This special live podcast session was recorded at Ventures Park, Lagos, during Ventures Platform’s in-person mixer for portfolio founders on July 27, 2024
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My guest today is Deepankar Rustagi, a seasoned tech entrepreneur and one of the sharpest minds in Nigeria’s B2B commerce space. I’ve known Deepankar for over seven years, going back to his days at Vconnect. He was one of the very first guests on this podcast in 2017, where we discussed his journey - how he started, what led to the company he was building at the time, and the broader lessons from founders navigating Nigeria’s startup landscape.

Fast-forward to July 2024, I reconnected with him - this time, to dive into profitability and the evolution of his latest venture, OmniRetail - an asset-light B2B e-commerce platform redefining trade for retailers and suppliers across Africa.

Later that month, my team decided to bring one of our podcast episodes to life at our mid-year in-person portfolio event - a live session designed for founders to not just listen, but actively engage, ask questions, and leave with real, applicable insights. Naturally, Deepankar was the perfect guest to expand on our earlier conversation—delving deeper into his business model, the realities of scaling profitably, hiring top talent, and making tough strategic decisions as a founder.

What does it really take to build a million-dollar business in Africa’s fast-moving tech ecosystem?

In this VP Special Live Podcast, I sit down with Deepankar to unpack it all. Our conversation covers:

• Navigating Asset-Light vs. Asset-Heavy Models: The conversation unpacks the trade-offs between the two models, emphasizing why OmniRetail's asset-light approach - focused on data ownership and ecosystem partnerships - has been key to its success.
• The Role of Timing & Infrastructure in Business Viability: Highlighting the importance of aligning business strategy with market maturity, available infrastructure, and shifting consumer behaviors.
• Data-Driven Profitability at Scale: Discussing how OmniRetail’s meticulous approach to data ensures unit economics remain positive, enabling the company to scale profitably rather than chase top-line growth at unsustainable costs.
• The Power of Strategic Partnerships & Vertical Integration: How collaborating with key players - rather than trying to own everything - creates efficiency, enhances profitability, and drives long-term competitive advantage.
• Culture & Team as Key Assets in an Asset-Light Model: A compelling story on talent retention, hiring strategically, and why company culture plays a critical role in building a resilient and high-performing team.
• Managing Board Relationships Effectively: Reflecting on lessons learned in working with a board, emphasizing the importance of leveraging board members’ expertise while maintaining strategic autonomy.

If you are a founder, investor, or just fascinated by Africa’s startup landscape, this is one conversation you can’t afford to miss.

Enjoy listening!

This season of Building the Future was made possible by Moniepoint

My guest today is Dare Okoudjou, Founder & CEO of Onafriq (formerly known as MFS Africa). Dare has built a long-running startup success streak on the continent, having started the business over a decade ago to become a multimillion dollar revenue company today. 

Onafriq is building a “network of networks” to enable payments interoperability across the continent. After finding product-market fit, the company went through rapid expansion, completing four startup acquisitions in a two-year period (2020 - 22): Beyonic, Baxi, SimbaPay, & GTP (US), and increasing its headcount from 65 people to over 500. 

In this episode, we explored:

• The philosophy behind Onafriq’s M&A, including post-merger integration (people, technology, & operations), how to manage growth, and long-term value creation
• Dare’s vision for Onafriq’s payment network, highlighting why interoperability is important, and the integration of online and offline components to align with purchasing behavior on the continent
• His growth as a leader, and how management and communication styles must evolve as a company grows
• Insights on successfully raising capital in the African ecosystem, including the role of timing, rhythm, and relationships in fundraising and business (“Fundraising can never be a stop-start project”) 

Book Recommendations: Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver and  La Ambigu (English translation: The Ambiguous Adventure) by Cheikh Hamidou Kane

Bonus: Africa’s S-Curves by Stephen Deng. Link

Quote:  “…you also have to remember that the game is dynamic and what the picture looks like today may not be what the picture looks like in two years, and not the picture looks like in five years.”

Transcript

I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did.

