Stories and analyses of African technology companies, sectors & business models.
Olumide Ogunsanwo & Bankole Makanju
Listeners of Afrobility: Africa Tech & Business that love the show mention: well researched, business, perspective, highly, listen, great, african tech.
The Afrobility: Africa Tech & Business podcast brings a unique perspective to the world of African technology and business. Hosted by Bankole Oluwafemi and Olumide Olayinka, this podcast offers bite-sized episodes that are not only highly informative but also entertaining. From discussing growth and investment opportunities to critiquing business models and technology itself, the hosts provide well-researched analysis that goes beyond the surface level. As an African in the diaspora, I find this podcast to be a valuable source of information on African tech, keeping me updated and providing new ideas to consider.
One of the best aspects of The Afrobility is the depth of research that goes into each episode. The hosts take their time to gather all relevant information, resulting in insightful discussions that go beyond first-order thinking. This level of research allows listeners to learn new ideas about African tech and business, as well as update their existing knowledge. Every episode feels like a learning experience, with the hosts presenting profound insights that keep you engaged from start to finish.
Another standout aspect of this podcast is the balanced perspective it provides on African tech innovation. While some podcasts may simply praise every aspect of technology in Africa, The Afrobility takes a more critical approach. The hosts not only highlight the successes but also critique business models and technology where necessary. As someone who is skeptical of tech innovation at times, I appreciate this balanced view that acknowledges both the positive and negative aspects.
In terms of drawbacks, there aren't many worth noting for this podcast. However, one possible improvement could be diversifying the range of guests or perspectives featured on certain topics. While Bankole and Olumide bring great insight themselves, incorporating different voices could offer even more depth and variety to the discussions.
In conclusion, The Afrobility: Africa Tech & Business podcast is a must-listen for anyone interested in African technology and business. With its well-researched analysis, balanced perspective, and entertaining delivery, this podcast offers profound insights that keep listeners engaged and informed. Whether you're looking to learn new ideas, update your current knowledge, or simply enjoy an Africa-focused podcast, The Afrobility is a fantastic choice. I highly recommend it to colleagues, friends, and anyone interested in the African tech scene.
Overview: Today, we're going to explore PiggyVest - the Nigerian savings and investment platform. We'll discuss the story across the following areas: African Banking & Neobank context PiggyVest's early history Product & monetization strategy Competitive positioning & potential exit options Overall outlook This episode was recorded on Oct 30, 2024 Companies discussed: PiggyVest, Chipper Cash, Kuda Bank, Paystack, Flutterwave, FairMoney, Paystack, Brass, Cowrywise, Carbon, Chipper Cash, Interswitch, GTBank, Sterling Bank & UBA. Business concepts discussed: Neobank / Challenger bank / digital bank strategy, remittances Neobank monetization & Consumer Lending, consumer FinTech monetization strategy, consumer lending, retail banking strategy, customer segmentation strategy & low-end disruption Conversation highlights: (00:30) - Introduction (05:00) - African Banking & Neobank context (25:30) - Piggyvest's Founding Story (40:15) - Fundraising and Growth (52:30) - Geographical Expansion and Partnerships (01:18:52) - Product and Monetization strategy (01:35:20) - Competition and options for exit (01:54:35) - Bankole's overall thoughts and outlook (02:05:15) - Olumide's overall thoughts and outlook (02:15:45) - Recommendations and small wins Olumide's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Sisqo - Got to Get it video - Insane shit. Sisqo singing and dancing his heart out. So dope. Recommendation: Rob Berger's Personal Finance YouTube channel Recommendation: The Patriarch: The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy. Excellent book. A little bit of everything, entrepreneurship - history, politics, family life & hollywood. Small win: I spent the week in Cusco & Lima, it was magical and fun. Some sand, some llamas, lots of dancing. Epic shit Bankole's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time Podcast & Active - Asake Small win: Running 25 miles a week Other content: These Nigerian universities produced the most startup founders - Nairametrics Listeners: We'd love to hear from you. Email info@afrobility.com with feedback! Founders & Operators: We'd love to hear about what you're working on, email us at info@afrobility.com Investors: It would be great to link up with you. Contact us at info@afrobility.com Join our insider mailing list where we get feedback on new episodes & find all episodes on Afrobility.com
Overview: Today, we're going to explore IHS Towers - the African telecommunications infrastructure company. We'll discuss the story across the following areas: Telecom tower infrastructure context IHS Towers' early history Product & monetization strategy Competitive positioning & potential exit options Overall outlook This episode was recorded on May 5, 2024 Companies discussed: IHS Towers, MTN, Airtel, Telkom, Orange, Etisalat / 9 Mobile, American Tower Company, Globacom, Libancell, Helios Towers Nigeria, Telkom, Vodacom, Goldman Sachs, (IFC), Public Investment Corporation of South Africa, Ecobank, Investec, Standard Bank. Business concepts discussed: Tower Infrastructure, Shared communication infrastructure, Tower Leasing and Ownership Models, Market Expansion, Sale and Leaseback, Local vs Global Strategy, Capital-intensive business models, Currency devaluation Conversation highlights: (01:50) - What IHS does and why we're talking about it (04:37) - How Towers work (12:47) - How Telcos work with Towers in Nigeria and parts of Africa (23:22) - IHS Founding and Early History (34:19) - Funding (39:32) - Growth and International Expansion (47:26) - IHS IPO and trends post IPO (55:50) - Product Strategy & Monetization (1:08:30) - Competition (1:16:22) - Bankole's overall thoughts and outlook (1:24:06) - Olumide's overall thoughts and outlook (1:30:24) - Recommendations and small wins Olumide's recommendations & small wins: Interested in investing in Africa Tech with Olumide: Read about Adamantium fund & contact me at olumide@afrobility.com. Founders looking for funding: If you're a B2B founder working on Education, Health, Finance or food, please contact me for funding at olumide@afrobility.com Checkout my FIREDOM book = FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) + Freedom = personal finance and financial independence book. Website, Read: Substack Newsletter & Buy: Print, eBook or Audiobook) Recommendation: Incredible Dance routine video to Sisa Song by King Promise: I love it so much I'm not sure how to put it into words. 1 minute of greatness Recommendation: Chris Brown “Sensational” live performance : Watching Chris Brown dance is watching a master of his craft. Recommendation: J. Cole - Let Nas Down Recommendation: Nas - Make Nas Proud Recommendation: Nas & Eminem - EPMD 2 Recommendation: Nas - Rare Small win: Went back to reading older books to reset my reading palate Bankole's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: The Search for the Perfect Door - YouTube && Unusual Electric Car Features in Nigeria - Bloomberg Small win: Running sprints Other content: Palito FM Autoscan Radio Listeners: We'd love to hear from you. Email info@afrobility.com with feedback! Founders & Operators: We'd love to hear about what you're working on, email us at info@afrobility.com Investors: It would be great to link up with you. Contact us at info@afrobility.com Join our insider mailing list where we get feedback on new episodes & find all episodes on Afrobility.com
Overview: Today, we're going to explore eTranzact - the African payments and switching platform. We'll discuss the story across the following areas: First, Nigerian payments context Second, eTranzact's early history Third, Product & monetization strategy Fourth, Competitive positioning Fifth, Overall outlook This episode was recorded on Feb 11, 2024 Companies discussed: eTranzact, Interswitch, Unified Payment Services Limited (UPSL), Systemspecs (Remita), Paystack, Flutterwave, Moniepoint, Paga, OPay, MTN & Airtel. Business concepts discussed: Mobile money, Payments Collections, Payments ecosystem, payments partnerships strategy, card networks, payments infrastructure, low-end disruption, banking regulation & payments M&A strategy Conversation highlights: (00:57) - What is eTranzact and why we're talking about it (07:43) - Context of Nigeria's payment sector before eTranzact (16:45) - eTranzact founding story (35:46) - Growth and geographic expansion (45:10) - Product strategy (01:02:56) - Monetization strategy (01:20:41) - Competition (1:31:10) - Bankole's overall thoughts and outlook (1:34:38) - Olumide's overall thoughts and outlook (1:43:20 - Recommendations and small wins Olumide's recommendations & small wins: Interested in investing in Africa Tech with Olumide: Read about Adamantium fund & contact me at olumide@afrobility.com. Founders looking for funding: If you're a B2B founder working on Education, Health, Finance or food, please contact me for funding at olumide@afrobility.com Checkout my FIREDOM book = FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) + Freedom = personal finance and financial independence book. Website, Read: Substack Newsletter & Buy: Print, eBook or Audiobook) Recommendation: Never Enough (Loren Allred). Incredible. I can listen to it on repeat for the whole day. Recommendation: La Bachata (Maniel Turizo). Dope shit. Recommendation: "Someone You Loved". Not the original but a fabulous cover. Best line, "I was getting kinda used to being someone you loved". Listen to the 3rd verse when they sing simultaneously. Incredible! Recommendation: A Million Miles Away movie. It is a biographical drama film about the life of José Hernández, a Mexican-American migrant farm Small win: Booked Cirque Du Soleil show. Looking forward to it. Bankole's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Comma - Burna Boy && Wolfram|Alpha as the Way to Bring Computational Knowledge Superpowers to ChatGPT Small win: Clean shaven + the Nigerian AFCON semifinal win only to lose in the final a few hours after recording :( Other content: History of Web Acquiring in Nigeria && Atlas Copco on Invest Like The Best && An Empirical Examination of Why Mobile Money Schemes Ignite in Some Developing Countries but Flounder in Most Listeners: We'd love to hear from you. Email info@afrobility.com with feedback! Founders & Operators: We'd love to hear about what you're working on, email us at info@afrobility.com Investors: It would be great to link up with you. Contact us at info@afrobility.com Join our insider mailing list where we get feedback on new episodes & find all episodes on Afrobility.com
Overview: Today, we're going to explore Moove, the mobility fintech. We'll discuss the story across the following areas: African mobility and transportation context Moove's launch & early history Product & monetization strategy Competitive positioning & potential exit options Our overall outlook. This episode was recorded on Jan 14, 2024 Companies discussed: Moove, Uber, Lyft, Autochek, Cars45, GoKada, Creditas, Swvl, Lori, Sendy & FairMoney Business concepts discussed: Revenue-based financing, asset-based lending, Ridesharing & Mobility entrepreneurship Conversation highlights: (01:20) - What Moove does and why we're talking about it (06:57) - Context of mobility and public transportation in Nigeria (21:50) - Founders' background (27:50) - Moove founding and early history (32:16) - Fundraising (43:20) - Growth and Geographical Expansion (48:15) - Partnerships (1:07:26) - Product and Monetization Strategy (1:28:44) - Metrics (1:33:50) - Competition and options for exit (1:53:10) - Olumide's overall thoughts and outlook (2:09:07) - Bankole's overall thoughts and outlook (2:26:12) - Recommendations and small wins Olumide's recommendations & small wins: Interested in investing in Africa Tech with Olumide: Read about Adamantium fund & contact me at olumide@afrobility.com. Founders looking for funding: If you're a B2B founder working on Education, Health, Finance or food, please contact me for funding at olumide@afrobility.com Checkout my FIREDOM book = FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) + Freedom = personal finance and financial independence book. Website, Read: Substack Newsletter & Buy: Print, eBook or Audiobook) Recommendation: The Gap and The Gain (by Benjamin Hardy & Dan Sullivan: Book about mindset and approach to life, measuring success, fulfilment and happiness. Recommendation: Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life (Arnold Schwarzenegger): Great book by the legend about principles to approach life to get what you want. At this point, I've read all his books and can recommend them all. Arnold records the audiobook end-to-end by himself so be ready for awesomeness Small win: Completely revamped by Body Skincare after getting deep into research about this Bankole's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Money Maze Podcast - Interview with the CEO of De Beers && We are different from all other humans in history && The Reality of the Danish Fairytale Small win: Successful visa application to South Africa Other content: Nigeria's Secured Lending Opportunity - bankole.org Listeners: We'd love to hear from you. Email info@afrobility.com with feedback! Founders & Operators: We'd love to hear about what you're working on, email us at info@afrobility.com Investors: It would be great to link up with you. Contact us at info@afrobility.com Join our insider mailing list where we get feedback on new episodes & find all episodes on Afrobility.com
Overview: Today, we're going to explore AFEX, the African commodities exchange. We'll discuss the story across the following areas: African Agriculture context AFEX's launch & early history Product & monetization strategy Competitive positioning & potential exit options Overall outlook. This episode was recorded on Dec 24, 2023 Companies discussed: AFEX, EAX (East African Commodity Exchange), Tony Elumelu Foundation, Heirs Holdings, Apollo Agriculture, NCX, Cargill, Louis Dreyfuss, 50 Ventures & Berggruen Charitable Trust Business concepts discussed: Agriculture technology (AgTech, AgriTech or AgroTech), Agribusiness marketplaces, farming financing, Farmer market access opportunities, Agriculture insurance strategy, Commodity trading & Internal Entrepreneurship (Incubated company strategy). Conversation highlights: (01:10) - What Afex is and why we're talking about it (08:36) - Context of agriculture in Africa (21:49) - AFEX Founding story (33:28) - Fundraising (39:56) - Growth, geographical expansion and partnerships (49:42) - Product strategy, monetization and growth (59:14) - Cost structure, revenue and margins (1:10:00) - Business and user metrics (1:13:14) - Competition and options for exit (1:21:02) - Bankole's overall thoughts and outlook (1:34:25) - Olumide's overall thoughts and outlook (1:47:45) - Recommendations and small wins Olumide's recommendations & small wins: Interested in investing in Africa Tech with Olumide: Read about Adamantium fund & contact me at olumide@afrobility.com. Founders looking for funding: If you're a B2B founder working on Education, Health, Finance or food, please contact me for funding at olumide@afrobility.com Checkout my FIREDOM book = FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) + Freedom = personal finance and financial independence book. Website, Read: Substack Newsletter & Buy: Print, eBook or Audiobook) Recommendation: I went back and re-read some of my classic books: How I found freedom in an Unfree world (Harry Browne), Don't Sweat the Small Stuff and It's All Small Stuff (Richard Carlson) & A Guide to the Good Life - The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy (William B. Irvine) Small win: Hiking with new friends in St Thomas. Cool Bankole's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: FiveBooks.Com - FiveBooks.com shares lists of the best five books on many topics, chosen by experts in that area Recommendation: Jeff Bezos on Lex Fridman Podcast. A rare Jeff Bezos long form interview. Small win: Running while listening to Big 7 - Burna Boy Fact check: Tony Elumelu narrates How He Went from Second Class Lower Degree to Nigeria's Billionaire Other content: FT ranking: Africa's Fastest Growing Companies 2023 & AFEX Nigeria loses maize worth N85m to 'police raid' Listeners: We'd love to hear from you. Email info@afrobility.com with feedback! Founders & Operators: We'd love to hear about what you're working on, email us at info@afrobility.com Investors: It would be great to link up with you. Contact us at info@afrobility.com Join our insider mailing list where we get feedback on new episodes & find all episodes on Afrobility.com
