July 2018

JULY 

2018 

YOUTH EMPOWERMENT MAGAZINE 

FREE WITH BUSINESS DAY LAST FRIDAY OF THE MONTH

From Our Guest Editor 

//TECH:REVOLUTION 

T 

here’s obviously a tech renaissance going on in the world right now and 

Nigeria has not been spared from this prevalent wave. At quite a fast pace, 

technology is getting woven into modern culture and driving life as we 

know it. 

From new media to artificial intelligence, virtual learning, machine learning, 

block-chain technology to e-commerce ... and yes, self-driving cars, technology 

is crossing into the mainstream now. 

With this edition, we have engaged tech minds in order to explore the countless 

arrays of opportunities and possibilities within the industry, while showcasing 

their contributions to the tech space. You also get to see some of the people 

behind the scenes and learn about their growth processes. 

We have also added insightful contributions from industry leaders to cover some 

of the nuances worth considering by anyone looking to go into the technology 

business. 

Without holding back, we have taken time to address issues of tech from 

different aspects ranging from the legal, personal development and approach 

to the market. 

Whether you are a casual observer, a tech entrepreneur or someone looking to 

get into this space, this is an edition you’d definitely find as a good reference for 

your present and future review. 

Let’s go! 

Ope Adeoye 

Guest Editor 

Published By 

Editor 

Anthony Osae-Brown 

Head of Strategy & Planning 

Bankole Jamgbadi 

New Media Manager 

Uchenna Okafor 

Head of Operations 

Fabian Akagha 

Managing Editor 

Lanre Solarin 

Marketing and Communications 

Adeola Adenugba 

Head of Advertising & Sales 

Kola Garuba 

Chief People Officer 

Lehlé Baldé 

Design 

Sodeinde Oladapo 

Publisher 

Frank Aigbogun 

Head of Business Development & 

Client Services 

Ikenna Onuorah 

Head of Marketing 

Akintunde Marinho 

Head of Business & Growth 

Oghenevwoke Ighure 

Guest Editor 

Ope Adeoye 

Creative Director 

Segun Adekoye 

Art director 

Kola Oshalusi 

Advertising 

Linda Ochugbua 

Advert Manager 

Adeola Ajewole 

Ass. Managing Editor 

Ayandola Ayanleke 

Specialist Editor 

Lucy Onuorah 

Chief Communications Officer 

Janet Benson Amarhavwie 

Empowerment Director 

Jeremy Oparah 

Growth and Partnerships 

Emeka Iwu 

In-house Photographer 

James Otihi 

IT Director 

Michael Aworoghene 

Address: 

Enquiries: 

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+2348123183458, +2347030951270, +2348182799268 

Email: info@thesparkng.com 

Website: www.thesparkng.com Social media: @thesparkng

Contributors 

Ruth Owojaiye 

Ruth Owojaiye is a tax and regulatory expert who worked in KPMG for 

six years. She had her first degree at the University of Ilorin and 

proceeded to the Nigerian Law School in Abuja where she was called 

to bar. She began her professional career with a brief stint working as 

a lawyer before focusing on taxation and regulation. Ruth Owojaiye is 

an Associate Member, Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria and 

now works at Heineken Nigeria as Tax Manager. She is married with 

children and lives in Lagos. 

Stephanie Obi 

Stephanie Obi is the Amazon Bestselling author of the book, 

“Knowledge is the New Gold” and is also the founder of an EdTech 

Startup, Trayny, which is an online educational platform that creates 

and manages online courses from Africa’s most trusted leaders. Given 

her renowned expertise with online courses, she now helps other 

people to create, launch and sell their own online courses. She shares 

business lessons weekly at www.stephanieobi.com 

Harry Tomi Davies 

Harry Tomi Davies (TD) is “Collaborator-in-Chief” of technology 

services company, TechnoVision which advises clients on technologyled 

transformation and early stage entrepreneurship in Africa.TD is a 

seasoned technology strategist and project development expert with 

significant market intelligence, research and project management 

capabilities. Recognized for consistent success in building teams, 

he specializes in developing cost-effective approaches that use 

technology to streamline corporate processes and enhance 

operational performance. He has held a variety of leadership roles 

with global brands like Ernst & Young, Marks & Spencer, Elf Aquitaine, 

Sapient and the One Laptop Per Child project. Over the last decade 

TD has nurtured a growing portfolio of Africa-based tech-enabled 

early stage ventures as a business angel. He is a co-founder of the 

Lagos Angel Network (LAN) and President of the African Business 

Angel Network (ABAN). 

Kemi Onabanjo 

Kemi Onabanjo is an Associate Partner with one of the leading global 

management consulting firms (McKinsey & Company). Prior to joining 

McKinsey, Kemi worked with Zenith Bank and Ericsson in Nigeria in 

various roles. She is a proud alumnus of Covenant University with a 

B.Sc. in Computer Science and she also holds an MBA from INSEAD 

in France, where she was elected valedictorian for over 490 of her 

classmates in the graduating class of 2016. Kemi is a lover of theatre 

and actively explores the world through travel (she has visited 

37 countries to date). She is a blogger and documents her travel 

adventures, experiences, lessons learned and other musings at www. 

kemionabanjo.com 

Ayobami Adisa 

Ayobami Adisa is an astute legal practitioner skilled in administering 

the rights and responsibilities of corporations and individuals, 

through the strategic design and tactical implementation of legal 

instruments; over 9 years of accomplishments across aviation, 

financial services, oil and gas, and telecommunications industries. 

Olu Ogunlela 

Olu Ogunlela is a Peak Performance Consultant and the Founder of 

Liferithms, a data driven human capacity development company 

dedicated to improving workforce productivity without sacrificing 

health and wellbeing. He is also the inventor of Kairos Krunch, an 

intelligent calendar which provides its users with a peak performance 

score and weekly insights into how to increase productive use of time 

while experiencing work-life balance. Before Liferithms, Olu was a 

renewable energy professional with 7 years’ experience and he was 

previously part of Team Nigeria as a professional cyclist. 

Damilola Oyedele 

Dami Oyedele works as a product manager at a leading technology 

company. She has a dual MBA/ MPP from the University of Chicago 

Booth School of Business and Harris School of Public Policy. She holds 

a BSc in Economics from Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria. Prior 

to postgraduate studies, Dami worked in the management consulting 

practice of KPMG Nigeria, and also as the inaugural editor of YNaija. 

com. Given her intersectional background, Dami is passionate about 

finding new ways in which technology can be harnessed to create 

products and services that improve business and social outcomes. 

She served as a technology career advisor at Chicago Booth and still 

loves helping people advance their careers. 

Segun Adekoye 

Segun Adekoye is a writer of poems, short stories and feature stories. 

A digital marketing strategist, lifestyle and technology enthusiast, 

trained at the New York Film Academy, Harvard Business School and 

Kellogg School of Management. His write-ups have been featured 

on BBC UK, CP Africa, YNaija, 360nobs, naijaPOSE and Nairobi-based 

technology journals. 

