The African Startup Teardown Podcast

In this episode, we had Tayo Oviosu, the CEO of Paga, who broke down the business behind the fintech company. We discussed Paga's progress over the years, from simplifying payments to digitizing cash transactions and providing financial services to everyday people. We also talked about Paga's go-to-market strategy in Nigeria, which combines offline and online channels. Tayo shared some interesting facts and figures about Paga, including reaching ₦1 trillion annual total processed value (TPV) for the first time in 2021, with plans to double that by 2023. He also shared valuable lessons learned from more than a decade of running a business and building financial products. Don't forget to share this episode with your friends and colleagues. Subscribe to our newsletter, and follow us on Twitter @TeardownPodcast for more insightful takes and stories. Timestamp 00:00 - 00:37 Intro 00:38 - 04:00 Stories from the trenches 04:01 - 05:15 Importance of good relationship with coworkers 05:16 - 08:09 What is Paga and how has it evolved over the years 08:10 - 15:00 What the first launch with Paga was like 15:01 - 17:47 How frequently Paga released products/pushed things to production 17:48 - 18:59 Building Micro-Services 19:00 - 22:55 Evolution of business model 22:56 - 28:50 Competitors and their adoption of the agency banking model 28:51 - 31:00 Processing 7 Trillion Naira in a year 31:01 - 32:45 How much margin they had to reduce for growth 32:46 - 34:38 Technology Inflection Point that unleashed the barrage of retail agency banking 34:39 - 39:11 Can the market support all the businesses that leverage retail agency banking 39:12 - 42:05 How to get started with a retail agency banking 42:06 - 42:45 Could an agency banking be built using Paga 42:46 - 44:23 Customer Acquisition Cost and agent commission 44:24 - 45:15 At what point will an idiot be able to run Paga 45:16 - 45:55 Outro

Welcome to this episode of the African Startup Teardown Podcast, where we have VytautasPaukstys, the CEO of Eskimi, breaking down the business behind the ad tech platform. We start by discussing the evolution of Eskimi from its early days as a social media company to its foray into payments, ad tech, and every other business. Vytautas takes us through each era of product development and businesses, including the chat app, social site, payments, and ad tech platform. We also discuss the components needed to create a successful social media product back then, and how that has changed compared to building a successful social media app now. For our listeners who are building consumer products, Vytautas shares some of the experiments he tried to increase user growth and retention, including what worked and what spectacularly failed.   Vytautas also shares his insights on the margins of digital ads and the economics of running a DSP.   Don’t forget to subscribe and share the podcast with your friends and colleagues. Follow us on Twitter @TeardownPodcast and sign up for our newsletter to stay up-to-date on the latest insights and stories from successful African entrepreneurs.  

In this episode, the CEO and co-founder of Identity Pass, Lanre Ogungbe, shares the story behind the company and its mission to provide a world-class compliance and security infrastructure for Africa. The company offers a variety of products, including biometric authentication, data and document verification, and compliance and data security solutions. With over 1 million verifications processed since launch, Identity Pass charges between 10 and 20 cents per verification based on the number of endpoints a business connects to. Yemi discusses with Lanre about the differentiation of Identity Pass from other players in the AML/KYC compliance space, the challenges of acquiring business customers, and the potential for future growth and expansion. Subscribe to our podcast and share it with your friends and colleagues to stay up-to-date on the latest insights and stories from successful African entrepreneurs. Timestamp 00:00 - Intro 00:31 - Story from the Trenches 04:41 - What is Identity Pass? 07:11 - Innovations enabled by products Identity Pass offers 10:16 - Why does identity verification have so many players 15:51 - Dynamics within the the industry that allows for multiple companies 20:51 - Opportunities for players in the industry to share APIs 23:56 - How would a customer know Identity Pass is the right one for them 27:31 - How does wide range of business product create better outcomes for Identity Pass 32:15 - Interesting stats worth knowing 36:06 - Components that had to be put together to make Identity Pass work 41:30 - How much Identity Pass makes per business acquired 46:06 - Business Margin for Identity Pass 52:51 - What a typical sales cycle looks like 55:06 - How Identity Pass got it's first customer 56:56 - Stereotyped faced being seen as Gen Z 59:56 - Bull Case for Identity Pass 1:02:16 - Outro

