Samson Aligba

Techies Worth Celebrating: Shola Akinlade and Ezra Olubi - Paystack to the world! Welcome to another exciting and interesting episode of Techies Worth Celebrating. Today, we're sharing the incredible story of two friends who saw a big problem and decided to fix it with brilliant technology. Meet Shola Akinlade and Ezra Olubi, the co-founders of Paystack. They are both graduates of Babcock University in Ogun State, Nigeria. They both studied Computer Science and met during their time there. In fact, they were coursemates and worked on a project together during their final year, which laid the foundation for their future partnership. This shared background and experience in a technical field were crucial to them building Paystack. They noticed a huge headache for businesses and people in Nigeria: making and receiving payments online was a nightmare! It was complicated, slow, and often unreliable. Imagine trying to buy something online, and the payment just wouldn't go through, or a business trying to get paid by customers all over the world, but the process was too difficult. They realized this wasn't just a small issue; it was holding back businesses and making life harder for everyone. So, instead of complaining about it, they decided to build a solution. Starting Paystack was not easy. They faced many of the usual challenges that come with building a new company in Nigeria: - Trust and Skepticism: People were used to traditional banking and cash. Convincing businesses to trust a new online payment system took a lot of effort and proof that it was secure and reliable. - Technical Hurdles: They had to build a robust system that could handle payments from different banks and cards. - Finding Support: Getting the initial funding and belief in their vision was tough, just like for many startups. But Shola and Ezra didn't give up. They focused on two key things: making their product excellent and making it super easy to use. They designed Paystack so that businesses could easily accept payments from customers anywhere in the world, and customers could pay with just a few clicks. Their hard work paid off in a big way. Paystack became so good that it caught the attention of the world. They were the first Nigerian company to be accepted into Y Combinator, a super famous program in Silicon Valley that helps startups grow. In 2020, Stripe, one of the biggest payment companies in the world, bought Paystack for over $200 million! This wasn't just a win for Shola and Ezra; it was a huge moment for the entire Nigerian tech community. It showed the world that amazing tech solutions can come out of Africa and compete on a global stage. Shola Akinlade and Ezra Olubi's story offers powerful lessons for anyone looking to make an impact: - Solve a Real Problem - Focus on Excellence - Don't Give Up on Your Vision - Building Value Leads to Big Rewards - You Can Compete Globally from Anywhere They are truly worth celebrating!

7

2 Comments

One of my aunties has been in the same ajo group for over 15 years. Every Friday, without fail, they meet, contribute money, gossip a bit (of course), and most importantly, make sure nobody defaults on their turn. It’s a community built on trust, accountability, and shared goals and it works especially for people who don't feel satisfied by traditional banks. But it’s also a community vulnerable to chaos and informal lenders in this space need order, visibility, and a bit more control. So, Lendsqr built its Groups feature to bridge that exact gap between the informal systems people rely on and the formal lending tools lenders need. With Groups, lenders can create safe spaces for their customers just like ajo, esusu, or cooperatives, but fully digital. You can group people based on communities, savings goals, repayment behavior, or anything else you like. You decide who gets in, whether they can invite others, what products they see, and even if outsiders can view the group at all. You can choose whether the group is public or private, limit the number of members, and even allow members to invite others. It’s flexible enough to fit any community, whether it’s a group of traders, a school staff association, or friends pooling funds for detty December. And when new members join, you can set a custom welcome message to guide them, just like your aunty would do in real life. Only this time, no need for paper records or WhatsApp group drama. Now, I know what you’re thinking…“Can’t I do all these things on WhatsApp already?” Yes, you can run a group, add members, even send voice notes and set reminders. But WhatsApp doesn’t give you direct debit. It doesn’t give you repayment tracking, automated interest calculation, credit scoring, KYC, or a clean audit trail in case someone ghosts you with your money. WhatsApp doesn’t show you who’s likely to default before they do. It doesn’t alert you when someone in the group misses a repayment. It doesn’t integrate your group with real loan products, tied to real bank accounts, backed by real recovery tools. Should I go on?

49

I caught ✨Heidi Patmore on a Seamless Africa panel about “Climatising to Change & Harnessing Stablecoins and CBDCs to Transform Africa’s Banking Economy.” One thing she said really struck me: when the fintech she works for first launched their solution, it was all about the tech…Bitcoin. But adoption flopped. Why? Because users didn’t care about the rails; they cared about the outcome. Can I send, receive, and store money faster and for cheaper? That’s what mattered. It reminded me how often we, as professionals, lead with technology instead of the actual problem. We throw the whole kitchen sink at users, exposing them to complexity they don’t need. The truth is, most problems are simple at their core. The job isn’t to showcase the machinery, it’s to solve the user’s problem in the simplest way possible. Thanks to Heidi and the Seamless Africa panel for the reminder: users ultimately don’t care about your rails and that cool new tech thingy, they just care that it gets the job done and then they go about their day! It’s ultimately not about you. It’s about the user.