Frank Eleanya 

Frank Eleanya is the Online News Editor for BusinessDay, Nigeria’s 

leading finance and market intelligence news report. Frank also 

writes about tech innovations in Africa and Cryptocurrencies on 

BusinessDay. He is a graduate of History and Strategic Studies from 

the University of Lagos and has previously worked as a Digital 

Correspondent at Business Day and as a Managing Partner at FEED 

Resources Center, a media centric company that provides excellent 

creative writing and branding innovations. 

Damilola Oyewusi 

Damilola Oyewusi is a Content and Digital Marketing Strategist 

working in the Social Innovation sector. She uses the power 

of strategic content and the dynamic nature of marketing 

communications to influence and amplify life-changing innovation 

solutions to social problems. 

Justin Irabor 

Justin Irabor is an illustrator, artist and character designer who lives in the delightfully teeth-jarring city of Lagos, where he spends an unhealthy amount of time 

making terrible drawings [and, by sheer luck, occasionally good ones]. While he does not have an art degree, he has spent enough time on YouTube tutorials to be 

considered at least semi-educated in the dark arts of…the arts. Apart from his personal projects, he has done illustrations for such fine clients and people like Jumia 

Food, Custodian PLC, Farafina, Ouida books, Purit and South Africa’s 10 and 5. He has had one art exhibit under his belt - at the Nigerian Satire Festival in Abuja, 

Nigeria, in 2017 - and liked the experience enough to not wince at the idea of future exhibitions. He makes the occasionally amusing comic about Nigerian life on 

Obaranda.com, and hopes to one day publish a graphic novel.” 

Copyright © 2018 The Spark. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or be transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or 

mechanical, without prior permission of The Spark. 

We do not endorse any product or service mentioned in any of the articles and are not responsible for the outcome of using such products or services.

www.thesparkng.com 

The Spark | Ignite/Connect/Achieve 

Content 

4 6 9 11 

BOTTOM LINE WIREDIN 

FAST FORWARD PRO BONO 

Taxation for Tech Start-ups LinkedIn – A Power Tool 

The Future of Cryptocurrencies Tech IP and the Law 

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FREESTYLE 

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VITAL SIGNS 

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1. Illustration and Monetization 

2. FreestyleX: Godwin Tom Sunday 

1. Iyinoluwa Aboyeji: The Man. The 

Tech. The Vision. 

2. The Spark Profiles Aminu Bakori 

Life Intelligence 

1. Driving Digital and Financial 

Inclusion for SMEs – Deepankar 

Rustagi 

2. 10 Organisations Funding Tech 

Start-ups 

3. Smartphone - A Millennial Addiction 

4. Accelerating the Future of Fintech 

in Africa 

5. Into The Mind Of A Digital Curator 

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WHAT NEXT? 

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Kemi Onabanjo on Travel Blogging 

MAX Go VS Gokada 

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3



Bottom Line 

Taxation for Tech 

Start-ups 

Ruth Owojaiye is a tax and regulatory expert. In this 

article, she shares with us her journey into becoming an 

expert on taxation as well as insight into taxation for 

technology start-ups. 

- By Ruth Owojaiye 

Building a Career in Taxation Law 

While taxation has a largely compliance-driven element, the 

basis for the charge and collection of tax is the Law. Taxation 

law is an area that has not been fully ploughed and I felt I could 

make an impact in this space. I also liked the fact that the Law 

was and still is the bedrock of any form of tax collection which 

ultimately drives the imposition and collection of taxes. This 

always gave room for open discussions with the tax authorities 

and in areas of ambiguity, there were and still are opportunities 

to seek interpretation in the law courts or lobby for changes to 

the law with the National Assembly through the right channels. 

Tax-Related Problems That Need Redress 

Taxation is an area where (until the recent drive by government 

to raise alternative sources of revenue due to the fall in oil prices) 

simply put, there is an under-collection of tax as there is still a 

high number of companies and individuals who are not yet in the 

tax net. A few companies (mostly multinationals) are fully and 

in some instances over-taxed while the others are either undertaxed 

or not taxed at all. There is therefore inequality of taxation 

for which government suffers loss of revenue and the companies 

who make the efforts to comply are overburdened with incidents 

of over/multiple taxation. 

The problems noted therefore are three-faced: 

• There needs to be a situation where every company and 

individual pay the ‘right amount of tax’ for the benefit of the 

economy. Few companies and individuals should not bear 

the full tax burden of the state/nation. 

• The tax authorities also need to make the process of tax 

collection and compliance less cumbersome for the tax 

payers. 

• All incidents of multiple taxation at the federal, state and 

local government levels need to be eliminated. 

• While good progress has been made in these areas by the 

Government and the tax authorities, there is still a wide gap 

to fill in ensuring that the tax net is widened to bring in 

all companies and individuals who earn income from or in 

Nigeria. 

Taxation for Tech Businesses 

The concept of taxation is the same for all companies in Nigeria. 

Tax for tech companies like other companies is based on the 

income/profits made by the companies (direct taxation). Tech 

companies are also expected to act as agents of collection for 

some taxes as applicable (indirect taxation). 

I 

have a first and a masters’ degree in Law. I began my 

professional career with a brief stint working as a Lawyer 

and thereafter moved on to work in the tax, regulatory and 

people division of KPMG Nigeria for 6 years. While working with 

KPMG, I provided tax advisory and compliance tailored services 

to companies in different industries including manufacturing, 

telecommunications, oil & gas and retails (multinationals and 

local companies). 

I thereafter moved on to work as the Tax Manager of a 

multinational manufacturing company in Lagos in last 6 years. 

I thereafter moved on to work as the Tax Manager of a 

multinational manufacturing company in Lagos in last 6years. 

Before Staring Out 

Potential start-ups should bear in mind that while it aims to make 

great sales from technological innovation, all the monies from 

sales / profits made are not strictly for the start-up companies 

and its shareholders. Some of it belongs to government. There 

are other statutory / legal obligations which their companies are 

expected to comply with. One of such key obligations is taxation. 

Basic Tax Laws for Tech Companies 

The major tax laws applicable to tech companies include: 

• Companies’ income tax @ 30% of profits 

• Tertiary Education tax @ 2% of assessable profits 

• Value Added Tax @ 5% of sales (less purchases input VAT) 

• National Information Technology Development Agency 

Levy @ 1% of Profit Before Tax for applicable companies 

• PAYE tax - income tax on salaries of its employees 

4 

@thesparkng



• Withholding Tax deduction from fees paid to its suppliers and 

service providers. 

Mistakes Tech Start-ups Make With Tax 

Mistakes I see tech entrepreneurs and start-ups make is to focus 

mainly on making sales and relegating taxes to the background of 

their businesses. Tax should be an integral part of their business 

models. The tax laws are clear on the tax compliance requirement 

for companies. Taxation therefore should not be left until the tax 

authorities come knocking for tax audits / reviews. Companies 

should be good corporate citizens and should ensure that their 

accounting and tax records are up to date and proper taxes are 

remitted to government. 

Influence of Technology on the Tax Profession 

Yes technology has influenced the tax profession. Tax is closely linked 

to accounting records. These accounting records are used by 

government agencies to check the correctness and accuracy of taxes 

paid. Various accounting software packages have been developed 

and improved on over time to keep records which has made 

tax reviews easy. Examples of these packages are SAP, Navision, 

Peachtree, Sage, QuickBooks etc. 