On this episode, we had a stimulating discussion with Olajumoke Kujero, Country Manager for ShopEx. Olajumoke makes a case for ShopEx business model and how it compares to other traditional e-commerce platforms. She also shares her personal growth experiences having worked at Jumia and other leading Startups. To ensure you don’t miss any episodes, or updates, and for additional information on the hosts, follow @teardownpodcast on Twitter. If you would like to get all the insider’s gist first, subscribe to our newsletter here: [africanstartupteardownpod.substack.com](http://africanstartupteardownpod.substack.com/) Please leave a review, comment, share, and like whenever you listen. We want to hear from you and appreciate your feedback. Better ratings mean more people get to listen to the show, and it helps us grow. Timestamp 00:00 – intro 00:30 – Elevator Pitch for Shopex 02:40 – Stories from the trenches 09:20 – Why does Tele-shopping matter in this age of online shopping 18:50 – Conversion rate of Tele-shopping/Tele-sales 21:50- How Shopex gets customers to make up their minds quickly and get potential customers who would have missed the airing of the ad on TV 27:01 – Shopex’s business model/Economics behind business model 30:50 – Shopex’s gross margin 31:57 – Shopex’s customer acquisition cost, marketing cost and retention 37:31 – Shopex’s margin performance of TV ad spend 40:51 – TV ads compared to other digital channels 46:01 – Lessons from running just TV ads 50:30 – Why manufacturers work with Shopex 53:41 – Difference in purchasing behaviors between users of Shopex and Jumia 59:12 – How long and average Tele-cell call lasts 1:00:37 – How could Shopex double or triple revenue in the next year 1:07:06 – How soon can Shopex run on autopilot 1:11:07 – Outro

On this episode, we had a great time talking to John Colson, CMO of Yellow Card. John shares his personal life stories and lessons on building and growing Yellow Card to expand to 16 countries. He explained how the business operates, acquires and retains customers, and the outlook for the future. To ensure you don’t miss any episodes, or updates, and for additional information on the hosts, follow @teardownpodcast on Twitter. If you would like to get all the insider’s gist first, subscribe to our newsletter here: [africanstartupteardownpod.substack.com](http://africanstartupteardownpod.substack.com/) Please leave a review, comment, share, and like whenever you listen. We want to hear from you and appreciate your feedback. Better ratings mean more people get to listen to the show, and it helps us grow. *Timestamp* 00:00 – 00:39 – Intro 00:39 – 08:17 – Yellow Card early days/ How John joined Yellow Card. 08:17 – 10:26 – Breadth of Yellow Card products 10:26 – 12:00 – Yellow Card Customer pitch 12:00 – 18:09 – Yellow Card expansion 18:09 – 22:13 – How Yellow Card Scales 22:13 – 29:07 – Yellow Card Customer Acquisition Strategy 29:07 – 34:11 – Yellow Card Customer Acquisition philosophy 34:11 – 40:21 – Growth lesson 40:21 – 44:35 – Customer Relations 44:35 – 47:26 – Naira liquidity problem 47:26 – 50:42 – Yellow Card Bull case 50:42 – 53:01 – Yellow Card Resilience 53:01 – 58:30 – John’s Yellow Card stories/advice. 58:30 – 59:42 – Final words/Outro.

From giving loans to Nigerians at a low-interest rate to building a digital bank that offers free transfers, this episode tears down another Fintech company - Carbon. Yemi is joined by the CEO & Co-founder of Carbon; Chijioke Dozie to share the story so far. Chijioke shares his thought on Fintech, how Carbon evolved over the years, how they acquire/retain customers, and how they make money from offering financial services. Follow @teardownpodcast on Twitter to be the first to know about our new episodes and updates. If you would like to get all the insider’s gist first, subscribe to our newsletter here: [africanstartupteardownpod.substack.com](http://africanstartupteardownpod.substack.com/) Please leave a 5-star review, comment, share, and like whenever you listen. We want to hear from you and appreciate your feedback. Better ratings mean more people get to listen to the show, and it helps us grow. Timestamp 00:00 - 01:24 -  Intro 01:25 - 10:47 - How Carbon evolved over the years 10:48 - 13:59 - Carbon products and revenue 14:00 - 16:56 - How customers think about fees  16:57 - 19:02 - Carbon transaction numbers and revenue  19:03 - 28:31 - The boom of digital banks 28:32 - 47:23 - Economics of a Carbon user 47:24 - 49:07 - Key metrics for Carbon 49:08 - 52:23 - Lessons learned from building Carbon 52:23 - 55:49 - The future of Carbon 55:49 - 57:00 -  Final words/Outro