Overview: Today, we're going to talk about Nomba (formerly known as Kudi) , the FinTech payments solutions provider. We'll explore the story across the following areas: African & Nigerian SME context Nomba's early history Product & monetization strategy Competitive positioning & potential exit options Our overall outlook. This episode was recorded on December 3, 2023 Companies discussed: Nomba (Kudi), MoniePoint (TeamApt), Yoco, Kuda Bank, Flutterwave, Paystack, Stripe, Safaricom, Brass Banking, TradeDepot, Sabi, Paystack, Flutterwave, MTN, Airtel, Bumpa, Vendease, Orda, OPay, OnePipe, Paga, FairMoney, Omnibiz, Interswitch & Kippa Business concepts discussed: SME Agency Banking, Informal retail, banking, Open banking & Mobile Money, Merchants solutions, Points-of-Sale devices, SME Lending & hardware and software bundling Conversation highlights: (01:25) - Nomba context (06:29) - Context of African SMEs and Informal retail (19:10) - Founding story and founders' background (29:02) - Fundraising (43:07) - Partnerships, Geographical expansion and Team (47:55) - User metrics (52:55) - Product and Monetization strategy (1:02:24) - Competition and options for exit (1:12:35) - Olumide's overall thoughts and outlook (1:18:50) - Bankole's overall thoughts and outlook (1:24:40) - Recommendation and small wins Olumide's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: TBD Interested in investing in Africa Tech with Olumide: Read about Adamantium fund & contact me at olumide@afrobility.com. Founders looking for funding: If you're a B2B founder working on Education, Health, Finance or food, please contact me for funding at olumide@afrobility.com Checkout my FIREDOM book = FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) + Freedom = personal finance and financial independence book. Website, Read: Substack Newsletter & Buy: Print, eBook or Audiobook) Jay-Z at Madison Square Garden. Incredible. He performs so many of his hit songs with an ensemble of other artists. I was jumping of my chair rapping along. Charlie Munger died last week.. What a hero. What a legend. What a mind. I love the guy. I can recommend all his books and videos Bankole's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Constellation Software on Business Breakdowns Small win: Running in Paris and Ray-Ban Meta glasses Listeners: We'd love to hear from you. Email info@afrobility.com with feedback! Founders & Operators: We'd love to hear about what you're working on, email us at info@afrobility.com Investors: It would be great to link up with you. Contact us at info@afrobility.com Join our insider mailing list where we get feedback on new episodes & find all episodes on Afrobility.com
Overview: Today, we're going to explore TymeBank - the South African neobank. We'll discuss the story across the following areas: African & Nigerian banking context TymeBank's launch, early history, growth over time & fundraising Product & monetization strategy Competitive positioning & potential exit options Overall outlook. Companies discussed: TymeBank, African Rainbow Capital (ARC), MTN, Kuda Bank, Chipper Cash, FairMoney, Carbon, Discovery Bank, Branch, Pick N Pay, TakeAlot, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Bank Zero, Naspers & NuBank Business concepts discussed: International expansion, Startups and Distribution, Deposit banking, International expansion, Data sovereignty, Conversation highlights: (00:30) - TymeBank context (08:15) - Context of African Banking (24:20) - TymeBank founding story (52:20) - Fundraising (55:01) - Growth and geographical expansion (1:20:03) - Product & Monetization Strategy (1:50:08) - Competition and options for Exit (2:00:33) - Bankole's overall thoughts and outlook (2:10:38) - Olumide's overall thoughts and outlook (2:15:00) - Recommendations and small wins Olumide's recommendations & small wins: Interested in investing in Africa Tech with Olumide: Read about Adamantium fund & contact me at olumide@afrobility.com. Founders looking for funding: If you're a B2B founder working on Education, Health, Finance or food, please contact me for funding at olumide@afrobility.com Checkout my FIREDOM book = FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) + Freedom = personal finance and financial independence book. Website, Read: Substack Newsletter & Buy: Print, eBook or Audiobook) Recommendation: AI 2041: Ten Visions for Our Future (Kai-Fu Lee): Great book about the potential of AI told across 10 stories Recommendation: Dangote (song by Burna Boy). Incredible song Recommendation: Good Bad Boy (song by Lil Kesh). Catchy and smooth chorus. With a deeper meaning about searching for companionship Small win: I was in NYC book launch for FIREDOM Book launch. Dope. Bankole's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Plunder by Brendan Ballou - A book on the excesses of Private Equity. PE is an example of well-intentioned policy having (unintentional?) downstream impact. Recommendation: Business Breakdown Podcast on Mobile Gaming: The uneven distribution of paying customers in mobile gaming reminds me of emerging market telco companies Small win: Quest 3 Headset! VR is coming along nicely. Other content: TymeBank Holdings 2022 Financial Statement & Substack on the history of Tyme Global Listeners: We'd love to hear from you. Email info@afrobility.com with feedback! Founders & Operators: We'd love to hear about what you're working on, email us at info@afrobility.com Investors: It would be great to link up with you. Contact us at info@afrobility.com Join our insider mailing list where we get feedback on new episodes & find all episodes on Afrobility.com
Overview: Today, we're going to explore Carbon, the credit-led Neobank. We'll discuss the Carbon story across the following areas: African lending & consumer credit Carbon's founding & early history Product & monetization strategy Competitive positioning & potential exit options Overall outlook This episode was recorded on Oct 15, 2023 Companies discussed: Carbon (PayLater, One Credit, OneFi, One Finance), Diamond Bank, Cafe Neo, Kaizen Venture Partners, FairMoney, Branch, Paga, Kuda Bank, GTBank, Access Bank, Chipper Cash, NuBank, Lesaka (NET1 UEPS), Lendable, Interswitch, Visa, RenMoney, Tala & Safaricom (M-Pesa) Business concepts discussed: Smartphone credit assessment, consumer lending, unbanked population, Neobank strategy, Personal Finance OS & Buy Now Pay Later Conversation highlights: (00:48) - Carbon context (08:15) - Consumer lending in Africa and Neobanks (15:32) - Background on African banking and Neobanks (32:02) - Founding story of Carbon & Founders' background (54:04) - Fundraising (1:01:15) - Growth and Geographical Expansion (1:08:03) - Acquisitions and investments (1:15:54) - Team and organisation (1:19:35) - Key metrics (1:40:46) - Product strategy and monetization (2:00:08) - Competition and options for exit (2:10:33 - Olumide's overall thoughts and outlook (2:20:38) - Bankole's overall thoughts and outlook (2:30:15) - Recommendation and small wins Olumide's recommendations & small wins: Interested in investing in Africa Tech with Olumide: Read about Adamantium fund & contact me at olumide@afrobility.com. Founders looking for funding: If you're a B2B founder working on Education, Health, Finance or food, please contact me for funding at olumide@afrobility.com Checkout my FIREDOM book = FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) + Freedom = personal finance and financial independence book. Website, Read: Substack Newsletter & Buy: Print, eBook or Audiobook) Recommendation: Lil Kesh - Shoki Remix. Song is beyond nice. I probably understand 15% of it. Lil Kesh was 19 years old when the song was released. The power of young people to Incredible things. Wow! Recommendation: Lil Kesh - Don't Call Me (feat. Zinoleesky) [Lyrics Visualiser]. Recommendation: Ruger - Ruger. The song literally starts with “Man, I spit fire…”. How can I not love it? Small win: Switched to Instacart (from Amazon Fresh) for groceries. Not going back Bankole's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Fair Isaac Company on Business Breakdowns, MTN on Business Breakdowns Small win: New phone Other content: Building Magic - The Cafe Neo story & Chipper Cash AI Day Listeners: We'd love to hear from you. Email info@afrobility.com with feedback! Founders & Operators: We'd love to hear about what you're working on, email us at info@afrobility.com Investors: It would be great to link up with you. Contact us at info@afrobility.com Join our insider mailing list where we get feedback on new episodes & find all episodes on Afrobility.com
Overview: Today, we're going to talk about FairMoney, the credit-led Neobank in emerging markets. we'll explore the FairMoney story across the following areas African lending & consumer credit FairMoney's founding & early history Product & monetization strategy Competitive positioning & potential exit options Overall outlook This episode was recorded on Oct 1, 2023 Companies discussed: FairMoney, Branch, PalmPay, Kuda Bank, Carbon, 54Gene, GTBank, Access Bank, Ecobank, PalmPay, Carbon, PiggyVest, Upstart, Tala, Visa, Mastercard Safaricom (M-Pesa), PayForce & Chipper Cash Business concepts discussed: Smartphone credit assessment, African customer segmentation strategy, Consumer lending, unbanked population, smartphone credit assessment, Neobank strategy & Personal Finance OS Conversation highlights: (03:01) - Intro (07:19) - African consumer lending & neobank context (18:35) - Neobanking context and background (20:00) - FairMoney founding story and Founders' background (39:40) - Fundraising (45:46) - Geographical expansion (49:05) - Partnerships (50:16) - Acquisitions (55:42) - Team & Location strategy (58:03) - User metrics and traction (1:04:27) - Product and monetization strategy (1:24:04) - Competition and options for exit (1:35:44) - Bankole's overall thoughts and outlook (1:47:30) - Olumide's overall thoughts and outlook (1:55:17) - Recommendations and small wins Olumide's recommendations & small wins: Interested in investing in Africa Tech with Olumide: Read about Adamantium fund & contact me at olumide@afrobility.com. Founders looking for funding: If you're a B2B founder working on Education, Health, Finance or food, please contact me for funding at olumide@afrobility.com Checkout my FIREDOM book = FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) + Freedom = personal finance and financial independence book. Website, Read: Substack Newsletter & Buy: Print, eBook or Audiobook) Recommendation 1: Arnold Schwarzenegger book 1: The Education of a Bodybuilder Recommendation 2: Arnold Schwarzenegger book 2: Total Recall - My Unbelievably True Life Story Recommendation 3: Richard Feynman's book: What Do You Care What Other People Think?": Further Adventures of a Curious Character (Feynman Book 2). I already read and recommended "Surely, you're joking Mr Feynman which was extraordinary) Recommendation 4: Finnaus YT channel tells stories about financial companies and investors. Awesome. I watched the history of JP Morgan, Howard Marks, Jamie Dimon, Goldman Sachs, Fidelity, Vanguard and on and on. I must have spent over 10 hours in the past week on it Small win: Hanging out in Rio de Janeiro. It was fun! Bankole's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Zealot by Reza Aslan, Remember Me - Fireboy (FAEM remix) & Lonely At The Top - Asake (FAEM Remix) Small win: Exercising after recovering from an injury Other content: Laurin Hainy on TechPoint Africa, We Rich People Will Not Tell You How We Make Our Money - IG Reel, Moneylender licensing in Nigeria , Examples of spurious correlations & Titan: A Golden Case in Indian Retail Listeners: We'd love to hear from you. Email info@afrobility.com with feedback! Founders & Operators: We'd love to hear about what you're working on, email us at info@afrobility.com Investors: It would be great to link up with you. Contact us at info@afrobility.com Join our insider mailing list where we get feedback on new episodes & find all episodes on Afrobility.com
Overview: Today, we're going to talk about Branch, the FinTech lending company and Neobank. We'll explore the story across the following 5 areas: African lending & consumer credit Branch's founding early history Product & monetization strategy Competitive positioning & potential exit options Overall outlook This episode was recorded on Sep 10, 2023 Companies discussed: Branch, Kiva, Kuda Bank, Chipper Cash, Earnin, Paga, FairMoney, MFS Africa, GTBank, Access Bank, Ecobank, PalmPay, Carbon, PiggyVest, Upstart, Tala, Visa, Mastercard & Safaricom Business concepts discussed: Credit scoring, Smartphone credit assessment, African customer segmentation strategy & low-end disruption, Consumer lending, , unbanked population, smartphone credit assessment, Pan-African Banking Conversation highlights: (01:00) - What Branch is and why we're talking about it (07:40) - Africa consumer credit context and background (19:17:) - Branch International founding (23:31) - Founders' background (39:12) - Fundraising and Growth (51:40) - Geographical expansion (1:02:01) - Acquisitions and Team overview (01:15:14) - Product strategy (1:33:20) - Monetization strategy and Costs (1:41:58) - Competition and options for exit (1:57:08) - Bankole's overall thoughts (2:10:59) - Olumide's overall thoughts (2:30:20) - Recommendations and small wins Olumide's recommendations & small wins: Interested in investing in Africa Tech with Olumide: Read about Adamantium fund & contact me at olumide@afrobility.com. Founders looking for funding: If you're a B2B founder working on Education, Health, Finance or food, please contact me for funding at olumide@afrobility.com Checkout my FIREDOM book = FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) + Freedom = personal finance and financial independence book. Website, Read: Substack Newsletter & Buy: Print, eBook or Audiobook) Recommendation: Eminem - Rap God (OMFG I'm 12 years late, my mind exploded. WOW!) Recommendation: Can't Hurt Me (David Goggins). Incredible book about challenges David went to from parental abuse, racism to make something of himself. I went through waves of intense emotions while reading the book. At some points, I was crying in pain with David and other times I was in pure shock about what I was listening to. Small win: Hosted FIREDOM book launch event in London. Amazing conversations about life, managing money and growth. Dope shit. Bankole's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: American Prometheus by Kai Bird, A/B Testing with Fat Tails & Remember Me - Fireboy DML Small win: Chin-chin from a recent trip to Lagos Other content: Mobile overdraft facility Fuliza outshines Silicon Valley-backed lending apps in Kenya- TechCrunch & Inside Branch's 20 percent interest investment push to beat Nigerian bank offerings - TechCabal Listeners: We'd love to hear from you. Email info@afrobility.com with feedback! Founders & Operators: We'd love to hear about what you're working on, email us at info@afrobility.com Investors: It would be great to link up with you. Contact us at info@afrobility.com Join our insider mailing list where we get feedback on new episodes & find all episodes on Afrobility.com
