TL;DR Chad has about 21 million people, farming and herding at over a third of output, and roughly one in eight people online. Ideas that work here are physical before they are digital: solar power sold on credit, clean water, crop drying and storage, and health logistics across long distances.

The market in numbers

• Population: about 21.0 million in 2025^[1].
• GDP per capita: about US$1,020 in 2025^[2].
• Internet use: about 13% of people were online in 2024^[3].
• Agriculture: about 36% of GDP in 2025^[4].
• Currency: the Central African CFA franc, issued by the regional central bank BEAC [Requires validation].
• Starting a company: ANIE, the national investment and export agency, runs a one-stop shop (Guichet Unique) that handles company registration and lets you track applications online^[5].
• Statistics: INSEED is the national statistics institute^[6].

What founders here actually have to work with

At about 13% online^[3], Chad is one of the places where you can't lean on apps. Your channels are agents, markets, radio and phones that make calls and send SMS. That's slower to build, but it's also a moat once you've built it.

Farming and livestock are over a third of GDP^[4], and output per person is around US$1,020^[2], so customers pay in small amounts and often after a harvest or a sale of animals. Price that way from day one.

Chad is landlocked and very large, so moving goods costs a lot and takes time [Requires validation]. Keep hardware simple and buy spares in bulk. Oil is part of the economy [Requires validation], but for a small founder the money is in the towns and farm areas around N'Djamena, where you can reach customers often.

Ideas that fit Chad

These were all researched for India. The rupee figures, Indian subsidies and Indian licences don't carry over, so treat each as a brief you rework for Chad.

Power off the grid

• Candlepay: Remote-lock meters with instalments let solar dealers sell kits on credit. You'd swap UPI for local mobile money and check how operators settle payments.
• Anchorwatt: Phone towers in rural areas need solar and batteries anyway, and spare daytime power could go to shops next door. The tower company is your first customer.
• Lathelamp: Solar mills, pumps and tools paid per use give village businesses power without a grid. Start with the job people already pay a diesel machine to do.
• Furrowlight: One loan covering a solar pump share and inputs, repaid at harvest, fits growers along rivers. A microfinance partner has to carry the money.

Water

• Saltfree: Solar treatment for poor borehole water fits towns and villages without piped supply. Test real water samples before you pick the technology.
• Pulpstrip: Phone-read test cards give water programmes cheap, quick checks. Aid agencies and health programmes are the likely buyers.
• Dusklog: Uptime tracking for solar streetlights and similar kit tells funders what's still running. It's a service you can run from a phone.

Farming and food

• Soilround: Seasonal soil tests sold through farmer groups help them spend on fertiliser wisely. Build the advice around sorghum, millet and other local crops.
• Seedlinghub: Village hubs raising hardy vegetable seedlings suit market gardens near N'Djamena. Pick vegetables the city already buys.
• Dryhaul: A mobile drying unit that turns surplus or damaged produce into stock cuts post-harvest losses. Find the crop that rots most in the season.
• Mothtrap: Camera traps and spray alerts sold to cotton programmes save pesticide. The buyer is a cotton company or programme [Requires validation].

Health logistics

• Skyclinic: Drone routes between hospitals and remote health centres fit Chad's distances. You need aviation approval and a health partner first [Requires validation].
• Stormcrate: Solar battery trailers on standby suit clinics and aid camps when power fails. Aid agencies are the likely contract holders.

Rules to check before you start

Company registration goes through ANIE's Guichet Unique, which covers registration and online tracking^[5]. The tax authority is the Direction Générale des Impôts, and the regional central bank is BEAC, but I couldn't load either official site to confirm details [Requires validation]. INSEED publishes national data you can use for market sizing^[6]. Health, aviation and financial ideas need their own licences [Requires validation].

This is a starting list, not legal advice. Check with a local lawyer or the agency itself.

Questions founders ask

Talk to Yash

In Chad the product is often the easy bit and the delivery is the hard bit. I'm happy to help you plan the route to your first hundred customers. If you need a hand, you know where to find me.

Talk to Yash →

Sources

1. World Bank, "Population, total: Chad", 2025. https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/TCD/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL?format=json&mrv=1
2. World Bank, "GDP per capita (current US$): Chad", 2025. https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/TCD/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?format=json&mrv=1
3. World Bank (ITU data), "Individuals using the Internet (% of population): Chad", 2024. https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/TCD/indicator/IT.NET.USER.ZS?format=json&mrv=1
4. World Bank, "Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (% of GDP): Chad", 2025. https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/TCD/indicator/NV.AGR.TOTL.ZS?format=json&mrv=1
5. ANIE, "Agence pour la Promotion des Investissements et Exportations", home page, 2026. https://www.anie.td/
6. INSEED, "Institut National de la Statistique, des Études Économiques et Démographiques", home page, 2026. https://www.inseed.td/

For illustration only. Names are fictional and ideas hypothetical; sourced facts are real but may be out of date. Nothing here is legal, financial or professional advice, and Yash Khatri is not personally liable for any use of it. Read the full disclaimer.