The Nation Newspaper

Tag: startups

  • Nigeria’s startups face funding, regulatory challenges

    Nigeria’s startups face funding, regulatory challenges

    The Nigerian startup ecosystem, despite its recent surge, faces significant challenges that threaten its growth.

    Recall that in the third quarter of this year, African startups raised over $600 million in funding, which was the best quarter of the year so far. Of this huge cash, Nigeria raised $218 million in funding which is comparable to what it raised last year. However, Kenya and Egypt raised the most funding in Africa during the period with Kenya raising $437 million and Egypt raising $373 million. A couple weeks ago too, Africa minted its latest unicorn, when Nigeria’s Moniepoint announced $110m in funding.

    A new report by TLP Advisory, a leading venture law firm, however has identified funding, talent, and regulatory bottlenecks as impediments that could scuttle the good run for the ecosystem.

    While 2021 witnessed record-breaking venture capital investments, 51per cent of surveyed startups still struggle to secure funding, currency volatility and limited investor access exacerbated the funding woes. Angel investors have emerged as a crucial lifeline during these challenging times.

    Another factor is acquiring and retaining top talent. Efficient operations and customer-centric strategies are essential to addressing this issue.

    A complex regulatory landscape poses significant barriers for 30 per cent of founders, according to the report. Closer collaboration with policymakers, particularly under the Nigeria Startup Act, is crucial to streamlining regulations and foster innovation. A predictable regulatory environment is, therefore, important in this respect.

    To overcome these challenges and propel the Nigerian startup ecosystem forward, the report recommended strategic partnerships by fostering stronger collaborations between startups and corporations. This could unlock new markets and simplify regulatory compliance.

    Read Also: Five startups enrol in insurance innovation exchange programme

    Investing in talent development programmes is essential to bridge skill gaps and retain top talent too.

    Proactive participation in policy discussions is crucial to shape a supportive business environment.

    Co-founder of TLP Advisory, Odunoluwa Longe, expressed optimism about the future of the Nigerian tech ecosystem, emphasising the importance of collaboration and adaptability.

    Executive Director of FATE Foundation, Adenike Adeyemi, highlighted the unstable regulatory environment as a major challenge while Kola Aina of Ventures Platform stressed the need for proactive policy engagement to shape the industry’s future.

  • Six Billion Dollar startups founded by Nigerians

    Six Billion Dollar startups founded by Nigerians

    About 50% of startups dissolve within five years, according to the International Bureau of Labour Statistics.

    However, the following startups founded and co-founded by Nigerians have survived over five years of their existence and have become multibillion Dollar international startups.

    Here are six billion-dollar startups founded by Nigerians

    1. Cityblock Health ($5 billion) 

    Industry: Primary Healthcare

    Co-founded by Toyin Ajayi (Female)

    Cityblock Health was created to help low-income and elderly Americans access health care, primarily those who qualify for Medicaid.

    Nigerian Toyin Ajayi co-founded Cityblock Health with Bay Gross, and Iyah Romm in 2017.

    Cityblock is regarded as the first tech-driven provider for communities with complex health and social needs–bringing better care to neighbourhoods where it’s needed most.

    2. Calendly ($3 billion)

    Industry: Tech

    Founder: Tope Awotona

    Calendly is a software company that develops a business communication platform used for teams to schedule, prepare and follow up on external meetings.

    The company was founded in Atlanta, Georgia by Nigerian-born entrepreneur Tope Awotona who is the current CEO.

    He founded the company with his savings and by taking out a small-business loan, while working at the co-working incubator Atlanta Tech Village

    As of July 2021, Calendly operates an all-remote workforce without an official headquarters. Tope Awotona is the company’s CEO.

    3. Flutterwave ($3 billion)

    Industry: Fintech

    Founder: Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, Olugbenga Agboola, and Adeleke Adekoya

    Flutterwave is a Nigerian fintech company that provides a payment infrastructure for global merchants and payment service providers across the continent.

    The company was founded in 2016 by Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, Olugbenga Agboola, and Adeleke Adekoya and is headquartered in San Francisco, California with operations in Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, South Africa, and seven other African countries.

    Read Also: List of Africa’s highest minimum wages per month

    In 2021, Flutterwave raised a US$170 million Series C funding round.

    At the time, this was the largest amount ever secured by an African tech startup and gave it a valuation of over US$1 billion, making Flutterwave a unicorn.

    Investors in Flutterwave include Y-Combinator, Visa Ventures, Mastercard, Avenir Growth Capital, and Tiger Global Management.

     Flutterwave raised a US$250 million Series D funding round at over US$3 billion valuation in 2022 as well.

    In December 2021, Flutterwave launched Send, an African-focused remittances service, and immediately appointed Nigerian Grammy Award-winning international musician, Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun, popularly known as Wizkid as its global ambassador to further push the company’s brand among the Africans in the diaspora.

    4.  Andela ($1.5 billion)

    Industry:  Software Engineering Place Network

    Co-founded by Iyinoluwa Aboyeji

    Andela is a global job placement network for software developers.

    Andela focuses on sustainable careers, connecting technologists with long-term engagements, access to international roles, competitive compensation, and career coaching through the Andela Learning Community.

    Andela was founded in 2014 by Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, Jeremy Johnson, Nadayar Enegesi, Brice Nkengsa, Ian Carnevale, and Christina Sass.

    In May 2014, Andela launched its first recruitment cycle in Lagos by putting its first call for applications on Twitter. The company hired their first cohort—four Nigerian software engineers—after receiving 700 applications for 4 spots.

    In 2018, Andela celebrated the first two sets of engineers to complete the four-year program.

    As of 2021, Andela provides technologists from six continents to access opportunities with global companies on long-term embedded contracts

    Andela’s applicants can undertake training in software languages such as Ruby on Rails, JavaScript, Python, Ruby, React Native, Node, PHP, and more.

