It only took a second for Flutterwave CEO and founder Olugbenga “GB” Agboola to conceptualize his company, yet it took months to turn that idea into reality.
The concept that would become his globally celebrated startup came to Agboola as he was working for a bank in Nigeria. While there, he noticed that his clients, mostly multinational corporations, were frustrated at the slow pace of business in Africa. Moving money from one country to another — a simple matter that took seconds in the West — often took three days or more in Africa.
The sluggish pace stemmed from the patchwork of regulations that govern Africa’s financial system. Relying on outdated infrastructure and predigital legislation meant that African business couldn’t move at modern speeds. That often discouraged large corporations from investing resources on the continent.
The solution, Agboola thought, was simple. The continent needed a modern payment service that could manage all the regulations on behalf of corporations. Then, they could do business abroad the same way they did at home.
“At the beginning, we saw that payment in Africa is a bit different from payment everywhere else,” he recalled. “The problems are different. Africa is highly fragmented when it comes to payments. Every payment system is unique and works well in its own country, but they’re not exported well beyond their shores. Obviously, we can’t just copy and paste a Silicon Valley or European model. We have to build what works for our environment.
“Having lived in both worlds, I know the problems I’m solving in Nigeria are not problems in the U.S. So the only place to solve it is here in Africa, not in the U.S. or in Europe. But that said, there are a lot of similarities with building a business in other places, in the sense that you have to be willing to knock down imaginary walls to be able to move forward sometimes.
“The market here is also extremely nuanced. You have to respect the market, even if you’re from Africa. Africa is a continent; every country is immensely different, and every country has its own interests, challenges, regulation, and approaches. Some have exchange control, for example, and some do not. It’s just different across every market.”
Finding Partners
Creating a modern payments platform that would connect all of Africa wasn’t an easy sell. Even though many agreed with Olugbenga Agboola that the African economy needed his product, not everyone agreed his plan was feasible.
“Africa is really, really hard,” Agboola told mckinsey.com. “The grit you require here is at a different level. There are a lot of infrastructure challenges you have to cope with. There, in my opinion, lies the opportunity. We need to solve those problems, create the value, and sell that value to people who are willing to pay for it.”
Sensing that he needed an advocate, Agboola began pitching his idea to corporations — the very entities that would bring money and opportunities to African residents.
“Early on, we stumbled on enterprise clients, which gave us an interesting view into the enterprise world of payments, where you can get one huge customer and they’re equivalent to 10,000 small to medium-size businesses in total payment volume,” Agboola said. “So we instantly focused on enterprise customers. We built a growth team focused on different sectors — education, gaming, remittances, e-commerce — building expertise in, to help us understand the problems to solve for each sector and going from that point to building the infrastructure.”
Agboola soon found the perfect client in Uber. The company not only legitimized the idea for Flutterwave in the eyes of more investors and governments, it also gave the nascent startup a road map for growth.
“Uber has been a customer that has defined our growth firm. We helped Uber to scale across Africa, and we followed them into every market that we’re going to go into,” he says. “So our expansion and growth story can be linked to our customer requirement, and it can also be linked to our philosophy about making payments simple across Africa, and simplifying payments for endless possibilities.”
Olugbenga Agboola: ‘All They Have To Do Is Flip a Switch’
With a plan for growth, Flutterwave was on a smart path to success.
As the company grew, it attracted more multinational clients, which helped plot the startup’s path for growth even further. Every step of the journey, Agboola said, was driven by the goal of being useful to the end user.
“For us as a company, it’s really just about: How do we make sure our customers can scale on our platform? How do we make sure our customers can go to any country in Africa and all they have to do is just flip a switch, literally, on our dashboard, and they can just go live in their new market,” he says. “So our growth has been customer-defined, our expansion is always customer-driven. Where does the customer want us to be? We listen to the customer a lot in Flutterwave, in fact, extremely. We have an extreme customer obsession in Flutterwave when it comes to what our customer wants and how we deliver to the customer.”
But that only solved half the problem. When Flutterwave started, Agboola set a private goal. He wanted Flutterwave to be an engine of growth for the African continent. He wanted his company to give back.
The drive to improve his homeland proved essential. It sustained him through difficult times, late nights, and setbacks. Now, it helps provide perspective and gives Flutterwave a secondary purpose — something he says is essential for any founder.
“When we were starting, I didn’t get that much help, literally. We had to fund ourselves at the beginning with family money, with personal money. We all had to invest, bring our network to the table to raise capital for Flutterwave at the beginning,” he says.
“So I think not everybody has that privilege that we had when we were starting Flutterwave. So basically helping other folks to get started is a big deal, because we see the ecosystem. I believe in the potential of African technology. I see what we’re building. The best engineers are in Africa. I see it every day. The best product guys are in Africa. I see it every day. So it’s really just putting your money where your mouth is. That’s the way I see it.”
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