Afrobility: Africa Tech and Business

African Banking & Neobank context 

PiggyVest’s early history

Product & monetization strategy

Competitive positioning & potential exit options

Overall outlook

(00:30) - Introduction

(05:50) - African Banking & Neobank context

(30:16) - PiggyVest's Founding Story

(41:15) - Fundraising and Growth

(53:30) - 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

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

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 

Telecom tower infrastructure context 

IHS Towers' early history

Product & monetization strategy

Competitive positioning & potential exit options

Overall outlook

(01:50) - What IHS does and why we’re talking about it

(04:37) - How Towers work

(12:47) - How Telcos work with Towers in Nigeria and parts of Africa

(23:22) - IHS Founding and Early History

(34:19) - Funding

(39:32) - Growth and International Expansion

(47:26) - IHS IPO and trends post IPO

(55:50) - Product Strategy & Monetization

(1:08:30) - Competition

(1:16:22) - Bankole’s overall thoughts and outlook

(1:24:06) - Olumide’s overall thoughts and outlook

(1:30:24) - Recommendations and small wins

Interested in investing in Africa Tech with Olumide: Read about Adamantium fund & contact me at [email protected]. Founders looking for funding: If you're a B2B founder working on Education, Health, Finance or food, please contact me for funding at [email protected]

Checkout my FIREDOM book = FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) + Freedom = personal finance and financial independence book. Website, Read: Substack Newsletter & Buy: Print, eBook or Audiobook)

Recommendation: Incredible Dance routine video to Sisa Song by King Promise: I love it so much I'm not sure how to put it into words. 1 minute of greatness

Recommendation: Chris Brown “Sensational” live performance : Watching Chris Brown dance is watching a master of his craft.

Recommendation: J. Cole - Let Nas Down

Recommendation: Nas - Make Nas Proud

Recommendation: Nas & Eminem - EPMD 2

Recommendation: Nas - Rare

Small win: Went back to reading older books to reset my reading palate

Recommendation: The Search for the Perfect Door - YouTube && Unusual Electric Car Features in Nigeria - Bloomberg

Small win: Running sprints 

Other content: Palito FM Autoscan Radio

First, Nigerian payments context 

Second, eTranzact's early history

Third, Product & monetization strategy

Fourth, Competitive positioning 

Fifth, Overall outlook

(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

Interested in investing in Africa Tech with Olumide: Read about Adamantium fund & contact me at [email protected]. Founders looking for funding: If you're a B2B founder working on Education, Health, Finance or food, please contact me for funding at [email protected]

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.

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 

African mobility and transportation context

Moove's launch & early history

Product & monetization strategy

Competitive positioning & potential exit options

Our overall outlook.

(01:20) - What Moove does and why we’re talking about it

(06:57) - Context of mobility and public transportation in Nigeria

(21:50) - Founders’ background

(27:50) - Moove founding and early history

(32:16) - Fundraising

(43:20) - Growth and Geographical Expansion

(48:15) - Partnerships

(1:07:26) - Product and Monetization Strategy

(1:28:44) - Metrics

(1:33:50) - Competition and options for exit

(1:53:10) - Olumide’s overall thoughts and outlook

(2:09:07) - Bankole’s overall thoughts and outlook

(2:26:12) - Recommendations and small wins

Interested in investing in Africa Tech with Olumide: Read about Adamantium fund & contact me at [email protected]. Founders looking for funding: If you're a B2B founder working on Education, Health, Finance or food, please contact me for funding at [email protected]

Checkout my FIREDOM book = FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) + Freedom = personal finance and financial independence book. Website, Read: Substack Newsletter & Buy: Print, eBook or Audiobook)

Recommendation: The Gap and The Gain (by Benjamin Hardy & Dan Sullivan: Book about mindset and approach to life, measuring success, fulfilment and happiness.

Recommendation: Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life (Arnold Schwarzenegger): Great book by the legend about principles to approach life to get what you want. At this point, I've read all his books and can recommend them all. Arnold records the audiobook end-to-end by himself so be ready for awesomeness

Small win: Completely revamped by Body Skincare after getting deep into research about this

Recommendation: Money Maze Podcast - Interview with the CEO of De Beers && We are different from all other humans in history && The Reality of the Danish Fairytale 

Small win: Successful visa application to South Africa

Other content: Nigeria’s Secured Lending Opportunity - bankole.org 

African Agriculture context

AFEX's launch & early history

Product & monetization strategy

Competitive positioning & potential exit options

Overall outlook.

