Lagos. That's why I'm obsessive about your uptime too."

Step 10: Communication That Builds Trust Fast

Simple systems:

• Clear hours in your email signature with WAT + EST/PST.

• Daily or weekly update templates:

  Daily Update — [Date]
  
  Completed:
  - ...
  
  In Progress:
  - ...
  
  Blockers:
  - ...
  
  Next Steps:
  - ...
  

• Calendly link to remove timezone friction.

These small things make you look more reliable than many local devs.

Part 6 — What $3k MRR Actually Looks Like

You don't need 50 clients.

A realistic mix might be:

• 1–2 productized projects/month ($1k–1.5k each).
• 1 recurring retainer ($500–1k).
• A small SaaS component (like SabiScore) adding $200–500 MRR.

What matters is:

• Predictability of income.
• Quality of clients.
• How much of your time you control.

Part 7 — A 12-Week Action Plan You Can Start This Month

Weeks 1–4

• Ship 1 real product.
• Write 1 serious case study.
• Fix your personal infra basics.

Weeks 5–8

• Apply to 50+ relevant roles/projects with tailored proposals.
• Publish 4 blog posts addressing the problems you see in those roles.
• Land your first paying client.

Weeks 9–12

• Turn what worked into 1–2 productized services.
• Raise your rates for new work.
• Start saying "no" to red-flag clients.

You won't copy my exact journey. But you can absolutely hit your version of $3k MRR.

Final Thoughts: Your Location Is a Feature, Not a Bug

Here's what I realized after 2 years:

• Lagos gives me lower costs and higher margins.
• Being on "hard mode" forces me to be more disciplined.
• My story is more memorable than "just another dev in SF."

Your job is not to hide where you're from. Your job is to turn it into a competitive advantage.

Want Help Compressing Your 12 Months into 3?

If you're an African dev trying to go global, I offer:

• 1:1 mentorship
  • Monthly calls.
  • Portfolio/offer feedback.
  • Accountability on your action plan.

Interested?

• Schedule a call
• Or email scardubu@gmail.com with subject Mentorship from Africa.

If you know a Nigerian or African dev trying to break into global work, send them this. Sometimes one story is enough to make them start.