“ 

“ 

The Law was and still is the bedrock of 

any form of tax collection. 

The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) have also used technology 

to aid tax compliance. For instance, tax payers can now sit from 

the comfort of their offices to file their monthly tax returns which 

previously had to be completed manually and submitted at the tax 

office. 

Challenges and Prospects 

Challenges include the need to sensitize all companies, including 

start-ups, on the need to pay their tax. The FIRS, Lagos and 

Ogun states have ongoing sensitization programs to encourage 

compliance. Other state governments are encouraged to emulate 

this trend. 

There needs to be an open communication and partnership between 

government and tax payers. Tax payers most likely will willingly 

comply where they trust that the monies paid to government will 

be put to good use. Government must in turn ensure the use of 

resources to provide and maintain infrastructure and basic amenities 

which will impact businesses directly and indirectly. 

Also, government must make the economy conducive for businesses 

to thrive and encourage local and foreign investments. Some actions 

to improve the business environment is continuous changes made to 

archaic laws, grant of incentives and tax waivers where necessary and 

elimination of multiple taxation. 

Final Advice for Tech Start-Ups 

I do not expect tech start-ups to have a full grasp of what the tax 

compliance needs of their companies are as their areas of strength 

@thesparkng 

5



Wired In 

LinkedIn – A Power Tool 

LinkedIn is one of your toolkits as a professional, use and maximise your professional toolkit wisely. 

- By Damilola Oyedele 

Load your toolkit 

I 

get scores of LinkedIn requests every week. Most go ignored, 

and I’m not sorry. Actually, I am. I recently said to a coworker 

that I now feel guilty when I reject LinkedIn requests. A few 

years ago, I would add all and sundry, but now I’m at the point 

where my LinkedIn is saturated, and I only accept value-adding 

contacts, or people I already know. 

As a young professional, LinkedIn is one of the strongest tools in 

your career growth kit. Most recruiters either identify you as a 

prospect through a LinkedIn search, or if your name comes up 

through another channel, go straight to your LinkedIn page (and 

your other social media pages, but that’s a story for another day) 

for vetting. 

“ 

As a young professional, LinkedIn 

is one of the strongest tools in 

your career growth kit. 

“ 

In every sense, your LinkedIn page is your professional 

advertisement, and you want to keep it in top form. How do you 

communicate that you’re a value-add? The keys are presentation, 

connection, and engagement, and I have some tips to get you 

started on all three. 

Presentation matters 

First things first, you should have a photo. This is the first 

impression, and it will impact how people feel when they review 

your page. No one is excited to read a faceless profile or one with 

a blurry photo. Invest in a high quality photo of your face - head 

and shoulders wearing professional clothing. And smile in your 

photo! Research (and frankly, common sense) shows that smiling 

with your teeth in your LinkedIn profile makes you more likeable. 

Go on and be great. 

Secondly, have a concise title that says what you do and where. 

Concise here means a title that would fit and make sense 

underneath your name on a business card. Mine says ‘Senior 

Product Manager at Amazon’, as I prefer to keep things simple, 

but I’ve seen some interesting title lines that made me curious to 

look at the person’s page. 

Also fill up your page with your work experience, education, and 

interests. If you’re still trying to land your dream role, be 

sure to add a few bullets under each role that describes your 

achievements, so people can easily understand what you’ve 

done. Under education, add any special achievements, leadership 

roles, or associations of interest that you were an active part of. 

Here’s an easy tip that made me feel great when I did it - 

Customize your LinkedIn profile URL. It’s more tidy, and you can 

more easily put it on your resume and other social media pages. 

Finally, snoop around! Check out industry peers and leaders for 

inspiration on ways to customize your page, present your 

experience, and sell yourself. 

6 

@thesparkng



Presentation matters because an empty, sparse, or poorly laid out LinkedIn 

page is actually worse than having no LinkedIn page. 

Connection comes next 

There is no point having the best profile page when you have zero 

connections. The more connections you have, the stronger the signal that 

you are a real person who indeed has these credentials which you claim on 

your page. So how many connections should you aim to have? Legend has 

it that a good number to aim for is more than 500, because LinkedIn stops 

counting after that and just shows you as having “500+ connections”. So 

how do you build this posse? I’ve got you! 

Going back to my opening paragraph, one big mistake many make when 

they request connection on LinkedIn is to send a blank request. Unless 

this person knows you well, you should always add a note. Here’s a recent 

LinkedIn request I sent – 

“Hi Aishetu, 

I am a recent MBA grad from Chicago Booth who follows you on twitter 

and is highly inspired by your career trajectory! I’d love to connect on here, 

and hopefully in real life someday soon. Happy Holidays! Best, Dami” 

Smooth, right? 

If you met someone at a networking event, or found out about her on 

Twitter, let her know what the connection is. If you’re connecting because 

the person is an alumnus of your university in a similar industry to you, 

say so. Adding a note increases your likelihood of being added as their 

connection. 

Engagement seals the deal 

In recent years, LinkedIn has greatly ramped up features that allow users 

to engage, and I must confess this is one area I still don’t maximize. 

However, those I’ve seen use it well often share interesting articles written 

by themselves or others. Go on LinkedIn regularly. See what stories are 

up and like a few. However, be aware of what you like and comment on, 

as these get aggregated on your profile page. A good question to ask is 

if you would want your future boss to see that you liked this article.Keep 

it professional. 

Another way to engage is to reach out to people of interest, and ask for a 

phone chat or a quick meeting. Etiquette suggests that these meetings 

should not exceed 15 - 30 minutes for a phone meeting or 30 - 45 minutes 

for an in person meeting. Do not waste the person’s time! Hopefully if 

things go well, you get a follow up conversation. But I digress. Also, never 

ask someone to hire you for a job through LinkedIn. 

Get in on LinkedIn 

In 2018, increasingly fewer recruiters and hiring managers will take you 

seriously with a shoddy or empty profile page. A few weeks ago, a mentor 

told my colleague: “When you’re ready to start applying for new jobs, go 

take a new and revamped LinkedIn profile picture”. I was awed. Who would 

have thought that something as small as your changing your profile picture 

could make a difference and signal to the market that you’re searching for 

your next role? Learn to use LinkedIn well, and you’ll be on your way to 

being headhunted and landing top roles and referrals. 

@thesparkng 

7



Fast Forward 

The Future of Cryptocurrencies 

Cryptocurrencies are gradually becoming the preferred means of exchange but there is still a 

lot to be done to secure its place as the future of money. 

- By Segun Adekoye 

The historic parable of the blind men and an elephant 

illustrates how different people feel different parts of an 

animal they have never experienced or seen and how their 

opinions differ based on their interaction. This fable easily brings 

cryptocurrencies into the limelight as the ancient elephant, 

while the wider society is grappling with what to make of it. 

Cryptocurrencies have been likened to the Dutch tulip bulb 

bubbles of the 17th century as well as being named the future 

of money. The concept of the first Blockchain was published 

in a whitepaper released by an anonymous person or perhaps 

people who used the name Satoshi Nakamoto in October 2008. 

