Why overlap matters
Remote-first companies care about how many hours per day you can be on the same Slack thread as the people who need you. A genuine 4-hour overlap with a US East Coast team is worth more than 8 hours of solo work at 3am.
Africa's overlap map
WAT/UTC+1 → London (full day), EU (5 hrs), NYC (3 hrs morning). EAT/UTC+3 → London (5 hrs afternoon), EU (4 hrs), NYC (2 hrs morning). SAST/UTC+2 → identical to CET, full EU day overlap, partial NYC.
How to position
In your CV/intro: "Based in Lagos (UTC+1). Comfortable on EU schedule; can do daily 9am–1pm EST core hours." That’s a clear ask. Don’t say "flexible" — that signals you don’t want to commit.
When the timezone is wrong
If the role needs PST overlap and you’re in EAT, don’t pretend. Either skip the role or propose a specific schedule ("I’d do 4pm–10pm EAT to overlap your morning"). Honesty wins.