Positioning your business to cater to a specific niche can be a simple and effective way of differentiating your offer.

Tanzania Women’s Bank is a perfect example. Although they do accept accounts from men, the bank has tailored their services to attract what they see as an underserved market, Tanzanian women.

“The difference between us and other banks is that we are specifically designed to cater for women’s banking needs stemming from the fact that in the past most women were ignored in other conventional finance institutions.”

The bank’s MD, Margareth Mattaba Chacha, was further quoted by the BBC as saying:

“We know some women hesitate to come forward – they are too shy and think they don’t know anything.

“But here we’re going to have a big group of professionals to take women through step-by-step until we really reach our women.”

In addition to the professional support, the bank has also simplified the process of opening an account (the previous system required title deeds or other prrofs of wealth, thereby excluding many women) and reduced the minimum opening deposit.

By creating a product/service that caters to a well-defined niche – and addressing the unique issues of that niche – the bank has set its business apart.

How could you tailor an existing business idea to better address the needs of a specific customer?