The following year witnessed the release of the Blockchain 

technology as a core component of the world’s most popular 

cryptocurrency – the Bitcoin. 

Prior to this time, different companies had tried to create a 

digital currency but experienced issues around double spending. 

The problem with double spending is digital currencies can be 

easily cloned, copied in a way that the money is spent while the 

original token or its copy is retained. Bitcoin tried to prevent 

the double spending problem by ensuring that transactions 

were publicly recorded in chains of blocks that were distributed 

across the world through nodes and they achieved consensus by 

solving complex cryptographic puzzles. 

Despite this prominence, adoption, and immutability, the world’s 

first cryptocurrency is still far from perfect for mass adoption. 

Other developers and organizations have over the years, tried to 

solve problems plaguing the pioneer cryptocurrency, however, 

most have only succeeded in solving bits of the problem. 

The crypto enthusiasts within the Blockchain tech community 

would argue that the essence of the tech is to facilitate 

decentralization and anonymity of transactions. While the 

creation of a deflationary currency outside the control of 

governments and policies seems appealing, it is apparent that 

the decentralized and anonymous nature of crypto also happens 

to be its worst nightmare. From the creation of Silk Road, an 

online black market that allowed the sale of illegal drugs using 

bitcoins, to over 80 percent of Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) that 

happened between 2017 and 2018 labeled as scams, users may 

be rethinking the anonymous feature of the cryptocurrencies 

they transact with. Institutional investors that are looking to 

make a profit from the burgeoning digital economy are hoping 

for better governance and stiffer regulations to control aspects 

around market manipulation, token security, and insurance of 

assets. It is evident that the young, tech-savvy Generation-Z 

seems to warmly embrace cryptocurrencies and ideas that disrupt 

the norm. This generation wants privacy and control. They also 

want convenience and security. As it stands, the underlying tech 

is available but cannot meet their needs. For instance, if nonblockchain 

gamers decide to move over to blockchain games 

and exert the demand they use on Facebook apps or other 

gaming platforms, on say Ethereum-based games, it would most 

likely affect the overall performance of the protocol. 

Without a doubt, cryptocurrencies are here to stay as well as 

their underlying technology – the blockchain. IBM’s Hyperledger 

Fabric allows corporate organizations seeking to create 

Currently, there are over 1700 cryptocurrencies in existence and 

almost 1500 of them are publicly listed on Coinmarketcap (a 

public database of digital tokens). Some of these cryptocurrencies 

reside on their own protocol and are used as a means of exchange 

or a store of value such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin. 

Others are simply tokens that are issued on smart-contracting 

platforms; hence, they are easy to create and are basically used 

as utility tokens. The prevalence of Initial Coin Offerings in 2017 

led to the sporadic bloom of the cryptocurrency space as lots 

of organizations discovered unregulated ways to raise money 

for business ideas in a market that was swayed by fear, greed, 

and optimism. This also led to the capitulation of these tokens 

since February 2018, as different governments and authorities 

seek to clamp down illegal activities while trying to prevent 

losses to innocent citizens by regulating activities of traders and 

exchanges that list digital tokens. 

@thesparkng 

9



blockchain solutions within a private, permissioned and secure network 

without exposing themselves to the risks of using public blockchain 

solutions. This means they are not inundated with problems around 

speed (transaction-per-second) plaguing some public blockchains. Newer 

altcoins are also seeking ways to run functionally using minimal electricity 

resources. 

The U.S SEC is playing a key role in the classification of different tokens as 

securitized and non-securitized tokens. This move is also putting 

organizations issuing tokens, in check. Different institutions are discovering 

use cases for the blockchain in their businesses and are adapting their 

business models to accommodate blockchain solutions. Some of them are 

leveraging the use of cryptocurrencies as utility tokens to reward loyalty, 

have users pay for services such as electricity or in the case of Basic 

Attention Token (BAT) get incentivized for watching ads online. 

As more people get paid with tokens for doing micro tasks, incentivized 

for loyalty, feel more secure storing their money in cold wallets or online 

wallets and watching the value of those tokens rise, the underlying 

technology would get adopted by different governments seeking to 

tokenize different areas of their economies. For cryptocurrencies to become 

adopted by the legislators, the clamour for anonymity must reduce with 

administrations knowing that it will not be an avenue to evade taxes and 

launder money. The wider world would adopt the tech easily as blockchain 

start-ups create better user experiences with their products ensuring that 

onboarding, adoption and continued use of their cryptocurrency is more 

convenient than obtaining and transacting with cash or debit/credit cards. 

Strings of long alphanumeric characters in crypto have to shorten into 

8-10 numbers or letters that can be easily remembered. 

In the next couple of years, we should begin to see the proliferation of two 

distinct classes of assets that would be in most demand among 

cryptocurrencies. These would be Stable coins and Securitized tokens. 

People may begin to adopt stable coins with functional wallets and high 

transaction speeds for day-to-day transactions, while securitized tokens 

will replace shares in emerging start-ups and existing organizations looking 

to onboard tech enthusiasts as shareholders. Larger institutionalized 

stock exchanges would begin to add crypto portfolios to their day-to-day 

trading. To gain mass appeal, cross-chain atomic swaps will need to occur 

seamlessly, reduce time and money lost by using centralized exchanges, 

and different protocols will need to work in consonance, keeping 

interoperability as a priority while complimenting themselves using their 

tech strengths. 

“ 

Cryptocurrencies have been likened to 

the Dutch tulip bulb bubbles of the 

17th century as well as being named 

the future of money. 

“ 

10 

@thesparkng



Pro Bono 

Tech IP and the Law 

Ayobami Adisa is a trained Legal Practitioner 

with over 10 years experience in IT Law, corporate 

legal practices, business structuring, commercial 

transactions, mergers & acquisition and IP law. He is 

an ethics and compliance executive, and he has been 

opportune to represent clients from different sectors 

of the economy in court. He sheds more light on 

Intellectual Property Law in this article. 

- By Ayobami Adisa 

Intellectual Property (IP) Law generally relates to that arm of 

law that seeks to protect the ownership of mental / intellectually 

generated ideas or services. There are about three areas of IP. 

They are trademarks, patents, designs and copyright. 

• Patents protect inventions; these are majorly physical 

things that no one has ever done or come up with. 

• Copyrights refer to the protection given to written or 

artistic expressions. It applies to videography, 

cinematography etc. 

• Trademark, on the other, is the protection of those elements 

or items that distinguishes a brand or service from other 

brands or services. 

Technology and IP walk hand in hand. As it is, technology is an 

improvement in the process or the way things are done. Generally, 

technology is only adopted when claims are laid to it. The laying 

of claim to technology establishes “the right” that goes along 

with Intellectual Property. IP right is that element that makes it 

possible for the developer or owner of the technology to reap the 

fruits of his or her labour over technology. This also distinguishes 

a particular product from the other (if not for anything, to enable 

a customer distinguish between one preferred technology to the 

other. This is what Trademarks does. 

It is important for a tech entrepreneur to be concerned with the 

entire suite of IP. However, particular attention should be paid to 

patent and trademarks. Patent ensures that the technology – if 

new – is not copied or replicated to the extent that a third profits 

from such technology. Trademarks, on the other hand, ensure 

that the customers of this technology do not confuse such a 

product with another product. It also ensures that a particular 

product is stands out from the other. 