Overview: Today, we're going to talk about Sabi, the B2B retail & supply chain services platform. We'll explore the story across the following areas: Africa's and Nigeria's informal retail sector Sabi's early history Product & monetization strategy Competitive positioning & potential exit options Overall Outlook. This episode was recorded on July 23, 2023 Companies discussed: Sabi, Rensource, TradeDepot, Twiga Foods, Wasoko (Sokowatch), Omnibiz, Alerzo, & Marketforce Business concepts discussed: Informal retail penetration, SMB retail OS, B2B Operating systems, Equity carve-outs, Power as a service, Channel margins & Supply chain logistics Conversation highlights: (01:00) - Sabi context (06:30) - Africa and Nigeria informal retail context and background (20:39) - Background on the founders (30:04) - Quick Rensource detour - overview and background (37:05) - Background on Sabi founding (47:52) - Fundraising (56:40) - Geographic expansion, partnerships and metrics, and growth (1:10:15) - Product Strategy (1:21:17) - How Sabi makes money (1:32:06) - Competition and options for exit (1:46:16) - Bankole's overall thoughts and outlook (1:55:59) - Olumide's overall thoughts and outlook (2:07:49) - Recommendations and small wins Olumide's recommendations & small wins: Interested in investing in Africa Tech with Olumide: Read about Adamantium fund & contact me at olumide@afrobility.com. Founders looking for funding: If you're a B2B founder working on Education, Health, Finance or food, please contact me for funding at olumide@afrobility.com Checkout my FIREDOM book = FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) + Freedom = personal finance and financial independence book. Website, Read: Substack Newsletter & Buy: Print, eBook or Audiobook) Recommendation: Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity (book by Peter Attia) Recommendation: I Don't Want to Talk About It: Overcoming the Secret Legacy of Male Depression (book by Terrence Real) Small win: Organized House party with friends yesterday, it was fun. Small win: Got a new backpack for future travelling, very nice. Bankole's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Invest Like The Best with the co-founder of FIGS & Spiderman Song - Nigerian Remix Small win: New keycaps!!! Other content: How Equifax became a private IRS, Mission.org podcast episode with CEO Sabi & Norrsken22-Backed Nigerian Startup Plans $125 Million Round Listeners: We'd love to hear from you. Email info@afrobility.com with feedback! Founders & Operators: We'd love to hear about what you're working on, email us at info@afrobility.com Investors: It would be great to link up with you. Contact us at info@afrobility.com Join our substack mailing list where we get feedback on new episodes & find all episodes on Afrobility.com
Overview: Today, we're going to talk about TradeDepot. We'll explore the story across the following areas: Africa's and Nigeria's informal retail sector TradeDepot's early history Product & monetization strategy Competitive positioning & potential exit options Overall Outlook. This episode was recorded on June 25, 2023 Companies discussed: TradeDepot, Twiga Foods, Wasoko (Sokowatch), Omnibiz, Alerzo, Marketforce, Sabi, Multipro, FMCG Distributions Limited & Kellogg Business concepts discussed: Informal retail penetration, SMB retail OS, B2B Operating systems, Informal markets, B2B retail, Buy Now Pay Later, Trade Finance & last-mile distribution Conversation highlights: (01:00) - TradeDepot intro and why we're talking about them (06:50) - Africa's informal retail sector (20:55) - Differences in informal retail across Africa (25:43) - Founders' background and early history (36:45) - Launch strategy (42:54) - Fundraising and Growth (49:55) - Growth and geographical expansion (1:02:33) - Product strategy and evolution (1:15:26) - Monetization strategy and costs (1:13:11) - Competition (1:25:05) - Options for exit (1:32:52) - Bankole's overall thoughts and outlook (1:42:22) - Olumide's overall thoughts and outlook (1:53:03) - Recommendations and small wins Olumide's recommendations & small wins: Interested in investing in Africa Tech with Olumide: Read about Adamantium fund & contact me at olumide@afrobility.com. Founders looking for funding: If you're a B2B founder working on Education, Health, Finance or food, please contact me for funding at olumide@afrobility.com Checkout my FIREDOM book = FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) + Freedom = personal finance and financial independence book. Website, Read: Substack Newsletter & Buy: Print, eBook or Audiobook) Recommendation: Eleven Rings (Phil Jackson). Great book about the unbelievable career of Phil Jackson who won rings with the Bulls (Michael Jordan) & Lakers (Shaq & Kobe). Recommendation: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse movie. Best movie I've seen in years. Remarkably good. Great story. Great visuals. Fun! Small win: Friends together for a birthday party on a boat and at the club. It was incredible. Small win: FIREDOM book launch party in Washington DC. I wasn't even there but I felt the energy all the way from here in Miami. Bankole's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Voyager Playlist, Basquiat - Asake & Iya Eba's Legacy Small win: Switched to a new keyboard - the Keychron K2 Listeners: We'd love to hear from you. Email info@afrobility.com with feedback! Founders & Operators: We'd love to hear about what you're working on, email us at info@afrobility.com Investors: It would be great to link up with you. Contact us at info@afrobility.com Join our insider mailing list where we get feedback on new episodes & find all episodes on Afrobility.com
Overview: Today, we're going to talk about Wasoko (Sokowatch) We'll explore the story across the following areas: Africa's and Kenya's informal retail context Wasoko's early history Wasoko's Product & monetization strategy Competitive positioning & potential exit options Overall outlook. This episode was recorded on June 11, 2023 Companies discussed: Wasoko (Sokowatch), Twiga Foods, TradeDepot, OmniBiz, Alerzo, mPharma, Nestle, Unilever, Multipro, Marketforce, Udaan & Flipkart Business concepts discussed: Informal retail penetration, Agency banking adoption, B2B Operating systems, Informal markets, & last-mile distribution Conversation highlights: (00:40) - Sokowatch background and why we're talking about it (08:35) - African informal retail context (16:11) - Founder background and Founding story (29:55) - Fundraising and early growth (36:56) - Geographic expansion, growth and partnerships (45;12) - Team strategy (54:00) - Product strategy and monetization (1:10:00) - Competition and options for exit (1:23:13) - Bankole's overall thoughts and outlook (1:33:05) - Olumide's overall thoughts and outlook (1:43:30) - Recommendations and small wins Olumide's recommendations & small wins: Interested in investing in Africa Tech with Olumide: Read about Adamantium fund & contact me at olumide@afrobility.com. Founders looking for funding: If you're a B2B founder working on Education, Health, Finance or food, please contact me for funding at olumide@afrobility.com Checkout my FIREDOM book = FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) + Freedom = personal finance and financial independence book. Website, Read: Substack Newsletter & Buy: Print, eBook or Audiobook) Recommendation: The Slight Edge. Amazing Personal Development book about a mental framework to apply daily actions to get what you want in life. I have read it about 6 times at this point. Recommendation: Temu.com. Started using it for shopping. It has some cool gamification ideas to nudge ecommerce purchases Small win: Hosted house party with friends. It was great to see everyone together Bankole's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Artificial Intelligence, a guide for Thinking Humans by Melanie Mitchell & Would You Sell Your Extra Kidney - Dylan Walsh Small win: won my physical activity mini-league Other content: FT fastest growing companies 2022 & Modularity Theory - Christensen Institute Listeners: We'd love to hear from you. Email info@afrobility.com with feedback! Founders & Operators: We'd love to hear about what you're working on, email us at info@afrobility.com Investors: It would be great to link up with you. Contact us at info@afrobility.com Join our insider mailing list where we get feedback on new episodes & find all episodes on Afrobility.com
Overview: Today, we're going to talk about Twiga Foods. We'll explore the story across the following 6 areas Africa Agricultural context Kenya farming & market access context Twiga Foods' early history Twiga Foods' Product & monetization strategy Twiga Foods' Competitive positioning & potential exit options Future outlook. This episode was recorded on May 28, 2023 Companies discussed: Twiga Foods, Apollo Agriculture, Vendease, Kibanda, Kellogg, Tolaram, Multipro, Olam, Dangote, Coca-Cola, Shoprite, Cargill, Nestle, Unilever & Safaricom (M-Pesa) Business concepts discussed: Agriculture technology (AgTech, AgriTech or AgroTech), Agribusiness marketplaces, farming financing, Farmer market access opportunities, SMB Retail, B2B solutions and Agriculture Logistics. Conversation highlights: (01:00) - Twiga Foods context (08:53) - Africa Agriculture context (18:30) - Kenya background and agriculture context (23:34) - Market access context in Africa (31:20) - Market access context at Twiga Foods' founding (40:12) - Founders' background and farming context (56:10) - Fundraising (1:04:10) - Geographical expansion, Partnerships and Hiring (1:15:00) - Metrics (1:20:15) - Product & Monetization strategy, Cost structure (1:32:58) - Competition (1:35:00) - Options for exit (1:45:50) - Olumide's overall thoughts and outlook (1:58:58) - Bankole's overall thoughts and outlook (2:06:31) - Recommendations and small wins Olumide's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Berkshire Hathaway story on the Acquired podcast. It has multiple parts and is really good. The Acquired podcast is like the non-African version of Afrobility. They tell stories of companies in developed markets. Alternatively you could say Afrobility is the African version of Acquired. Recommendation: Exxon-Mobil analyses on Business Breakdown podcast. Business Breakdowns is like a more serious suit-and-tie version of Acquired. As you can tell from my recommendations I like podcasts that analyse businesses. Small win: Sao Paulo trip. It was fun. Small win: To physically touch and hold the Firedom (financial independence) book. I and Samon released the paperback and hardcover versions in May and I just received my author copy. It feels magical, the book is beautiful and bright red. Bankole's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Article about end of Life Dreams, Hallmarks of Good Product Sense & This Company Will Give You A Free TV In Exchange For Your Data | AdExchanger Small win: The EPL season is over, and the suffering of being a Chelsea fan is on pause… Other content: Winning in Africa's agricultural market, After 18 Months, Your Investment Probably Isn't Getting Marked Up - Angellist & Kellogg purchases 50% of Multipro for $450M Listeners: We'd love to hear from you. Email info@afrobility.com with feedback! Founders & Operators: We'd love to hear about what you're working on, email us at info@afrobility.com Investors: It would be great to link up with you. Contact us at info@afrobility.com Join our insider mailing list where we get feedback on new episodes & find all episodes on Afrobility.com
Overview: Today, we're going to talk about Yoco, the South African Point-Of-Sale FinTech company. We'll explore the story across the following areas: South African payments context Yoco's early history Yoco's Product & monetization strategy Yoco's Competitive positioning & potential exit options Overall outlook. This episode was recorded on Apr 9, 2023 Companies discussed: Yoco, Square, Flutterwave, PayFast, PayThru, PayU, DPO, Flutterwave, Paystack, Stripe, Ikhokha, MTN, Safaricom, Zapper, Visa, Interswitch, Nedbank, ABSA, FNB (First National Bank South Africa) & Wave Business concepts discussed: Merchants solutions, Points-of-Sale devices, SME Lending & hardware and software bundling Conversation highlights: (01:30) - Yoco context (07:30) - Africa / SA payments context (23:11) - Yoco Founding Story and Founders' background (40:45) - Fundraising and Growth (51:52) - Partnerships, Acquisitions, and Team (59:20) - Key metrics (1:02:16) - Product Strategy (1:19:42) - Monetization strategy (1:30:50) - Competition (1:36:42) - Options for exit (1:49:06) - Bankole's overall thoughts and outlook (1:57:01) - Olumide's overall thoughts and outlook (2:07:14) - Recommendations and small wins Olumide's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: I released my book called Firedom = FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) + Freedom = personal finance and financial independence book. It was an incredible journey to get it out and I'm very excited about it. I think many people will really enjoy it. You can buy the audiobook, ebook or print here. Here's an excerpt from the full blog post announcement: Book Creation context: Around the end of 2022, I made a new friend when I met Samon, we instantly got along because we shared a lot in common: African immigrants who moved to America/Europe, worked in Management consulting and are in love with personal finance. We decided to embark on a project together and write a financial independence book we are calling Firedom! What is Firedom book about? Living life intentionally + Personal finance + Financial independence + Personal Development + Freedom + Exploring your own unique path in life + Life adventures of two African immigrants Who is it for? Underdogs, outsiders, expats, nomads, minorities, immigrants interested in : Living their lives more intentionally to achieve Financial Independence Learning about people's life stories (turning points, challenges, flameouts, etc) Changing their mindset and psychological relationship with wealth Recommendation: Owl City - Unbelievable. I love the song so much because it reminds me of adventures and experiences growing up Recommendation: Good Hair - Documentary by Chris Rock. Good shit. Reduced my ignorance level about African women hair Small win: Virgin Voyages cruise - First ever cruise. Very cool. Small win: No scrubs Karaoke on cruise. Too much fun. It was an experience. Bankole's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Economist Article on Nitrogen & Asake - 2:30 Small win: Moderating a panel at the Harvard Business School Africa Business Conference Other content: The Prosperity Paradox by Efosa Ojomo, Karen Dillon, Clay Christensen, Adyen pricing page & PayFast pricing page Listeners: We'd love to hear from you. Email info@afrobility.com with feedback! Founders & Operators: We'd love to hear about what you're working on, email us at info@afrobility.com Investors: It would be great to link up with you. Contact us at info@afrobility.com Join our substack mailing list where discuss more & find all episodes on Afrobility.com
Overview: Today, we're going to talk about DPO Group. We'll explore the story across the following areas African payments context DPO group's early history Product & monetization strategy Competitive positioning & potential exit options overall outlook. This episode was recorded on Mar 5, 2023 Companies discussed: DPO Group, Network International, Flutterwave, Paystack, Interswitch, Safaricom, MTN, Airtel, Takealot.com, Superbalist.com, Safaricom, Yoco, PayPal & Chipper Cash Business concepts discussed: Bootstrapping, Payments ecosystem, payments partnerships strategy, payments infrastructure, low-end disruption, banking regulation, Mobile Money, E-commerce payments, Virtual cards & payments M&A strategy Conversation highlights: (04:40) - Africa Payment Context at time of DPO's founding (12:46) - DPO Group Founding and early history (14:05) - Founder Background (25:57) - Fundraising and Growth (29:48) - Acquisitions and Partnerships (51:30) - Product and Monetization Strategy (1:00:05) - Competition (1:08:35) - DPO's exit to Network International (1:27:15) - Bankole's overall thoughts and outlook (1:39:10) - Olumide's overall thoughts and outlook (1:47:01) - Recommendations and small wins Olumide's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: The War of Art: Book for creators and artists to get over the hump and release their inner creative expression to the world Recommendation: Naval Ravikant podcast with David Deutsch talking about Physics. Amazing episode. Having two of them together is incredible. Like having a rap collabo. Recommendation: Fela in Versace. Shit is too nice.I love songs that combine unrelated ideas Small win: Soul Cycle for the First time. Dope shit. Bankole's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Stratechery Podcast - Eric Seufert and Ben Thompson & Mike Munger on EconTalk on Decision-making Small win: I signed up for a gym membership for the first time ever Listeners: We'd love to hear from you. Email info@afrobility.com with feedback! Founders & Operators: We'd love to hear about what you're working on, email us at info@afrobility.com Investors: It would be great to link up with you. Contact us at info@afrobility.com Join our insider mailing list where we get feedback on new episodes & find all episodes on Afrobility.com
