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On this episode, 'Laolu, Furo, and Nosa talk about Paystack launching Zap, PayHippo's recent $4 million raise, rebrand as Rivy and pivot to clean energy financing, alongside news of Nigerian neobanks like Kuda and Nomba launching premium tiers._We love hearing your thoughts! Find us on X (@TheOAPod) and Instagram (@openafricapod) and tag us in your conversations. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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
On this episode, 'Laolu, Furo, and Nosa do a deep dive into some not so exciting news in the Tech Ecosystem; Carbon shut down its debit card service over two years after launch, the reoccurring problems with Cards among Fintechs in Nigeria, Afrigo - the CBN's Domestic Card Scheme, Prospa, and Brass' acquisition by a Paystack-led consortium, amongst other industry news._We love hearing your thoughts! Find us on Twitter and Instagram (@openafricapod) and tag us in your conversations. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In this episode, long-time FT China correspondent James Kynge travels to Lagos to hear about the success of Chinese-backed companies in Nigeria – and some of the looming concerns. We hear about Transsion, a massive Chinese mobile phone company that perfected its business model in the street markets of Nigeria, and the Chinese-owned online lending apps that are facing scrutiny from regulators. James speaks to Yang Wang, senior analyst at Counterpoint Research, Babatunde Irukera, former director-general of Nigeria's Consumer Protection Council, Adedeji Olowe, board chair at Paystack, and Moses Nmor, co-founder of BFREE Africa.Presented by James Kynge. Edwin Lane is the senior producer. The producer is Josh Gabert-Doyon. The executive producer is Manuela Saragosa. Sound design by Breen Turner and Samantha Giovinco, with original music from Metaphor Music. The FT's head of audio is Cheryl Brumley.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Looking for strange attractions in Lagos & Yorubaland? Look no further.In this episode, we talk to local travel journalist and tour guide Pelu Awofeso.Pelu is a culture and travel writer and contributor to Lonely Planet and Medium. A winner at the CNN Multichoice African Journalist Awards in travel reporting, Pelu is also the author of several Nigeria travel books — his latest, One for the Road, is out now. He regularly guides tourists around Yorubaland and Nigeria.In this episode you'll find out…Where to pick up monkey heads, snakes and other ‘fetishes'Why you shouldn't ask a tour guide to go to Makoko floating villageHow an ancient Yoruba city was the place where the world began…and so much more.You'll find all Pelu's picks on the podcast website: www.strangeoldworld.comYou can read his travel articles about Nigeria on the Lonely Planet website.His books are available in various places. Head to Amazon to buy Nigerian Festivals, Route 234 and Tour of Duty. Visit Rovingheights Books to get White Lagos and 9 Degrees North. And nip across to Paystack for One for the RoadWant to book Pelu as your Lagos tour guide? He's on Facebook, X and Insta Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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
While the figures on consumer spending are yet to be released, it is no secret that an increasing number of consumers shopped online and used new forms of digital payments. Financial technology company Paystack's Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) 2023 reveal huge growth in digital forms of payments such as card, EFT and QR payments, with the vast majority of customers preferring to pay for orders with a card. E-commerce platforms including Shopify and WooCommerce saw large increases in sales too. Adopting these new technologies will be essential for businesses and entrepreneurs to remain competitive in 2024. On the show, PayStack Country Lead, Joel Bronkowski looks at how businesses can leverage commerce to remain competitive in this new year, 2024 and how they can benefit from online payments as well
While the figures on consumer spending are yet to be released, it is no secret that an increasing number of consumers shopped online and used new forms of digital payments. Financial technology company Paystack's Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) 2023 reveal huge growth in digital forms of payments such as card, EFT and QR payments, with the vast majority of customers preferring to pay for orders with a card. E-commerce platforms including Shopify and WooCommerce saw large increases in sales too. Adopting these new technologies will be essential for businesses and entrepreneurs to remain competitive in 2024. On the show, PayStack Country Lead, Joel Bronkowski looks at how businesses can leverage commerce to remain competitive in this new year, 2024 and how they can benefit from online payments as well
While the figures on consumer spending are yet to be released, it is no secret that an increasing number of consumers shopped online and used new forms of digital payments. Financial technology company Paystack's Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) 2023 reveal huge growth in digital forms of payments such as card, EFT and QR payments, with the vast majority of customers preferring to pay for orders with a card. E-commerce platforms including Shopify and WooCommerce saw large increases in sales too. Adopting these new technologies will be essential for businesses and entrepreneurs to remain competitive in 2024. On the show, PayStack Country Lead, Joel Bronkowski looks at how businesses can leverage commerce to remain competitive in this new year, 2024 and how they can benefit from online payments as well
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
In this episode, Ibukun Itimi, an Observability Engineering Lead at Wise joins the show! We discuss Ibukun's unusual journey into tech, how she transitioned into DevOps and Observability Engineering by figuring things out and what her relationship with her colleagues at work is like. We also delve into her preferred style for people management, what working at Paystack was like and talk about her tech community "Come Tech with Us” You can reach out to the Ibukun on Instagram @come_tech_with_us, on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/ibukun-itimi-3a4a6a108 and https://www.linkedin.com/company/tech-with-us/ and on YouTube Follow #InsidetheTechosystem on Twitter & Instagram: @insidethetechos Send any questions or feedback you have to insidethetechosystem@gmail.com You can subscribe to our newsletter on tinyletter.com/insidethetechos Show Notes & Resources (04:03) - Ibukun introduces herself (05:16) - How did Ibukun get into tech? (09:23) - What does Ibukun do as an Observability Engineer? (14:30) - Ibukun explains what her day-to-day as an Observability Engineer is (23:11) - Ibukun is asked if Engineering Management is more tedious than writing the code (27:57) - Ibukun draws a mini roadmap for how observability should progress in a company (35:16) - Is it necessary for a small startup to have someone in charge of observability? (39:13) - Ibukun walks us through her journey from Software Engineering through to DevOps (49:50) - Ibukun talks to us about Come Tech With Us: https://www.linkedin.com/company/tech-with-us/ (56:21) - Ibukun picks what form of content she prefers to make (1:00:56) - Ibukun talks about what the secret behind Paystacks' retention rate is (1:03:33) - Ibukun talks about what her life without tech could have been (1:04:41) - Ibukun picks her best three cities to live in --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/insidethetechosystem/message
Payments technology success in the SA is the focus in this edition of the Business Day Spotlight. Our host Mudiwa Gavaza is joined by Joel Bronkowski, Country Lead South Africa at Paystack. Topics of discussion include: Paystack's business model; strategy for growth in the SA market; evolution of fintech in the region; and where the company sees opportunity in the sector. Business Day Spotlight is a TimesLIVE Production.
Today's guests are Michael Seibel, the Managing Director of Y Combinator, and Kwamena Afful, a Founding Partner of Microtraction. Michael has been an avid supporter of the African tech ecosystem. Since his first trip to Lagos in 2016, and since Paystack joined YC's winter batch earlier that year, the number of African startups that have participated in the global accelerator has grown to 89. And for Microtraction, the early-stage fund was founded in 2017, in part in relation to the increased global interest in the African tech ecosystem, where Microtraction's early financial support and local know-how could help fill the gap. In this episode, we hear from Michael and Kwamena about their shared perspectives on the opportunities they see and their bet on African talent.00:00 - Intro03:08 - Honorary Chieftan Michael Seilbel04:28 - Supporting the African tech ecosystem07:41 - Fintech deep dive10:19 - Software companies crossing borders14:49 - Solving African problems22:24 - What about the continent's population growth?25:47 - Investing in African talent29:38 - Creating jobs31:44 - Connecting African talent to the global marketplace
FNB's Chantal Marx on Mr Price's latest update and how Studio 88 helped save the day. Joel Bronkowski from Paystack talks local retailers and if they're grabbing the ecommerce opportunity. Karooooo's Zak Calisto unpacks the company's results as revenue grows 24%.
There are over 100 000 online stores in the country, but many don't make it more than three months after first purchases from their sites – Joel Bronkowski from Paystack.