Any technology owner who fails to pay attention to IP will either 

fall foul of infringing the right of others or “makes his bread” free 

for all. Both cases are very bad for any tech entrepreneur. 

For instance, I worked for a company that developed a trademark 

for a major product that was launched without paying adequate 

attention to the registration of this trademark. As the product 

grew and acceptance of same expanded, a competing company 

proceeded to register the mark out of malice. This led to a major 

issue for the company I worked with. In trying to recover its right, 

this company in questions spent millions of naira and a great 

deal of time. It is important to state that this company lost a 

lot of business opportunities too.Imagine if this happens to a 

start-up, it will be dead on arrival. Evidently, IP Law should not 

be taken with levity. 

This is why I will advise companies to seek the opinion of an 

experienced legal practitioner before taking any step that is 

tantamount to you launching your technology or announcing 

it to the world. Now, not all lawyers understand technology, 

you must seek for those lawyers who have touched technology 

at its base and not those who scraped the surface. It is also 

important to engage a lawyer that is passionate about business 

and technology. This will guarantee any tech entrepreneur the 

desired ROI, fame and achievement being sourced. 

Some are usually sceptical about IP Law within the Nigerian 

space but like I believe, “the easiest place to build a skyscraper 

is the bare land where nothing exists before.” Nigeria is a virgin 

land where all things good are possible. The future for IP Law in 

Nigeria is bright. 

“ 

Any technology owner who fails to pay 

attention to IP will either fall foul of 

infringing the right of others or “makes 

his bread” free for all. 

“ 

@thesparkng 

11



Freestyle 

Illustration And 

Monetization: Three 

Hypotheses 

Artistry in our clime is unfortunately not as well 

appreciated or even understood, as it should be. 

- By Justin Irabor 

I 

am going to make three hypotheses, in rapid succession, and 

invite you to turn it over, gently and with care, in your head, as 

you read the rest of this: 

• Unlike most other professions, very few people attempt to be 

illustrators with the original aim of making money, 

• If you meet an illustrator who is also a banker, illustration is the 

job they really want, and banking is the job they have to have, 

and 

• The world doesn’t have nearly as many artists/creative people 

as it deserves to have. 

Let us begin, with a collection of anecdotes (exactly the sort of way 

to make an emotional argument, but not a logical one. Then again 

- if we were all perfectly logical, we would be down artistically by 

several pints): 

First hypothesis: the money question is the wrong question 

The first thing I remember drawing was a horse. Of course, like 

every other child, I must have started life by drawing squiggly lines 

and circles, so I should probably amend my statement to say the 

first interesting thing I remember drawing was a horse. It was in 

one of those classes ostensibly designed to allow kids engage their 

creative side, but were really an opportunity for the teacher to catch 

up on a much-needed nap. 

“What’s this?” a girl, Sophia was her name, asked. 

“A horse,” I said. 

There was silence. 

“It does not look like a horse,” she decided finally. “Legs too fat.” 

And so began her remarkable career as an art critic (I hope), and the 

hint of my future filled with bruised egos and misinterpreted ‘art 

directions’. 

My father saw the horse and declared, ‘Justin is definitely going to 

be a famous artist!’ and my mother, well, she said, ‘oh my God, this 

is so good - you must have traced it!’ 

‘I didn’t!’ 

‘Then you are very good! Help me squeeze the Maggi into the pot?’ 

And so began my first experience receiving raving reviews from wellintentioned 

people who aren’t completely sure what you’re on about. 

I have come a long (or short, depending on how you look at it) way 

from that moment, and in that time, one thing has become apparent: 

people will compliment your art, and ask you to make art for them, 

and they will totally expect you to do it for free. 

Why’s that? I suspect the answer is in society. Or more accurately, 

social conditioning. Arriving at the utilitarian value of art is a 

convoluted process, and I do not even pretend to understand it 

myself. As a result, there is art which us plebs consider overpriced 

[often hung in galleries, with a bespectacled fella telling you about 

the type of emotions it’s supposed to ‘evoke’ in you], and then there’s 

art which is just one step away from ‘internet memes’ in (perceived) 

value. And that is the art that people often want to give you ‘exposure’ 

for, because, they imagine, you must be doing this because fame is 

your only goal. 

12 

@thesparkng



Your drawings will be considered ‘cute’, but not ‘important’, unlike a career in, say, 

software development (earth really needs its websites, apparently), and as a result, 

the sort of person who becomes an illustrator becomes one, not because it’s such 

an obvious source of income. They do it for a completely different reason, which 

leads me to hypothesis number 2: 

Second hypothesis: your favourite [illustrator] has no choice 

If you’re looking for the textbook definition of love, look no further than to that 

fella (or lass), hunched over an insignificant piece of paper, drawing line after line, 

flipping it this way and that, adding colours, removing detail, and replacing with 

form, until they straighten, their spine snapping in a million stress pops. 

You think that sort of person does it because they expect to be millionaires? You 

think they cackle over a cauldron, their eyes tinted green with glee, as they 

anticipate the dollars that shall come in? 

The short answer is no. 

The longer answer is: many illustrators have day jobs they don’t like (or day jobs 

they like a little less than they love illustrating), and the day job keeps them alive 

and solvent enough to buy more papers and crayons. 

There is an interminably long phase where an illustrator would draw for fun, for 

friends. Their work in this phase is rubbish, but original and fun, you know? 

They’re out there, making things! They do not care for money, and many are 

content making non-publishable rubbish. However, your favourite illustrator will 

push themselves, and get better, and better, until they are good enough to get 

paid for the first time. 

I call that the ‘holy shit’ moment, and it [often] happens without their own 

orchestration. Someone sees their work, and says ‘I really like it! Can you do this 

for me, and how much would you like to be paid for it?’ 

The illustrator realizes that their work which has always been valuable to them has 

become valuable enough to someone else, in such a way that they are willing to 

part with cash for it. 

Holy shit. 

Third hypothesis: we’re several illustrators short at any given time 

I have been drawing, unprofessionally, for as long as I became aware of my 

cognitive abilities. Professionally, fairly recently. I only just started to get paid to 

illustrate. The money is not yet enough for me to quit my day job, so it’s not the 

reason I continue to be an artist. 

Enough about me. Let’s talk about babies. 

Given the number of babies who are natural Picassos (drawing on everything in 

sight: wrappers, walls, curtains), you’d expect more adults to be artists, right? 

After the GIGO fashion. But that isn’t really the case, and most artistic inclinations 

are leached out of kids early on in life, that only the ones in the right environment, 

with the right friends, or with the right level of stubbornness, continue to hold on 

to such a skill that many consider a pastime. 

Today, thanks to the internet, we can instantly see that not all illustrators are 

equal: some will be magazine cover illustrators, website illustrators, background 

artists for billion-dollar animated cartoons, concept artists, comic book artists, 

and the list goes on. 