(01:10) - What Afex is and why we’re talking about it

(08:36) - Context of agriculture in Africa

(21:49) - AFEX Founding story

(33:28) - Fundraising

(39:56) - Growth, geographical expansion and partnerships

(49:42) - Product strategy, monetization and growth

(59:14) - Cost structure, revenue and margins

(1:10:00) - Business and user metrics

(1:13:14) - Competition and options for exit

(1:21:02) - Bankole’s overall thoughts and outlook

(1:34:25) - Olumide’s overall thoughts and outlook

(1:47:45) - Recommendations and small wins

Interested in investing in Africa Tech with Olumide: Read about Adamantium fund & contact me at [email protected]. Founders looking for funding: If you're a B2B founder working on Education, Health, Finance or food, please contact me for funding at [email protected]

Checkout my FIREDOM book = FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) + Freedom = personal finance and financial independence book. Website, Read: Substack Newsletter & Buy: Print, eBook or Audiobook)

Recommendation: I went back and re-read some of my classic books: How I found freedom in an Unfree world (Harry Browne), Don't Sweat the Small Stuff and It's All Small Stuff (Richard Carlson) & A Guide to the Good Life - The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy (William B. Irvine)

Small win: Hiking with new friends in St Thomas. Cool

Recommendation: FiveBooks.Com - FiveBooks.com shares lists of the best five books on many topics, chosen by experts in that area

Recommendation: Jeff Bezos on Lex Fridman Podcast. A rare Jeff Bezos long form interview. 

Small win: Running while listening to Big 7 - Burna Boy

Fact check: Tony Elumelu narrates How He Went from Second Class Lower Degree to Nigeria's Billionaire

Other content: FT ranking: Africa's Fastest Growing Companies 2023 & AFEX Nigeria loses maize worth N85m to 'police raid' 

African & Nigerian SME context

Nomba's early history 

Product & monetization strategy

Competitive positioning & potential exit options

Our overall outlook.

(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 

Interested in investing in Africa Tech with Olumide: Read about Adamantium fund & contact me at [email protected]. Founders looking for funding: If you're a B2B founder working on Education, Health, Finance or food, please contact me for funding at [email protected]

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: 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.

Recommendation: 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

Recommendation: Constellation Software on Business Breakdowns

Small win: Running in Paris and Ray-Ban Meta glasses

African & Nigerian banking context

TymeBank's launch, early history, growth & fundraising

Product & monetization strategy

Competitive positioning & potential exit options

Overall outlook.

(00:30) - TymeBank context

(08:15) - Context of African Banking 

(24:20) - TymeBank founding story

(52:20) - Fundraising

(55:01) - Growth and geographical expansion

(1:20:03) - Product & Monetization  Strategy

(1:50:08) - Competition and options for Exit

(2:00:33) - Bankole’s  overall thoughts and outlook

(2:10:38) - Olumide’s overall thoughts and outlook

(2:15:00) - Recommendations and small wins

Interested in investing in Africa Tech with Olumide: Read about Adamantium fund & contact me at [email protected]. Founders looking for funding: If you're a B2B founder working on Education, Health, Finance or food, please contact me for funding at [email protected]

Checkout my FIREDOM book = FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) + Freedom = personal finance and financial independence book. Website, Read: Substack Newsletter & Buy: Print, eBook or Audiobook)

Recommendation: AI 2041: Ten Visions for Our Future (Kai-Fu Lee): Great book about the potential of AI told across 10 stories

Recommendation: Dangote (song by Burna Boy). Incredible song

Recommendation: Good Bad Boy (song by Lil Kesh). Catchy and smooth chorus. With a deeper meaning about searching for companionship 

Small win: I was in NYC book launch for FIREDOM Book launch. Dope.

Recommendation: Plunder by Brendan Ballou - A book on the excesses of Private Equity. PE is an example of well-intentioned policy having (unintentional?) downstream impact.

Recommendation:  Business Breakdown Podcast on Mobile Gaming: The uneven distribution of paying customers in mobile gaming reminds me of emerging market telco companies

Small win: Quest 3 Headset! VR is coming along nicely.

Other content:  TymeBank Holdings 2022 Financial Statement & Substack on the history of Tyme Global

African lending & consumer credit

Carbon's founding & early history

Product & monetization strategy

Competitive positioning & potential exit options

Overall outlook

(00:48) - Carbon context

(08:15) - Consumer lending in Africa and Neobanks 

(15:32) - Background on African banking and Neobanks

(32:02) - Founding story of Carbon & Founders’ background

(54:04) - Fundraising 

(1:01:15) - Growth and Geographical Expansion

(1:08:03) - Acquisitions and investments

(1:15:54) - Team and organisation

(1:19:35) - Key metrics

(1:40:46) - Product strategy and monetization

(2:00:08) - Competition and options for exit

(2:10:33 - Olumide’s overall thoughts and outlook

(2:20:38) - Bankole’s overall thoughts and outlook

(2:30:15) - Recommendation and small wins

Interested in investing in Africa Tech with Olumide: Read about Adamantium fund & contact me at [email protected]. Founders looking for funding: If you're a B2B founder working on Education, Health, Finance or food, please contact me for funding at [email protected]

Checkout my FIREDOM book = FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) + Freedom = personal finance and financial independence book. Website, Read: Substack Newsletter & Buy: Print, eBook or Audiobook)

Recommendation: Lil Kesh - Shoki Remix. Song is beyond nice. I probably understand 15% of it. Lil Kesh was 19 years old when the song was released. The power of young people to Incredible things. Wow!