Overview: Today, we're going to talk about MFS Africa. We'll explore the MFS Africa story across the following 5 areas: African payments context MFS Africa's early history Product & monetization strategy Competitive positioning & potential exit options Overall outlook. This episode was recorded on Jan 29, 2023 Companies discussed: MFS Africa, Safaricom (M-Pesa), Opay, Flutterwave, Paystack, MTN, Airtel, Orange, Chipper Cash, Ecobank, Safaricom, Homesend, TransferTo, MasterCard & Visa Business concepts discussed: Financial interoperability, mobile money (agency banking), banking regulation, acquisition strategy, payment processing, payment gateways & closed-loop payment networks Conversation highlights: (09:50) - Africa payments context and background (20:26) - MFS Africa founding and early history (22:06) - Founder background (31:40) - Fundraising and early growth (38:44) - Partnerships and M&A (1:02:15) - Product Strategy (1:06:30) - Monetization Strategy (1:13:59) - Competition and Options for Exit (1:28:51) - Olumide's overall thoughts and outlook (1:34:00) - Bankole's overall thoughts and outlook (1:47:00) - Recommendations and small wins Olumide's recommendations & small wins: Interested in investing in Africa Tech with Olumide: Read about Adamantium fund & contact me at olumide@afrobility.com Founders looking for funding: If you're a B2B founder working on Education, Health, Finance or food, please contact me for funding at olumide@afrobility.com Recommendation: Be Happy 35 Powerful Methods for Personal Growth & Well-Being. Talks about practices for a positive mental health. Fun short read that you can refer to time and time again Small win: Birthday celebrations with friends in Miami, NYC & SF. It was epic! Bankole's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Accidental Gods by Anna Della Subin Small win: I read 3 books in January Other content: Afrobility Chipper Cash episode , Inside the MFS Africa acquisition of Beyonic & Follow me on Goodreads Listeners: We'd love to hear from you. Email info@afrobility.com with feedback! Founders & Operators: We'd love to hear about what you're working on, email us at info@afrobility.com Investors: It would be great to link up with you. Contact us at info@afrobility.com Join our insider mailing list where we get feedback on new episodes & find all episodes on Afrobility.com
Overview: Today, we're going to talk about M-Kopa, the African asset financing platform. We'll explore the M-Kopa story across 5 areas: African electrical power context M-Kopa's early history Product & monetization strategy Competitive positioning & exit options Then we'll end with our views on its overall outlook. This episode was recorded on Jan 15, 2023 Companies discussed: M-Kopa, Safaricom (M-Pesa), d.light, Zola Electric, Transsion, Samsung, Nokia (HMD global), Airtel, MTN, Mobisol, Carbon & Fairmoney Business concepts discussed: Rural electrification, Payment infrastructure, Pay-as-you-go Solar, Off-grid energy, asset financing, credit scoring, risk assessment & renewable energy Conversation highlights: (05:45) - Africa electricity access context (09:45) - Kenya electricity access context (14:55) - M-Kopa early history (16:55 ) - Founders' background (25:07) - Other ideas before M-Kopa and M-Kopa launch (28:44) - Launch strategy - partnerships, sales and distribution (32:05) - Fundraising, Growth, Geo Expansion, Team (54:01) - Product strategy and how the product works (1:06:04) - Monetization strategy (1:14:16) - Competition and options for exit (01:29:50) - Olumide's overall thoughts and outlook (1:38:06) - Bankole's overall thoughts and outlook (1:48:08) - Recommendations and small wins Olumide's recommendations & small wins: Interested in investing in Africa Tech with Olumide: Read about Adamantium fund & contact me at olumide@afrobility.com Founders looking for funding: If you're a B2B founder working on Education, Health, Finance or food, please contact me for funding at olumide@afrobility.com Recommendation 1: Descript: We use it for afrobility and even though I didn't initially think we needed it, it's grown on me. Especially now that I'm using it more aggressively for my personal finance book (myfiredom.com) editing Recommendation 2: Dances with wolves movie. So so good! Small win 1: Hung out with mum during thanksgiving break. It was cool! Small win 2: New years day with friends in London. It was nice! Bankole's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Building an AI Chatbot off Podcast Transcripts Small win: Happy to be back home after months of travelling in Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa Other content: M-Kopa Solar Is Making a Profit on Poor Africans Listeners: We'd love to hear from you. Email info@afrobility.com with feedback! Founders & Operators: We'd love to hear about what you're working on, email us at info@afrobility.com Investors: It would be great to link up with you. Contact us at info@afrobility.com Join our insider mailing list where we get feedback on new episodes & find all episodes on Afrobility.com
Overview: Today, we're going to have a creator roundtable to discuss the African tech ecosystem. We'll discuss the biggest 2022 moments in Africa Tech & our hopes for the tech ecosystem in 2023. This episode was recorded on Dec 10, 2022 Companies discussed: Flutterwave, FTX, 54gene, Swvl, Chipper Cash, TeamApt, QED, Binance, Remitly, Flutterwave & Jumia Business concepts discussed: Economic recessions, fundraising, bootstrapping, Cryptocurrency, M&A, Creator monetization & Pan-African Expansion Conversation highlights: (07:35) - Biggest moments in 2022 in Africa Tech (00:53) - Impact of Recession on Africa Tech (1:00:05) - What we would like to see in Africa Tech 2023 (1:28:00) - Creator Q&A (2:00:24) - Recommendations & Small Wins Olumide: Recommendation: Knives Out 2 (Movie). Excellent and funny sequel :) Win: Opened Fidelity HSA. I had used Vanguard only previously. Fidelity has nice functionality & UX (especially for HSAs) Bankole: Recommendation: Unauthorized Shein boutiques are popping up across Mexico & Co-founding considered harmful Win: Seeing Emeka in person Emeka: Recommendation: Magical Text Expander (tool), Friction (article), Afridigest (newsletter) Win: Finally meeting & taking a picture with the Oga of Ogas, Bankole. Plus: Afridigest crossing 4500 page followers on LinkedIn — help us on the push to 5000! Other content: Why super apps are proliferating across emerging markets, The hierarchy of venture opportunities in emerging markets tin: Recommendation: ChatGPT & the Dissect podcast Small win: My alma mater the University of Michigan beating our rivals Ohio State in football for the second year in a row. Getting to spend a lot of in-person quality time with people in the African tech ecosystem over the past few weeks in Cape Town. Samora: Recommendation: “The Founders Podcast” by David Senra. Michael Jordan The Life - by Roland Lazenby Big Win - Getting my 2nd born daughter. Other content: Amp it Up by Frank Slootman is a great read - Narco Saints on Netflix is superb! Listeners: We'd love to hear from you. Email info@afrobility.com with feedback! Founders & Operators: We'd love to hear about what you're working on, email us at info@afrobility.com Investors: It would be great to link up with you. Contact us at info@afrobility.com
Overview: Today, we're going to talk about Reliance Health, the African HealthTech company - we'll explore the Reliance Health story across the following areas: African health context Reliance Health's early history Product & monetization strategy Competitive positioning & potential exit Overall outlook This episode was recorded on October 30, 2022 Companies discussed: Reliance Health, Y Combinator (YC), Hygeia HMO, CribMD, AXA Mansard, RedCare & BIMA Health Business concepts discussed: Insurance monetization, Insurance partnerships, consumer distribution, telco partnerships, product development, consumer market penetration & pricing strategy Conversation highlights: (01:00) - Intro and why we're talking about Reliance Health (06:12) - Context of Africa and Nigeria's healthcare (13:03) - Reliance Health Founding + Early History (39:25) - Fundraising & Geo expansion (52:16) - Product strategy and monetization (1:36:00) - Competition and options for exit (1:45:57) - Bankole's overall thoughts and outlook (1:59:57) - Olumide's overall thoughts and outlook (2:14:17) - Recommendation and small wins Olumide's recommendations & small wins: Interested in investing in Africa Tech with Olumide: Read about Adamantium fund & contact me at olumide@afrobility.com Founders looking for funding: If you're a B2B founder working on Education, Health, Finance or food, please contact me for funding at olumide@afrobility.com Recommendation: Kinky Boots: Musical show in NYC. It was incredible. Recommendation: Paying for Status: Talks about loyalty strategy Recommendation: The Man Who Solved the Market: How Jim Simons Launched the Quant Revolution (by Gregory Zuckerman) Small win: Finishing Included VC fellowship. It was incredible especially meeting everyone in Included VC live in Barcelona la Bankole's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Podcast: Sandy Kemper of C2FO on Fintech One-on-One & Podcast: Invest Like The Best with Karen Karniol-Tambour Small win: Getting ready for upcoming travel Other content: Podcast: Femi Kuti on Aid Evolved Listeners: We'd love to hear from you. Email info@afrobility.com with feedback! Founders & Operators: We'd love to hear about what you're working on, email us at info@afrobility.com Investors: It would be great to link up with you. Contact us at info@afrobility.com
Overview: Today we're going to talk about African Insurtech. We'll discuss the consumer insurance landscape & analyze InsurTech players. This episode was recorded on October 17, 2022 Companies discussed: Reliance Health, BIMA, Naked Insurance, Pineapple Insurance, Amenli, Creditas, Minutos Seguros, Acko, Policy Bazaar, Casava Insurance, Reliance HMO, Lami, Turaco, Amanleek & Avidea Business concepts discussed: New product development, consumer market penetration & pricing strategy Conversation highlights: (01:20) Consumer InsurTech context (12:30) Insurtech in other emerging markets - India (23:40) Insurtech in other emerging markets - Brazil (34:50) Insurance context in Africa (47:17 ) Southern Africa startups (1:02:20) Western Africa startups (1:14:19) Eastern Africa startups (1:24:34) Northern Africa startups (1:31:42) Olumide's & Bankole's thoughts (1:55:05) Recommendations & small wins Olumide: Interested in investing in Africa Tech : Read about Adamantium fund & contact me at olumide@afrobility.com Founders looking for funding: If you're a B2B founder working on Education, Health, Finance or food, please contact me Recommendations: Miracle morning (Hal Elrod), 5AM club (Robin Sharma), How I found freedom in an unfree world (Harry Browne) & Early retirement extreme (Jacob Lund Fisker) 3 songs: Burna Boy - For My Hand (ft Ed Sheeran), Black Sherif - Second Sermon (Remix ft Burna Boy) & Craig David - I know you (ft Bastille) - Shoutout to my friend Jason Mothersill Small win: House party with friends Bankole: Recommendation: Ku Lo Sa - Oxlade, HBO - House of Dragons & Facebook Love - Jaywon / Essence Small win: Africa Tech Mixer in New York Other content: Baobab Network report on InsurTech & Standard Bank report All episodes at afrobility.com
Overview: Today, we're going to talk about Thrive Agric, the Nigerian Agricultural technology company - we'll explore Thrive Agric's story across 5 areas: First we'll start with some context about African agriculture Thrive Agric's launch & early history Product & monetization strategy Competitive positioning & potential exit options Overall outlook This episode was recorded on September 25 2022 Companies discussed: Thrive Agric, Apollo Agriculture & FarmCrowdy Business concepts discussed: Agricultural Technology (AgriTech or AgTech), smallholder farmers acquisition strategy, Agriculture financing, Crowdfunding, Agriculture value and supply chains & Debt financing Conversation highlights: (10:41) - Africa Agriculture context (19:38) - Nigeria Agriculture context (26:14) - Nigeria crowdfunding backgroun (32:30) - Founders' background and launch story (46:48) - Fundraising (55:47) - Product and monetization strategy, (1:09:15) - Competition & options for exit (1:19:20) - Bankole's overall thoughts and outlook (1:24:45) - Olumide's overall thoughts and outlook (1:32:25) - Recommendations and small wins Olumide's recommendations & small wins: Interested in investing in Africa Tech with Olumide: Read about Adamantium fund & contact me at olumide@afrobility.com Founders looking for funding: If you're a B2B founder working on Education, Health, Finance or food, please contact me for funding at olumide@afrobility.com Recommendation: Jim Rohn - How to change your life video - Incredible. He just drops non-stop knowledge bombs. Remarkable Recommendation: Toucan chrome extension to learn languages Small win: Exercise of writing 50 goals. Brought up a lot of interesting ideas. Shout to Alan Donegan for facilitating this Other content: A Thrive Agric Story. One Farmer at a Time. Bankole's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: AI And The Limits Of Language, Lindy Hacker News & Lying For Money Small win: Strength workouts Other content: Asake - Mr Money with the vibe, ThriveAgricPR - product overview, Leadway Insurance response on Twitter, SEC Nigeria rules on Crowdfunding, Invest Like The Best - Jeff Jordan & Kevin Systrom on Lex Fridman All episodes on Afrobility.com
Overview: Today, we're going to talk about Apollo Agriculture, the Kenyan AgTech company - we'll explore the Apollo story across the following areas African agriculture context Apollo's launch & early history Product & monetization strategy Competitive positioning & exit options Overall outlook This episode was recorded on Aug 21, 2022 Companies discussed: Apollo Agriculture, The Climate Corporation (WeatherBill), Pula, FarmDrive, Monsanto, FairMoney & Kuda Bank Business concepts discussed: Agricultural Technology (AgriTech or AgTech), smallholder farmers, Risk mitigation, Debt funding, Customer acquisition costs (CAC) & Customer lifetime value (LTV, CLV) Conversation highlights: (01:30) - What Apollo agriculture is and why we're talking about it (06:10) - Agriculture context in Africa (21:00) - Context on Agriculture in Kenya (27:33) - Apollo founding story and founder background (40:55) - Fundraising and growth (55:14) - Product and monetization strategy (1:17:58) - Competition and exit options (1:27:53) - Bankole's overall thoughts and outlook (1:34:50) - Olumide's overall thoughts and outlook (1:49:36) - Recommendations and small wins Olumide's recommendations & small wins: Interested in investing in Africa Tech with Olumide: Read about Adamantium fund & contact me at olumide@afrobility.com Founders looking for funding: If you're a B2B founder working on Education, Health, Finance or food, please contact me for funding at olumide@afrobility.com Recommendation: Little Ways The World Works: Article by Morgan Housel. Great article talking about how learning from different fields is very helpful. He goes over learnings from evolution, astronomy, biology, anatomy, etc Recommendation: University of Berkshire Hathaway: Auto recommended by Kindle. Great. Chronicles 30 years of Berkshire Hathaway Annual meeting discussions Small win: Beach gathering with friends, it was fun Small win: Just got back from NYC 30 minutes before recording this episode, a lot of fun Bankole's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Soul In The Game - Vitaly Katsenelson && Asake - Terminator && For My Hand - Burna Boy and Ed Sheeran Small win: Beat my previous Readwise streak of 190 days! Other content: CIA Factbook on Kenya, FAOStat Food production, Interdependence and modularity - Christensen institute , All I Want To Know Is Where I'm Going To Die So I'll Never Go There: Buffett & Munger – A Study in Simplicity and Uncommon, Common Sense Investors, Operators, Entrepreneurs - We'd love to hear from you. Please email info@afrobility.com to share feedback