    5.  InterSwitch ($1 billion)

    Industry: Fintech 

    Founded by Mitchell Elegbe

    Interswitch is a leading African integrated payment and digital commerce platform company headquartered in Lagos.

    Founded in 2002 in Nigeria, as a transaction switching and processing company with a national focus, Interswitch progressively evolved to incorporate consumer financial services with the successive launches of Quickteller, a retail payments ecosystem linking merchants and billers with consumers, as well as Verve, a homegrown, EMV-certified payments card scheme.

    After using an ATM for the first time in Scotland, Mitchell Elegbe developed an idea to create electronic payment infrastructure in Nigeria while he was working on implementing SWIFT.

     In 2011 Interswitch took a 60 per cent stake in Bankom in Uganda.

    6.  Esusu ($1 billion)

    Industry: Software Company

    Co-founded by Wemimo Abbey

    In 2015, Samir Goel and Wemimo Abbey Founded Esusu, a platform designed to empower users to better save, access capital, and build credit through community savings.

    Electronic Esusu is a unified finance management solution designed to simplify and automate the process of thrift savings, collection and microcredit.

    The solution explores the use of Digital Payment Technology and Global System Mobile Devices to manage and enhance transactions of the Esusu scheme.

    The solution explores the use of Digital Payment Technology and Global System Mobile Devices to manage and enhance transactions of the Esusu scheme.

  • ‘Why most Nigerian startups don’t survive’

    ‘Why most Nigerian startups don’t survive’

    Fara Fasuyi, a management consultant and Head, School of Enterprise at the Ibadan Business School, Ibadan, Oyo State, is a 25 year old graduate of Economics from the Covenant University with masters’ degrees from the University of Dundee and the University of Bradford’s School of Management, among other qualifications. In this interview with Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf, she speaks on teething problems confronting startups in Nigeria as well as the different opportunities opened to the youths out there. Excerpts:

    WHY do most startups in the country today hardly survive beyond their formative years?

    You will be surprised to know that the major issue here is not finance but infrastructure, especially electricity. Something as simple as electricity affects the performance of an organisation . For instance, there’s no internet service provider that can survive without electricity. There are enterprises that need electricity to operate but since there is no electricity, they have to buy generator and employ somebody to man the generator, that is apart from the cost of buying diesel. By the time all of these are factored into their cost of production, sometimes the cost is doubled. When the cost of production is too high, chances of survival become very slim.

    Another issue is the type of individuals that are employed. We do not have value-creating individuals in many startups. The cost of attracting value-creating individuals is very high because they want huge salaries and bonuses which small enterprises cannot afford, which is why I said if we take internship seriously, it will help our startups. I know of an organisation, TOMS, it’s a shoe brand, which started by just recycling interns until it was buoyant enough to start employing full staff. You don’t have such in Nigeria.

    What do you do at the School of Enterprise?

    Our overall focus in the School of Enterprise is to help organisations and entrepreneurs start, grow and thrive. We help entrepreneurs articulate their ideas and develop a feasibility plan and we provide entrepreneurial support services to them. We also provide them the required entrepreneurial education.

    Then there are practising entrepreneurs who want to expand their skills, who want to do better, who are wondering why person B is performing better than they are, so we have programmes that help support and grow them in that area and we provide necessary training for them as well. There is another category of entrepreneurs, the high impact entrepreneurs; those who have gone past innovation and job creation phases but are at the wealth creation stage. This category of entrepreneurs needs high networth individuals that can invest in their businesses; they need access to finance. We also help in this regard. That is why we say we help entrepreneurs to start, grow and thrive.

    Thankfully, as part of our corporate social initiative, the School of Enterprise is offering empowerment courses for over 200 graduates absolutely free. It is our own little contribution to the society. As I said, our cardinal aims and objectives at the School of Enterprise are to start, grow and make businesses thrive. That’s our calling.

    What is your own assessment of the various youth empowerment programmes in the country?

    What we tell people during our employment basic skills training programme is: there are jobs out there, either through creation or through being an entrepreneur. Let’s start with the issue of youth empowerment which is what the government is trying to do. As of October last year, NBS (Nigeria Bureau of Statistics) said that we had about 76.5million unemployed individuals and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) says 13 per cent of these people are between age 13 and 20. That means we have a large population of unemployed youths who are supposed to be contributing their early years towards productivity and growth of the country. So, as I stated earlier, there are jobs but the issue is individuals are unemployed. The government, the individuals, our universities and even our successful entrepreneurs have a role to play in this situation.

    Let’s start with the definition of entrepreneurship. What is entrepreneurship? In layman’s term, it’s starting a business. That is the problem, we believe we are training individuals to start businesses, but what type of businesses are they starting?

    According to the NBS, 97 per cent of the businesses in Nigeria are micro which means that they employ a maximum of five individuals. Our challenge is that we have been looking at raising macro and micro entrepreneurs with limited capacity for employment creation. I think we should focus more on high impact entrepreneurs. High impact entrepreneurs, according to the World Economic Forum, can be defined in certain perspectives; they are innovative, they create employment opportunities and make societal impacts. Their influence is not just within the confines of their streets or their families. So, when our government says they are focusing on entrepreneurial development, they are focusing on the minimal, not those who can make maximum impact.

    For instance, if the government provides N500,000 to someone to start a business, what machinery could N500,000 buy? For you to setup a high impact business, which we can say is contributing successfully to job creation, it is not going to be the N500,000 that you are giving out. For instance in the US, they have Social Business Innovators Group whereby what they do is they have $500b allocated yearly just to the development of high impact entrepreneurs. So, these people are the ones that contribute to job creation. For example, Apple’s income is more than US GDP but do we have such instances in Nigeria and are we working towards developing such in Nigeria? In my own opinion, I will say no. We are told that 1.8 million graduates are produced every year and if the sole focus is raising micro and small enterprises, micro enterprises majorly, I do not know how graduates will get work to do.

