Afrobility: Africa Tech and Business

By: Olumide Ogunsanwo and Bankole Makanju
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  • Summary

  • Stories and analyses of African technology companies
    Olumide Ogunsanwo and Bankole Makanju
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Episodes
  • #78: MNT-Halan - How the lending platform is providing financial services across Egypt and other developing markets

    #78: MNT-Halan - How the lending platform is providing financial services across Egypt and other developing markets
    Dec 23 2024
    Overview: Today, we’re going to talk about MNT-Halan, the Egyptian lending & financial services company. We’ll explore the MNT-Halan story across the following areas African and Egyptian financial sector context MNT-Halan’s early history Product & monetization strategy Competitive positioning & potential exit options Outlook This episode was recorded on Dec 11, 2024 Companies discussed: MNT-Halan, Mashroey, Tasaheel, Halan, Raseedy, Talabeyah, Advans Pakistan, Fawry, Swvl, Gojek, Paymob, & Tam Finans Business concepts discussed: Asset-backed Financing, Microfinance Lending, Super App Strategy, Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL), Digital Wallets and Payment Solutions, B2B E-commerce, Corporate Venture Capital, Incubation, Financial Inclusion, Banking Infrastructure, Payroll Lending, Salary Advances, Agent Banking Networks, Revenue Models in Fintech, International Expansion Conversation highlights: (00:00) - Intro and why we're talking about MNT-Halan (06:46) - Egypt country context (16:17) - The opportunity for African neobanks (26:15) - MNT Halan Founding and Early History (57:55) - Growth and Geographical Expansion (1:14:50) - Product Strategy and Monetization (1:35:52) - Competition and options for exit (1:47:20) - Bankole's overall thoughts and outlook (1:54:22) - Olumide's overall thoughts and outlook (2:06:32) - Recommendations and small wins Olumide’s recommendations & small wins: Interested in investing in Africa Tech with Olumide: Read about Adamantium fund & contact me at olumide@afrobility.com. Founders looking for funding: If you're a B2B founder working on Education, Health, Finance or food, please contact me for funding at olumide@afrobility.com Checkout my FIREDOM book = FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) + Freedom = personal finance and financial independence book. Website, Read: Substack Newsletter & Buy: Print, eBook or Audiobook) Recommendation: The Intel Trinity: How Robert Noyce, Gordon Moore, and Andy Grove Built the World's Most Important Company: Solid book about the story of Intel, the microprocessor, and the Silicon Valley industry, focusing on Robert Noyce, Gordon Moore, and Andy Grove Recommendation: Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI (by Yuhal Noah Harari):  Nexus is a solid book that I would recommend, especially if you enjoyed his previous works like Sapiens. While it may not appeal to everyone, particularly those who didn’t enjoy his other books, it's an engaging read that offers a counterpoint to views like Marc Andreessen's, particularly on AI’s future impact. Recommendations: Awardtool and PointsYeah:  Help you find award bookings but with a better user experience. For example, if you want to fly from Lagos to Paris, you might use Google Flights or Kayak for cash fares, but for award bookings with points, you'd traditionally need to visit individual airline sites like United. Small win: I found a way to host my website on GitHub pages for free instead of paying Squarespace outrageous fee. Started doing yoga and stretching exercises every morning Bankole’s recommendations & small wins: Recommendations: Article about research challenging the common belief that "buying experiences makes you happier than buying possessions" & YouTube 41-shot rally video from Commonwealth Games featuring Chagun Toriola (Nigerian table tennis player) Small win: Finally set up my home office with a streamlined single-cable setup for multiple computers 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
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    2 hrs and 6 mins
  • #77: PiggyVest - How the savings and investment platform is providing financial services across Nigeria

    #77: PiggyVest - How the savings and investment platform is providing financial services across Nigeria
    Nov 18 2024

    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

    • (05:50) - 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


    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
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    2 hrs and 25 mins
  • #76: IHS Towers - How the telecom infrastructure company is building and managing towers across Africa and beyond

    #76: IHS Towers - How the telecom infrastructure company is building and managing towers across Africa and beyond
    May 15 2024
    Overview: Today, we’re going to explore IHS Towers - the African telecommunications infrastructure company. We’ll discuss the story across the following areas: Telecom tower infrastructure context IHS Towers' early history Product & monetization strategy Competitive positioning & potential exit options Overall outlook This episode was recorded on May 5, 2024 Companies discussed: IHS Towers, MTN, Airtel, Telkom, Orange, Etisalat / 9 Mobile, American Tower Company, Globacom, Libancell, Helios Towers Nigeria, Telkom, Vodacom, Goldman Sachs, (IFC), Public Investment Corporation of South Africa, Ecobank, Investec, Standard Bank. Business concepts discussed: Tower Infrastructure, Shared communication infrastructure, Tower Leasing and Ownership Models, Market Expansion, Sale and Leaseback, Local vs Global Strategy, Capital-intensive business models, Currency devaluation Conversation highlights: (01:50) - What IHS does and why we’re talking about it (04:37) - How Towers work (12:47) - How Telcos work with Towers in Nigeria and parts of Africa (23:22) - IHS Founding and Early History (34:19) - Funding (39:32) - Growth and International Expansion (47:26) - IHS IPO and trends post IPO (55:50) - Product Strategy & Monetization (1:08:30) - Competition (1:16:22) - Bankole’s overall thoughts and outlook (1:24:06) - Olumide’s overall thoughts and outlook (1:30:24) - Recommendations and small wins Olumide’s recommendations & small wins: Interested in investing in Africa Tech with Olumide: Read about Adamantium fund & contact me at olumide@afrobility.com. Founders looking for funding: If you're a B2B founder working on Education, Health, Finance or food, please contact me for funding at olumide@afrobility.com Checkout my FIREDOM book = FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) + Freedom = personal finance and financial independence book. Website, Read: Substack Newsletter & Buy: Print, eBook or Audiobook) Recommendation: Incredible Dance routine video to Sisa Song by King Promise: I love it so much I'm not sure how to put it into words. 1 minute of greatness Recommendation: Chris Brown “Sensational” live performance : Watching Chris Brown dance is watching a master of his craft. Recommendation: J. Cole - Let Nas Down Recommendation: Nas - Make Nas Proud Recommendation: Nas & Eminem - EPMD 2 Recommendation: Nas - Rare Small win: Went back to reading older books to reset my reading palate Bankole’s recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: The Search for the Perfect Door - YouTube && Unusual Electric Car Features in Nigeria - Bloomberg Small win: Running sprints Other content: Palito FM Autoscan Radio Listeners: We’d love to hear from you. Email info@afrobility.com with feedback! Founders & Operators: We'd love to hear about what you're working on, email us at info@afrobility.com Investors: It would be great to link up with you. Contact us at info@afrobility.com Join our insider mailing list where we get feedback on new episodes & find all episodes on Afrobility.com
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    1 hr and 42 mins

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