Overview: Today, we're going to talk about Swvl, the Egyptian and Dubai based mobility platform. We'll explore the Swvl story across 5 areas: Egypt transportation context Swvl's early history Product & monetization strategy Swvl's SPAC public offering Overall outlook. This episode was recorded on July 17, 2022 Companies discussed: Swvl, Careem, Uber, Treepz & Rocket Internet Business concepts discussed: Mobility strategy, Ridesharing, Bus sharing, Public transportation, infrastructure dependencies, IPOs & Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) Conversation highlights: (01:00) - Intro and why we're discussing this topic (06:15) - Context on Egypt and Africa ridesharing (13:50) - Founders' background and Swvl founding (25:22) - Fundraising and geographical expansion (31:15) - Expansion strategy and acquisitions (38:12) - Product and monetization strategy (59:16) - Competition and SPAC (1:16:55) - Bankole's overall thoughts and outlook (1:30:15) - Olumide's overall thoughts and outlook (1:44:35) - Recommendations and small wins Olumide's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: The Power Law book - About the history of venture capital Recommendation: Nas - One Mic Small win: Upgraded RAM in my old laptop, I haven't done that in a while. It feels awesome to do something mechanical like that Interested in investing in Africa Tech with Olumide: Read about Adamantium fund & contact me at olumide@afrobility.com Founders looking for funding: If you're a B2B founder working on Education, Health, Finance or food, please contact me for funding at olumide@afrobility.com Bankole's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: What Does A Batsman See & Matter - Reading App & Build by Tony Fadell Small win: Started taking long walks again. No music, just walks over an hour Other content: More Money Than God - Sebastian Mallaby & Dial 911 and Wall Street answers - NY Times Listeners: We'd love to hear from you. Email info@afrobility.com with feedback! Founders & Operators: We'd love to hear about what you're working on, email us at info@afrobility.com Investors: It would be great to link up with you. Contact us at info@afrobility.com
Overview: Today, we discuss Konga, the Nigerian e-commerce company. We'll explore the Konga story across 5 areas: We'll give some context about the Nigerian e-commerce sector Konga's early history Product & Monetization strategy Konga sale Overall outlook This episode was recorded on July 3, 2022 Companies discussed: Konga, Jumia, Naspers, Kinnevik, Jiji, OLX, Amazon, Takealot, Yudala & Zinox Business concepts discussed: Ecommerce, marketplaces, classifieds, fundraising strategy, Blitzscaling risks, market readiness & Africa expansion Conversation highlights: (01:13) - Konga background and why we're talking about it (09:19) - Nigeria background and context (14:00) - Nigeria commerce context c. 2012 (17:00) - Background on Sim Shagaya (29:02) - Konga launch strategy and fundraising (45:55) - Konga monetization (50:51) - Competition with Jumia (1:04:35) - Konga's business lines (1:08:10) - Konga's declining fortunes and sale to Zinox (1:27:00) - Lessons for startups from Konga (1:39:28) - Bankole's overall thoughts and outlook (1:53:57) - Olumide's overall thoughts and outlook (1:57:34) - Recommendations and small wins Olumide's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Eboys - Book about the history of Benchmark Recommendation: Different kinds of smart (Morgan housel blog post). Article so good that I subscribed to his entire blog Small win: Listening to 20MinVC episode with Fabrice Grinda (OLX founder) the day after I published Afrobility OLX episode Interested in investing in Africa Tech with Olumide: Read about Adamantium fund & contact me at olumide@afrobility.com Founders looking for funding: If you're a B2B founder working on Education, Health, Finance or food, please contact me for funding at olumide@afrobility.com Bankole's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Business Breakdowns Podcast - Amazon Aggregators Small win: in-person meetings with friends at work Other content: Chinese E-Commerce to Surpass 50% of Total Retail Sales | BoF - link Listeners, Operators & Investors: Email info@afrobility.com, we'd love to partner or get your feedback. All episodes on Afrobility.com
Overview: Today, we're going to talk about OLX - the classifieds & marketplace platform. We'll explore the OLX Africa story across 4 areas: OLX's early history OLX's growth in other emerging markets OLX Africa's early history & Naspers acquisition Naspers OLX exit from Africa This episode was recorded on June 5, 2022. Companies discussed: OLX, Jiji, Craigslist, Konga, Naspers, Kalahariads, Dealfish, Pricecheck, Mocality & Tradestable Business concepts discussed: Classifieds platforms, classifieds monetization, M&A strategy, e-commerce, social commerce, lift and shift business models & international expansion Conversation highlights: (01:30) - OLX context (06:30) - How classifieds work (12:00) - OLX founding and early history (26:03) - OLX entry into other emerging markets (31:10) - OLX entry into Africa (45:32) - Product and monetization strategy (58:17) - Discussing OLX's Africa exit (1:22:54) - Olumide's overall thoughts and outlook (1:10:58) - Bankole's overall thoughts and outlook (1:38:39) - Recommendations and small wins Olumide's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Microsoft 365. I've used it for 17 years and it just gets better and better Small win: Using my old Lenovo ThinkPad from 2016. My computer crapped out on Friday and so I had to dust the cobwebs and it still works Interested in investing in Africa Tech with Olumide: Read about Adamantium fund & contact me at olumide@afrobility.com Founders looking for funding: If you're a B2B founder working on Education, Health, Finance or food, please contact me for funding at olumide@afrobility. Bankole's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Cryptocurrency 161, Reversion to the mean: the real long COVID - by John Luttig & Heartwarming story - Installing a payphone in my house Small win: 4 mile run after a long break Other content: Why I am leaving OLX - Fabrice Grinda, Margin Call - IMDB & Larry Tesler - Inventor of Copy and Paste Listeners: We'd love to hear from you. Email info@afrobility.com with feedback! Founders & Operators: We'd love to hear about what you're working on, email us at info@afrobility.com Investors: It would be great to link up with you. Contact us at info@afrobility.com Join our insider mailing list where we get feedback on new episodes & find all episodes on Afrobility.com
Overview: Today, we're going to talk about Jiji - the African classifieds platform. We'll explore the Jiji story across 6 areas: Classifieds platforms in other emerging markets Classifieds platforms in Africa Jiji's early history Jiji's product & monetization strategy Jiji's competitive positioning & potential exit options overall outlook. This episode was recorded on May 15 2022. Companies discussed: Jiji, Genesis Group, Naspers, OLX, Craigslist, Avito.ru, Adevinta, Jumia, Konga, Cars45, Cheki.ng, Autochek, Tonaton, Saltside Technologies, Bikroy, Dubizzle, Kalahari, Autotrader & Property24 Business concepts discussed: Classifieds platforms, classifieds monetization, M&A strategy, e-commerce, social commerce, agency banking & marketplace Conversation highlights: (01:36) - Why we're talking about GG today (09:51) - Classifieds platforms in other emerging markets (23:15) - Africa classifieds context (27:12) - OLX in Africa (36:48) - Jiji founding and early history (45:33) - Fundraising and Growth (1:03:09) - Product and monetization strategy (1:09:33) - Competition and options for exit (1:30:06) - Olumide's overall thoughts and outlook (1:32:13) - Bankole's overall thoughts and outlook (1:38:55) - Recommendations and small wins Olumide's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Re-watched Amelie - Great movie Small win: Setup 2nd whiteboard in my room. Fun times ahead Interested in investing in Africa Tech with Olumide: Read about Adamantium fund & contact me at olumide@afrobility.com Founders looking for funding: If you're a B2B founder working on Education, Health, Finance or food, please contact me for funding at olumide@afrobility.com Bankole's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Last Last - Burna Boy & Business Breakdowns Podcast - DigitalBridge Small win: Planting season in Seattle :) Other content: Tweet about Twilio stock-based compensation & History of the United States in 5 crashes Investors, Operators, Entrepreneurs - We'd love to hear from you. Please email info@afrobility.com to share feedback or propose topics you'd like to hear. Join our insider mailing list where we get feedback on new episodes & find all episodes on Afrobility.com
Overview: Today, we're going to talk about Wave, the African consumer payments company. We'll explore Wave's story across 5 areas: We'll start with some context about payments in Africa Wave's launch & early history Wave's Product & monetization strategy Wave's competitive positioning & potential exit options Overall outlook This episode was recorded on May 1, 2022 Companies discussed: Wave, Sendwave, Safaricom (M-PESA), bKash, TeamApt, Chipper Cash, Orange, Opay, Paga, MTN, Airtel, Zedbank & Kuda Bank Business concepts discussed: Consumer Fintech (Agency banking & mobile money), Banking regulation, low cost pricing strategy, customer acquisition strategy, innovator's dilemma & low end disruption Conversation highlights: (01:02) - Wave context (09:13) - Financial inclusion context in Africa (30:10) - Founder background and Sendwave origins (36:06) - Wave Launch in Francophone Africa (54:20) - Fundraising strategy & investors (1:12:15) - Product and monetization strategy (1:34:28) - Competition and exit options (1:55:44) - Bankole's overall thoughts and outlook (2:08:57) - Olumide's overall thoughts and outlook (2:27:30) - Recommendations and small wins Olumide's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Brené Brown was on the "We can Do Hard Things" podcast, on an episode called "What to Say to Get What You Need". Spoke about human connection. Truly awesome. I liked it so much I started reading Brene's book "Atlas of the heart". Recommendation: Samora Kariuku's substack post about Wave Recommendation: Everett Randle's (from Founders Fnnd) Substack post about Wave Small win: Got lost on the internet prepping for this episode and ended up watching hours of boxing matches. Don't ask Interested in investing in Africa Tech with Olumide: Read about Adamantium fund & contact me at olumide@afrobility.com Founders looking for funding: If you're a B2B founder working on Education, Health, Finance or food, please contact me for funding at olumide@afrobility.com Bankole's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Laws of Trading & Only Murders In The Building Small win: Lots of dinners with friends and travel Other content: State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money & 406 Na D Code - Tekno and Falz Investors, Operators, Entrepreneurs - We'd love to hear from you. Please email info@afrobility.com to share feedback or propose topics you'd like to hear.
Overview: Today we're going to talk about Globacom - The Nigerian telecommunications company. We'll explore the Globacom story across 5 areas: Nigerian telco sector context Globacom's early history Globacom's telco & non-telco businesses Globacom's potential exit options Outlook This episode was recorded on Apr 10, 2022 Companies discussed: Glo (Globacom), MTN, Airtel, NITEL (Nigerian Telecommunications Limited), Econet Wireless & 9mobile (Etisalat) Business concepts discussed: Telecommunications (Telco) strategy, Mobile money, Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs), Telco regulation, Celebrity advertising, Low-price telecoms strategy. Conversation highlights: (01:00) - Globacom background and why we're talking about it (07:40) - Globacom founding and spectrum auction (20:30) - Mike Adenuga background (30:20) - Globacom launch (44:36) - Globacom African Expansion (56:50) - Globacom core Telecom business (1:07:58) - Globacom non-telco business (1:19:50) - Competition and IPO / spinoff? (1:29:48) - Bankole's overall thoughts and outlook (1:40:10) - Olumide's overall thoughts and outlook (1:46:30) - Recommendations & small wins Olumide's recommendations & small wins: Thanks to Ifunanya Chiegboka for helping me think about Glo Story Recommendation: Marc Andreessen Blog archive ebook. Aggregates some of Marc's posts from the late 2000s. Insightful and very funny Small win: Hung out with my friend who was visiting from out of town (on a Wed night!) Interested in investing in Africa Tech with Olumide: Read about Adamantium fund & contact me at olumide@afrobility.com Founders looking for funding: If you're a B2B founder working on Education, Health, Finance or food, please contact me for funding at olumide@afrobility.com Bankole's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Invest Like The Best with David Rubinstein, We Need A Standard Unit Of Measure For Risk & The Next Google | DKB Small win: New whiteboard markers, changed the game. Good example of something small that changed the quality of my whiteboarding Other content: Nigerian Songs Referencing Mike Adenuga, Wizkid, Davido, Sunny Ade etc in Globacom advert & MTN - I don port commercial Investors, Operators, Entrepreneurs - We'd love to hear from you. Please email info@afrobility.com to share feedback or propose topics you'd like to hear.
Overview: Today we're going to talk about Telkom - The South African telecommunications company. We'll explore the Telkom story across 5 areas: We'll start with some context about the South African telecoms sector Telkom's early history We'll deepdive into Telkom's primarily telco & non-telco businesses Telkom's operating & financial performance .Overall outlook. This episode was recorded on Mar 27, 2022 Companies discussed: Telkom, Vodacom, Vodafone, Cell C, MTN, Southwestern Bell Communications (now AT&T), Safaricom, M-Pesa, Rain Networks & Multilinks Business concepts discussed: Telecommunications (Telco) strategy, Mobile money, Internet connectivity, International telecommunication expansion, Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs), Cell Towers spinoffs & Telco regulation Conversation highlights: (01:10) - Telkom and why we're talking about it (07:12) - South Africa context (13:20) - Telkom's transition to commercial company (15:30) - SBC and Telekom Malaysia investment in 1997 (18:44) - 2003 IPO (33:20) - Telkom sale of Vodacom stake (35:00) - Telkom market expansion (43:17) - Telkom's mobile business (55:08) - Telkom's non-telco businesses (1:17:38) - Investments and Partnerships (1:21:38) - Financial results and stock performance (1:31:44) - Olumide's overall thoughts and outlook (1:36:40) - Bankole's overall thoughts and outlook (1:46:55) - Recommendations and small wins Olumide's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: The Wealthy Gardner, Generalist AngelList article (AngelList is probably my favorite company in the world), Live life with Passion (Brendon Burchard) Recommendation: AwardLogic & Point.me. There's never really been an Expedia of airline miles Small win: Got Samsung Galaxy S22, looks nice. Just need to set it up Interested in investing in Africa Tech with Olumide: Read about Adamantium fund & contact me at olumide@afrobility.com Founders looking for funding: If you're a B2B founder working on Education, Health, Finance or food, please contact me for funding at olumide@afrobility.com Bankole's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Margin of Safety by Seth Klarman & Encanto Small win: Played basketball for the first time in several months Other content: San Francisco Has Become a Shoplifter's Paradise Investors, Operators, Entrepreneurs - We'd love to hear from you. Please email info@afrobility.com to share feedback or propose topics you'd like to hear.