As with everything, once you figure out the kind of illustrator you want to be, and 

double down on those 10,000 hours, you are almost totally guaranteed to 

emerge on the other side of the curtain with that delightfully titillating message 

to future clients: 

Sorry. Fully booked this year; no longer accepting commissions. 

Oh the joy - it would mean that illustration has become your one and only joy. 

@thesparkng 

13



FreestyleX: 

Tom Sunday Godwin 

- By Ayandola Ayanleke 

Tom Sunday Godwin, also known as GTS, is a Nigerian painter. The Studio 

Artist who hails from Akwa Ibom state lives and practices art in Abuja. 

“From my early age, my parents encouraged my interest in art. I attended Federal 

Government Girls College Staff Nursery and Primary school Gboko. I proceeded 

to Federal Government College, Otobi, where I met Mr. Ijiga who taught me Fine 

Art then and exposed me to art. He also became my mentor and encouraged me 

to pursue Art as a course of study. I attended Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and 

graduated in 2011 with a B. A. in Painting.” 

“During my internship, I trained under artists like Dr. John Oyedemi, Dr. Wale Ajayi, 

Dr. Emma Irokanulo and Dr. Blaise Gundu Gbaden, all at ABU Zaria.” 

He gained his first exposure in an Art exhibition and workshop in 2011 and since 

then he has participated in several Art exhibitions and workshops both locally and 

internationally such as: - 

• Art is Everywhere International Waste to Art workshop and Exhibition 2011, 

Fine Art Gallery ABU Zaria 

• 4th National visual Art Competition 2012, Shehu Musa Yar Adua Centre Abuja. 

• 7th Edition of life in my city Art festival 2013, Enugu. 

• 1st Edition of In House Art Exhibition 2013, Hamdalla Hotel Kaduna. 

• Art for peace, Paint African Values international Art Exhibition Tour, African 

Union, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 8th March, 2014. Istanbul, Damla Art House, 

31st May, 2014, Waldorf Astoria, New York, 25th September, 2014. 

• Africa Art Resource Center Art Competition 2014, Lagos. 

• Imago Mundi Image of the World International Art workshop and Exhibition, 

Rome, Italy 2014. 

• 2nd Art Fair Art Exhibition, Kaduna, 2014. 

• Life in my City Art Festival, Thought Pyramid Art Centre, Abuja 2015. 

• Annual yam and Art festival in Ogidi, Kogi State 2016 

• Junkmanfromafrika - Make the best of Junk Art workshop organize by 

German embassy, Thought Pyramid Art Centre, Abuja, 2016. 

• Exploring the Role of the Artist in Defining the Future through Story Telling 

(Ferrum), Rele Gallery, Onikan, Lagos, 2016. 

• World Art Day Exhibition, Thought Pyramid Art Centre, Abuja, 15 April, 2017. 

• Ogidi Art Festival, Kogi, 2017. 

• World Art Day Exhibition, International Institute for Creative Development 

Center, Abuja. 15 April, 2018. 

• Art for Development, Exhibition organized by actionaid, at Abuja Pavilion, 

2018. etal. 

TomSunday is a painter whose art focuses on female projection in the society, 

culture and enlightening people about issues in his immediate environment as well 

as the world. He renders his works in stylizednaturalism and realism using impasto 

technique of painting. Examples of his works include: The bride, the missing 

Mirror, water everywhere yet no water, the African child, we shall raise above all 

rubble, One Love One Nation, the cow and the crop, a fight over supremacy et al. 

The painter is an artist whose works are inspired by daily activities around him and 

contemporary Nigeria issues. 

Connect with him via:Instagram: godwintomsundaygma; Website: www. 

godwintomsunday.com; Facebook: Godwin Tom Sunday; Blog: Godwintomsunday; 

Tumblr: godwintomsunday. 

14 

@thesparkng



The Spark Effect 

Iyinoluwa Aboyeji 

The Man. The Tech. The Vision 

- By Lucy Onuorah 

Technology As Empowerment 

“ 

Business is what 

people want. It is 

businesses that 

are funded and 

not ideas so if 

you do not have 

the appropriate 

network skills 

to turn your 

ideas into good 

businesses, you 

are basically 

sitting on a 

ticking time bomb 

Having the opportunity to sit with him recently for an interview in 

between his busy schedules was quite an honour; an interesting and 

exciting experience as well. As I walked towards him to take a seat, I 

could not help but wonder in my mind ‘how did this guy make it this far’? 

While still pondering on this question, we exchanged pleasantries and 

moved on to the business of the day - the interview. 

General Background 

“ 

“ 

Born on the 28th of March, 1991 to Nigerian parents, Iyinoluwa Aboyeji is 

an entrepreneur, co-founder of Andela - a platform that recruits and trains 

software developers as well as connecting them with employers; and 

Flutterwave - a payment API that makes it easier for banks and businesses 

to process payments across Africa. 

Iyinoluwa completed his Secondary School education at Loyola Jesuit 

College and graduated from Columbia International College with degrees 

in International Development, Legal Studies and Economics. He also has a 

degree in Legal Studies from the University of Waterloo. 

Still in his twenties, Iyinoluwa Aboyeji has managed to create a great 

impact in the business of technology not just in Africa but also in the 

global economy. 

The tech space is fast becoming very popular in Nigeria and some of the 

greatest achievements that have been recorded recently have been linked 

to technology and technological advancements and no one should be left 

out. 

Technology could be used as a source of empowerment and could be used 

in reaching out to a very large and diverse community of potential clients 

for tech start-ups. 

Flutterwave was birth out of the belief that business infrastructures are 

one of the key holders for connecting Africa to the global economy, and 

they have been able to do a great job of building payment infrastructures 

that enable Africans accept payment from customers all over the world, 

explore new ways of payment and prosperity that could essentially change 

our economy and participation in the global economy. 

“ 

Business infrastructures are one of the key 

holders for connecting Africa to the global 

economy and we are able to do a good job 

of it by building payment infrastructures 

that enable Africans to accept payment from 

customers all over the world. 

Hobbies 

“ 

For an individual, who as a teenager, founded Bookneto – an online 

learning platform while studying in Canada and have it acquired by the 

Canadian Innovation Centre at a time when most of his peers in Nigeria 

where probably thinking about passing their WAEC, NECO, JAMB, or Post 

UTME examinations and gaining admission into the University, one would 

be totally wrong to think that Iyinoluwa Aboyeji is all work and no play. 

Iyinoluwa likes to hang out with the guys and play golf. He also enjoys 

spending time on social media, watching movies and expressing his ideas 

with like minds to explore different views. 

As a kid, Iyinoluwa was very good with comics and this helped improve 

and develop his creativity and ultimately inspire his interest in technology. 

He had a short stint with a technical company as a style engineer. It was at 

that point in his life that he realized that technology was not just something 

that one could consume but it was also something that could be created 

as well and the tools of that creation have been democratized, thereby 

making it possible for more people to be part of that creation process. 

16 

@thesparkng



Pursuing Success 

In over ten years of his business life in the tech space, Iyinoluwa has 

become more aware of the fact that technology could be used as a tool to 

reach out to a very large audience and create great impact. 