From Africans gaming referral programs to solving cross-border transfer problems in Africa, this episode tears down a Fintech company - Eversend. Yemi is joined by the CEO & Co-founder of Eversend - Stone Atwine to explain what the business does and how it operates.  Stone shares his thought on Fintech generally, how Eversend started, their value proposition to customers, and how they got to process $240,000,000+ transaction within 3 years.  To ensure you don’t miss any episode, updates, and for additional information on the hosts, follow @teardownpodcast on Twitter. If you would like to get all the insider’s gist first, subscribe to our newsletter here: [africanstartupteardownpod.substack.com](http://africanstartupteardownpod.substack.com/) Please leave a review, comment, share, and like whenever you listen. We want to hear from you and appreciate your feedback. Better ratings mean more people get to listen to the show, and it helps us grow.  Timestamp 00:00 - 01:00 - Intro 01:00 - 02:43 - What is Eversend 02:43 - 05:23 - Bundling and unbundling of financial services 05:23 - 09:24 - Building a differentiated product from others 09:24 - 13:00 -  How Eversend started 13:00 - 17:12 -  Eversend unique selling point 17:12 - 23:12 -  Eversend pricing and fees 23:12 - 28:21 - Eversend growth in transaction volume 28:21 - 31:58 -  Fintech customer LTV 31:58 - 39:30 - Eversend acquisition strategy  39:30 -  48:00 - Lessons learned from building Eversend 48:00 - 51:03 - Eversend market expansion 51:03 - 54:20 Eversend competition 54:20 - 56:44 - Bull and bear case for Eversend 56:44 - 60:00 - Outro

In this episode, your favorite hosts, Yemi and Nnamdi, were joined by the General Manager, Nigeria of M-Kopa Babajide Duroshola. Babajide talks about how M-Kopa helps the underbanked in 4 African countries access credit facilities with no collateral. He explained how the business operates, acquire customers, and the growth journey so far. To ensure you don’t miss any episodes, or updates, and for additional information on the hosts, follow @teardownpodcast on Twitter. If you would like to get all the insider’s gist first, subscribe to our newsletter here: [africanstartupteardownpod.substack.com](http://africanstartupteardownpod.substack.com/) Please leave a review, comment, share, and like whenever you listen. We want to hear from you and appreciate your feedback. Better ratings mean more people get to listen to the show, and it helps us grow. SHOWNOTES 0:00 - Intro 2:10 - Who is Babajide Duroshola 4:08 - What is M-Kopa 10:36 - How M-Kopa handles price inflation 13:15 - M-Kopa unique value proposition 16:44 - How M-Kopa achieve PAYG payment 20:30 - How M-Kopa acquires customer 29:47 - M-Kopa growth so far 37:07 - What assumptions is M-Kopa built on 39:40 - How M-Kopa retains customers 44:05 - Outro

In this episode, your favorite hosts, Yemi and Nnamdi, were joined by the VP, Global Marketing for Chipper Cash, Hasan Luongo.  Hasan talks about how he joined Chipper Cash, how Chipper has evolved over the years, how they were able to sign one of the biggest afrobeat artists as a partner and ambassador, including what the future looks like for Chipper Cash. To ensure you don’t miss any episode of our release and for additional information on the hosts, follow @teardownpodcast on Twitter. If you would like to get all the insider’s gist first, subscribe to our newsletter here: africanstartupteardownpod.substack.com Please leave a review, comment, share, and like whenever you listen. We want to hear from you and appreciate your feedback. Better ratings mean more people get to listen to the show, and it helps us grow. CREDITS: Oluwapelumi Kunuyi - Researcher SHOWNOTES 0.00 Introduction 0.34 How Hasan joined Chipper Cash 1.51 What is Chipper Cash 2.54 Chipper Cash and products rollout 4.45 Chipper Cash and competition 6.14 How Chipper Cash makes money 11.42 Chipper Cash and acquisition 16.34 Chipper Cash and brand attribution 17.55 Chipper Cash and retention 20.58 Chipper Cash’s products as it relates to business economics 22.47 How Chipper Cash decides to add more products 24.00 Back story to signing Burna boy 28.44 What the future is for Chipper Cash 30.51 Chipper Cash and its use cases 33.17 What it took for Chipper to become a unicorn 34.34 Chipper Cash payment network effects 35.40 How soon Chipper Cash can run on autopilot 38.21 Outro