CREDITS

Host: Dr. Dotun Olowoporoku
Produced by: The Subtext
Editing: Osarumen Osamuyi, Chinedu Anatune
Show Notes: Grace Obaloluwa
Design: Jonathan Nwachukwu
Voice Overs & Project Coordination: Damilola Teidi
Season Intro Video: Chukwuka Ezeiruaku

This season of Building the Future was made possible by Moniepoint

My guest today is Uka Eje, the co-founder and CEO of ThriveAgric. I've known Uka since 2017, when he and his co-founder, Ayo, received their first institutional investment from Ventures Platform. 

ThriveAgric empowers nearly one million smallholder farmers on the continent with technology, credit, and access-to-market. The company started as an idea between two classmates, and their journey so far has involved overcoming operational and financial hurdles, surviving a near collapse during the COVID-19 pandemic, pivoting, and maturing into one of the most impactful businesses in Africa. 

This year, ThriveAgric was recognized by the Financial Times as one of Africa’s fastest-growing companies, with partnerships with major offtakers like Flour Mills of Nigeria, Dangote Foods, and Nestle.

In this episode, we discussed:.

• The uniqueness and importance of ThriveAgric’s business model, including how they enable capital and market access for smallholder farmers, organizing them into efficient production clusters, resulting in significant yield increases.
• The challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, including logistical disruptions, and how ThriveAgric fortified its risk management and operational capabilities. 
• The pivotal decision to bring in a more experienced CEO, Adia Sowho, to help rebuild stakeholder trust, stabilize operations, and refocus efforts towards the company’s long-term growth.
• Uka’s growth as a leader through the different phases of the company’s journey. 

I am grateful to Uka for having an honest conversation with me. I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did.

Book Recommendation: The Hard Thing about Hard Things by Ben Horowitz 

Quote: “Quite a number of people asked me why stepping down was the solution for Thrive Agric. My response was pretty simple, although the process was not easy for me emotionally, considering we built this business, myself and my co-founder, right?

But we had to ask ourselves a question: ‘what is most important to us, that this business survives and it continues to be a scalable business, or the idea that it’s on record that there was a step down?’ [...] We also had to think about the future of the business. We wanted to build something for the long haul. [...] people need to trust you enough to do business with you”

CREDITS

Host: Dr. Dotun Olowoporoku
Produced by: The Subtext
Editing: Osarumen Osamuyi, Chinedu Anatune
Show Notes: Grace Obaloluwa
Design: Jonathan Nwachukwu
Voice Overs & Project Coordination: Damilola Teidi
Season Intro Video: Chukwuka Ezeiruaku

This season of Building the Future was made possible by Moniepoint

My guest today is Deepankar Rustagi, a seasoned tech entrepreneur in Nigeria. I've known Deepankar for over 7 years, dating back to his days at Vconnect. He was one of the first entrepreneurs featured on this podcast—check out episode 8 to hear about his journey from Nigeria to India and back, where he initially worked for Tolaram Group before founding Vconnect.

In this episode, we continue Deepankar's story, focusing on his next venture, OmniRetail, an asset-light B2B e-commerce platform. OmniRetail has been recognized by the Financial Times as the fastest-growing company in Africa, with annual revenue exceeding $100 million. As a board member, I’ve seen Deepankar's thoughtful leadership and execution firsthand.

Our discussion covers:

• How OmniRetail uses decentralized warehouses and partnerships with third-party logistics providers to boost efficiency and scalability, sticking to their asset-light approach.
• OmniRetail's focus on profitability from day one, following traditional trade practices to achieve sustainable growth with strong gross margins, ensuring long-term success and customer loyalty.
• The importance of unit economics: distinguishing transaction-level profitability from overall profitability, stressing the need for profitability at the unit level right from the start.
•  The impact of digitizing transactions through OmniPay to streamline payments and improve reconciliation, and the broader role of fintech in boosting profit margins.
• The inevitability and benefits of consolidation: discussing how combining specialized firms like FinTech and logistics experts enhances value and profitability.
• The impact of currency devaluation on servicing dollar loans, which can potentially shut down businesses and strategies for converting dollar debt into local currency debt to ensure business stability.