    Instead of trying to play to the gallery by giving out pittance to people in the name of youth empowerment, what the government should do is give substantial amounts, say N10million, to individuals and let them know that they have to pay it back within a stipulated time. For instance, the government can say “we are giving you this N10million to achieve A, B and C within six months, if you don’t, we’ll collect our money from you. Government has to make those who collect money for entrepreneurial purposes accountable for the money collected.

    In our universities, when was the last time that they reviewed academic programmes? It is the same Economics programme that my father went through at the University of Ibadan as an undergraduate over 30 years ago that is still being taught to students now. Are we saying the world is stagnant or there is no newness? Are we saying the knowledge of 30 years is still the same knowledge that is relevant now?

    We talk about innovation and we tend to leave our education system out of it, which is one of the reasons our youths are unemployable. The truth is that we are not giving them the right skills required for them to get in tune with the current reality of the job market. As the owner of an enterprise, you engage individuals who are able to help you compete favourably in the market place and your competitors are not just in Nigeria because the world is a global village.

    On the part of the individual, the attitude is very important. There is only a little the universities can do, if they revise the syllabus, if they provide required knowledge and all of that, your attitude to the job is also very important. Some people are just clock watchers, no entrepreneur wants these. Employers want those that are accountable and are adding value to the organisation. When an organisation advertises and says they need people with five years experience,  five years might be outrageous, especially for fresh graduates but the question is what do you do in your summers? Do you sit down at home or do you look for a startup to join so as to be able to learn and to contribute required skills to the organisation? Though you are not being paid, you are gaining a lot of things; you are adding value which will in turn make you employable after school. You can even decide to go to established organisations to learn more.

    What’s your counsel for youths?

    To youths and graduates out there, no one else has the responsibility for developing you; you should take it as your priority to develop yourself. When you make it a priority to develop yourself, you defy the odds. Even if our government does not provide the enabling environment, the world is a global village now, we have the best schools of the world online now, instead of spending so much time on social media, convert that internet access into a business platform. MIT and Harvard have come together to offer free programmes on an online platform, so what is your excuse? The world being a global village does not mean going to see what a celebrity in the US is doing via social media; it means you have the capability to catch up with opportunities anywhere in the world; you have the ability to connect with people anywhere in the world.

    Who are your role models?

    Well, I will say I have a couple of them. One is my dad who teaches by example the true importance of hard work and optimism; my mum who constantly teaches me the importance of having a value system; my siblings who are selfless and tactful. Mrs. Nkemneme who emulates leadership through her grace while under pressure and ability to get results and foster team work; also, Mr Adewumi who constantly teaches me to take every new responsibility head-on.

    This list is endless because there is a thing or two to be learnt from everyone around me and all these people and more have influenced the person I’m today.

    What are your hobbies or hobby?

    Meeting up/hanging out with my friends and family, watching online tutorials to expand my skill set (strangely this gives me joy), reading a book in less than 24hours (there is a sense of accomplishment that comes with it), being part of CSR initiatives that have societal impact, experiencing other cultures, and oh I love a good nap too!

    What was growing up like?

    Well, I will summarise that by saying it was while growing up I took my employability skills classes.

    Being the first child, I was made responsible for the actions and inactions of my siblings which taught me to be both responsible and accountable. We were brought up learning the most important values diligence, hard work, accountability, prioritising needs and integrity, these were shaped both by the consequences placed on defaulting and also by the examples set by my parents. If you know my parents personally, there isn’t one value stated that they do not emulate.

    They worked hard to ensure we were comfortable but also re-enforced learning by telling us severally both by words and actions that we weren’t rich and each of us had to learn to work for our money (life owes us nothing) and treat people well because everyone has one thing or the other to offer.

  • Startups that made waves in 2015

    Startups that made waves in 2015

    Yetunde Oladeinde and Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf in this report profile some of the major startups that made tremendous impact in the outgoing year

    With the growing unemployment crisis, Nigerians are fast adopting the entrepreneur spirit by setting up shops and business ventures to not just earn a living wage but to offer services at different levels of human endeavours.

    Thankfully, most of these entrepreneurial ventures are indeed breaking the glass ceiling. While a lot of these  startups never make it past the idea stage, a lot more trudge on and become more successful. Over the years, Nigeria has birthed a number of innovative startups helping to redefine the business scene and improving the economy ultimately.

    In the outgoing year, a good number of these startups, who by their nature are businesses built on the concepts of ambition, innovation, scalability and growth, not only gained traction but recorded some milestones.

    Most visible startups

    One of startups that made an impact in 2015 is Printivo. The organisation, founded by three students from LAUTECH in Ogbomoso, is a company changing the face of print production in Nigeria. Located in Shomolu, the undisputed printing hub of Lagos, the startup is a do-it-yourself web-to-print production, providing affordable and quality print-on-demand services particularly to SMEs who cannot afford to print in bulk. Customers can place their orders on the site and have them delivered in a matter of hours or days without fail.

    Interestingly, Printivo is a beneficiary of the federal government of Nigeria grant, YouWin, which went a long way in raising capital. The company started with four products but has now added about seven more. For the Chief Executive Officer, Oluyomi Ojo, the intention is to expand into merchandise products in the near future.

    Like Printivo, DoviLearn is a service from a Nigerian startup, Dovichi Services. It is a digital learning portal that offers courses in skill acquisitions for those requiring a career upgrade. Their mission is simple – to make learning digital. They also believe that “learning can be facilitated when simplified, accessible and affordable.”

    The startup has partnered with “some of the world’s best trainers and instructors” and they provide the training content available on the portal. Year 2015, was certainly a good year for this relatively young company.

    In the pack, you also find Delivery Science which was named the most impressive new startup of 2015. It boast of an experienced and competent team solving a real problem with real customers and local context. Delivery Science claims that access to data and data inferences enables consumer goods companies to plug leakages in the transport system.