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
In this episode, Mr Neil Thanedar shares insights based on his journey from how he moved from running a lab with his father to starting up backed up by investors such as Mark Cuban. Neil takes us through the future of biotech. Niel Thanedar is the founder and GP at Utopia Ventures. In Africa Neil invested in Paystack and believes African startups are still so underrated. Niel attended Y Combinator winter 2015, he is senior advisor for Shri Thanedar U.S. representative from Michigan's 13th congressional district. Neil is the founder and Chairman at Labdoor, Founder and CEO at Air to All, he is also an Author with over 100+ essays written, in the areas of startups and politics. Podcast Recommendations: Alex Brown and Joe Gradwell The founders podcast
Quote: "Don't approach entrepreneurship from a position ofdesperation; instead, build and have leverage."The Afropolitan Podcast highlights Afropolitans who embrace theunknown and walk with purpose. Through this podcast, we aim to empowerAfricans in the Diaspora to maximize their potential and contribute tothe development of a vibrant and progressive black community.In this episode, we chat with Obinna Ukwuani, Chief Digital Officer atthe Bank of Kigali Plc, where he drives digital product development toachieve digital financial services objectives. Obinna, born in Americawith Nigerian roots, studied Economics at the Massachusetts Instituteof Technology (MIT). He founded and directed the Makers RoboticsAcademy Rwanda and NESA by Makers, and now serves as the Founder andDirector of Bruk Oil Mills in Enugu. Obinna previously worked atPaystack and shares his entrepreneurship insights in this episode.Obinna is passionate about education, entrepreneurship, and thetransformative power of Web3/Blockchain technologies for peopleworldwide. Join us as Obinna discusses his journey to the Bank ofKigali and the importance of digital technology and services insolving Africa's challenges.Obinna's Reading List:1. Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty byDaron Acemoglu, James A. Robinson - https://amzn.to/3kD1fbO2. The Biafra Story: The Making of an African Legend by FrederickForsyth - https://amzn.to/3Zt7vBN3. The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis - https://amzn.to/3ICWJlDShow Notes:1:22 Introduction to the Afropolitan Podcast1:42 Obinna's background and journey to MIT, earning a BSc inEconomics7:28 Obinna's decision to return to Nigeria and his role innation-building and creating opportunities12:09 Obinna's work with the Makers Robotics Academy Rwanda and itsimpact on the local community14:14 Obinna shares his first significant encounter with failure andthe lessons learned20:46 Obinna discusses insights from working with Paystack and Bank ofKigali on technology's potential for Africans24:19 Obinna talks about his experience raising funds for startups andoffers advice for first-time founders navigating the fundraisingprocess28:35 The importance of managing desperation and balance whendealing with investors31:20 Sam Altman's New Yorker profile and the need for Africa toleapfrog - https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/10/sam-altmans-manifest-destiny38:12 Obinna shares his thoughts on Web3 and Blockchain, addressingskepticism and guiding principles42:53 Books that have profoundly impacted Obinna's life50:27 Hypothetical title of a book about Obinna's life51:35 Obinna's perspective on what it means to be AfropolitanThe Afropolitan Podcast is hosted by Eche Emole, co-founder ofAfropolitan. Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Jamit,or wherever you get your podcasts.Connect with Afropolitan:Twitter - https://twitter.com/afropolitanWebsite - https://www.afropolitan.io/
The artist-entrepreneur-investor Mr Eazi has no on-off switch. Who he is in the recording studio, on stage, and on the boardroom are the same. With business and music, Mr Eazi has found parallel industries that allow him to be the same person.He's founded both emPawa Africa and Zagadat Capital to feed his business appetite. The former invests into African artists and helps them scale. Meanwhile, Zagadat Capital invests into tech startups, most of which are inside the continent. Then there's Mr Eazi, the Afrobeats artist. He's collaborated with the likes of Beyonce and J Balvin, and also taken center stage at Coachella. After taking time away from music amid the pandemic, Mr Eazi is back in album mode now. Holed up in Cape Town currently, Mr Eazi has plans for two new albums this year.I caught up with Mr Eazi to cover his never-ending pursuits in music and business. Here's everything we chatted about:[0:22] How Mr Eazi is balancing artistry and entrepreneurship[1:40] Similarities between music and startups[6:19] Taking equity stakes in artists and what an “exit” looks like[10:50] How Eazi measures success for Empawa artists [13:00] Eazi's investment thesis for startups[18:10] Startup success trends in Africa [21:30] Lack of capital is biggest challenge to Africa's startup scene [29:45] Raising awareness within the continent[32:20] Biggest obstacle that African artists face [36:52] Uncleared sample on a Bad Bunny song[40:45] Impact of Western companies investing into Africa[47:35] Mr Eazi is in album modeListen: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | SoundCloud | Stitcher | Overcast | Amazon | Google Podcasts | Pocket Casts | RSSHost: Dan Runcie, @RuncieDan, trapital.coGuests: Mr Eazi, @mreaziThis episode's sponsor is Symphony. Put your fanbase growth on autopilot with the first AI-powered platform that brings all your artist marketing workflows in one place. Learn more at symphony.to/trapitalEnjoy this podcast? Rate and review the podcast here! ratethispodcast.com/trapitalTrapital is home for the business of music, media and culture. Learn more by reading Trapital's free memo.TRANSCRIPT[00:00:00] Mr. Eazi: part of me deciding to be an artist was reading the book, the Jay-Z book, Empire State of Mind. And that was when I saw it clearly and I was like, oh, wait a minute like this music is a business and the music gives you access, it gives you access to capital, access to the network it puts you, gives you a seat at the table[00:00:20] Dan Runcie Intro: Hey, welcome to the Trapital Podcast. I'm your host and the founder of Trapital Dan Runcie, this podcast is your place to gain insights from the executives in music, media, entertainment, and more. Who are taking hip hop culture to the next level.[00:00:48] Dan Runcie: All right. Today we have the one and only Mr. Eazi, the artist, entrepreneur. How you doing man? Welcome to the pod.[00:00:56] Mr. Eazi: I'm good. I'm good. I'm chilling. What's, going on[00:00:59] Dan Runcie: Me. I'm good, man. Trying to keep up with you. Trying to keep up with you, man.[00:01:03] Mr. Eazi: I'm trying to keep up with me, bro.[00:01:06] Dan Runcie: Well, let's talk about that because you are someone who sits at this intersection of artist, investor, entrepreneur, and you are doing all of those three jobs and more. And it's also happening at this moment where the entire continent of Africa is booming from an entrepreneurship perspective, booming from a music perspective.[00:01:29] How does it feel right now? How are you operating being at the center of that?[00:01:34] Mr. Eazi: To be honest, I just feel like it's a blessing to be born or to be existing in this time. where like you said, everything is just like taking shape and, you know, yeah, it's exciting and it is for me. It's like every day I'm seeing opportunity left and right and just figuring out what is fun and what is doable and just, you know, going from thinking, oh, I'm an entrepreneur, to oh, I make music. And, it's similar cause it's products at the end of the day, on the bottom line, it's like you're selling music or you're selling some other product. And I thought they were two different things, but you know, I'm seeing how it's one and the same.[00:02:17] It's just exciting to realize that I don't need to be two different people like I still be the same me and operating both walls.[00:02:27] Dan Runcie: So how are they similar for you approaching both music and startups?[00:02:32] Mr. Eazi: So I feel like every artist is like a. because the artist has a brand, has a feel, it's like a service product, it's an emotional product, right? And every artist, you know, that IP, there's an IP with every artist, and the artist usually needs investment to scale. And like coming from, like when I went outta school straight into an incubator program called 440NG and I kind of, there I learned how, you know your idea and your business, you know, you have the idea, you put it together, you iterate as the business keeps on going. So what you thought was the business at the beginning, you know, your customers could give you feedback and then you realize it evolves, it accelerate and you are trying to be as lean as possible and grow to the point where you have that critical volume to sort of like ask, what's the word as, proof that this is a valid idea either via customers or via revenue. And then you try and get to, you know, you try and scale, and you figure out what's your, unique value proposition is, and that's like where the startup, what's your unique value proposition?[00:03:46] Who are your customers? What's the idea? You take it to market, you test it, you go get investment. And it's the same thing with every artist so at the time where I decided to do music full-time, I was in an incubator program, and so I just started to see the similarities with the music. I'm like, okay, let me test it, put it out, people listen to it, you know, gimme the feedback, you know, and the point where I decided I was gonna take the music as a business was when like I got the first person reach out to me and say, Hey, I want to pay you for a verse. So that was the first signifier to let me know that, okay, maybe I'm onto something.[00:04:22] Then I started to have my early fans then Lauryn Hill reached out and said she wanted me to come play at her show. And I thought it was a fluke until I found myself in America performing in Lauryn Hill, coming out to say, I love you, thank you so much for coming. And like all of that is like with a business, with a traditional startup, it could be different things, but for me, the revenue, the number of users, aka the fans, all of that were signifiers.[00:04:51] And then I just needed, you know, the capital to take it to the next level, right? So I think those are the similarities, and I've tried it when I started emPawa it was at the beginning, it was to test if they were one and the same. So I was like, okay, Y Combinator send, you know, picks a few, start a couple of startups, you know, does incubator program put funding and whatnot to them?[00:05:18] And then maybe 20% of them you know, end up working on, and I did that with 100 artists across 11 African countries, over 30,000 entries then picked 100, then gave them the same amount of money, created the emPawa YouTube channel to host their videos, service it the same way, and in the end, start to see the ones that organically started picking up.