“Although Flutterwave has not done too badly in that we have processed 

close to tens of millions of transactions and are rapidly growing, there is 

still a lot of work to be done by Flutterwave.” However, dedication has 

been Iyinoluwa’s watchword as he is driven by the belief that when one 

delivers a very good job, they will do well for themselves as well. 

Iyinoluwa believes one of the challenges start-ups face is raising capital. 

However, the Flutterwave boss did not really have to put up with that as 

he leveraged on relationships from ANDELA and was lucky to have been 

working with an amazing team. 

So many youth out there have beautiful ideas but do not know how to turn 

them into great business. “Well, you have to be very dedicated and work 

very hard” says Iyinoluwa. “You has to create an enabling environment in 

which you are surrounded by creative minds.” 

“Whilst age is a barrier to success, it is not one of the biggest barriers. 

Having an early start helps as it allows you time to make mistakes and 

learn from them. If you are young, you have to be twice as competent as 

you will be evaluated based on your results most of the time. Just make 

sure you are a performer.” 

Spanning over 10 years in business, Iyinoluwa has learnt that it is important 

to search for problems big enough to solve. Avoid taking up small 

problems and always select your team carefully. 

“Always work with a team that has like minds who will be willing to put in 

as much efforts as you. Do not compromise or cut corners in terms of 

competence and character. If you are out there thinking of starting up 

a business, you must move swiftly and find a client as soon as possible 

because that is exactly how you grow your business.” 

Most Common Mistakes In The Tech Space 

There are lots of mistakes made in the technology industry in Nigeria. 

These days, everybody wants to go into one form of business or the other. 

With a good idea or two, you could easily think that it’s an easy chew, 

however we have learnt from Iyinoluwa that it is not just enough to have 

an idea, business is not just what people want, people need businesses. “It 

is businesses that are funded and not just ideas, anyone who doesn’t have 

the appropriate networking skills to turn their ideas into good businesses 

are basically sitting on a ticking time bomb.” 

“These days, more and more people are becoming more aware of 

technological advancements and their empowerment abilities thereby 

leading to a stronger growth of technology in Nigeria. Nigeria is a country 

with huge demographics and that’s why businesses like Flutterwave are 

here to help.” 

The business of technology should not be seen solely as an avenue for 

making profit, Nigerian entrepreneurs in the technology industry will 

profit more to get as close as possible to their customers, understand 

their needs and offer good services as a means of building trust with their 

clients. 

Iyinoluwa really looks forward to witnessing Africa develop as a bedrock 

of technology in the next five years. “There will be a lot of tech start ups 

and it would be really interesting to see how things work out in the future.” 

If you do a very good job you can serve 

“others and do well for yourself as well. 

“ 

“ Technology is not just 

something that is 

consumed but it can 

also be created; and the 

tools of that creation 

have been democratised 

such that many more 

people could be part of 

“ 

the creation process. 

@thesparkng 

17



The Spark Profiles 

Aminu Bakori 


Aminu Ibrahim Bakori is a Software Developer and a Tech-Entrepreneur. He fell in love with 

computers right from a very small age while in primary school and started coding towards the 

end of his secondary school. 

When asked about his challenges, Aminu had this to say, “While starting up, I was faced with the 

challenge of limited resources and lack of mentorship. Finding like-minded individuals has also proven to 

be hard. Building and running a business as a tech-entrepreneur has also not been easy, most especially 

along the lines of trust and raising funds.” 

Steve Jobs and Apple have been a great inspiration for him, most especially along their sense of design 

and quality assurance. 

Establishing Payant was a huge deal for him and served as a confidence-booster. “Even though I’ve been 

involved with a lot of projects before Payant, it still remains one of my greatest achievements. It all 

started from a dream of simplifying payments and today, it has made significant progress along that 

line.” 

And now, as a tech-entrepreneur, “I’m looking forward to partnerships and funding opportunities.” 

Aminu is a great believer in the youth and of youth empowerment. “I’ve been all about sparking and 

uplifting this generation since I was in school. I was a Microsoft Student Partner and also a Microsoft 

Youth Spark Advocate.” 

“I worked along with Microsoft and Students to inspire students and create more youths like me. It was 

very successful and I’m always happy to see what we have started growing everyday. I strongly believe 

that we’re the leaders of tomorrow. But we can’t be leaders without taking everyone along.” 

Connect with him via 

Twitter: @Aminu_Bakori 

Email: aminu@payant.ng 

Offline: CoLab, Kaduna. 

18 

@thesparkng



Vital Signs 

Life Intelligence 

The future of healthcare is preventative and will be 

heavily dependent on big data. 

- By Olu Ogunlela 

“ 

The future of 

healthcare is big data. 

“ 

In 2014, shortly after returning from studying and working in the US for 9 

years, I was hit with the challenges of living in a developing nation. 

The lack of proper infrastructure meant there was less time in a day. 

Traffic, unstable electricity, water supply issues and the likes, had its 

way of consuming time without much concrete work accomplished. 

Apart from this, I was juggling work as an entrepreneur and my athletic 

ambition as a professional cyclist (something I did in the US with more 

ease). This frustration, plus a constant reminder of a Peter Drucker’s quote 

“You can’t manage what you can’t measure” led me to conclude that I 

needed to develop a way of tracking how my time was being spent. After 

about 2 years of trials, I built a working prototype of an app without 

coding, by combining a digital calendar to input data on time spent and 

a spreadsheet to analyze the data to mine for actionable insights. This, in 

addition to another 2 years of research and data analysis, has led to the 

birth of Life Intelligence. 

Life Intelligence, like it implies is very similar to Business Intelligence 

which according to Wikipedia, comprises the strategies and technologies 

used by enterprises for data analysis of business information. I like to 

define Life Intelligence as a technology aided data driven process for 

@thesparkng 

19



analyzing life information and developing insights to 

help individuals maximize their life potential. So far, our 

prototype has collected over 70,000 hours of life data from 

143 users. The insights generated from the analysis of this 

data informed several behavioral changes amongst its 

users. Most of these interventions have led to better health, 

while improving or maintaining optimal productivity. 

Hence, we see the potential of Life Intelligence in the 

healthcare sector. 

According to an article titled: Integrated Theory of Health 

Behavior Change, “Researchers suggest that personal 

behaviors cause more than 50% of illness.” The World 

Health Organization (WHO) states that Ischaemic 

heart disease and stroke are the world’s biggest killers, 

accounting for a combined 15.2 million deaths in 2016. 

These diseases have remained the leading causes of death 

globally in the last 15 years. The third, chronic obstructive 

pulmonary disease claimed 3.0 million lives that same year 

(see figure 1). All three are diseases which better lifestyle 

choices could have eradicated, but most times people are 

unaware until it’s too late. 

In developing countries, the biggest benefit of Life 

Intelligence in healthcare will be in life data collection 

to better understand, track and eradicate diseases like 

lower respiratory tract infections and other communicable 

disease which are currently the top killers in low income 

countries, majority of which are in Sub-Saharan Africa (see 

figure 2). In the United States and other developed nations 

where the top killers are non-communicable, lifestyle 

diseases (see figure 3), Life Intelligence will empower 

individuals to make better lifestyle decisions and address 

these diseases way ahead of their maturity stage. 