    According to DS, these leakages can sometimes amount to as much as 25% of the total value of the goods being transported. As a result of advances in cloud computing, Internet-of-Things technology, and supercomputers in our pocket becoming readily-available commodities, a solution that abstracts away complexity while tightly integrating needed functionality into a low-friction, cost-effective model can finally be viable, and this is what Delivery Science provides.

    After winning TechCabal Battlefield contest in 2014, Prepclass, is the startup that has continued to impress. Previously an online learning platform, Prepclass is now a tutor marketplace which has garnered lots of positive reviews from satisfied customers. Due to the quality of the work they deliver, Prepclass’ ‘demand is outstripping supply’ and the startup continues to work harder to keep up with the market.

    According to the site, PrepClass provides access to personal home tutors trained to meet customers’ academic needs and offers quick test taking strategies and targeted examination practice for students. The programme is mobile friendly as it provides for study-on-the-go. To prove the confidence that the founders have in their project, they offer a money-back guarantee if the user doesn’t score up to 75% in the exam they are getting tutored for.

    The founders, Wezam and Olumide are young people with a big dream and are working hard to see it come to fruition.

    For mobile gaming, the startup that comes to mind is ChopUp. ChopUp is a leading mobile gaming company in Nigeria developing “locally relevant games that tell the African narrative.”

    ChopUp games are specifically designed with African themes, and the company has interestingly attracted angel funding from private individuals. Subscription to content on the site is relatively cheap at 30 Naira ($0.12) weekly.

    With games like Mama Put, Sambisa Assault and Jumpology featuring Nigerian characters, it is obvious that the intent of this startup is to put African gaming on the map. It is hoped that they succeed in their mission to tell the African narrative through mobile gaming.

    In year 2015, some Nigerian entrepreneurs who were in their 30s were recognised by FORBES.

    Tagged: ’30 Most Promising Young Entrepreneurs in Africa 2015′ the list included Uche Pedro of Bellanaija , Iyin Aboyeji of Andela and Mark Essien of Hotel.ng.

    A few months after CNN aired a documentary on emerging businesses in Africa, and one of them was Hotels.ng, the biggest local hotel booking website in Nigeria hosting over 4,000 hotels on its platform.

    The company lists local hotels that are not travel aggregator distributed and allows users book them online, while payments are made electronically or on arrival at the hotel.

    The founder, Mark Essien, is a Software Developer from Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom state, Nigeria.

    He founded Nigeria’s leading hotel booking website in 2013, Hotels.ng, and raised $1.2 million from the Omidyar Network, the investment vehicle of eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, and EchoVC Pan-Africa Fund, a seed-stage technology fund.

    The ‘techpreneur’ aims to provide affordable, safe and convenient online bookings for Nigerian hotels, both for tourist and business travelers. It currently has a listing of more than 7,000 hotels in 21 regions across Nigeria and has facilitated up to two million hotel reservations since its inception.

    “We’re forging ahead into relatively uncharted territory? E-commerce in Africa is a massive market to conquer, but there are no hard and fast prototypes from which to follow? We cannot simply replicate Western models here; we have to build our own blueprints from scratch, which takes significant investment, both in terms of time and money. This additional capital will allow us to realise the next stage in our ambitious growth plans, which will see us consolidate our position as Nigeria’s market leader in online hotel bookings, with a view to expanding our service into other African markets, such as Ghana,” Essen says.

    Another startup that gained traction in the outgoing was SlimTrader. Founded and managed by Femi Akinde, Slim Trader, is an e-commerce and mobile commerce firm. Its platform, MoBiashara, seeks to relieve the burdens associated with everyday transactions in developing countries by providing the missing link to completing these important activities: easy and affordable access. The company has developed the first platform in Africa that allows consumers to purchase services or shop for goods with their mobile devices.

    Year 2015 will go down in the annals of the company as a very memorable one indeed. This is because it successfully pulled off a multimillion dollar deal which will see it playing in the big league ion years to come.

    In the last quarter of 2015, the company got a seed capital of $1million Interswitch, one of the leading firms in integrated payment systems.

    Speaking at a formal ceremony to sign the Memorandum of Understanding, in Lagos, Founder and Group Managing Director of Interswitch, Mitchell Elegbe said the seed money is part of a revolving fund under Interswitch ePayment Growth Fund, valued at $10million.

    Justifying the $1million investment, Elegbe said: “SlimTrader is a dynamic and ambitious business dedicated to growing Africa’s ecommerce sector. This makes them an ideal candidate for investment from the Interswitch ePayment Growth Fund.

    “At Interswitch we are committed to encouraging innovative ideas in the digital payments and commerce space in Africa and are excited to be working with SlimTrader to expand MoBiashara services into the hospitality sector.”

    Upbeat, Slim Trader’s founder and CEO, Femi Akinde stated, “We remain committed to our mission of unlocking the potential in African businesses. This funding puts more hotels a click away from their own free property management system, website booking engine and channel manager; connecting them to multiple local and international online booking sites. We see this as transformational to the sub-Saharan Africa hospitality industry.”

    The new funding will allow SlimTrader expand to other African countries championing hospitality by bridging the gap and connecting hotels with their target audience.

    The additional funding provides the clearest sign yet of the power of SlimTrader’s flagship ecommerce platform, MoBiashara as it expands into the hospitality sector. With the funds from Interswitch, SlimTrader will now be able to ramp up operations and help more hotels expand their market reach.

    With massive potential in the African market, over 1500 hotels across sub-Saharan Africa used SlimTrader’s online hotel management platform – MoBiashara for Hotels to increase visibility and sales. The platform allows hotels to manage their offline and online reservation with major exposure through strategic channel partners such as TripAdvisor and hotelnownow.com.

    According to Akinde, SlimTrader though founded in Seattle has major operations in Nigeria, and hopes to be the leading turn-key ecommerce solution provider for businesses in Sub-Saharan Africa.