[00:05:41] And we had success with that. So for me it was like, oh, wait a minute it's one and the same. I've proved this. And that's when emPawa then turn from, you know, the, program I was doing to actually full service music company, because I had proved that it was the same and in the same way you invest in a song.[00:06:01] I remember the first Joeboy song, the visualizer cost me $500, and then the song ended up having like 30 million views in like a year. And you know, Joeboy just went boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. So, I start to say, okay, there is a process here and perhaps we could do it with other artists, you know? So to answer your question, that's how I see both as, you know, one and the same in a way.[00:06:28] Dan Runcie: That makes sense. And I wanna talk about emPawa specifically because this is you bringing so many of those startup concepts to music like you said, you saw Y Combinator is doing. How could you apply that here? The difference though is that with Y Combinator, the promises of course, an exit, so they're hoping this companies get acquired.[00:06:47] They're hoping that they go public in music though. What does that look like for you as someone that is taking equity stakes in the artist? What does your return look like? What does your exit look like?[00:06:59] Mr. Eazi: So, I mean, first off, the return is like when you invest, you know, you invest to create the content, you put it out, put some marketing, and you start to see, you know, the streams coming, the revenue coming, the artist is now doing live shows, getting endorsement deals, you know, you could get four, 5x, 10x multiples, you know, and time.[00:07:24] so that's, one. But secondly, like on a developmental standpoint, you could develop the artist and then a big label comes and says, oh, we wanna upstream. So upstreaming is like a sale. It's like an exit, and you could still have passive rights to get passive income, on the artist. So those are like the kind of like returns and the kind of like exits.[00:07:48] Plus you could just invest in the IP, buy it up, and next thing somebody wants to sample it and then they have to write you a big check. And it could happen now, it could happen in like 10 years, in 15 years time, you know, you could have a record just lined. I'll give you an example, recently the Joeboy record that didn't make it to the Joeboy is one of my artists.[00:08:09] The song didn't make it to his album, and so we then licensed the song to a guy called Lakizon, you know, he puts out the record, you know, there's not so much thought to that. I wake up one day, Bad Bunny has put out, an album and I'm just listening to the album cause I'm a fan and I hear a record there and I'm like, basically what I was trying to say is, so you have that record that didn't make it to the album, Right? And it's just there and we license it to this guy and the next thing the record appears on a Bad Bunny album.[00:08:43] And that's like the biggest artist in the world last year by a lot of metrics. And so that's like an example, you know, an exit because you make this record and then boom, and the upsides are like, you know, so high. And right now on the market, even if you wanted, you are seeing, you know, my mentor, one of my mentors, Merck Mekadalas, you see how many multiples from 10 to 23, 24xlast year's revenue on, you know, buying rights for music. So I think there's multiple exits and even just the music and music IP as an asset class has been proven to be a valid asset class by Merck and the likes. For instance, I was, I was part of the deal, the KKR deal that bought, I don't know if you saw that some time ago, that bought a law of the rights, including the Weeknd et cetera.[00:09:36] I was part of that deal, via one of the companies, and you could see how you could see what an exit looks like. So there's multiple exits for music, whether it's an upstreaming deal from the label or it's a straight up acquisition of the catalog, or it's just multiples of revenue, the artist is now beginning to earn or if your label, you could get your entire label could become upstreams or you could go into a JV type situation.[00:10:06] Dan Runcie: So that speaks more to the flexibility that's offered with being able to invest in music. It isn't just this one time event that you're hoping for as a startup investor.[00:10:17] Mr. Eazi: Yeah. 100 percent.[00:10:19] Dan Runcie: Yeah. Yeah And with that too, you mentioned that you have a hundred artists that at least came through the first cohort, over 30,000 had applied and when you are measuring your success for them, I'm sure that each of the things you mentioned are the things that you hope for, but along the way, what are some of those key performance indicators or what are some of those things that you're looking for to hope that traction can be gained to hopefully get to the point where you do have, positive financial event that comes.[00:10:51] Mr. Eazi: I mean, it starts with like hyper local recognition. So, you know, I give example, there was this like I think she was 18 or 17 at the time, Nik, her name is Nikita and she's from Kenya. She had joined the program, she didn't make it to the top 10, but we put out the video and you know, that song started to gain local traction in Kenya even though she didn't make it to the Final 10.[00:11:17] And by local traction, I mean like number of downloads, it made it to radio, you know, it made it to press picking it up. And even though she wasn't part of the software and I didn't give her full on funding, she got signed to Universal. So for me that's a testament of like the success and those are like KPIs like, okay, does it get to radio in your local country?[00:11:40] Does it get, you know, that local, you know, appreciation from the fans in your country? And then when does it start to transcend, and there's nothing wrong with you having a popular song in Kenya or in Tanzania, but by the time it starts to go from Tanzania, you know, to rest of East Africa and then comes to the west, you know, those are the things you look out for and, you know, next level is by the time you start getting booked for shows based on the 1, 2, 3 singles you put out,[00:12:11] Dan Runcie: That makes sense. That makes sense. Let's shift gears a bit to startups, because I know that's the other space that you're actively in. What is your thesis for investing in startups?[00:12:22] Mr. Eazi: Right now, what I do is like, you know, I can bring some form of value to. So when I look at like the idea, or like when my team, you know, sends me some deal flow and we kind of walk through it, it's like, okay, aside the money, what else can we bring to this business? You know? And if I'm able to spot some extra form of value I can bring to help the business kill.[00:12:53] Then I want to invest, you know, it could be marketing. Can I add some marketing? Can I add some of my experience here? Can I leverage on my network in this other side? Aside the money, and most of the investments I've been making haven't been personal. They've been via my collectives, Zagadat Capital, and Zagadat Capital is basically, for now, it's 12 people like myself, young, successful African boys or girls who usually, you know, find it boring to speak to the financial guys and you know, have some form of liquidity. And so when we get the deal flow, and I just look at who's in the collective and who can add value, then we bring it to, the collective and then we invest.[00:13:45] So it's majorly been, it's like 90% being Africa focused because I feel like there's so much opportunity, on the continent and also on the sentimental level. The amount of impact the investment does when it's, on the continent makes, is something that's bigger than just the money.[00:14:07] And the money is great like, you know, we've seen a lot of African companies hit and cross a billion dollar evaluations to become unicorns. so you know that, can happen. But at the same time, the impact, and it's always fun when I go to an office that I'm an investor in of the like employees, they're excited that Mr. Eazi is in our office and Mr. Eazi is a shareholder like, you can't buy that. And I think that's what I always wanted because like part of me deciding to be an artist was reading the book, the Jay-Z book, Empire State of Mind. And that was when I saw it clearly and I was like, oh, wait a minute like this music is a business and the music gives you access, it gives you access to capital, access to the network it puts you, gives you a seat at the table and you know your merch, merchandising could be like the three cap that chance the rapper does, or it could be Uber or it could be, you know, Power Pay, which I've invested in that, you know, is the number one mobile money focused payments aggregate on Africa doing over 1 million transactions a day, you know, and so it's, different things and I know how I can bring value beyond my, cash it and just watch it grow. And it's exciting[00:15:28] Dan Runcie: That makes sense. So that collective, that operates a lot like a syndicate. You all are sharing deal soon where you can add value. What stage do you normally invest in and how much money are you normally putting into startups?[00:15:41] Mr. Eazi: You know, it's different like we've done like some seed stage. we did a company that was looking at listing last year on the LSE. We've done growth stage as well, so it really depends, it depends on where it comes to us, and it could be as low as, you know, 25K check, which just gets maybe if it's a 25 K check, I might just take 50% of it and just say, Hey guys, do the rest, and I just put it on the platform we use and boom, boom, boom, everybody just clicks and it's, done. Once it's done, it's done like I just invested in a platform called Ruka Hair, and it is a startup that, you know, provides hair for, people of African descent based out of London.[00:16:30] And that was a small check for, and it is growth stage, you know, so it really varies. and there's no rule. Yeah.[00:16:41] Dan Runcie: That makes sense. Yeah, keeping it flexible and gives you the opportunity to see everything that's coming through. What are some common trends that you're seeing? What are some things that you're seeing from the founders or from the startups that are coming through, especially the ones that are getting markups and getting closer to exits?[00:16:59] Mr. Eazi: I'm seeing like, you know, companies that solve fundamental, problems. You know, and I know there's so much bars on FinTech, it's like everybody just gets a hardon for African FinTech. But like, for instance is, if this products are solving specific, like there's a company called Eden Life, which I invested in.