        Quote: “...don't fantasize about your product in a boardroom. Go out there and see expressions and responses from real stakeholders on what they feel about the product or what they feel about the technology. They might not understand every bit of it, but if they understand the value that you're trying to offer, if they are willing to change their behavior a little to accept that value, then you're working in the right direction.”

Educational Recommendation: Business Insider, Entrepreneur.com

Transcript

CREDITS

Host: Dr. Dotun Olowoporoku
Produced by: The Subtext
Editing: Osarumen Osamuyi, Chinedu Anatune
Show Notes: Grace Obaloluwa
Design: Jonathan Nwachukwu
Voice Overs & Project Coordination: Damilola Teidi
Season Intro Video: Chukwuka Ezeiruaku

This season of Building the Future was made possible by Moniepoint

My guest today is Elo Umeh, founder and CEO of Terragon Group, a leading data and marketing cloud company in Africa. I've known Elo personally for some time; his leadership at Terragon has been transformative.

Founded in 2009, Terragon initially focused on mobile websites and launched Twinpine, a mobile ad network, in 2012. Under Elo's guidance, Terragon now offers marketing automation, customer data platforms, and enterprise insights, impacting over 350 million profiles in Africa. They acquired Alcatel Lucent Mobile Advertising across 16 markets, integrating 60 million customer profiles, and also acquired their long term technical partner, BiZense (India).

In this episode we discuss: 

• The significance of achieving substantial enterprise value (EV) relative to the capital raised, aiming for a 10x return to ensure strong, scalable businesses and meaningful returns for investors.
• The unique challenges and opportunities in the African market, emphasizing the need for patient capital, understanding local value chains, and building strong relationships to navigate infrastructure and liquidity issues.
• The crucial role of leadership and investor responsibility in fostering sustainable businesses, advocating for realistic EV expectations and a focus on long-term value creation and responsible business practices.
• The importance of staying passionate about your venture, maintaining humility, and focusing on customers to drive long-term success and adaptability in the business world.
• The differences between creating a product and building a company, stressing the need for embedding the founder's vision, culture, and governance structures to ensure long-term growth and stakeholder engagement.

Elo also serves as an Executive in Residence at the Lagos Business School, shaping business leadership in Africa. Join me as we explore Elo Umeh's journey and insights in driving digital innovation on the continent.

Book Recommendations: 

• When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi 
• Better, Simpler Strategy: A Value-Based Guide to Exceptional Performance by Felix Oberholzer-Gee
• Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth

Quote: A company is not yet a company if it doesn't deliver a platform for sustained wealth creation.
Transcript 

CREDITS

Host: Dr. Dotun Olowoporoku
Produced by: The Subtext
Editing: Osarumen Osamuyi, Chinedu Anatune
Show Notes: Grace Obaloluwa
Design: Jonathan Nwachukwu
Voice Overs & Project Coordination: Damilola Teidi
Season Intro Video: Chukwuka Ezeiruaku

This season of Building the Future was made possible by Moniepoint

My guest today is Daniel Yu, founder and CEO of Wasoko, a B2B e-commerce platform serving over 220,000 informal retailers across the continent. The first time I saw Daniel, he was playing the keyboard as part of a live band in Nairobi. Since then, we've met at more serious events where we've shared banter about pan-African expansion philosophies for startups on the continent. Daniel is a true global citizen, having worked in or traveled to 70+ countries, and speaks Mandarin, Swahili, Portuguese, Spanish, Arabic, Cantonese, and French. 

Wasoko raised a $125M Series B in 2022 and opened a new regional hub in West Africa. In December 2023, they announced a merger with Egyptian B2B e-commerce company, MaxAB.