    “Through our MoBiashara (which literally means “more business”) platform, we provide everything businesses need to setup and sell their products and services directly to consumers worldwide, or via distribution channels. From airlines to FMCG companies and now hotels, we enhance our partners’ capabilities and presence while expanding their market reach with an easy-to-use platform.”

    In the third quarter of the outgoing year, She Leads Africa (SLA) organised a contest involving six promising female African entrepreneurs.

    Among the criteria used to unravel these entrepreneurs, include their turnover and worth in value terms. Interestingly, the finalists were entrepreneurs who had $3million in revenue and over 11,000 customers combined and they competed for over $15,000 in cash prizes and other gifts.

    At the end of the keen competition, Omo Alata, a food manufacturer and packaging company, swimsuit line for African women and natural hair extensions brand emerged the winners in the 2015 She Leads Africa Entrepreneur Showcase.

    The winning startup, Omo Alata Foods was cofounded by Kasope Ladipo-Ajai and makes parboiled stew and pepper mixes.

    The “McPeppers” brand allows consumers to significantly cut down the time required to cook traditional Nigerian dishes. The judges were impressed by Ladipo-Ajai’s existing track record as well as the significant potential of her product which targets Nigeria’s large and fast growing middle class. As Ms Genevieve Sangudi, the Sub Saharan MD of the Carlyle Group noted, “innovations in the food industry in Nigeria are always exciting given the country’s large and growing population.”

    Omo Alata Foods, also known as McPeppers, bagged the grand prize which was a whopping $10,000 with up to $50,000 in investments, tech prizes from Etisalat Nigeria, mentorship and 3-month of support from Zippy Logistics.

    The startup is a Nigerian food manufacturing brand that processes indigenous peppers, soups and spices.  The brand plans to invest its winnings in machinery and expansion strategies as it seeks to build an international product range that will be available to Nigerian and foreign customers in stores all over the world. The company is hitting the ground running with a NAFDAC approved pioneer product – OmoAlata Pepper Mix. The product is a mix of parboiled fresh tomatoes, peppers and onions with no preservatives or additives.

    Kamokini, a swimwear brand for the modern African woman founded by Kambili Ofili-Okonkwo was selected as the second place winner. The brand understands and caters for the unique body shape of women of African descent, a group that is often underserved by global consumer brands. With existing distribution in the US, Canada and Nigeria, Kamokini is well poised to be a leader in this niche market.

    Third place for the competition went to Ngozi Opara, founder of Heat Free Hair. Heat Free Hair creates hair extensions that match the textures of natural haired women of African descent. With the black haircare industry valued at over $500bn a year and with more and more black women embracing their natural textures, Opara’s business is well placed to deliver significant returns to investors.

    In November, Yudala, Nigeria’s online and offline retail chain achieved another first with the drone delivery of the first order placed for its Black Friday sales. The order for the item, a Nokia Lumia smart phone was placed by Yetunde Lawal, a staff of Access Bank Plc. who was shopping on the Yudala website for the first time.

    The drone took off from the headquarters of Yudala at Redemption Crescent, Gbagada loaded with the product to the amazement and delight of onlookers.

    A staff of Yudala was on hand to process the invoice for the order and hand over the phone to an obviously elated Yetunde who chose the payment on delivery option.

    Lawal said “I am extremely delighted and indeed short of words to explain how I feel to be the first person to receive an item via drone delivery in Nigeria, all thanks to Yudala. This is an innovative concept in the evolution of e-commerce in the country which I am sure other competitors will want to copy.

    Since its entry into the market  this year Yudala has expanded the retail space with several innovative campaigns including the Neighbour to Neighbour Mega Deals, Gyming with the Stars and October Mid-Day Madness, among others  through which it has delivered on its mandate of providing genuine products and services to its consumers.

    Like Yudala, Gadolng.com, which styles itself as Nigeria’s fastest online market place is owned by Agolen Marketing Services Ltd with head office at Egbeda axis of Lagos. It set up shop barely eight months ago and is already given established players in the online marketing spectrum a run for their money.

    Gadol is being led by Victor Olewunne as Chief Operating Officer.

    In a chat with one of its staff at Egbeda who wpuld not be named because she is inot authorized to speak with the press, she claimed that the company is already gaining a foothold in the online marketing spectrum, judging by the growing level of patronage.

    “At the risks of sounding immodest, l can tell you that we’re going places. We are also fully indigenous. We’re here to stay, ” she said matter-of-fatcly.

    In the fashion scene you find Banke kuku, CEO and creative Director of Banke kuku Textiles making a successful career of her passion. The young entrepreneur is the producer of bespoke woven and printed fabrics for the fashion and interior industry.

    Banke has been fascinated with knitting since she was five, subsequently growing such passion to become one of Africa’s inspiring entrepreneurship stories.

    Making her way in the fashion industry, Banke has worked with a number of fashion brands including Burberry, Duro Olowu, Jewel by Lisa and Jasmine di Milo fashion house where she earned the name “The Queen of Colour.”

    Her designs – a fusion of African and western culture has been featured in a number of international fashion shows in Milan, New York and Paris as well as the world famous UK store ,Selfridges.

    In the agric and agro-allied sub-sector, a number of initiatives in the sector also gained traction in the outgoing year and subsequently earned deserved recognition as a result.

    One of the startups that shone in the agro sector was Cellulant Nigeria. For his remarkable achievement in the sector, the co-founder and CEO of Cellulant Nigeria, Bolaji Akinboro in November received the Achiever in Agriculture Award from the Central Committee of the Nigerian Agriculture Awards (NAA) for the company’s E-wallet technology – a digital platform that has transformed the lives of more than 14 million farmers in Nigeria.

    Cellulant, is Africa’s leading one-stop payments and digital commerce service company, with offices in Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Malawi, Uganda, Zambia, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Mozambique. They employ over 300 people, and reach 40 million customers Africa-wide.