[00:17:26] And what this company does is like, you know, there are a lot of people like myself who, we don't in town enough, like enough for us to like have a chef and all of that. And we have very busy schedules, so we want like meal preps delivered to us and we want like our laundry picked up, you know, that's a very middle class, sort of like early into the job market, like pre family kind of types. And so that kind of product is a product that's like valid because like you're solving a particular need, you know, or PISA for instance, that are invested in. So PISA gives remittance based lending.[00:18:13] to, people in Mexico. So you know, the love Mexicans in the US sending money back to, Mexico to their family and their loved ones. And PISA uses that data of how much you get your current every month like my mom and dad, I put them on allowance. Like I pay them an allowance every month, Right? So we use like, by the way, for clarity they don't need it like they're good, but it's just something I do. And the other people in cultures like African culture, like in Africa, it's a pride for you, even if your dad is a billionaire, like being able to do something for your dad is like, it's like a pride.[00:18:53] It's like you've achieved, right? So you have people sending money back home, you know, either to Mexico or to different parts of Africa to either family that need it or to do stuff with it, like build a house back home or to help the family school fees or whatever, or just out of sentiment, like, it's like paying your tithes.[00:19:15] I don't know if you're Christian, it's like when you pay 10% of your income to the church. It's something like that. and then there's all that data, all that data because it's like salary, right? it comes every month, usually on a certain day. So PISA uses that information to provide loans to people.[00:19:34] And that's like a need, that's a specific need. So that's what we are seeing, Yeah.[00:19:40] Dan Runcie: What are some of the bigger challenges right now for startups in Africa?[00:19:45] Mr. Eazi: I think one of the biggest challenges is, you know, getting funding and you see a lot of, like African startups, YC has been doing a great job, but there are, you know, and like, future Africa, which I'm part of and I'm an advisor, you know, investing in these projects. But raising fund is like so hard.[00:20:07] There's still a hesitance when it comes to African startup raising funds, especially at seed stage. And usually this is not a lot of money. It's like from 20K checks to like even hundred is a lot of money, you know, but that 50 k to, get you into flight mode. So I think that's the biggest issue is not lack of ideas, it's, you know, getting funding, especially local funding that's not a lot of local funding sources. There's few options like the YC's and it's hard to get in generating that local funding is still a problem as a lot of the, you know, organizations and a lot of investors are still trying to understand this whole tech investment and valuation.[00:20:55] I have my uncles ask me, you said this company is, is what, $20 million? Do they have 20 million cash in their account or do they have, buildings? Where's the building? Where's the physical asset, you know, it's that culture going from brick and mortar to technology and understanding evaluation and all of that.[00:21:15] And, then you have sectors that are now like so hot that valuations are going crazy you know, And you have, like, depending on what sector you are, a lot of the countries are just catching up to technology. And in some places there are no laws written for the kind of products you are creating.[00:21:38] So if you're not in sync with the regulators, the regulators might pass a law that is detrimental to your business and all of a sudden you wake up one morning and your successful business is now killed just like the motorbike railing company. I forgotten the name in Lagos. That was really growing and then with one day regulations like no motorbike, transportation in Lagos, boom, dead.[00:22:04] So, I think it's not just in Africa-peculiar problem. It's like, for instance, with crypto and, you know, a lot of, you know, countries trying to understand what is going on. So you're having innovation outpacing regulation and you know, if there's no proper interaction you are having like regulations could just like be the end of use.[00:22:28] So I think access to capital, and in some sectors, depending on your sector, regulation as well could be a major setback.[00:22:38] Dan Runcie: The access to capital piece, I could see that, especially since the friends and family round is such a key piece, or having the angels outta there, such a key piece to help make that happen. But if the people that have the financial means are fewer and far between, you know, whether it's folks like you or others that are in your syndicate or maybe some of the other co-investors you have, that means that the deal flow that you all get is heightened even more so because there's just so fewer other places, which makes you all needing to be even more selective, I can imagine, than you maybe otherwise prefer to be. I mean, how do you feel in that perspective as someone that wants to see the space grow, but you know that you can't back everybody even though you know, I'm sure inherently you wish you would, but you still have your own rubrics. You still have your way that you evaluate things, and that likely has to be even heightened given the number of deals that you're seeing.[00:23:32] Mr. Eazi: Yeah, I mean like, well one of the things I pray, I have some days, fuck you money. Do you understand? To just like, because like 1.2 billion people in Africa on the continent. And it's like, if you think of the amount of money that comes back to Africa from the African Diaspora, it's like, I think it's like over a trillion dollars a year.[00:23:54] So there's so much opportunity. And, but like you said, what this does is it makes things a little bit harder for people, you know, entrepreneurs who need the money and the proof is in the pudding. Like I always say, like although it takes time and things are changing, don't get me wrong, things are changing.[00:24:15] They are more local, VCs, funding, but like I probably know like five people with networks over a hundred million, right? But now, for me to get to the point where, and these are people who've, amass all this wealth with brick and mortar businesses. So now you know, there's a job to do to sort of like show proof, show validity that, hey, I invested at this point, it's not for Gen Z it's not a pyramid scheme.[00:24:50] And like show people and then you get more people, coming in. And I have seen like some of my friends who are like billionaires now start to set up separate funds to say, okay, you know what? I don't really know what this tech thing is about for, but you know, put the money in future Africa or put it in some other fund and try to learn.[00:25:11] So it's more sort of like publicity and sometimes the drop, the setbacks are when there's a big startup out of the continent that then runs into all sorts of scandals and then, you know, it causes five steps backward. And that's not peculiar to Africa like, I mean, you seen what happened to ftx, right? So that happens everywhere.[00:25:35] The only differences, you know, because it's still kind of new. It causes more negative effects, you know, so I think there needs to be more education, more pr to the successes of these companies. Every success is a success and should be, you know, communicated and things would get better because there is capital on the continent.[00:26:00] There is like lose capital on, the continent looking for where to invest, you know? So I mean, things are changing like Future Africa. I always keep mentioning Future Africa, like they've been able to show that, you know, they know what they're doing. There is a method to the madness. They could deliver results in terms of like revenue, you know, they invested in Move, which is a company that provides, you know, the cars for Uber drivers and it's, you know, I think it's now a unicorn and that's like a very particular need because, you know, drivers need cars, but they don't have the capital to purchase the cars, right? And going through the banking routes, you are gonna have to bring collateral, your mom's name, your grandmother's house, plus the high interest, you know, so they've identified, and this has been a problem, it's still a problem to today that they've been able to solve.[00:26:54] So I think the more people know about this, the more education, the more things will open up.[00:27:01] Dan Runcie: The PR piece you mentioned is interesting because from my side, living in the states, I'll see the articles about a company like Carry1st, which I do think has had a fair amount of PR, I feel like one of their announcements got an got an article in the Hollywood Reporter, so I remember seeing things like that, but I feel like it does become fewer and farther between, at least from what you are seeing, from the awareness of some of these[00:27:27] Mr. Eazi: Yeah, you're correct and it's not so much I understand why like there's a lot of PR outside looking PR like you said, you know, New York Times, you know, LA blah, blah, blah, because that's where the money's coming from, right? But like, I'm talking more intra-Africa PR like for the money on the continent, you know, because that's like easily, like it's right there in your face, you know, there's enough money in Lagos for them not to be any need to raise capital from outside . You get what I'm saying? There's so much capital in Lagos, like from Lagos, you feel me? Or from Rwanda, you know, and, Rwanda is trying to position itself as startup, you know, pro-startup investing, you know, so there's money on the continent and it's like[00:28:22] that's what I mean by PR and publicity and awareness. if I wasn't friends with, like, I met in, was co-founder of, Flutterwave with and then Andela, you know, and then Move. So three unicorns, right? And, you know, we've been friends and we've been investing together. if there was not that proximity to him or to Shola the founder of Paystack that got bought by Stripe, I wouldn't know that this was going on.[00:28:50] You feel me? Maybe, you know, I wouldn't have known. So that's what I mean, you know, because like every A-list, Afro-B artist can be you know, can be invested, you know, so that's exactly what I mean.[00:29:08] Dan Runcie: It is interesting you bring up the music piece because I'd be curious to hear how you feel some of these challenges that African startups may face. How do the African artists themselves fare in that regard? Do you think that they have similar challenges with funding or with regulations in that way?[00:29:26] Mr. Eazi: There's regulation issues, like for instance, collecting, publishing revenue on the continent. It's a joke, right?[00:29:34] Dan Runcie: Why is that?[00:29:34] Mr. Eazi: Or collecting streaming revenue because like for you to be able to collect publishing revenue, you need the government to enforce the laws for the radio stations to pay you, you know, publishing royalties on the music they place for the bars to be able to pay for what they play, like for the use of your music. So you need strong in a lot of African countries, these laws are there, but there's no enforcement because I would say it's worse for creatives because people still look at the creative sector as a joke.