In this episode, your favorite hosts Yemi and Nnamdi were joined by MAX’s CFO, Guy-Bertrand Njoya. Guy talks about the growth process, challenges, and what the startup is doing to build a resilient transport business. To stay in tune with all episode releases and additional information about the hosts, follow @teardownpodcast on Twitter. If you’ll like to get the insider's gist, subscribe to our newsletter here: https://substack.com/profile/24047883-african-startup-teardown-pod  Please leave a review, comment share, and like wherever you listen to podcasts. We want to hear from you and appreciate your feedback. Better ratings mean more people get to listen to the show and it helps us grow. 0:00 - Introduction 5:00 - What is MAX 18:10 - How MAX makes money 22:10 - MAX business model 25:10 - MAX and Competition 29:21 - MAX Future Plan/Features 34:12 - MAX and electric cars 42:37 - MAX and Retention 45:52 - MAX and User Acquisition 46:38 - MAX and Resilience 49:32 - MAX and Future Business Growth 52:25 - Outro

Yemi shares his idea about a business he would love to build, how he will go about it and what stopped him from doing it. He hopes someone gets to do it after listening to this episode. To stay in tune with all episode releases and additional information about the hosts, follow @teardownpodcast on Twitter. If you’ll like to get the insider's gist, subscribe to our newsletter here: https://substack.com/profile/24047883-african-startup-teardown-pod  Please leave a review, comment share, and like wherever you listen to podcasts. We want to hear from you and appreciate your feedback. Better ratings mean more people get to listen to the show and it helps us grow. [0:00] Intro [2:20] The business idea [14:30] Is it really marketplace? [18:36] Data and integration [29:12] Business model fit [35:25] Go to market [45:43] Channels of acquisition [55:00] Regulatory concerns [57:12] Acquisition and Retention [1:07:15] Why didn't you build it [1:13:55] Brand name

In this episode, Yemi and Nnamdi talk about the sports prediction market, how they make money, grow, and what is the end game for them.  To stay in tune with all episode releases and additional information about the hosts, follow @teardownpodcast on Twitter. If you’ll like to get the insider's gist, subscribe to our newsletter here: https://substack.com/profile/24047883-african-startup-teardown-pod Please leave a review, comment share, and like wherever you listen to podcasts. We want to hear from you and appreciate your feedback. Better ratings mean more people get to listen to the show and it helps us grow. Follow The Time Stamps  [0:00] Intro [3:05] Topic of discussion [5:56] How they acquire customers [13:50] Customer activation [23:18] How they retain their customers [27:25] How they make money [35:00] Referral [37:03] How much they make in a month [42:40] Thoughts on the market growth [43:47] Product-market fit [45:41] Product channel fit [46:47] Model market fit [50:11] Channel model fit [51:22] Outro

Many conversations around Jumia focus on why eCommerce is hard or how it's hard to do deliveries in Nigeria, but they are often surface-level analyses of Jumia's opportunity. We go in deeper and cover all of Jumia. How they make money, how they think about launching businesses, their growth prospect, and their strategic direction. This is an episode you will love. Plus the audio on this is the best so far. You will love it!

We recorded this episode back in April 2021 and we discussed how we would think about growth for some of the early stage/series A VC-funded startups in Nigeria. We talked about Stears, EdenLife, Moove, Rise, and a lot of others.  This episode is great in understanding how to think of user acquisition. 

We discuss why they are so many property listing websites in Africa. We reversed engineered how the biggest players in the space acquire renters and estate agents and how property listing sites think about retention and monetization. If you have ever wanted to start a marketplace or listing site, this is a must-listen.

In this episode we reverse engineer how Jiji.ng grows and answer the question "Can they can become a $10m revenue company?". We go over their growth framework and share what we have discovered