22

3 Comments

Know your audience. Design for them. A pension platform targeting Nigerians aged 40 to 65 launched with a 23MB homepage filled with autoplay videos, custom fonts, and heavy scripts. On networks like MTN and Glo, it took 25 seconds to load. Most users never even saw it. After optimizing the site using lightweight HTML, compressed assets, and simplified content, they brought it down to 900KB. The result? Sign-ups tripled. The lesson? Speed isn’t just about performance. It’s about trust, accessibility, and respecting the reality your users live in.

21

4 Comments

The big shift in user experience design is happening silently, moving from traditional UX to AI experience design (AIX). This transformation makes conversation design a very important skill set. I felt liberated while designing the http://Ant.africa Voice Banking app, as if I had been released from 17 years of captivity. The experience is starkly different: no longer are we bogged down by complex navigation and multiple screens that take forever to find information; instead, we now have a single, unified interface that accomplishes tasks 7x faster. User interface design is on the brink of a revolution that will change the landscape forever. We have a new voice model on the Ant app, and it's huge. releasing in a few days.

14

4 Comments

Calling on all entrepreneurs from South Africa, Kenya, Namibia & Zambia! Discover how to leverage e-commerce, digital payments, and seamless cross-border processes to reach new markets across Africa. Equip yourself with the tools, insights, and confidence to compete, grow, and thrive in Africa’s single digital marketplace. The AfCFTA Secretariat is partnering with Google Hustle Academy to equip thousands of entrepreneurs with practical tools to scale, compete, and trade across borders under the AfCFTA. This training forms part of the AfCFTA Digital Inclusion & Entrepreneurship Programme, designed to close the digital skills gap and unlock new growth opportunities for African businesses. It marks a powerful step toward building a more connected, digital-ready SME ecosystem across Africa, and we’re excited to help shape that future. Training will be delivered virtually to targeted countries including Angola, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, and Zambia. If your country is not on the list this time, don't worry, it will be on the subsequent cycles. Learn more and join in: https://lnkd.in/dWHbcPFR #DigitalSkills #SMEs #GoogleHustleAcademy #AfCFTA #DigitalTrade

262

20 Comments

🎥 Watch the full conversation on YouTube here: https://lnkd.in/ekUyTMGK How do you design for the "invisible"? When your product isn't a flashy consumer app, but the complex APIs and dashboards powering Africa’s financial infrastructure, the rules of design change completely. We are excited to release the full-length conversation from Session 4, featuring Victor Enesi (Design Manager, Reliance Health) and Emmanuel Michael (Head of Design, Multigate). In this deep-dive episode, they move beyond aesthetics to discuss the high-stakes reality of leading design in the B2B and Fintech space. Key highlights from their conversation include: • The Multigate Mandate: Why designing for financial infrastructure requires a unique intersection of product, engineering, and business strategy. • Philosophy over Pixels: Why "Clarity over Cleverness" and "Trust through Transparency" are non-negotiable when building for security and scale. • The Leadership Shift: Emmanuel shares his personal journey from hands-on designer to manager—what he had to let go of and the mindset shift required to lead teams. • Community & Ecosystem: A critical look at the gaps in African design talent and how we can bridge them through technical empathy and business acumen. • Thriving in the Age of AI: Practical advice for junior designers feeling anxious about the evolving market. This session is a masterclass for anyone looking to understand the "Art of Management" and the future of the African design ecosystem. 🎥 Watch the full conversation on YouTube here: https://lnkd.in/ekUyTMGK

51

3 Comments

Had an interesting conversation on community management with Chizurum Egwunwankwo, a developer community manager at Interswitch. It's hard choosing my favourite(why communities fail or how to believe in the work you're doing). So I tried to condense my favourite parts of the conversation into 7 points. 1️⃣ A job description is exactly what it is: a job description. When the JD for a "community manager" requires you to run social media, manage influencers, and handle customer support, that's not a community role. It tells you how little that company understands about what they're trying to build. 2️⃣Before you start a community, answer one question: why? There's actually a framework for this, the SPACES model by David Spinks. It outlines six reasons a company might build a community: Support, Product, Acquisition, Content, Engagement, and Success. Your reason influences everything you do. Start with one. You can add layers later. 3️⃣ Community takes time, and most companies don't give it that. You're building trust and loyalty. It's not something you achieve in two months or three months. It builds up; it compounds. But most companies establish a community and expect it to pick up immediately. When that doesn't happen, the pressure mounts. And the next thing you hear is "we're not seeing what you're doing." They're not seeing it because they're not giving it enough time to become visible. 4️⃣ Your metrics should match your community goal. If you built a community for support, measure how many issues members helped each other resolve. If you built for engagement, track whether lurkers are becoming participants. Random metrics will not support growth. 5️⃣ When members form relationships outside your platform, that's a win. Most community managers panic when members move off-platform. Chizurum sees it differently. If your members are building relationships because of your community, your community is doing exactly what it should do. 6️⃣ Feeling bad about your results is not the same as doing something about them. There's a version of "I'm not doing enough" that's like a loop. Eg, feel bad, feel bad again and again. It's not about how bad you feel. It's what you're willing to try next. 7️⃣ "Separate your emotions from your work" is advice for people who don't care about their work. If your work matters to you, your emotions are already in it. That's not a weakness. In fact, it shows that you care. It's okay to feel this range of emotions. But show up and do the work anyway. Which of these points resonated with you? p.s. Listen to the full conversation at The EarlyStage Marketer Podcast. It's available wherever you get your podcast. Link in the comments!