[00:30:08] The orange economy is like, ah, that's not really business like that's just young people with dreadlocks, just singing and dancing and jumping across the world. Yes, they hear the music everywhere. Yes, now things are getting better because they're seeing teams at the Grammys, they're seeing Burna Boy, you know, and whiskey doing Madison Square Garden, but there's not a lot of education for them to really understand the business of music or creativity.[00:30:36] So even, I remember like two years ago I spoke to almost all the bank MDs, or three years ago, almost all the bank MDs in Nigeria trying to convince them on why music is a business is a valid business, but I couldn't get funding. And that's me being a successful African artist showing the revenue, showing all of that, like I once got on a panel with, you know, a financial institution that was meant that. they have a fund, they have like a 500 million dollar fund for investing in creatives. And I was on a panel with somebody there and the person said, oh, it is impossible to protect music IP, it is difficult to protect music IP, and I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, What? And like, are you kidding me? Like, there's Shazam technology, there's like, every song has an ISRC code and like if you upload the song in Kenya or in in Afghanistan, like on YouTube, like it will pick it up instantly. So when you have a situation where you have an institution that has up to a billion to invest in creatives. But you are having the key stakeholders who decide who gets what telling you or speaking out confidently and saying is hard to protect the IP, you know, then that just shows you where it sucks. So there's still a lot, but I feel like that's why there needs to be more education, you know, just like for startups to music, to let people realize that this is a business, like there's revenue to be earned. Not just live revenue, like streaming revenue, publishing revenue, especially now that the world is looking to Africa. Like you're seeing early starters jumping on Afro Beats records, like, what's that song?[00:32:31] Essence, Essence was a hit song before Justin Bieber jumped on it. It was already a global smash. Peru was a, global smash before, Ed Sheeran jumped on it. So you are having like pure Afro Beats records in our local language produced locally in some hotel room in Lagos, you know, going on to be big songs globally without any major support from without necessarily, you know, I know A and R like support, like his producers locally. And you're seeing this, so you do know that this is the time, or you know, like the example I gave, you know, Bad Bunny, you know, sampling a Joeboy record and putting it on his album, putting an Afro Beats record on his album, you know, that's an ex example.[00:33:18] Dan Runcie: And by the way, that was declared properly and like I'm about to go, you know, go crazy with the lawyers to make sure I get my bread. And more importantly, the writers and the producers get, their due credit and revenue and, you know, Did Bad Bunny's team reach out before this?[00:33:39] Mr. Eazi: No, no, no, I literally just listened to Bad Bunny's album and I just heard Joe Boy's voice at the end of the record, and I was like, I've heard this record before. And then I realized is a record, I didn't make it to his album. And I'm like, wait a minute. And then my team start speaking to them since May of, last year.[00:33:55] And it's just back and forth to the point where I'm like, okay, you know what, you guys have had fun with this. Like, I'm just going brazen on this, let's get lawyers. Let's make it like a proper lawsuit. But what I'm trying to, or you have, you know, Beyonce, you know, doing the Lion King, the gift and having created from all of Africa put it so like, you know, you are having Drake, you know, with Whiskey on one dance you're having Ed Sheeran, Justin Bieber jump on multiple Afro Beats records that are Afro Beats records. You're having people more and more people sampling Afro Beats records, you know, and maybe not giving proper credit or do, or you are having, like I once produce. and was on co-produced and wrote and featured on a record involving Bad Bunny on the Joint album and Afro Beats record.[00:34:45] So you're seeing is becoming more global and global. So we need to be able to tell these stories to the funding sources back home to establish that this is indeed a business. So it's education the same way education for the startups, but even more for music because music was never, and creatives, you know, was never looked at as a valid business.[00:35:09] It was looked at as things, people who don't graduate from school or people who just wanna be jokers do. But right now people are sitting, wait a minute, wow, that artist bought car that artist's bought a house. that artist did this, did that or Grammys or this, that, that. So, but there still needs to be more information back home to the business side of the music to know that behind that sold out.[00:35:36] MSG is a check, and behind that billboard is a check, you know, and even the TikTokers, like I was speaking to someone at the bank and explaining to my bank MD friend that, you know, I showed him a lot of payments, like TikTokers in Nigeria are getting paid as much as $10,000 to put up a post on their TikTok.[00:35:59] 17 year old, 18 year old, you know, and I had to show this and he was like, what? Are you serious? And then he went back to ask his kids. And find out that, oh wow, this is a thing, you know? So it's that education, I mean, because there is the capital on the continent, it's just like, how do you get it?[00:36:17] And it is a lot of work to do to basically explain and explain and explain. And one needs to have the patience. And it's hard to do that while still running my label, doing everything I'm doing, putting out music for myself, you know, so, you know, but thankfully I'm not the only one doing it, Don Jazzy is doing it.[00:36:39] Olamide is doing it. They're more examples. So one way or the other people are saying it.[00:36:44] Dan Runcie: How do you feel about the investment in African music that has come from the West? So thinking about Universal Music group opening up record label in Africa and some of the other majors having different concentration in Nigeria or elsewhere, how has that been and what type of impact has that had, if any, on your end?[00:37:07] Mr. Eazi: I mean, I think it's good. It's a good signifier because all these labels were in Africa from the years before Fella, right? You had all these labels in Nigeria before, you know, the nationalization where, you know, the government had passed that all the companies should be nationalized and the labels got sold to local owners.[00:37:26] So you are just having, you have Majek Fashek that was on the late, late show, the late night show in 1991, bro. So when people say, oh, African music is then becoming popular. It's been popular. And it's coming back again with technology and everything. So I think it's good. I think the more, you know, major labels coming to Africa, but not just as, or let's test to see what happens.[00:37:52] But the more investment that comes, the more structure there will be for the business and the more signifiers, you know, to show people who wanna invest, you know, so yeah, I welcome it. And I think there should be more funding and there should be more, like the local companies should be autonomous, you know, I think that's been the only drawback with the majors, pardon of me, I might be wrong. Don't quote me where you are seeing the local, you know, Universal Nigeria or Sony or whatever, you know, that lookout team not having a lot of, autonomy in the checks they're writing to the artists or taking those risks they have to get approval from maybe South Africa or, you know, London or LA.[00:38:43] Meanwhile, everything is happening on the ground in Lagos, so you are having distributors. So I think a lot of the most recent successes have been by more distributors than record label in breaking artists. So more like Empire or ONErpm or the Orchid or emPawa or, you know, Believe, because these distributors are more flexible and have been able to give a lot more autonomy to the local guys who are running, these local companies to write those checks because like, what is somebody in London like with all due respect, like I always say this as a joke. There's no songwriter in the world that would've written, I don't care how many Grammys you've, gotten, you cannot write Soco, Soco, Soco, Soco, Soco, baby.[00:39:42] You. That's the Wizkid song, you can't write that song or, one of my favorite artists Wande Coal, there's a part of his song where he just spits jibberish, like he don't mean anything, like it's a vibe. So like without due respect to your A and R ears, you don't know the music like even me, I'm from Nigeria, but I always have to be updated.[00:40:09] So there needs to be more investment and more autonomy. But I love it like the more labels come in and the more distribution companies come in and there's this competition, the more money is invest invested. And when you invest money, then you start to structure it then you start to say, Hey, why are we not making as much money locally?[00:40:29] Okay, let's invest in touring, you know, in Nigeria, in on the continent. let's go lobby for enforcement of collection of royalties. So, yeah.[00:40:40] Dan Runcie: Have you seen any success stories from the major record label side in Africa yet?[00:40:48] Mr. Eazi: There's none that comes to mind in terms of breaking an artist. So you have Wizkid signed, you have Diplo signed, you have Burna Boy signed. you know, and this is like A-list, A-list, right? But if you look at all the artists that have broken Buju for instance, initially signed to Burna Boy and then Empire, broke him, you know, that's Buju, Fire Boy via Empire and Olamide's YBNteams, you know, independently broke with, her record. I think she's been upstreamed now. So in terms of sort of like carrying that conversation, you know, outside to the rest of the world, yes, I'm sure there's been a lot of success like the Wizkid record, you know, Burna Boy, entire Renaissance.[00:41:44] And you could go on and on, but in terms of actually finding an artist and breaking the artist, there's not a lot of successes. And I think that's down to autonomy because, you know, you have some executives moves from the label to the distributors and do well, you know, we just understanding you know, how to a and r and how to put our music, on the continent, and you can't just bring like somebody who's of Nigerian descent and just expect that they don't understand. Like, I am Nigerian, but every time I go back to Lagos, I'm like, whoa, the sound has changed, you know? So that underground on the ground, you know, and there's a lot of work.