    Since its launch in 2011, Cellulant’s E-wallet has facilitated the distribution of over US$1 billion in fertilizer subsidies to farmers under the Growth Enhancement and Support (GES) programme, a component of the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) of the Federal Government of Nigeria.

    “Over and over again we have seen Africans, through various innovations, prove that the impossible is made possible when the needs of the consumers are at the centre of the solutions provided. GES is certainly a testimony to this. Delivery of a programme of this scale and at this speed is a first for Nigeria considering that the entire agro-dealer network had to be rebuilt from scratch”, says Mr Akinboro.

    “It is an honour to receive this award recognising the hard work and contribution of Cellulant and those who worked tireless to see the programme come to fruition.” he added.

    The GES programme has more than doubled the income of the farmers from US$700 to US$1,800 per annum per household, improving their living standards and moving them out of subsistence into self-sufficiency in three years.

    Bolaji has spent most of his working life changing the lives of people and societies as an intrapreneur and entrepreneur in for profits and not for profits in Africa . He understands the African market very well and has spent time working in business development with reputable companies in the continent.

    Some of his work includes working in Sales and Marketing at Procter & Gamble in Nigeria and setting up P&G in Ghana as its Country Director where he grew the business from scratch to a US$10million operation.

    He was recruited by the World Bank through KPMG to head the Business Development Unit for its Africa Virtual University (AVU) project and was based in East Africa. It was during this time that he met his Kenyan partner, Ken Njoroge and together they founded Cellulant in 2004.

    Other startups in the mode of Cellulant who also earned recognition in the outgoing year include Popular Farms Ltd, which won the Achiever in Agriculture, for maintaining the largest rice processing business in Nigeria.

    Managing Partner, Sahel Capital, Mr. Mezuo Nwunelli, received an award for his contribution to the growth of agribusinesses, through the Fund for Agricultural Finance in Nigeria (FAFIN).

    For using Agricultural Fresh Produce Growers & Exporters Association of Nigeria (AFGEAN) to evolve a veritable structure for fresh produce export out of Nigeria, its Executive Secretary, Mr. Akin Sawyerr, received individual award.

    For bringing his innovations in cassava production, a local innovator, Mr. Kolawole Adeniji was honoured for demonstrating that agricultural engineering, fabrication technology, mechanised farming and food processing can be harnessed to promote agriculture.

  • Entrepreneurs suggest success tips for startups

    There is a new strategy for starting and developing business and it’s not money, Mrs Idowu Olayemi, owner of grocery and meat supply firm, Food Emporium, has said.

    Speaking to entrepreneurs in a seminar organised by a networking company, On Point Success Limited, with the theme: ‘Passion to profit’, Mrs Olayemi, the guest speaker on the occasion said: “money is not the priority to start a business but hard work and discipline, with the 3p’s and 2s’ which are planning, people, process, structure and strategies.”

    The Food Emporium boss, who spoke on the topic: ‘How to start and grow a business with no funds’ said people need courage to run and grow a business.

    She advised entrepreneurs to get their businesses registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission, to avoid sharing the same name with someone else, get a tax code for payment of taxes and a cooperate account, all of which make up the planning stage.

    On the second and third P’s, she said Process involves outlining specific activities that help to achieve desired result, while People, involves employing and proper relations with staff, customers and clients.

    The expert also referred to structure as the way different parts of one’s business come together, involving an integration of internal structure, which includes behavior, attitude and character, with the external factors including physical structures being put in place.

    The business owners, she further advised, need to develop the strategy to achieve results, which should involve high level plans and careful methods that help them win.

    On his part, Mr Damola Aroyewun, a lawyer, said: “The message been passed across is that you can start small and end up big. You cannot do a business alone and networking serves as the bridge between your goods and customers. Your passion is very important and passion is something you are willing to do even if you are not going to be paid for it.”

    Justifying the need for the seminar, CEO of On Point Success Limited, Mrs Oluwaseun Akinlotan said: “The seminar was inspired by the fact that there are so many misconceptions about starting up a business out there and we are trying to set the record straight to start a business doing exactly what you love, improving and building yourself. We teach people on how to start and grow a business as well as to make profit. One thing about business is that it is not about what you know but who you know in a business which can be done by mingling. I also plan on reaching out to corporations because I believe that customer service is the next big thing and big corporations need to realise that they need to improve on their services, especially in Nigeria.”

    A participant, Mrs Oluwakemi Adeshomo who does product packaging (making boxes), said she had acquired new knowledge by meeting with professionals in the field on how to grow her business and relate to customers.

    Echoing similar sentiments, Mrs Adeola Adeyemi, an interior designer, upbeat, said: “I have learnt so much already and have gotten new ideas on how to take my business to next level. Most importantly, I have made new contact with fellow interior designers and believe that we can do one or two things together. Now I’m more courageous because they say knowledge is power. Having more knowledge, I feel I can fly higher and I am so impressed.”

  • Five start-up secrets for women

    Five start-up secrets for women

    For the majority of women in Nigeria, entrepreneurship is a necessity. There are no jobs or viable alternative options, however, from writing a business plan to coming up with a name to hiring employees, a startup can seem overwhelming.

    Many Nigerian women who have always wanted to start their own business never do, simply because they are weighed down by the process and unsure of what specifically is required. It is no secret that women in the startup world generally face a series of unique challenges. Not only are they significantly out-numbered by men, they also find themselves intrinsically disadvantaged either by the limited funding or a dearth of high-power female role models with actual experience.

    There is no secret formula or tactics when it comes to what make female entrepreneurs thrive. Instead, what it takes to succeed is, in a lot of ways, gender neutral as the steps one needs to get there similarly should not be confined to gendered lines. At the moment, the investing community is predominantly made up of men investing in other men, making it even much more difficult for the women to hold the reins. With this in mind, Jovago.com, Africa’s No 1 online hotel booking portal has put up 5 start-up secrets for Nigerian women who are keen on building a successful startup anyway and fulfilling their dreams.