29

5 Comments

Stop building for users. Start building for communities. In the world of Product Management, we are taught to obsess over the "Individual User." But after more than a decade of pushing big impact fintech solutions into the industry and recently leading the PMO at Baobab Microfinance Bank, I’ve realized that the most significant gaps in our society aren't just individual inconveniences. They are systemic failures which many of my industry colleagues have started to realize. There is a massive gap where traditional governance has struggled to provide infrastructure, clarity, and trust. I believe the next frontier of Fintech, AI, and Robotics isn't just about making a "better app." It’s about building Community Infrastructure. When we shift our focus from a single "user" to a "community," our priorities change: • From UX to Trust Architecture: It’s not just about a pretty button. It’s about a transparent ledger where everyone knows where the resources are. • From Features to Clarity: Building products that act as a "source of truth" when public systems are opaque. • From Retention to Empowerment: Success isn't just "time spent in app," but how much the community built outside of it. At Baobab, I see how financial rigor transforms lives. Now, I’m looking at how we use technology to scale that trust, filling the gaps that governments haven't been able to close. The future of PM is about building the digital glue that holds society together. Who else is moving from "User Centric" to "Community First"? Let’s discuss in the comments. 👇 #ProductManagement #Fintech #BaobabMicrofinance #CommunityBuilding #Strategy #Transparency #PMO

39

I'm a product designer working in the digital finance space, and I think it's time we redesigned trust. Fraudsters are now using MTN's own OTP system against users, unfortunately. Mobile money fraud is rising, and the very system put in place to prevent it isn’t really helping. I noticed that the OTP from MTN ends with a static reference code like "AB3C124" — which never changes. I guess it’s part of MTN’s DLT, built to ensure trust and reduce spam. But fraudsters are using that to manipulate people. They say, “We’ve sent you a code ending with AB3C124. Share it with us so we can verify your account.” And it works — because the static reference code makes the scam feel real. It matches what users expect. The system meant to enforce trust is now fueling social engineering. It’s time we moved from compliance-driven messaging to fraud-resistant experiences. MTN should adopt a dynamic reference code that changes with every OTP. That way, it becomes impossible for fraudsters to guess or reference it ahead of time, even if they’ve memorized the SMS template pattern. If you work in telco, product, or regulation, let’s rethink how we design trust in high-risk environments. Regulations alone don’t protect people — context and adaptability do. My 20 pesewas 😊

14

Over the weekend, I recorded and submitted my video for INSEAD AI Venture Lab Founder Sprint VC Demo Week. In it, I introduced what we’re building at Remllo, an AI-native compliance platform helping African businesses stay on top of regulatory obligations. Today, navigating compliance across Africa is messy, slow, and unclear. Most tools in the market are built for US and EU frameworks and don’t reflect local realities. Remllo changes that. We use AI to tell businesses what rules apply to them, how to comply, and give them one place to track and store everything. When regulations change, we notify them in real time. When they expand to new countries, we help them understand what’s required instantly. Now is the right time. Regulation is tightening across Africa. Data protection laws are being enforced. Fintech is growing fast. But local tools to support this shift haven’t caught up. With Remllo, we believe AI can close that gap. We’ve integrated real regulatory data and built our MVP from scratch. Next, we’re preparing for GTM, piloting with early users, and planning our raise to scale infrastructure, hire strategic roles, and deepen our coverage across markets. I’ve spent years helping other founders build, now we are building Remllo with lessons learned from the frontlines. This is not just another SaaS tool. It’s compliance infrastructure for the African digital economy. #AI #Compliance #Africa #Remllo #Startups #INSEAD #RegTech #INSEADAIVENTURELAB #BuildInPublic

16

1 Comment

One fallacy of this ecosystem, especially in Nigeria, is the base assumption that linear inputs yield linear outputs. This seldom happens. Products have now become fanfare, rather than a job to be done. Iterative development and purpose-driven refinements have been replaced with grandiose tweaks and useless AI integrations. You must be careful. You must be thoughtful. Sometimes, all you need is a minor tweak or a slight change in perspective, and your product becomes a hit. Tweak -> Measure -> Learn

58

2 Comments