Overview: Today we're going to talk about Vodacom - The South African telecommunications company. We'll explore the Vodacom story across 5 areas: South African telecoms sector context Vodacom's early history Vodacom's telco & non-telco businesses Vodacom's operating & financial performance Overall outlook This episode was recorded on Mar 13, 2022 Companies discussed: Vodacom, Vodafone, Safaricom (M-Pesa), MTN, Airtel, Glo & Telkom Business concepts discussed: Telecommunications (Telco) strategy, Mobile money, Internet connectivity, International telecommunication expansion, Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO), Cell Towers spinoffs & Telco regulation Conversation highlights: (00:45) - Vodacom context (07:50) - Vodacom early history (20:50) - Vodacom International expansion (38:04) - Vodacom's telco business (45:44) - Non-telco businesses (55:50) - VodaPay and M-Pesa (1:10:12) - Vodacom today - financials, customer growth (1:19:15) - Bankole's overall thoughts and outlook (1:29:52) - Olumide's overall thoughts and outlook (1:36:10) - Recommendations and small wins Olumide's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: The Truman show: I rewatched this, it's marvelous, dystopian and funny. That movie is a work of art. Recommendation: I got a satchel aka man bag aka man purse. I like it, it works because I typically have too much shit to fit in my pockets Small win: Bankole's wedding in Chennai. It was epic Interested in investing in Africa Tech with Olumide: Read about Adamantium fund & contact me at olumide@afrobility.com Founders looking for funding: If you're a B2B founder working on Education, Health, Finance or Food, please contact me for funding at olumide@afrobility.com Bankole's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Good Economics for Hard Times by Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo & Cold Outside - Timaya and Buju Small win: I got the new Macbook M1 Pro. Beautiful, sweet machine. Other content: Governance of Telecommunications: Two Decades of Reform in South Africa & Vodacom and DHL in Africa Listeners, Operators & Investors: Email info@afrobility.com, we'd love to partner or get your feedback. Join our insider mailing list where we get feedback on new episodes & find all episodes at Afrobility.com
Overview: Today, we're going to talk about MAX - the Nigerian mobility tech platform. We'll explore Max's story across 6 areas: Context on motorbike transportation platforms in other emerging markets Background on Nigeria transportation Max.'s launch, early history, growth over time & fundraising Product & monetization strategy Competitive positioning & potential exit options Overall outlook. This episode was recorded on Jan 30, 2022. Companies discussed: Max.NG, GiG Logistics, Red Star Express, Gokada, GoJek, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Jumia, Jumia Food, Konga, Uber, Africa Courier Express (ACE), Pathao, Flutterwave & Safeboda Business concepts discussed: Ridesharing, Mobility in emerging markets, Debt Fundraising by startups, Conversation highlights: (01:20) - MAX.Africa context (07:20) - Ridesharing in emerging markets (GoJek) (10:30) - Transportation Mobility in Nigeria (15:00) - Background on the founders - Tayo Bamiduro and Chinedu Azodoh (18:50) - Founding and early history of MAX (22:05) - Fundraising and early growth (38:20) - Metrics and traction (59:39) - Product & monetization strategy (1:16:51) - Competition and options for exit (1:31:30) - Bankole's overall thoughts and outlook (1:45:25) - Olumide's overall thoughts and outlook (1:53:55) - Recommendations and small wins Olumide's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Good time (Owl City & Carly Rae Jepsen): Love it! I can listen to on repeat for the rest of my life, Thinking in bets (Annie Duke). Life's Most Bitter Truth: What Your University Never Taught You (MJ Demarco):Talks about the value of time and having experiences and building financial independence in your youth. I'm one of the biggest Mj Demarco Fans so no doubt I love this video Small win: Celebrating birthday with friends Interested in investing in Africa Tech with Olumide: Read about Adamantium fund & contact me at olumide@afrobility.com Founders looking for funding: If you're a B2B founder working on Education, Health, Finance or Food, please contact me for funding at olumide@afrobility.com Bankole's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Levels - Flavour & Rebel - Shenseea Small win: Lots of sports weekend of Jan 27 - NFL, Chelsea FC, AFCON, UFC Other content: Jukedeck, AI- generated music startup acquired by TikTok - Jukedeck - https://soundcloud.com/jukedeck & Nearly All The Men in Lagos Are Mad - Amazon & How to Decide by Annie Duke - Amazon Listeners, Operators & Investors: Email info@afrobility.com, we'd love to partner or get your feedback. Join our insider mailing list where we get feedback on new episodes & find all episodes at Afrobility.com
Overview: Today, we're going to talk about Gokada - the Nigerian mobility tech platform. We'll explore the Gokada story across 5 areas: African ridesharing context Gokada's launch, early history, growth over time & fundraising Product & monetization strategy Competitive positioning & potential exit options Overall outlook This episode was recorded on Jan 9, 2022. Companies discussed: Gokada, GoJek, Max.ng, Pathao, Bolt, Uber & Jumia Business concepts discussed: Mobility, logistics, delivery, bike-sharing, Super Apps, Transportation & Logistics Conversation highlights: (01:00) - Gokada context (06:50 - Bike-sharing platforms in other markets - GoJek (08:30) - Nigeria transportation context (37:00) - Gokada founding & early history (51:00) - Fundraising & growth (58:00) - Product & monetization strategy (1:17:00) - Competition & exit options (1:25:13) - Olumide's overall thoughts & outlook (1:33:45) - Bankole's overall thoughts & outlook (1:43:44) - Recommendations & small wins Olumide: Recommendation: How Airlines quietly became banks: Wonderful video that matches a bunch of my interests. Reward programs + corporate finance. Sweet! Recommendation: 9 things I learned about Productivity this year (David Cain). Amazing article about productivity and procrastination Win: Got Logitech Brio & started using Windows Hello Other content: Lagos BRT case study Interested in investing in Africa Tech with Olumide: Read about Adamantium fund & contact me at olumide@afrobility.com Founders looking for funding: If you're a B2B founder working on Education, Health, Finance or food, please contact me for funding at olumide@afrobility.com Bankole: Recommendations: Moxie Marlinspike My first impressions of web3, Why Is There Confetti In So Many Taser Guns & Come My Way (Wande Coal) Win: Saw Kamaru Usman in Lagos! Other content: Gokada finds new growth in logistics, Gokada is not okada, History of Gokada, road quality report (WEF) & The Flip Podcast - S2E3: Finding Fit - Opportunities in the Global South Listeners, Operators & Investors: Email info@afrobility.com, we'd love to partner or get your feedback. All episodes on Afrobility.com
Overview: Today, we're going to talk about Pathao - the largest mobility tech platform in Bangladesh. This episode was co-hosted with Shammi Quddus and recorded on Nov 21 & Dec 5, 2021. Conversation highlights: (10:15) - Motorbike sharing platforms in emerging markets - GoJek (11:00) - Bangladesh context (44:40) - Pathao founding story (1:05:20) - Fundraising and growth (1:19:10) - Product & monetization strategy (1:49:13) - Competition & Exit options (2:10:30) - Overall thoughts (Bankole, Shammi & Olumide) (2:32:04) - Recommendation &small wins Companies discussed: Pathao, bKash, Uber, GoJek, Shohoz, Tootle, Chalo, RC Ventures & Battery Road Digital Holdings Business concepts discussed: Ride-sharing platforms, Transportation in emerging markets, Transportation + FinTech Super apps Olumide's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Mastery (George Leonard) & Derek Sivers' wonderful article about emotions and life Win: Hung out with in Miami Art Basel Bankole's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Ozumba Mbadiwe - Reekado Banks & 52 things I learned in 2021 by Tom Whitwell Win: First real corporate party in a while - Other: Nigeria highest importer of used vehicles in Africa & F-commerce: a double-edged sword Shammi's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Beginner's Moonshot: Podcast on Bangladeshi tech founders (English) by Salman Hossain Win: Watching comedian Hassan Minhaj perform. The King's Jester is on the road now! Other: Registered vehicles in Dhaka, Pathao GoJek raise and write-off, Uber launch story in Dhaka Listeners, Operators & Investors: Email info@afrobility.com, we'd love to partner or get your feedback. All episodes on Afrobility.com
Overview: Today, we're going to have a creator roundtable to discuss the African tech ecosystem. We'll discuss the biggest 2021 moments in Africa Tech and our hopes for the ecosystem in 2022. This episode was co-hosted with Justin Norman & Samora Kariuki and recorded on Nov 28, 2021. Companies discussed: Adamantium Fund, The Flip Podcast, Frontier Fintech newsletter, Wave, Andela, Flutterwave, Entrepreneur First, Safeboda, Chipper Cash, FTX, Upstart, Helium Health (Magic Fund), Twiga Foods, Omnibiz, Safaricom, mPharma & Paystack Business concepts discussed: M&A, regulation, employment enablement, & infrastructure moats, Web3 decentralization, fundraising strategy, operator-investors & Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) strategy Conversation highlights: (01:10) - Adamantium Fund (early stage Africa Tech investment fund) announcement (07:50) - 2021 moments in Africa Tech: Samora, Justin, Bankole & Olumide (1:08:20) - What I would like to see in Africa Tech 2022: Samora, Justin, Bankole & Olumide (1:40:08) - Roundtable creator questions (2:22:30) - 2022 plans: The Flip Podcast, Frontier FinTech newsletter & Afrobility Podcast (2:33:40) - Recommendations & small wins Olumide's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Workout dance/aerobics classes & Encanto movie Small win: Talking to people about the about-to-launch Adamantium Africa Tech fund (memo). Great conversations with potential LPs. Exciting! Email olumide@afrobility.com if you're interested in investing Bankole's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: The Reckoning (Jacob Soll) Small win: Great holiday over thanksgiving Samora's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: The Box (by Marc Levinson) Small win: Moving to Kenya permanently next week (from Burundi) with my German Shepherd Justin's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Micah Johnson's NFT project Aku Small win: My alma mater the University of Michigan beating Ohio State in football. Interested in investing in Africa Tech. Read about Adamantium fund & contact olumide@afrobility.com for more info Listeners: We'd love to hear from you. Email info@afrobility.com with feedback! Founders & Operators: We'd love to hear about what you're working on, email us at info@afrobility.com Investors: It would be great to link up with you. Contact us at info@afrobility.com Join our insider mailing list where we get feedback on new episodes & find all episodes on Afrobility.com
Overview: Today, we're going to talk about Andela - the software developer recruitment platform. We'll explore the Andela story across 6 areas: Labor markets in Africa context Andela's founding and early history Fundraising & Growth Product & monetization strategy Competitive positioning & potential exit options Overall outlook. This episode was co-hosted with Iyinoluwa "E" Aboyeji & recorded on Nov 7, 2021 Companies discussed: Andela, Spark Capital, CRE Ventures, SoftBank Vision Fund, Gebeya, Semicolon, Decagon, CRE Ventures, Spark Labs, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative & Generation Investment Management Business concepts discussed: Talent recruitment, Remote working, Outsourcing, Education Technology, Youth unemployment & Economic Development Conversation highlights: (01:00) - Andela context & Background (01:30) - Context on Africa's labor markets (21:20) - Bookneto, Fora & 2U (53:50) - Andela cofounders & early founding story (1:00:00) - Fundraising and investors (1:11:00) - Traction - Revenue, users, employees, margins (1:14:23) - Product and monetization strategy (1:25:22) - Competition and options for exit (1:48:46) - Olumide's overall thoughts and outlook (1:55:17) - Bankole's overall thoughts and outlook (2:01:00) - E's overall thoughts and outlook (2:09:01) - Recommendations and small wins Olumide's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Syncback Pro (works better than OneDrive & Google Drive clients for backing up stuff) & Money Talks Bloomberg article about how Zillow stopped selling houses: By Afrobility legend Matt Levine Small win: Got a new larger air fryer. It's awesome Bankole's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Tete Muo Bu Muo by Tony Tete Harbor & The Infinite Machine by Camila Russo Small win: Great birthday dinner :) E's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Prosperity paradox (by Efosa Ojomo) & Founders at work (Jessica Levingston) Small win: 3 companies I'm working with got into YC Winter 2022 batch Listeners: We'd love to hear from you. Email info@afrobility.com with feedback! Founders & Operators: We'd love to hear about what you're working on, email us at info@afrobility.com Investors: It would be great to link up with you to drive the ecosystem forward. Contact us at info@afrobility.com Join our insider mailing list where we get feedback on new episodes & find all episodes at Afrobility.com
Overview: Today, we're going to talk about SafeBoda - the Ugandan motorbike hailing platform. We'll explore the SafeBoda story across 7 areas: Motorbike hailing platforms in other emerging markets (GoJek) African mobility context SafeBoda's founding & early history Fundraising and growth Product & monetization strategy Competitive positioning & potential exit options Overall outlook This episode was recorded on Oct 31, 2021. Companies discussed: SafeBoda, GoJek, Gokada, Pathao, Allianz X, CRE Ventures, Uber Boda, Bolt / Taxify Boda, Tugende, Chipper Cash, Musha ventures, Go ventures & Gozem Business concepts discussed: Mobility Tech, Pan-Africa expansion, Transportation + FinTech Superapps Conversation highlights: (05:20) - Motorbike hailing platforms in other emerging markets (GoJek) (05:30) - Africa transportation context (07:40) - Uganda country & transportation context (24:50) - Founder background - Rapa Thomson, Maxime Dieudonne, Alastair Sussock (38:20) - SafeBoda's launch (43:36) - Fundraising (52:50) - Geographic expansion (1:15:00) - Product & monetization strategy (1:25:00) - Competition and options for exit (1:37:00) - Olumide's overall thoughts and outlook (1:48:01) - Bankole's overall thoughts and outlook (1:51:10) - Recommendations and small wins Olumide's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Founders podcast (Dave Senra) & Don't Sweat the Small Stuff . . . and It's All Small Stuff (Richard Carlson) Small win: Was in Chicago hanging out with friends for birthday, Hung out with friends in a Miami night out & installed Windows 11 which is sweet and beautiful Other content: Get.Africa #46 article about SafeBoda's Kenya exit (by Chiagoziem Onyekwena), Twitter conversation (by Stone Twine) about SafeBoda's disintermediation Bankole's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Azonto Ghost song & movie || How Big Tech Runs Tech Projects and the Curious Absence of Scrum Small win: Chelsea FC can't stop winning. Big win. Other content: So, Where did the Popular Uganda Boda Bodas Come From? Listeners: We'd love to hear from you. Email info@afrobility.com with feedback! Founders & Operators: We'd love to hear about what you're working on, email us at info@afrobility.com Investors: It would be great to link up with you to drive the ecosystem forward. Contact us at info@afrobility.com Join our insider mailing list where we get feedback on new episodes & find all episodes at Afrobility.com