    Do not overthink it.

    Unlike men, women are much more likely to ask the question: “What if?” Starting anything is challenging, but the female tendency to worry can prevent them from making the first step. Do not second-guess yourself, even if the idea is a moon shot.

    Over thinking breeds fear which can stop you before you begin. Thoughts about the risk of failure, humiliation, and criticism that may come along the way can overwhelm the desire to start, especially when you have other people to care for besides yourself. However, the biggest risk is not trying. You will never know what you are capable of until you jump off of the edge entirely.

    Simplify your mission.

    Invest time to defining and breaking down the structure and goal of your business to the simplest form; be specific about what it does and what it represents.

    If you nail down a 60 – 90 seconds synopsis, it will yield a lot of dividends throughout the life of your business. Again, a simple mission makes drafting a list of actionable steps you can take every day to work towards your startup easier.

    Arm yourself with patience.

    Patience is a virtue that can be learned. It may take a much longer than expected to achieve your goals, but it is important to remain passionate and patient.

    Understand that every business will have its up and downs, surround yourself with positive thinkers and be in touch with mentors, preferably other female entrepreneur with actual experience as there are issues only female founders encounter.

    Never underestimate the importance of having role models.  Try to learn from their experiences and how they managed to survive during the most difficult times. This gives you strength and motivation.

    If possible try forming your own group of female founders and meet up regularly. If you can hang around long enough and accept the challenges that come your way, it will only be a matter of time before you achieve your goals.

     Invest in a good watch

    The aim is not to look chic, but more on showing how important time is to you.

    As a Nigerian women in the startup world, high chances are you do not have a lot of nor brand equity, so it is important that you use your time wisely your greatest asset is your time. Time management is essential to the success of any startup.

    A founder has to determine how to best employ each hour of the day to make the biggest impact on her brand. Wasted time means wasted efforts in building the brand of your dreams.

    Do not transfer aggression

    While it is essential to surround yourself with an awesome team, it is important to also remember that you are going to need them to overcome all the obstacles that come with starting and maintaining a company.

    The success of any startup lies on the team and not only on how well they manage their specific duties, but on how well they are managed as well.  You will need to have a firm grip on your emotions and learn to stay away from transferring the aggression that comes from strong emotions like fear and anger to your team while managing them.

    Be as stern as you need to be, but nothing good comes from you bringing your lack of emotional control into the work, chances are that you will create a wall or divide between you and your team, and that will certainly  have a negative effect on output.

  • Tech startups morph into flourishing entrepreneurs

    Young men and women who dare to dream in order to change the world in a positive way have found expression at the launch pad for emerging technology and trends, which is called Demo Africa. These young people – all technology-savvy – have been given the opportunity to learn, earn and return to those who have invested in their dreams.

    Demo Africa, the event has lived up to its name as over 16 of the 40 start-ups who demonstrated their nascent companies in 2014 have received an investment of some kind. Six startups shared $4 million. Many of these startups have managed to “acquire customers whom they are servicing and creating value for,” Executive Producer of DEMO Africa and CEO of African eDevelopment Resource Centre, Harry Hare told me.

    These funds are used for different purposes depending on the maturity of the start-ups and its products. For instance some start-ups would use the funds to expand their businesses while others would apply the funds to execute their marketing strategies. Others may even employ the funds to refine their products and services further before making a dash to the market.

    The most important thing is that these funds move the startups from where they are to where they want to be: the real world where their lofty ideas would put to the test. Demo Africa looks at seeing start-ups signing up deals shortly after having participated at the event. For this to happen, Hare told me in a chat, “we need to bring the right audience”.

    Nigeria hosted Demo Africa in 2014 with 40 tech startups. Nigeria had the highest number. The Local Organising Committee [LOC] inaugurated by former Communication Technology minister, Mobolaji Johnson, hosted a successful programme. LOC chairman, Yele Okeremi, CEO of Precise Financial Systems, told me that “organising Demo Africa is a complex programme which required effective handshaking with various faculties. But, we had a very good programme in Lagos.”

    However, the essence of Demo Africa is to get startup companies to meet with investors who will help take their businesses to the next level and turn them into another Facebook or Apple. Past participants at Demo Africa are getting significant funding for their businesses.  The event has given several startups the benefit to taste the real world. They were brought face to face with, not shylock investors, but angel investors from Lagos, US, Europe and other African countries. These angels, after having agreed ‘terms’, would mentor and monitor their growth in order to ensure that the business succeeds.

    To get to this stage, nevertheless, Demo Africa usually takes the nascent tech companies through a rigorous pre-pitching programme [more like a beauty competition across Africa] where an aspiring CEO will have to demonstrate to select body of judges who are technology experts and business savvy individuals what he has to offer and why the watchful but dispassionate judges should consider his “offering” for selection.

    According to Okeremi, Demo Africa seeks to develop technology from the startup company level and grow such companies to becoming global players over time.

     

  • ‘Nigeria needs more startups to grow economy’

    ‘Nigeria needs more startups to grow economy’

    Ibifuro Tatua, CEO, Boss Pan Africa Limited, a company involved in packaging and sourcing building materials is helping others to take their business to the next level and connecting with their contemporaries in other parts of the world. In this interview with Rita Enosegbe, she shares her passion for business and other related issues. Excerpts:

    How did your journey into business start?

    My journey into business started from an early age, without really realising it. I was groomed to be a business woman by my grandmother who herself was a trader and a farmer. Every holiday when we went to the village to visit her, she would make me sell her farm produce and she let me sell it as I pleased and she would sing my praise to all who cared to listen. I did it then just for the praise, I enjoyed the drama and attention I got as she would use my name to sing different songs. She would dance and she was loud about it, so selling and doing chores, for me, became my goal every holiday, even though my dad who was a pilot and my mum a contractor with shell.

    My other siblings hated the idea but I did it as if my life depended on it. I did it with so much joy, and today I am that girl; that happy, hardworking grandma’s girl, now a woman.