[00:42:31] Dan Runcie: Definitely, and yeah, I know that there's so much interest, but like you said, if they don't have the control or the ability to really make decisions on their own, I can easily see why an Empire or some of the other distributors have been able to have success there. But Mr. Eazi, man, this was great. I feel like you gave us a snapshot of where everything is right now on music and investing side.[00:42:53] But before we let you go, for you, what's big on the road for you still beginning of the year? What's big on the deck for you? What do you got coming up?[00:43:02] Mr. Eazi: I mean, I kind of like needed a break from putting out music and touring and when COVID happened I was like, oh, thank God, like because I was battling with, oh, if I should, I pause, like it was just routine doing the same thing and it was like too much for me. So I was able to have that pause, and put some of the attention towards like growing emPawa with my co-founder.[00:43:27] And then leaving it to him to sort of like, you know, and come back to iterate, iterate change the model, blah, blah, blah, build the team. And I just went off and started doing like investment and putting more time in the startups I was investing in. And now, I'm in Cape Town recording. I'm putting out two albums this year, one in September and one in, I think April or May.[00:43:55] So I'm just recording that now and I feel like, and now I want to go back on the road, but not first as my usual live band touring, but first as sort of like a curator, where I bring like, you know, the way Major Lazer tour where they have the sound system with Walshy and Diplo and Ape Drums. But instead of Diplo and Ape Drums, I select like the DJs, maybe one playing Afro Pop, one playing Ama one playing something else.[00:44:27] And I am the Walshy Fire, sort of like putting it together, hype man MC. So that's what I want to tour. The first part of the year once I put out the Chop Life album, so that's called Chop Life. To chop life means to enjoy life. So I'm making an sort of Afro dance album that I'll put out first and then I will talk as Chop Life sound system with doing these parties.[00:44:53] you know, of majorly Afro Beat parties, sound system across the world. And then I dropped the album, the second album, and I taught as, okay, this is my album tour. So that's the plan. Hopefully I'm able to complete the first album. The second album is done, it is just in mixing a mastering, that's the September one.[00:45:13] It's done just in mix. And my string phase and then this first one, I'm recording. That's what I'm recording right now. Recording downstairs.[00:45:21] Dan Runcie: Nice. Nice. Well, looking forward to all of that, man, and thank you. No, this has been a pleasure. And yeah, so people that wanna follow along and keep up with all that, where should they go to follow you?[00:45:30] Mr. Eazi: Follow me everywhere on social media @mreazi, M R E A Z I, Mr. Eazi. Yeah, everywhere, everywhere on social media.[00:45:44] And I wanna see you at one of my shows. You have to come maybe when I do the parties, where are you right now?[00:45:49] Dan Runcie: Me, I'm in San Francisco[00:45:51] Mr. Eazi: Cool. I'm, sure I'll be coming around LA, San Fran, at some point[00:45:55] Dan Runcie: Yeah, come through.[00:45:57] Mr. Eazi: I'd send you an invite,[00:45:58] Dan Runcie: Definitely, definitely. All right, man. We'll talk soon.[00:46:01] Mr. Eazi: All right. Have a good one. Thank you.[00:46:03] Dan Runcie Outro: If you enjoyed this podcast, go ahead and share it with a friend. Copy the link, text it to a friend, post it in your group chat. Post it in your Slack groups. Wherever you and your people talk, spread the word. That's how capital continues to grow and continues to reach the right people. And while you're at it, if you use Apple Podcast, go ahead.[00:46:24] Rate the podcast, give it a high rating, and leave a review. Tell people why you like the podcast. That helps more people. Discover the show. Thank you in advance. Talk to you next week.
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
It's a new year and we are officially kicking off season 2 of Fintech in the cloud! To kick off our new season we are doing something slightly different. It is our first live episode with a thought provoking and insightful panel conducted at the Africa Fintech Summit, moderated by yours truly. The panel comprised of AWS customers who are influencing the trajectory of fintech in Africa. The esteemed guests were: Amandine Lobelle - COO, Paystack. Cheslyn Jacobs - Chief Commercial Offier, TymeBank. Wiza Jalakasi - VP of Global Merchant Business, ChipperCash. Our podcast friend and alum, Munya Chiura. Enjoy! If you are interested in this topic and want to learn more and about Fintech in Africa, AWS and Africa Fintech Summit recently published a white paper; titled The Growing Role of Cloud in Africa's Burgeoning Fintech Sector. https://africafintechsummit.com/ecosystem-insights/reports-white-papers/ https://chippercash.com/ https://www.tymebank.co.za/ https://paystack.com/ https://flutterwave.com/us/ You can also learn more about Fintechs and Startups on AWS https://aws.amazon.com/startups/ or https://aws.amazon.com/startups/FinTech/
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
In this episode, Charli talks with Tomi Odusanya, Design Lead on the Growth Design Team at Paystack. Tomi has a lot of experience as a designer and developer, so he brings real knowledge to the issues of speed and performance when building marketing websites for people with slower internet access. In addition to those metrics, Tomi talks about how Paystack uses data, the importance of understanding your users, and how to iterate on a live project when it's not performing well enough. Tomi also talks about the design culture at Paystack and the things they do to foster that.Paystack is a payment platform for businesses in Africa. They were the first Nigerian company to be accepted into Y Combinator back in 2015, and they are now a remote-friendly team of about 250 people with offices in Nigeria, Ghana, and South Africa.
This was an interview I had with Shola Akinlade the Co-founder and CEO of PAYSTACK in 2021 on Zoom with members of my paid Whatsapp group communityIn 2020 STRIPE the American payment giant acquired paystack for $200,000,00.This made Shola and his co-founder very rich. Some unconfirmed sources say Shola's net worth is $100,000,000.It was an interesting interview so enjoyIn my community, I bring on inspiring guests to teach and motivate us. Join us. The fee is N40,000 a year membership fee: https://paystack.com/pay/sellingmadeeasy
In 2019, Ibifubara and Joanna got to know each other better and eventually grew to become best friends. In this episode about the importance of female friendships, the two women talk about experiencing life together - the good, bad and ugly - as well as being a strong support system for each other. To get inside information about every episode, subscribe to our newsletter here. You will get behind-the-scenes information from Aisha Salaudeen, and find out what the rest of the team is up to. “I Like Girls” is Aisha Salaudeen, Afolabi Adekaiyaoja, Samiat Alamutu, Dorcas Ohwofasa, Dooski, Peter Akinnusi, Mo Isu, Ruth Olurounbi and Banggz. This episode is sponsored by Paystack.
This episode is a profile of Rwandan therapist, activist and motivational speaker, Tabitha Mpamira. Her childhood experiences - being a refugee and discovering psychology - have shaped who she is today. In this episode, she opens up about growing up, and why it is important for her to help young women and girls work through their trauma.To get inside information about every episode, subscribe to our newsletter here. You will get behind-the-scenes information from Aisha Salaudeen, and find out what the rest of the team is up to. “I Like Girls” is Aisha Salaudeen, Afolabi Adekaiyaoja, Samiat Alamutu, Dorcas Ohwofasa, Peter Akinnusi, Dooski, Mo Isu, Ruth Olurounbi and Banggz. This episode is sponsored by Paystack.
What's it like eating food to lose food? In this episode, Nigerian programs manager, Karina Karunwi, talks about her complicated relationship with food and her life-long journey of healing from a food disorder. To get inside information about every episode, subscribe to our newsletter here. You will get behind-the-scenes information from Aisha Salaudeen, and find out what the rest of the team is up to. “I Like Girls” is Aisha Salaudeen, Afolabi Adekaiyaoja, Samiat Alamutu, Dorcas Ohwofasa, Peter Akinnusi, Dooski, Mo Isu, Ruth Olurounbi and Banggz. This episode is sponsored by Paystack.
What's it like having extreme mood swings that affect the quality of your life?Growing up, Fareeda Abdulkareem experienced constant mood swings. On some days, she was bubbly and full of ideas; on other days, she felt so low that she could not perform mundane tasks. She would later discover that her feelings and symptoms were a result of a condition known as bipolar disorder. Through Fareeda's story, we learn some of the ways bipolar disorder can present itself, and how she is navigating life with the knowledge of her mental health. To get inside information about every episode, subscribe to our newsletter here. You will get behind-the-scenes information from Aisha Salaudeen, and find out what the rest of the team is up to. “I Like Girls” is Aisha Salaudeen, Afolabi Adekaiyaoja, Peter Akinnusi, Samiat Alamutu, Dorcas Ohwofasa, Dooski, Mo Isu, Ruth Olurounbi and Banggz. This episode is sponsored by Paystack.
Oluwatosin Olaseinde is the founder of Money Africa, a financial literacy platform that arms people with information on how to save, invest and grow their money. Oluwatosin is well put together now in terms of money management, but she wasn't always like this. In this episode, she talks about experiencing a financial awakening that pushed her to start taking her finances seriously. Through her story, we learn the importance of money management and what it's like running a business like hers. To get inside information about every episode, subscribe to our newsletter here. You will get behind-the-scenes information from Aisha Salaudeen, and find out what the rest of the team is up to. “I Like Girls” is Aisha Salaudeen, Afolabi Adekaiyaoja, Samiat Alamutu, Dorcas Ohwofasa, Dooski, Mo Isu, Ruth Olurounbi and Banggz. This episode is sponsored by Paystack.
This episode is a profile of Ugandan feminist and human rights activist - Dr. Stella Nyanzi. Stella has been described as ‘crazy' for her unconventional methods of activism, which often include nudity and poems laced with sexual innuendoes. Through her story, we learn that there's no one way to fight for the rights of women and girls. To get inside information about every episode, subscribe to our newsletter here. You will get behind-the-scenes information from Aisha Salaudeen, and find out what the rest of the team is up to. “I Like Girls” is Aisha Salaudeen, Afolabi Adekaiyaoja, Samiat Alamutu, Peter Akinnusi, Dorcas Ohwofasa, Dooski, Mo Isu, Ruth Olurounbi and Banggz. This episode is sponsored by Paystack.