Overview: Today, we're going to talk about Fawry - the Egyptian payments platform. We'll explore the Fawry story across 6 areas: Egypt context Founding and early history Fundraising & Growth Product & monetization strategy Competitive positioning Overall outlook. This episode was recorded on October 17, 2021 Companies discussed: Fawry, Egypt National Post Office (ENPO), Helios Investment Partners, Raya Holding, Technology Development Fund (Ideavelopers), Arab African International Bank, HSBC, Alexbank, Banque Misr, Ebtiikar, Khales, Bee, Masary, Meeza, elmenus & Cashi (alsoug). Business concepts discussed: Payments Platforms, IPOs, Startup incubation, African conglomerates DFI (Development Finance Institutions) & FinTech monetization strategy / Personal Finance OS Conversation highlights: (01:20) - Fawry context (04:00) - Egypt context, startups, financial inclusion (20:59) - Ashraf Sabry background (26:38) - Fawry founding and early history (33:15) - Fundraising and early growth (42:38) - Fawry IPO (52:40) - Product strategy - products offered, UX (1:02:26) - Monetization strategy (1:07:30) - Competition in Egypt (1:15:07) - Olumide's overall thoughts and outlook (1:23:45) - Bankole's overall thoughts and outlook (1:33:00) - Recommendations and small wins Olumide's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Chris Sacca on 20 Minute VC - Wow. Chris Sacca is amazing. I can listen to him talk for hours. Recommendation: Ben Horowitz - What You Do Is Who You Are. Great book about how to think about the tradeoffs when creating culture in a company. Has some awesome stories. Recommendation: Acquired episode on Oprah - Spoke about Oprah's legendary story. Wow Small win: Got ticket to Wizkid show later tonight in Miami. Good times Bankole's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Kanye West 2013 interview on Breakfast Club, Wizkid - Anoti & Keychron K2 Mechanical Keyboard Small win: Had crypto-curious friends over for dinner and now I'm crypto-curious Listeners: We'd love to hear from you. Email info@afrobility.com with feedback! Founders: We'd love to hear about what you're working on, email us at info@afrobility.com Investors: We'd also love to link up with you to drive the ecosystem forward. Contact us at info@afrobility.com Join our insider mailing list where we get feedback on new episodes & find all episodes at Afrobility.com
Overview: Today, we're going to talk about BIMA - the HealthTech insurance company. We'll explore BIMA's story across 6 areas: African Health care status & context Helium Health founding and early history Fundraising & Growth Product & monetization strategy Competitive positioning & potential exit options Overall outlook. This episode was recorded on Oct 3, 2021 Companies discussed: BIMA (Milvik), Kinnevik, LeapFrog investments, Allianz X (Allianz Group), Millicom, Digicel, China CreditEase, Jamii, M-Tiba, BlueWave, MicroEnsure & Gates Foundation Business concepts discussed: HealthTech (Healthcare technology), InsurTech (Insurance Technology), Telco partnership, geographical expansion & Health policy Conversation highlights: (00:45) - Why we're talking about BIMA Health (05:15) - African Health care context (05:58) - Insurance context in Africa (28:58) - Founder background - Gustaf Agartson (35:40) - Fundraising and early growth (45:10) - BIMA Health traction- markets, users, etc (49:50) - Product , go-to-market and monetization strategy (1:05:38) - Geographical expansion (1:07:36) - Competition and options for exits, M&A (1:29:52) - Olumide's overall thoughts and outlook (1:37:05) - Bankole's overall thoughts and outlook (1:51:04) - Recommendations and small wins Olumide's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Vusi Thembekwayo (VT Podcast) episode Wealth & Wande Coal - Ololufe Small win: Noticed someone cited my MIT thesis on Smartphone Operating systems. Nice Other content: Life Expectancy stats (World Bank) Bankole's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Love Nwantiti by CKay & Everything is a Remix - Drill Sergeant Remix & Business Breakdowns Podcast - Sky Mavis Small win: Spent last weekend in Atlanta and Memphis visiting friends and family Other content: Africa Renewal - UN Listeners: We'd love to hear from you. Email info@afrobility.com with feedback! Founders: We'd love to hear about what you're working on, email us at info@afrobility.com Investors: We'd also love to link up with you to drive the ecosystem forward. Contact us at info@afrobility.com Join our insider mailing list where we get feedback on new episodes & find all episodes at Afrobility.com
Overview: Today, we're going to talk about 54gene - the genomics HealthTech company. We'll explore the 54gene story across 6 areas: African Health care status & context 54gene early history Fundraising & Growth Product & monetization strategy Competitive positioning & potential exit options Overall outlook. This episode was recorded on Sep 19, 2021 Companies discussed: 54gene, llumina, African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases, Y Combinator (YC), 50 Years, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Gilead, IMS Health, Broad Institute, Novartis, Cathay AfricInvest, Helium Health & mPharma Business concepts discussed: Genomics, Capacity development / Local knowledge development, Healthcare technology, Health insurance coverage, commercial biobanks & public policy Conversation highlights: (00:54) - Why we're talking about 54Gene today (06:25) - Context on Healthcare and Genomics in Africa (27:02) - 54Gene founding and early history (34:13) - Fundraising and early growth - Seed, Series A, Series B (54:15) - Product and monetization strategy (1:11:00) - 54Gene capacity building (1:17:00) - Competition in this space, exit opportunities (1:30:39) - Olumide's overall thoughts and outlook (1:42:38) - Bankole's overall thoughts and outlook (1:56:03) - Recommendations and small wins Olumide's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Afridigest newsletter (by Emeka Ajene) Awesome and well done. Combines threads from multiple angles. Fabulous. Recommendation: Frontier FinTech Newsletter (by Samora Kariouki) So thorough and detailed. Love it. Recommendation: Kate Nash - Foundations. So good Small win: Galaxy Buds 2 - Small, ANC (Active Noise Cancellation), great battery life, good software controls Other content: Boom - Supersonic Passenger Airplanes Bankole's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Slow Down - King Promise, Code Breakers by Walter Isaacson & Sarah Tavel on 20 minute VC Small win: Chelsea FC 3-0 W vs Tottenham Other content: 54Gene partnership with Illumina & Colonialists are coming for blood - Literally Listeners: We'd love to hear from you. Email info@afrobility.com with feedback! Founders: We'd love to hear about what you're working on, email us at info@afrobility.com Investors: We'd also love to link up with you to drive the ecosystem forward. Contact us at info@afrobility.com Join our insider mailing list where we get feedback on new episodes & find all episodes at Afrobility.com
Overview: Today, we're going to talk about mPharma - the Ghanaian prescription drug inventory management company. We'll explore the mPharma story across 6 areas: African Health care status & context mPharma founding and early history Fundraising & Growth Product & monetization strategy Competitive positioning & potential exit options Overall outlook. This episode was recorded on Sep 5, 2021 Companies discussed: mPharma, Novartis, DrugStoc, Medsaf, Helium Health, Golden Palm Investments, Novastar ventures, CDC & Gates Foundation Business concepts discussed: Healthcare Logistics, drug distribution, Healthcare technology, Health insurance coverage, Health platforms, IFC & Public policy Conversation highlights: (01:14) - Why we're talking about mPharma (05:18) - Background of Healthcare in Africa (198:41) - Healthcare and Pharmacy / Drugs access in Nigeria (26:05) - Healthcare context and insurance in Ghana (27:15) - mPharma founding and early history - Gregory Rockson background (43:56) - Fundraising - Seed, Series A, B, C (56:00) - Traction - users, reported revenue, etc. (1:01:50) - Product strategy - Quality (Shop) Rx, Mutti, etc. (1:11:57) - Monetization strategy (1:14:17) - E-Commerce logistics vs healthcare logistics (1:21:48) - Competition (1:34:22) - Options for exit - mergers, acquisitions (1:36:56) - Bankole's overall thoughts and outlook (1:45:36) - Olumide's overall thoughts and outlook (1:55:47) - Recommendations and small wins Olumide's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: The World After Capital (Albert Wenger) Small win: Setup Galaxy Z Flip3. Different experience. Other content: Life expectancy (World Bank database) Bankole's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Donald Shoup on the economics of parking & Heaven and Hell - Kanye West Small win: Attended a wedding in New Jersey this past weekend. Lots of fun celebrating with friends. Happy Married Life Joan & Chris!!! Other content: Accelerating improvements in Health Product Distribution by Salient Advisory & How the QWERTY Keyboard Broke the Chinese Language Listeners: We'd love to hear from you. Please email info@afrobility.com with your feedback! Founders: We'd love to hear about you & what you're working on, email us at info@afrobility.com Investors: We'd also love to link up with you, to partner to drive the ecosystem forward. Contact us at info@afrobility.com Join our insider mailing list where we get feedback on new episodes & find all episodes at Afrobility.com
Overview: Today, we're going to talk about Helium Health - the Nigerian HealthTech infrastructure company. We'll explore the Helium Health story across 6 areas: African Health care status & context Helium Health founding and early history Fundraising & Growth Product & monetization strategy Competitive positioning & potential exit options Overall outlook. This episode was recorded on Aug 22, 2021 Companies discussed: Helium Health, Epic, MAGIC Fund, Y Combinator (YC), KingsChat & Tencent ventures Business concepts discussed: Healthcare technology, Operator-Investor dynamics, Health insurance coverage, Health platforms, Electronic Medical Records, Electronic Health Records & Health policy Conversation highlights: (01:20) - Why we're talking about Helium Health and HealthTech (04:15) - African Healthcare context (18:05) - Context of healthcare records in Africa (25:05) - Founder backgrounds and early history of Helium Health (37:00) - Fundraising and growth (47:50) - Product & monetization strategy (55:30) - M&A and Partnerships (1:00:12) - Competition and potential exit options (1:12:25) - Bankole's overall thoughts and outlook (1:24:05) - Olumide's overall thoughts and outlook (1:36:12) - Recommendations and small wins Olumide's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Unscripted - The Great Rat-Race Escape: From Wage Slavery to Wealth: Amazing! Small win: Las Vegas weekend with friends. Insane. Other content: World Bank database Bankole's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Peru - Fireboy DML & Business Breakdowns podcast on ZoomInfo Small win: Back playing basketball regularly after 18 months out Other content: Managing in an Age of Modularity Investors, Operators, Entrepreneurs. We'd love to hear from you. Please email info@afrobility.com to share feedback or propose topics you'd like to hear. Join our insider mailing list where we get feedback on new episodes & find all episodes at Afrobility.com
Overview: Today, we're going to talk about MultiChoice - The African video entertainment provider. We'll explore the MultiChoice story across 5 areas: South African video entertainment market context MultiChoice's launch & growth over time MultiChoice's Business & monetization strategy Competitive positioning, primary & emerging business lines Overall outlook This episode was recorded on August 15, 2021 Companies discussed: MultiChoice (M-Net), Naspers, MTN, ShowMax, BetKing, Comcast, Sky, DSTV, MTN, Iroko TV, HiTV, StarTimes, Vivendi Canal+, ROK Media, English Premier League, Netflix, HBO Max, ShowMax, Showtime & BBC Business concepts discussed: Pan-African expansion strategy, Entertainment content acquisition strategy, subscription & hardware monetization strategy Conversation highlights: (02:20) - Why we're talking about MultiChoice (06:50) - South African TV context (15:28) - Origin and early history of MultiChoice (26:10) - Product & monetization strategy (34:05) - MultiChoice device / decoder strategy (38:20) - Content, Partnerships & M&A (42:30) - MultiChoice Financials and key metrics (46:54) - Competition across different business lines (51:40) - Non-core businesses and investments, BetKing (1:05:00) - Bankole's overall thoughts and outlook (1:12:02) - Olumide's overall thoughts and outlook (1:26:28) - Recommendations and small wins Olumide's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Die with Zero (Bill Perkins) Small wins: Night out with SF friends & Sailing with friends in Sausalito Bankole's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Omah Lay - Understand & Robert Smith of Vista Equity on Money Maze Podcast Small wins: Attended a wedding last weekend, Happy Married Life Dami! + Chelsea FC Winnning! Other content mentioned: South Africa as TV's last frontier Listeners: We'd love to hear from you. Please email info@afrobility.com with your feedback! Founders: We'd love to hear about you & what you're working on, email us at info@afrobility.com Investors: We'd also love to link up with you, to partner to drive the ecosystem forward. Contact us at info@afrobility.com Episodes at Afrobility.com
Overview: Today, we're going to discuss Kuda Bank - the African neobank. We'll explore the Kuda story across 6 areas: Neobanks in other emerging markets (Brazil & NuBank) African & Nigerian banking context Kuda's launch, early history, growth over time & fundraising Kuda's product & monetization strategy Competitive positioning, potential exit options Overall outlook This episode was recorded on July 25, 2021. Companies discussed: Kuda Bank, Nubank, Carbon, Sparkle, Rubies, N26, Monzo, Chime, GTBank, Stanbic IBTC, Carbon & Chipper Cash Business concepts discussed: Neobank / Challenger bank / digital bank strategy, consumer FinTech monetization strategy, consumer lending, retail banking strategy, customer segmentation strategy & low-end disruption Conversation highlights: (01:00) - Why we're talking about Kuda Bank (05:50) - Neobanks in other emerging markets - Nubank background (18:30) - Africa banking background (26:50) - Traditional banks vs Neobanks (35:20) - Banking context in Nigeria; Nigeria's banking sector (47:40) - Founding and early history (1:02:27) - Seed fundraising (1:11:50) - Series A fundraising (1:18:40) - Product strategy (1:26:30) - GTM & partnerships strategy (1:33:47) - Monetization strategy (1:50:16) - Competition - Neobanks, traditional banks & API infrastructure startups (2:05:00) - Potential exits (2:10:29) - Olumide's overall thoughts (2:18:18) - Bankole's overall thoughts (2:32:35) - Recommendations & small wins Olumide's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: What did I spend my money on after selling twitch (by Justin Kan. Fascinating conversation about wealth, managing money after a windfall, investments, private companies, exits, etc) & The Everything store (by Brad Stone) - Amazing book, amazing story. Amazing company. Favorite part is when author talks about Jeff's most famous insults. Hilarious! Small win: NYC trip last weekend - So much fun partying with friends. Other content: Monzo is “struggling" Bankole's recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Where you are is not who you are by Ursula Burns & Justin Kan interview of Conor White-Sullivan (YouTube) Small win: I spent the last week in Lagos! New friends, stimulating conversations and catching up with old friends Other content: Kudimoney pitch at Startup Bootcamp & 2015 NYTimes article on Amazon's work culture We'd love to hear from you. Please email info@afrobility.com to share feedback or propose topics you'd like to hear. Join our insider mailing list where we get feedback on new episodes & find all episodes at Afrobility.com