In this episode, we discussed:

• Daniel’s learnings from the M&A process, including the importance of trust and alignment for mergers and acquisitions, as well as the intentionality required to successfully combine company cultures.
• Key hypotheses in FMCG value chain innovation, including Wasoko’s approach to customer prioritization, vertical integration, and gross margin optimization in a highly competitive market.
• Frameworks for prioritizing markets for expansion, identifying regional differences, and lessons from Wasoko’s first attempt to build a new regional hub in Francophone West Africa.
• The key leadership skill of ‘listening’, which he applied from his experience as a member of a performing band

Transcript

Recommended Book: Infectious Generosity: The Ultimate Idea Worth Spreading by Chris Anderson

Quote: “I think that the startup stereotype, at least if you're coming from a California Silicon Valley background [...] is much more, ‘okay let me do this thing for maybe three or four years. And then, Google or Facebook will acquire the company and I'll start the next company or go on to something else.’ And I think what has become apparent to me, and the advice that I give to all founders considering building in the African ecosystem is, ‘are you ready to do this for a decade?’”

CREDITS

Host: Dr. Dotun Olowoporoku
Produced by: The Subtext
Editing: Osarumen Osamuyi, Chinedu Anatune
Show Notes: Grace Obaloluwa
Design: Jonathan Nwachukwu
Voice Overs & Project Coordination: Damilola Teidi
Season Intro Video: Chukwuka Ezeiruaku

This season of Building the Future was made possible by Moniepoint

My guest today is Bode Abifarin, one of the leading startup operators I know on the continent.

I first met Bode in 2017 when she had just joined Flutterwave, where she served as Chief Operating Officer. I've been continually impressed by Bode’s unique ability to blend operational dexterity with high level strategic thinking. Bode has a background in consulting for KPMG and worked closely with banks in Nigeria to develop and articulate their go to market strategies. Flutterwave gave her the opportunity to operationalize many of her PowerPoint presentations in a high growth, high intensity startup environment. Bode joined the company in its early days, and since then, it has become one of the few unicorns on the continent, valued at $3 billion in its most recent fundraising round. This conversation was recorded while she was still the COO.

In this episode, we discuss: 

• The key mental frames and thought process for transitioning from a large corporation to a startup. Including: 1/ the challenges she faced during this transition, 2/ the relationships and other advantages she brought from her corporate experience, as well as, 3/ her learning curve in adapting to the startup environment.
• Efficiency, operations standardization, and the evolution of the COO role as a company scales.
• Key actions to take while penetrating into a new market:, blending experienced personnel with local talent, adapting to cultural and regulatory nuances as well as continuous learning and improving. 
• Her approach to finding, shaping, and mentoring talent as a business leader on the continent.

Book: Imagine Africa

Quote: “Once your strategy, in terms of go-to-market, product, and focus is crisp and clear. Spend time getting that crispiness and the clarity in your own local markets, right? Go deep, go wide, listen to customers, iterate, and be the champion of that market.

CREDITS

Host: Dr. Dotun Olowoporoku
Produced by: The Subtext
Editing: Osarumen Osamuyi, Chinedu Anatune
Show Notes: Grace Obaloluwa
Design: Jonathan Nwachukwu
Voice Overs & Project Coordination: Damilola Teidi
Season Intro Video: Chukwuka Ezeiruaku

This season of Building the Future was made possible by Moniepoint

My guest today is Mark Straub, founder & CEO of Smile ID. 

Smile ID is building identity verification infrastructure for businesses in Africa.

Mark and I were connected by a mutual friend, but I’ve always been fascinated by his transition from being a venture investor to becoming a startup founder — especially considering that I made the transition in the other direction.

With Smile ID, Mark is building an important layer of trust for digital transactions across the continent. The company raised a $20M Series B and completed 100 million identity checks in 2023. Mark’s thoughtfulness, deep sector expertise and capacity to attract top talents seems to give him an unfair advantage in the space. In this episode, we explore:

• The role of fintech as a driver of economic development, and the role of digital identity as an important building block for fintech innovation.
• The crucial components needed for a successful digital identity system
• The strategic framework behind the company's expansion and how Smile ID has built differentiation in a crowded market
• Mark’s framework for attracting and retaining top talent
• Lessons from his experience as both an investor and entrepreneur

Book Recommendation::

 Leaving the Tarmac: Buying a Bank in Africa by Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, providing an insightful resource for those interested in African business ventures. 

High Growth Handbook by Elad Gil a comprehensive guide for scaling startups, covering critical topics such as hiring, management, product development, and fundraising.