Ms. Carmen Latty is a Jamaican educator with over 50 years of experience building and developing schools in multiple countries, including Nigeria. She has worked as a teacher, policy advisor, board member and consultant at multiple schools across the globe. In this episode, she speaks about starting small, overcoming many challenges and finally getting to the top of her career. To get inside information about every episode, subscribe to our newsletter here. You will get behind-the-scenes information from Aisha Salaudeen, and find out what the rest of the team is up to. “I Like Girls” is Aisha Salaudeen, Afolabi Adekaiyaoja, Samiat Alamutu, Dorcas Ohwofasa, Peter Akinnusi, Dooski, Mo Isu, Ruth Olurounbi and Banggz. This episode is sponsored by Paystack.
In this week's episode, I spoke with Can you help update the show notes (tiny edits) In this week's episode, I spoke with Nubi Kay', Startup Programs Lead at Paystack. We spoke about his childhood, his education, his stint as an entrepreneur, his relocation to Ireland, how he joined Stripe and later Paystack, how he founded HoaQ Ventures and lot's more. This is value packed but don't take my words for it, listen!
Ever wondered what it takes to be a business owner catering to Africans across the globe? This episode with Nigerian beauty entrepreneur, Oluremi Martins, explores the ups and downs of running a business. Through Oluremi's journey, we learn the many ways to grow a business and the things that can hinder its success. To get inside information about every episode, subscribe to our newsletter here. You will get behind-the-scenes information from Aisha Salaudeen, and find out what the rest of the team is up to. “I Like Girls” is Aisha Salaudeen, Afolabi Adekaiyaoja, Samiat Alamutu, Peter Akinnusi, Dorcas Ohwofasa, Dooski, Mo Isu, Ruth Olurounbi and Banggz. This episode is sponsored by Paystack.
La scène des startups africaines rend certaines personnes très riches. Mais ces entreprises créent-elles réellement des emplois ? Andela, Jumia, Flutterwave - ce ne sont là que quelques-unes des startups technologiques africaines qui valent aujourd'hui plus d'un milliard de dollars américains. L'argent étranger afflue. Certaines personnes s'enrichissent. Nous demandons à nos trois contributeurs si ces startups technologiques emploieront un jour un nombre important de jeunes Africains. Maya Horgan Famodu est une société de capital-risque nigéro-américaine. Elle est la fondatrice et directrice générale d'Ingressive Capital. La société de capital-risque de 10 millions de dollars cible les startups technologiques en phase de démarrage à travers l'Afrique subsaharienne, y compris Paystack, qui a vendu pour plus de 200 millions de dollars à Stripe. Gabriel Curtis est l'ancien ministre chargé des investissements et des partenariats public-privé en Guinée, Conakry. Samba Bathily est un entrepreneur malien spécialisé dans les énergies propres durables et les solutions solaires. Il a fondé Africa Development Solutions (ADS) et s'est associé à Akon, l'artiste hip hop américano-sénégalais, dans le cadre de l'initiative Akon Lighting Africa.Made possible with a grant from the U.S. Department of State and the Seenfire Foundation. Notre politique de confidentialité GDPR a été mise à jour le 8 août 2022. Visitez acast.com/privacy pour plus d'informations.
What's academia like for women? In this episode, through the story of a Nigerian Ph.D. candidate and university lecturer, Munyale, we learn about the discrimination, bullying and sexual harassment that African women in academia often face.To get inside information about every episode, subscribe to our newsletter here. You will get behind-the-scenes information from Aisha Salaudeen, and find out what the rest of the team is up to. “I Like Girls” is Aisha Salaudeen, Afolabi Adekaiyaoja, Samiat Alamutu, Dorcas Ohwofasa, Dooski, Mo Isu, Ruth Olurounbi, Peter Akinnusi and Banggz. This episode is sponsored by Paystack.
Seyi Oluyole is a Nigerian teacher, dancer and screenwriter. In this episode, she speaks to host, Aisha Salaudeen about surviving an abusive marriage. She also talks about walking out of the marriage and how she's coping with the aftermath of it. To get inside information about every episode, subscribe to our newsletter here. You will get behind-the-scenes information on every episode and find out what the rest of the team is up to. “I Like Girls” is Aisha Salaudeen, Afolabi Adekaiyaoja, Samiat Alamutu, Dorcas Ohwofasa, Dooski, Mo Isu, Ruth Olurounbi and Banggz. This episode is sponsored by Paystack.
Y Combinator’s impact on African startups was the main topic of today's podcast. If you were not aware, Y Combinator is the Ivy League of accelerators and has backed some of the most successful companies globally, including Stripe and Airbnb. Some of the most valuable startups in Africa, including Wave, Paystack, and Flutterwave, are Y Combinator alumni. On this episode: 0:55 - MTN and $39m 5G expansion into rural South Africa. 6:04 - Ripple effects of Y Combinator in Africa since 2015. Download the report here. 14:57 - Norebase's $1m raise and Incorporation as a Service API Register for the Techpoint Africa Blockchain Summit by visiting blockchain.techpoint.africa. See list of confirmed speakers here. Email us your feedback at podcast@techpoint.africa. Visit www.techpoint.africa for more stories.
In this episode, Luke Ndatigh, an operations specialist at Adyen discusses his experiences coming from a highly technical background, moving to a less technical role. He also talks about various non-technical roles in tech, how to position yourself to get into some of these roles and the big question "Should everyone get into tech?” You can reach out to Luke, our guest, on Twitter, @lukendatigh Follow #InsidetheTechosystem on Twitter & Instagram: (@insidethetechos) Send any questions or feedback you have to insidethetechosystem@gmail.com Follow @Cnwadiogbu and @olaoluwa_98 on Twitter Show Notes & Resources (05:15) - Adyen: https://www.adyen.com (05:24) - Stripe: https://stripe.com (12:49) - Paystack: https://paystack.com (13:28) - FairMoney: https://fairmoney.io (14:11) - NLNG: https://www.nigerialng.com/Pages/index.aspx (15:03) - Knapsack problem: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knapsack_problem (15:11) - Big O notation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_O_notation (16:32) - Peter Thiel: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Thiel (16:42) - John Doerr: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Doerr (16:48) - Alexander the Great: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_the_Great (16:50) - Aliko Dangote: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliko_Dangote (17:08) - Kobe Bryant (Black Mamba): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobe_Bryant (17:10) - Lebron James: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LeBron_James (17:14) - Stephen Curry (Steph): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Curry (17:17) - Andre Iguodala: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andre_Iguodala (17:42) - Peter Gregory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Silicon_Valley_characters#Peter_Gregory (22:10) - CSS: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS (24:36) - Should everyone get into tech? (25:24) - KPMG: https://home.kpmg/xx/en/home.html (26:25) - Software is eating the world: https://a16z.com/2011/08/20/why-software-is-eating-the-world (28:27) - SpinLaunch: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpinLaunch (32:25) - Sand mining mafia: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/inside-india-sand-mining-mafia (35:14) - More reading for non-technical roles: https://medium.com/23codestreet/tech-career-guide-non-technical-roles-in-tech-c036475ec147 (37:03) - Horrible Bosses on Twitter: https://twitter.com/search?q=%23horriblebosses&src=typeahead_click (48:07) - Red Pill Blue Pill: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_pill_and_blue_pill Subscribe to our newsletter: tinyletter.com/insidethetechos
Douglas Kendyson is a software engineer with a lot of experience in the fintech & payments space. He has worked for the top YCombinator backed payment startups in Africa (Flutterwave & Paystack), as well as a Robo-advisory firm in the UAE (Sarwa) and Dapi, building the payment infrastructure for the Middle East. Douglas is also the Founder and CEO of Selar, an eCommerce tool creatives & entrepreneurs use to sell their content, products and services across borders without any hassle. Selar has over 15,000 registered users today. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/founders-connect/message
Paystack is a technology company solving payments problems for ambitious businesses. Their mission is to help businesses in Africa become profitable, envied, and loved. Stripe (an American financial service and software as a service company headquartered in San Francisco) acquired Paystack for a rumoured amount of about $200M. In this episode of #FoundersConnect, I sat down with the CTO of Paystack, Ezra Olubi. He shared how Paystack started, why he said Yes to the idea, how Paystack raised money and eventually got acquired; his biggest life lessons and favourite failures and even talked about his personal style. Watch, share and comment. Check out Paystack - https://paystack.com/ Connect with Ezra on Twitter - https://twitter.com/0x --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/founders-connect/message
In this episode, Untapped Global Founder Jim Chu hosts Melvyn Lubega (CEO OF South Africa's First Unicorn, Go1), Toyin Bajomo (CEO of rising Nigerian eCommerce company BabyBliss), and Falgu Shah ( BizOps and Expansion at Paystack), breaking down the criteria for long term expansion plan across the continent. Jim and the panel discuss how the startups navigate challenges like local competition, bridge developing and developing markets, and benchmark from ecosystems with similar challenges, users, or infrastructure.