Overview: Today, we're going to talk about Chipper Cash - African Fintech payments & remittances player. We'll explore the Chipper story across 6 areas: Intra-Africa remittances context Global remittances (Outside Africa to Africa) context Chipper Cash's launch, early history, growth & fundraising Chipper Cash's Product & monetization strategy Its' competitive positioning, potential exit options End with our overall outlook. This episode was recorded on July 11 & Aug 1, 2021. Companies discussed: Chipper Cash, Venmo, PayPal, Square, Flutterwave, EcoBank, Safaricom, Sendwave, MTN, Airtel, Deciens Capital & Liquid2 Ventures Business concepts discussed: Consumer FinTech (Personal Finance OS) monetization strategy, FinTech exit strategy, Intra-African Remittances, International remittances, Cryptocurrency, Decentralized Finance, Stock trading & closed-loop payment networks Conversation highlights: (01:07) - Why we're talking about Chipper Cash (06:20) - Intra-African trade context (13:12) - Intra- African remittances context (21:40) - Global remittances context (36:50) - Founder backgrounds - Ham Serunjogi and Majid Moujaled (46:06) - Chipper Cash founding and early history (52:30) - Fundraising and Growth - Angel, Series A, B & C (1:07:25) - Product strategy (1:08:25) - Monetization strategy (1:35:24) - Competition - horizontal and vertical (1:45:55) - Potential exit scenarios (1:54:12) - Bankole's overall thoughts and outlook (2:01:32) - Olumide's overall thoughts and outlook (2:08:40) - Recommendations and small wins Olumide's recommendations, small wins & open questions: Recommendation: Nailing Capital vs Scaling Capital (by Sajith Pai) , Essentialism (by Greg McKeown) & Owning Chinese Companies Is Complicated (by Matt Levine from Bloomberg) Small win: American Express Platinum new benefits: Clear! & Audible! Bankole's recommendations, small wins & open questions: Recommendation: Why startups fail by Tom Eisenmann & How to build an engine to find product market fit by Rahul Vohra Small win: Dinner with friends on a rooftop in Seattle Other content: Chipper Cash pitch at 500 Startups & A columnist Makes Sense of Wall Street Like None Other - The New York Times We'd love to hear from you. Please email info@afrobility.com to share feedback or propose topics you'd like to hear. Join our insider mailing list where we get feedback on new episodes & find all episodes at Afrobility.com
Overview: Today we're going to talk about consumer lending in Africa. We start by discussing lending in other emerging markets, discuss Africa's credit landscape, analyze lending tech companies across Africa & end with our overall outlook. This episode was recorded on June 27, 2021. Companies discussed: Navi, Creditas, Jumo, Carbon, Branch, Tala, Tugende, FairMoney, Shahry, Khazna, Branch, NuBank, Safaricom (M-Pesa), Alibaba (Ant Financial & AliPay), Mines (Migo), Numida, Tyme Bank, Lulalend & Evolve Credit Business concepts discussed: Consumer lending, SME lending & lending tech regulation Conversation highlights: (00:40) - Why we're talking about Lending (04:40) - Consumer lending context in India (10:10) - Navi deepdive & what African startups can learn (13:14) - Consumer lending context in Brazil (18:30) - Creditas deepdive (31:29) - Consumer lending context in China (38:30) - Consumer lending in Africa (51:18) - Lending startups in Southern Africa (1:04:06) - Lending startups in Western Africa (1:05:00) - Lending startups in Eastern Africa (1:16:16) - Lending startups in Northern Africa (1:26:50) - Olumide's overall thoughts (1:31:50) - Bankole's overall thoughts (1:45:30) - Recommendations and small wins Olumide's recommendations & small wins Recommendation: Howard Lindzon on Angel Podcast - Amazing banter, really funny and insightful Recommendation: Feeling by Ladipoe - Amazing. I can basically listen to it on repeat for hours Recommendation: Eni Duro - Olamide - Real life. Epic. Small win: Windows 11 announced. Can't wait to use it Other content: Decoding India's consumer lending opportunity Other content: Chinese microlending is getting weird and dangerous Special thanks to Deji Olowe for helping me think about lending (checkout his blog here) Bankole's recommendations & small wins Recommendation: The Grid: The Fraying Wires Between Americans and Our Energy Future & The Grid: A Journey Through the Heart of Our Electrified World Small win: Attended a Seattle Sounders game v Real Salt Lake. Sounders W. Other content: Samora Kariuki Frontier Fintech & @getCarbon on Medium We'd love to hear from you. Please email info@afrobility.com to share feedback or propose topics you'd like to hear. All episodes at Afrobility.com
Overview: Today we're going to talk about Sports betting & gambling tech in Africa. We share some context about betting in developed and emerging markets, analyze betting tech companies across Africa & end with our overall outlook. This episode was recorded on Jun 13, 2021. Companies discussed: BetKing, Betway, Bet9ja, BetBonanza, SportPesa, BetFair, Bet365, Flutter entertainment, Paddy Power, Walletec, 22Bet, William Hill & Multichoice Business concepts discussed: Gambling, Betting, Tech policy, Taxation strategy & Government Tech Conversation highlights: (01:00) - Why we're talking about sports betting / gambling + how it works (11:10) - What betting looks like in the UK, a developed market (18:20) - What betting / gaming looks like in a developing market, India (21:20) - Context of sports betting and gaming in Africa (31:57) - Gambling regulation across African countries (37:39) - Interesting West African betting / gaming startups (43:32) - Interesting South African betting / gaming startups (49:40) - Interesting East African betting / startups (57:30) - Betting in North Africa (1:00:17) - Bankole's overall thoughts and outlook (1:10:09) - Olumide's overall thoughts and outlook (1:16:05) - Recommendations and small wins Olumide's recommendations, small wins & open questions: Recommendation: The Ride of a lifetime (by Bob Iger). Loved it. Email info@afrobility.com with autobiography recommendations Small win: Las Vegas last weekend (fun getaway) with friends. :) Other content: TBD Bankole's recommendations, small wins & open questions: Recommendation: Caught In The Study Web & Feeling by Ladipoe Small win: UFC 263. Ask about Izzy. Aya bi Ekun. Other content: Nigeria needs to raise tobacco taxes, Collar option strategy & Brandon Moreno UFC 263 Octagon interview We'd love to hear from you. Please email info@afrobility.com to share feedback or propose topics you'd like to hear. Join our insider mailing list where we get feedback on new episodes & find all episodes at Afrobility.com
Overview: Today, we're going to talk about Paga, the fintech payments company. We'll discuss its founding, early history, growth, impact & end with our overall outlook. This episode was recorded on May 30, 2021. Companies discussed: Paga, Safaricom (M-Pesa), bKash, GTBank, First Bank, Chipper Cash, MTN, Airtel, FairMoney, Flutterwave, Paystack, Interswitch (Quickteller) & OPay Business concepts discussed: Unbanked population, Financial inclusion, Mobile money, Payment platforms, government regulation, global expansion & telco competition Conversation highlights: (00:40) - What Paga does and why we're talking about it (04:27) - Founder background, Paga founding (07:20) - Payments context at the time of Paga's founding (19:40) - Fundraising - Seed, Series A, B, B2 (24:30) - Expansion plans to Ethiopia, Mexico, Philippines (26:30) - Product strategy and features (40:50) - Monetization and user growth over time (50:46) - Olumide's overall thoughts and outlook (58:13) - Bankole's overall thoughts and outlook (1:09:00) - Recommendation and small wins Olumide's recommendations, small wins & open questions: Recommendations: Countdown to retirement (part 1, part 2 and part 3), LinkedIn Feed Blocker & Twitter Timeline eradicator Small win: Didier Drogba's message to Chelsea before 2021 CL & Kai Havertz response after winning CL Bankole's recommendations, small wins & open questions: Recommendation: Eni Duro - Olamide, 0809ja for life - Etisalat advert & Correct models are bad Small win: CHELSEA FC ARE CHAMPIONS OF EUROPE! Big win! We'd love to hear from you. Please email info@afrobility.com to share feedback or propose topics you'd like to hear. Join our insider mailing list where we get feedback on new episodes & find all episodes at Afrobility.com
Overview: Today we’re going to talk about bKash - The largest Fintech player in Bangladesh. We start with some background on Bangladesh, discuss bKash’s founding, growth & impact on Bangladesh's economy. We also discuss what other emerging markets can learn from the bKash story & end with our overall outlook. This episode was co-hosted by Shammi Quddus & recorded on May 16, 2021. Companies discussed: bKash, CellBazaar, Money in Motion, Grameenphone, Grameen Bank, BRAC, BRAC Bank, Safaricom (M-Pesa), Nagad, Telenor, Gates Foundation, IFC (World Bank) & Alibaba (Ant Financial) Business concepts discussed: Agency banking, ecosystem partnerships, microfinance expansion, Nonprofit fundraising, impact investing, Telco distribution & serial entrepreneurship Conversation highlights: (00:30) - Why are we talking about bKash and Bangladesh FinTech (04:40) - Bangladesh context and similarities to African countries (14:50) - Fintech context in Bangladesh before bKash in 2011 (16:20) - Founder background - Kamal Quadir background, CellBazaar (22:05) - bKash background - Iqbal Quadir, Grameenphone, etc. (30:48) - bKash founding (47:18) - Fundraising - IFC , BMGF, Ant Financial (59:30) - Product & monetization strategy (1:22:22) - Impact of bKash on the tech sector and economy (1:23:56) - Bankole’s overall thoughts and outlook (1:36:26) - Olumide’s overall thoughts and outlook (1:42:20) - Shammi’s overall thoughts and outlook (1:50:41) - Recommendations and small wins Olumide’s recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life (by Nir Eyal) & Seeking Wisdom: From Darwin to Munger (by Peter Bevelin) Small win: Dinner with friends with a live band. Some chatting, some drinking & some dancing. Marvelous! Bankole’s recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Prescription Drug Commercials - why they are the way they are by Packy McCormick and Nikhil Krishnan Small win: Spending a week in New York Other content: M-Pesa rate card, FT Partners Shammi’s recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Fintech podcast 11fs.com/podcast Small win: Got my COVID vaccine! Vaccines for the win! Other content: Bangladesh Bank MFS guidelines, bKash gives a boost to the poor We’d love to hear from you. Please email info@afrobility.com to share feedback or propose topics you’d like to hear. Join our insider mailing list where we get feedback on new episodes & find all episodes at Afrobility.com
Overview: Today, we're going to talk about Sendwave - the mobile remittances service that was acquired by WorldRemit in 2020-Aug. We start with the context of African remittances, discuss Sendwave's early history, growth, acquisition by WorldRemit & end with our overall outlook. This episode was recorded on May 2nd, 2021 Companies discussed: Sendwave (Remittances), Wave (Mobile money / Consumer FinTech), WorldRemit, Chipper Cash, Transferwise, Remitly, Western Union, MoneyGram & Safaricom Business concepts discussed: African remittances, personal finance OS, neobanks, Market expansion entry & Consumer Fintech (WealthTech) entry strategy Conversation highlights: (01:15) - What is Sendwave and why we’re talking about it (05:10) - Global Remittances context, size and trends (11:30) - Remittances in Sub-Saharan Africa (21:00) - Sendwave founding and early history (25:15) - Product strategy - UX, fees, disbursement speed, integrations (31:12) - Fundraising - Seed, series A and expansion (43:20) - WorldRemit's $500M acquisition (49:40) - Bankole’s overall thoughts and outlook (58:30) - Olumide’s overall thoughts and outlook (1:09:38) - Recommendations and small wins Olumide’s recommendations, small wins & open questions: Recommendation: Software is eating the rest of the world (By Derin Adebayo): Fabulous. Recommendation: The Simple Path to Wealth (JL Collins). Amazing. Small win: Flew to ATL to catch-up with a friend visiting. Awesome. Bankole’s recommendations, small wins & open questions: Recommendation: Promising Young Woman Small win: Started a garden to grow vegetables Other content: Symplifi & Wave Mobile Money Engineering blog We’d love to hear from you. Please email info@afrobility.com to share feedback or propose topics you’d like to hear. Join our insider mailing list where we get feedback on new episodes & find all episodes at Afrobility.com
Overview: Today, we’re going to talk about Takealot - the largest ecommerce platform in South Africa & one of the largest across Africa. We'll start by giving some context of e-commerce in South Africa, discuss Takealot's early history, Naspers' 2018 acquisition of Takealot, analyze Takealot business strategy & end with our overall outlook. This episode was recorded on April 18, 2021. Companies discussed: Takealot, Take2, Naspers, Tiger Global, Jumia, Kalahari.net, BidorBuy, Kilimall, Amazon, Konga, Alibaba, Everyshop (JD Group), Pick n Pay, Woolworths, Massmart, Spar & MIH Africa Business concepts discussed: Developing markets e-commerce, Pan-African expansion strategy & ecommerce marketplaces Conversation highlights: (01:20) - E-commerce and Takealot intro (04:50) - South Africa Retail & e-commerce context (15:30) - Takealot founding story: Tiger Global & Kim Reid (21:30) - Acquisition of Superbalist, Mr Delivery; Tiger Global investment (28:25) - Naspers takeover of Takealot from Tiger Global (33:46) - Takealot today: Product and monetization, business units, key metrics (45:10) - Competion: local, international & non-traditional (54:55) - Bankole’s overall thoughts and outlook (1:04:07) - Olumide’s overall thoughts and outlook (1:14:40) - Recommendation and small wins Olumide’s recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Super forecasting (by Phil Tetlock): Article & Book Recommendation: Profit first (Mike Michalowicz) Small win: Dinner with friends in Old Havana in Miami. Fun conversations Other content: Notts County jersey vs Juventus jersey (story) Bankole’s recommendations & small wins: Recommendations: Leaving The Tarmac & Bring Back our Girls Small win: Vaxxed, booked and busy! Other content: Fantasy M&A: Takealot should get its head in the game & The New Futuristic Takealot Pick-up Point - YouTube All episodes at Afrobility.com
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