Recommendation: Lil Kesh - Don't Call Me (feat. Zinoleesky) [Lyrics Visualiser]. 

Recommendation: Ruger - Ruger. The song literally starts with “Man, I spit fire…”. How can I not love it?

Small win: Switched to Instacart (from Amazon Fresh) for groceries. Not going back

Recommendation: Fair Isaac Company on Business Breakdowns, MTN on Business Breakdowns

Small win: New phone

Other content: Building Magic - The Cafe Neo story & Chipper Cash AI Day

African lending & consumer credit

FairMoney's founding & early history

Product & monetization strategy

Competitive positioning & potential exit options

Overall outlook

(03:01) - Intro

(07:19) - African consumer lending & neobank context 

(18:35) - Neobanking context and background

(20:00) - FairMoney founding story and Founders’ background

(39:40) - Fundraising

(45:46) - Geographical expansion

(49:05) - Partnerships

(50:16) - Acquisitions

(55:42) - Team & Location strategy

(58:03) - User metrics and traction

(1:04:27) - Product and monetization strategy

(1:24:04) - Competition and options for exit

(1:35:44) - Bankole’s overall thoughts and outlook

(1:47:30) - Olumide’s overall thoughts and outlook

(1:55:17) - Recommendations and small wins

Interested in investing in Africa Tech with Olumide: Read about Adamantium fund & contact me at [email protected]. Founders looking for funding: If you're a B2B founder working on Education, Health, Finance or food, please contact me for funding at [email protected]

Checkout my FIREDOM book = FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) + Freedom = personal finance and financial independence book. Website, Read: Substack Newsletter & Buy: Print, eBook or Audiobook)

Recommendation 1: Arnold Schwarzenegger book 1: The Education of a Bodybuilder  

Recommendation 2: Arnold Schwarzenegger book 2: Total Recall - My Unbelievably True Life Story

Recommendation 4: Finnaus YT channel tells stories about financial companies and investors. Awesome. I watched the history of JP Morgan, Howard Marks, Jamie Dimon, Goldman Sachs, Fidelity, Vanguard and on and on. I must have spent over 10 hours in the past week on it

Small win: Hanging out in Rio de Janeiro. It was fun!

Recommendation: Zealot by Reza Aslan, Remember Me - Fireboy (FAEM remix) & Lonely At The Top - Asake (FAEM Remix)

Small win: Exercising after recovering from an injury

Other content: Laurin Hainy on TechPoint Africa, We Rich People Will Not Tell You How We Make Our Money - IG Reel, Moneylender licensing in Nigeria , Examples of spurious correlations & Titan: A Golden Case in Indian Retail

African lending & consumer credit

Branch's founding early history

Product & monetization strategy

Competitive positioning & potential exit options

Overall outlook

(01:00) - What Branch is and why we’re talking about it

(07:40) - Africa consumer credit context and background

(19:17) - Branch International founding

(23:31) - Founders’ background

(39:12) - Fundraising and Growth

(51:40) - Geographical expansion 

(1:02:01) - Acquisitions and Team overview

(01:15:14) - Product strategy

(1:33:20) - Monetization strategy and Costs

(1:41:58) - Competition and options for exit

(1:57:08) - Bankole’s overall thoughts 

(2:10:59) - Olumide’s overall thoughts

(2:30:20) - Recommendations and small wins

Interested in investing in Africa Tech with Olumide: Read about Adamantium fund & contact me at [email protected]. Founders looking for funding: If you're a B2B founder working on Education, Health, Finance or food, please contact me for funding at [email protected]

Checkout my FIREDOM book = FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) + Freedom = personal finance and financial independence book. Website, Read: Substack Newsletter & Buy: Print, eBook or Audiobook)

Recommendation: Eminem - Rap God (OMFG I’m 12 years late, my mind exploded. WOW!)

Recommendation: Can’t Hurt Me (David Goggins). Incredible book about challenges David went to from parental abuse, racism to make something of himself. I went through waves of intense emotions while reading the book. At some points, I was crying in pain with David and other times I was in pure shock about what I was listening to.

Small win: Hosted FIREDOM book launch event in London. Amazing conversations about life, managing money and growth. Dope shit.

Recommendation: American Prometheus by Kai Bird, A/B Testing with Fat Tails & Remember Me - Fireboy DML

Small win: Chin-chin from a recent trip to Lagos

Other content: Mobile overdraft facility Fuliza outshines Silicon Valley-backed lending apps in Kenya- TechCrunch & Inside Branch’s 20 percent interest investment push to beat Nigerian bank offerings - TechCabal