In this episode of Invest In The Future, our co-founder Olabinjo Adeniran talks to Maya Horgan-Famodu the Founder & MD of Ingressive Capital - a $10 Million Fund 1 and $50 Million Fund 2 for early-stage African startups. Maya shares her story of trying to raise a fund in 2014 and being unable to do so but going ahead to set up Ingressive Advisory to help venture funds find and back African startups. Some money from the advisory business was used to invest in companies like Paystack and Tizeti. By 2016, Ingressive Capital was born and began to invest in more startups. Maya shares Ingressive's philosophy for the African tech startup scene as well as what they consider red flags when founders pitch them. Invest In The Future is a live fireside chat series by Future Africa to learn from prolific angel investors who have invested in and built some of the world's most impactful technology companies. Future Africa connects investors to mission-driven startups looking to turn Africa's most difficult challenges into global business opportunities. Learn more about Future Africa at www.future.africa The content of this podcast is not to be regarded as investment advice.
On this episode Laolu, Furo, and Nosa discuss Buycoins' new app, the SEC Sub Broker Licence, Abeg becoming the Headline Sponsor for the Big Brother Naija show, and Paystack in South Africa.—Follow us @OpenAfricaPod on Twitter and Instagram and tag us in your conversations! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Enfin de retour de vacances, Aissata & Laurence remettent leurs casquettes d'intellos du quartier pour partager leurs réflexions sur des acteurs clés dans l'industrie de la fintech et du e-commerce africain, Paystack et Flutterwave (5:45). Vos pilotes discutent également des biens mal-acquis par Sonia Rolland de l'ex-president gabonais, Omar Bongo (19:24). Le vol se poursuit avec plusieurs divers dont la nomination de Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala et de Makhtar Diop à l'OMC et la SFI respectivement (29:05), la victoire de Burna Boy et Wizkid aux Grammy Awards (31:25) et de la présence grandissante de Netflix et Spotify en Afrique francophone (39:05). Comme d'habitude, l'avion atterrit en douceur avec des coups de coeur musicaux: Mon roi par Youssoupha et Sal vle par Kelly Krow (45:01).
Visit: https://thesoundofaccra.com/lily-edinam-botsyoe/Lily is the founder of the Pointers in 10 Podcast. More impressively, works currently as the community engagement manager and board member for the Hacklab Foundation. She also sits on the board of the Internet Society's Youth Special Interest Group and chairs the committee for women and youth of the Internet Society Ghana Chapter. As an aspiring Tech Policy Analyst, she speaks widely on issues related to the internet with particular interest in Women and Youth Inclusion, Accessibility, and Cybersecurity. She also coordinates the Ghana Youth Internet Governance Forum and a member of the steering committee for the West African Youth Internet Governance Forum.Lily was also recently featured in the Mozilla Internet Health Report 2020IN THIS EPISODE WE COVER The buzzing Tech Scene in Ghana and why its on the rise The thriving tech communities Lily is an active member of in GhanaThe level of tech talent in Ghana and West Africa What is needed to push Tech in Ghana to the next levelCONNECT WITH LILYInstagramTwitterLinkedinSupport the show (https://www.paypal.me/gofundad)
On this episode Laolu, Furo, and Nosa discuss some significant fundraising efforts that have happened in H2 2020; Kudabank's $10 million raise, Paystack's $200 million acquisition, Credpal's $1.5 million raise, Autocheck's $3.4 million raise, and Chipper Cash's $30 million raise. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
On October 15, 2020, Paystack and Stripe announced the acquisition of the former by the latter, in a deal reported to be worth over $200 million. This marks Stripe's largest acquisition to date and is an incredibly meaningful exit for the African tech ecosystem. To unpack the deal, we spoke to Shola Akinlade, Paystack's Co-founder and CEO, and Matt Henderson, Stripe's Business Lead for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. 3:43 - We start our story of the Stripe acquisition of Paystack in the Winter of 2016. Paystack becomes the first Nigerian startup to participate in Y Combinator, where Shola is introduced to Stripe Co-founder and CEO Patrick Collison. Stripe leads Paystack's Series A. 6:02 - As both companies - and their relationship with each other - grew, the idea of an acquisition arose naturally.8:10 - Why is Stripe interested in Paystack, and Africa as a region?10:38 - What does the future for Paystack look like now that it has joined Stripe?13:40 - We explore the growth opportunity for Paystack's merchants, as it expands its geographic coverage.15:55 - On Paystack's customer intimacy and product roadmap. 19:44 - As always, a reflective conversation between Justin Norman and Sayo Folawiyo on this episode's topic.For more episodes, visit us at https://theflip.africa or follow us on twitter @theflipafrica.
我們之前在 EP32 介紹目前估值 360 億美元的金融科技獨角獸 Stripe，今天延續上一集來聊聊 Stripe 最近的併購新聞和 Stripe 的公司文化。 首先談到 Stripe 在今年十月中宣布以兩億美金併購 Paystack。這間新創公司號稱非洲的 Stripe，2015 年成立於非洲奈及利亞，是第一個加入矽谷知名頂級加速器 Y Combinator 的奈及利亞公司，而 Paystack 與 Stripe 的緣分也有一段歷史，早在 2018 年 Paystack 進行Ａ輪融資時 Stripe 就領投了 8 百萬美金。Paystack 目前有 6 萬個客戶，員工 114 個人，來自 12 個不同的國家，相當國際化，在被併購以後仍會繼續維持獨立運作。併購 Paystack 再次顯示了矽谷的科技公司對非洲市場的看重，早早佈局，另外也再度看到了 Stripe 成為下一個科技巨頭的潛力。 Stripe 能有目前的成功，很大一部份要歸功於 Stripe 的 全球支付和庫存網路 ( Global Payments and Treasury Network，簡稱 GPTN)，這是 Stripe 的核心，讓全球的金流移動看起來很簡單。GPTN有三個主要功能：1. 接受支付 2. 管理以及儲藏 3. 付款。GPTN 讓Stripe 目前可以支援 42 個國家的商家接收來自 195+ 個國家的顧客付款，也支援 135 種以上的貨幣，據統計，每年有八成以上的美國人使用過 Stripe 的服務。Stripe 盡量透明開誠佈公的文化，也可以從他們對外公布的公司原則一窺其樣貌。唯一美中不足的是 Stripe 就在最近改變了給新進員工的股票計算方式，讓我們不得不感嘆：加入 Stripe 發大財的最好時機已經過了！我們也順便說明了矽谷科技公司發放員工股票的方式，趕快來一起來聽吧！ #Stripe #Paystack #Africa # GPTN #Square #Paypal #Payment #API #Unicorn #支付 #獨角獸 #JustKiddingTech #矽谷輕鬆談
In this episode, we explore and unpack the relationship between the tech ecosystem and the media. We'll seek answers to questions such as - what roles do media publications play in the ecosystem? How does this differ between international and local publications? What are the key considerations for the media in doing this work, particularly from a talent and business model perspective? What about companies creating their own content - what is their motivation and what can be learned? And, why is there seemingly a contentious relationship between African tech and the media?2:27 - We talk public relations utility and strategy, with Wimbart's Jessica Hope. 6:47 - What role does international tech media play in the ecosystem? We hear from TechCrunch contributing writer Jake Bright.12:05 - A discussion with Tomiwa Aladekomo, of Big Cabal Media, the parent company to TechCabal, on the publications' objectives and challenges. 17:03 - We explore how one publication, Stears Business, is tackling information scarcity, talent, and business model challenges in Nigeria, with Preston Ideh.23:05 - We speak with Paystack's Emmanuel Quartey on the company's editorial approach and hiring content to solve a problem. 28:23 - Is there a contentious relationship between African tech and the media? Are those in the ecosystem playing their part in sharing with requisite openness and transparency? 30:41 - A retrospective conversation between Sayo Folawiyo, Justin Norman, and this episode's co-producer Osarumen Osamuyi, on the environmental challenges of building sustainable media businesses and meeting the expectations of the tech ecosystem.
Mohamed El Sherief episode.Zero To One Book by Peter ThielSubject Airbnb Essay By Paul Graham.The Story of Souq.com: How to Build the Largest E-commerce Platform.The early signs of Careem Mafia.Building a High-Growth Startup in an Emerging Market with Shola Akinlade of Paystack. Picks:Luay: Triumph Of the Nerds.Alfy: https://increment.com/Mostafa: Invest Like The Best. دروس في بناء فريق العمل وبداية لينك دوت نت – حوار مع خالد بشارة
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