Quote: “Having payment rails is like having a car.You can drive really fast and you can go from one place to another. You can send value from one place to another. Having good ID systems in place is like having a seatbelt and brakes that work. So you can stop the car from driving off the road and destroying everything in it.”

I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did.

Transcript

CREDITS

Host: Dr. Dotun Olowoporoku
Produced by: The Subtext
Editing: Osarumen Osamuyi, Chinedu Anatune
Show Notes: Grace Obaloluwa
Design: Jonathan Nwachukwu
Voice Overs & Project Coordination: Damilola Teidi
Season Intro Video: Chukwuka Ezeiruaku

My guest today is Anu Adedoyin-Adasolum, the co-founder and CEO of Sabi.

Sabi is a B2B e-commerce startup that provides digital infrastructure to Africa's informal economy. In October 2023, they announced reaching $1B annual GMV.

I've always been fascinated by Sabi, especially their ability to bring seemingly disjointed and complex pieces together in a connected business model. In this episode, we discussed:

• The unique challenges and differentiation strategies of operating a B2B e-commerce platform in Africa. Anu emphasizes the importance of understanding market needs and tailoring solutions to address customer needs. We also covered Sabi's approach to building trust, providing logistics, quality services, access to credit, and other resources to businesses. 
• The surprising sophistication of the informal market, including lessons learned from Anu’s past experiences at Jumia and Rensource
• The decision to adopt an asset-light model, and the critical role of detailed data analysis and segmentation for achieving scale. 

We also touched on identifying the right expansion strategies, the complexities of fundraising, and Anu’s approach to cohort analysis.

I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did.

Quote: “No one cares about your app. Literally no one cares about that application. [Merchants are] just trying to make money. Help them make money, or don't.”

Book Recommendation: Emotion by Design: Creative Leadership Lessons from a Life at Nike. By Greg Hoffman

The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company by Bob Iger

CREDITS

This season of Building the Future was made possible by Moniepoint 

Host: Dr. Dotun Olowoporoku
Produced by: The Subtext
Editing: Osarumen Osamuyi, Chinedu Anatune
Show Notes: Grace Obaloluwa
Design: Jonathan Nwachukwu
Voice Overs & Project Coordination: Damilola Teidi
Season Intro Video: Chukwuka Ezeiruaku

Transcript: https://share.transistor.fm/s/0d6e5d28/transcript.txt

My guest today is Shola Akinlade. I met Shola in 2016, while he and his co-founder, Ezra, were at the YC accelerator program. It was the beginning of their Paystack journey, and even then, I was struck by his clarity of thought and radical focus on product development.

Today, Paystack has scaled to seven markets and is responsible for over 40x the value processed online in Nigeria at the time of their founding. Their $200M+ acquisition by Stripe marked a significant milestone for the tech ecosystem in October 2020.

In this episode, which is Shola’s second appearance on BTF, we reflected on:

• Stripe’s acquisition of Paystack, and its impact on Shola, his team, and broader tech ecosystem
• Hiring and managing startup talent at scale, including the necessary changes in management style required at different stages of a startup’s life
• His seven-year benchmark for measuring startup success, and the importance of a long term view in company building

We also discussed the opportunity with “community project” Sporting Lagos FC, and how his experience at Paystack serves as leverage in his new venture of owning a football club. Listen to Episode 11 (Season 1) as context for this one.

Quote: “In the realm of business, prioritizing shared values over personal friendships is paramount when selecting collaborative partners.”

Recommended Books:  

The Away Game: The Epic Search for Soccer’s Next Superstars  by Sebastian Abbot

Radical Candour: How to Get What You Want by Saying What You Mean  by Kim Scott

CREDITS

This season of Building the Future was made possible by Moniepoint

Host: Dr. Dotun Olowoporoku
Produced by: The Subtext
Editing: Osarumen Osamuyi, Chinedu Anatune
Show Notes: Grace Obaloluwa
Design: Jonathan Nwachukwu
Voice Overs & Project Coordination: Damilola Teidi
Season Intro Video: Chukwuka Ezeiruaku