    Which was your first job?

    When I graduated, the first job I got was with a construction company. They built mostly churches, universities and did big projects only. I was the site clerk.

    I resigned as the site clerk, registered a company name and called my mum and my brother and I started this supply business of building materials. I relocated to Lagos and ventured into other line of businesses, and realised there is so much potential in Africa; there is so much to learn and so much to do.

    I have always had an independent mindset. I have too many ideas running through my mind and I know that doing a white collar job would limit me to a certain extent and I would be required to work within my job description, job group and the company scope. I do white collar jobs only to gain knowledge and the technical knowhow of certain operations and to add to my CV. But once the knowledge is tested and proved, I like to expand and maximise it in my business world.

    How do you compete with others in the market?

    Ideas and opportunities kept presenting themselves to me. I just don’t know how to be idle; I like to work, even if it is for charity. I just like to be productive and multiply in productivity. I am the kind of person who would sell water to fish. If I find myself in a bad place, I like to think of what good can be sold there. So, basically, ideas present themselves to me and I take a chance on them.

    What do you consider as inspiration on the job?

    The very first people I share my business ideas with, the ones who support and give approval. Those I need the most are the first to say no, don’t do it, you can’t do it, forget about it or some just go silent on you. Without moral support, it becomes four times more difficult to proceed, but now I have decided to try things out on my own or with like minds that may not necessarily be close to you but who believe it can be done. That is no longer a challenge for me, however. Every business has its own challenges; for some it is cash, for me it is to understand the business, the nitty-gritty of the business. It takes time to grasp the basics of a business, we see the beautiful aspect of a finished product, we project in our mind and calculate the expected turn out of the business, but most times those tiny factors we overlook can set us back and frustrate a well planned and heavily funded venture.

    As much as it is good to hire professionals to handle every area of your business, there is need for you to have an idea of what to do to save your business until help surfaces. I call it business first aid; there is also need to have an understudy for every professional.

    What inspires what you do?

    I learn from those who have gone through the mile I want to go. I read books, watch documentaries on the businesses I am interested in. I keep an open mind, I take risk, and I make friends and find mentors or role models in the chosen line of business. I don’t mind running errands for them just to stay close. I tell them my mission and most often than not, they are happy and willing to put you through, but you must always remember to give them due credit at every chance you get, and you must be focused.

    What challenge did you face at the beginning?

    I trust easily. I give people benefit of doubt and I like to give room to my workers to create. I do not box them and they do excellently well, but not checking on them, not checking on their final delivery has cost me time, money and a few opportunities. So, now, no matter how brilliant an idea, I see to it that it is reviewed critically. I still make mistakes; I am still a work in progress, but I try to see how best to improve on production and services.

    I am inspired by a lot of factors pending on what angle I look at it. I like change, I like to make a difference, I like to feel secured, I like to just go out there and come back with favourable results or at least make an attempt.

    If you don’t utilise your full potential in your youth, when you are strong and active, is it when you are old weak and feeble that you will begin to think and work? In my first year at the university I came across a phrase: procrastination is the thief of time. I liked it so much and used it often, as so as I knew what it meant, if you don’t do it now, you might as well forget it because every second that clicks is time being spent, burnt, lost, and it is you getting older by the seconds. Some people tell me they don’t have the platform or opportunity to prove themselves. Some say they have ideas but don’t have the resources, well how long will you wait? What if the platform or resources you are waiting for never comes; will you just wait and do nothing? Why not get busy while you expect that big break. Trust me, nothing is too small, it was one Otunba in Lagos who said: ‘shit business is big business’. What can be low as that if you look at it from a layman view?

    How did you raise your start-up capital?

    No matter how quietly you make it, your responsibility increases, the demand on you is high and there is the need to give back to the society. You just have to set your priorities straight; you must set aside money for business, money for pleasure and money for emergencies. You must learn to be financially disciplined or else you end up worse than where you started. I have made several financial mistakes. I love to shop and I love to help people, but I realised that moderation is the key word. In everything you do, set a limit.

    It was Mahatma Gandhi who said: “Never test the depth of a river with both feet,” so I make sure I don’t get carried away with expenditures. As for human resources, some people see me and their first reaction is, this small girl? Well, by the time they sit down to discuss business with me and realise that I know what I am doing, they begin to say, ‘yes ma’, ‘ok madam’ or ‘yes boss.’

    What do you hope to gain from the international summit?

    When I got an award as the young performing personality of the year at the Niger Delta Achievers Merit award in 2012, I was surprised to see many young entrepreneurs like myself at the event. I was really impressed to see that the young people have decided to take control of the economic situation around them. Then at the African Achievers Award held in Ghana, I met much more youths across Africa taking giant strides; some of us came together and decided that there was need for us to meet, inspire, empower and support the next generation of emerging global business leaders who are committed to use the power of business to change some of Africa’s most challenging economic, social and environmental problems. The summit will feature the top business leaders like Mrs. Divine Ndhlukula, Forbes most successful business woman in Africa 2012.  Others include Maha k.Al-Ghunaim Chairperson & Group Chief Executive Officer of the Global Investment House, Justina Mutale (Founder Positive Runway), with presence across 54 countries globally and Richard Branson, founder and Chairman of Virgin Group.

    The summit is designed to support young people on their ongoing journey of business excellence as renowned business leaders, industry giants and entrepreneur expects have been lined up to give them extensive training, while stimulating real life business challenges in the 21st century with pragmatic solutions for society benefit and business success. It would also help to match individuals with the best in the industries or sector will be our own strategic mechanism to guarantee value.

    What are the other benefits?

    Participants would gain perspective on their own current leadership challenges, looking both at their personal styles and global strategic context of their industries. The business sessions, trade collaborations, seminars, expert business tour, networking opportunities and political exposure will surely define the crescendo of the summit and make it an experience unforgettable for all participants.