Workplace illness like burnout, stress, depression is 

another area Life Intelligence will play a role in eradicating. 

The effect of workplace illness is difficult to measure, 

because every individual is different and data isn’t 

available to show the effect of work-life balance. Insights 

from our prototype app for one user showed a 129% 

increase in productivity in just 11 weeks due to an increase 

in work-life balance. With this known, we can conclude 

that an employee deploys about 50% of his potential at 

his/her job when he/she isn’t engaged and lacks worklife 

balance. When an employee is engaged and well 

rested, performance increases. Life Intelligence will enable 

individuals maximize their time outside work and help 

employers maximize their workforce productivity. At 

Liferithms, we have created a product which will enable 

organization achieve peak performance by improving 

workforce productivity, without sacrificing the health and 

well-being of their employees. 

We envision a world where a product isn’t rated based on 

its perceived value but on the effect of the use of the 

product in helping an individual achieve his/her goals and 

objectives. We also envision the use of non penetrative 

blood tests in guiding food and nutritional choices for 

the day. Preventative healthcare will be powered via Life 

Intelligence and it will reduce healthcare cost and deaths 

dramatically. The future of healthcare is big data. 

20 

@thesparkng



Features 

Driving Digital and Financial Inclusion 

for SMEs – Deepankar Rustagi 

- By Lucy Onuorah 

“ 

Try to solve only one 

problem at a time, 

when you try to solve 

too many problems, 

you will not move 

forward – incremental 

progress is key to 

success. 

“ 

It was a very hot afternoon when we welcomed the founder of VConnect 

Global Services, popularly known as VConnect – Mr Deepankar Rustagi 

into our office. Eager to have a chat with him we had reached out to him 

and he obliged us effortlessly. 

Deepanker Rustagi had his education here in Nigeria and has lived here for 

the past 23 years. It was here he found a reason and an opportunity to give 

back to the society; hence the journey to creating VConnect was initiated. 

VConnect is an online service marketplace that helps users hire local 

professionals for all service needs. There are over 100 services listed 

on VConnect ranging from repairs to maintenance, home and office 

improvement, personal services, business services and logistics. 

His inability, in 2010, to locate Nigerian local businesses online led to the 

idea of VConnect. Deepankar began assembling a team that would help 

collect the information of local SMEs that can be accessed via a Googleesque 

local search engine. This eventually led to the launch of VConnect 

alongside co- founder Anand Chander, in 2011. 

“ 

Starting up a business online is not a 

taboo; online presence allows for 

accessibility and visibility. We just need 

to be more educated on technology. 

“ 

“ 

Funding a business is challenging, however, 

find people who believe in you enough to be 

patient to see the value of your business. 

Today, VConnect stands as one of Nigeria’s hottest tech startups. 

“ 

For some Nigerians, when you hear of VConnect it is likely that we 

remember it as a platform to check for registered and verified addresses 

to various businesses, however, there is a whole lot more to the platform 

than being just a directory. 

Two major factors that helped shape the idea of VConnect and bring it to 

reality was that of the absence of a link between service providers and 

their customers. There was a point in time where it was difficult to verify 

if a business is registered and trusted. Nowadays, with client reviews and 

online search on VConnect, you are good to go. 

“VConnect came right on time to fill in the huge trust deficit there was 

between service providers and their clients. We find that many businesses 

in Nigeria start out with a short term goal. Instead of looking at about 5 

@thesparkng 

21



years of operation, they tend to look at 2 years of operations after which, 

if no major success has been recorded, they start getting discouraged. It 

is as a result of the high rate of interest and high cost of operation that 

businesses suffer. It is worthy to note that the absence of the right number 

of customers involved in your business for growth purposes eventually 

cripples the business.” 

“In setting up VConnect, we had to sensitize people and make them 

change their mindset and accept the idea that there was nothing wrong in 

running an online business, online business is not a taboo,” said Deepankar. 

“Online business is important for businesses to gain more visibility and 

accessibility. Education and rebranding are not exempted either. That was 

how we became the first platform to embrace that online presence.” 

“ 

In the future we will be one of the most 

advanced countries in africa also equally 

giving competition to state of the art tech 

players in the world. 

“ 

When starting up a business, it is always advisable to carefully select a 

team because that will be the most valuable asset. Starting VConnect at 

26 years of age, it was quite cumbersome to grow a trusted network but 

slowly and steadily, VConnect found its feet. 

“There is no shortcut to success; brainstorming amongst team members is 

encouraged. It helps to build a team that absolutely believes in problemsolving 

as well as empowerment of small and medium enterprises. That 

has made it possible for VConnect to simplify things for users and making 

a place where getting things done is not a challenge.” 

“Funding is usually a problem faced by many start ups, however, you need 

people who understand your model and believe in your motivation 

enough to see that you are committed and persistent. That is not to say 

that one would not invest, personal investment cannot be overruled. Whilst 

banking on friends and family is a viable option, personal investment is 

encouraged. This lifts off some of the financial burden.” 

To continually have a positive effect on businesses in the Nigerian 

economy, Deepankar’s VConnect aims at providing a visibility study to 

businesses as well as building an economy of trust. “When you are able 

to build trust between a business and its clients, users will have no doubts 

about the businesses they come in contact with via our platform. VConnect 

prides itself in being recognized as a trusted economy.” 

VConnect has a low barrier entry which enables startups place their 

listings. It is a model that pays you off in the long run so once started, it 

will take a while to gather business and create relationships. To separate 

themselves from other competitors, VConnect tries as much as possible 

to understand and maintain a good relationship with its customers. At 

this level, an understanding of user needs comes in to be able to create 

end-user satisfaction. More so, they try not to over-market themselves 

so as not to send the wrong signal. It pays off eventually to allow for an 

organic traffic which stems from satisfaction from the customers who will 

keep coming back. 

Often times, we hear some people say that tech businesses are easy to 

handle while some others see it as a quick way to success but that is far 

from the truth. What is more acceptable is that tech businesses are a more 

organized form of business so when working with the right model and the 

right sociability, it yields great results. 

Notwithstanding, there are still unique challenges because of the 

ecosystem, absence of infrastructures, etc. which creates amazing 

opportunities and interesting problems to be solved. Every startup has 

in mind a problem or more to solve, however, solving the problems will 

ultimately be determined by the level of commitment, persistence and 

hard work. 

Tech business is not a quick walk and will never really get to that point 

where it becomes all too easy. It involves high level of intelligence and 

patience as well as machines and software. 

VConnect has been recognized by Forbes as one of the “Hottest Tech 

Startups in Africa”. By 2015, VConnect was reported to have had 1.2 million 

businesses listed. 

Evolving progressively, 2018 saw VConnect officially launching “Market by 

VConnect” - a service marketplace where trusted business owners can 

find and connect with real customers. 

“For tech startups, getting the right unit matrix and the formula to scale is 

the biggest and most important thing. Instead of focusing on too many 

things at a time, rather, focus on doing one thing right and you’ll find that 

you are on track with your unit matrix from the onset.” 

“ 

Focus on only one 

thing at a time. 

“ 

22 

@thesparkng



10 Organisations Funding Tech Start-ups 

You have an innovative tech idea you want investment for? Here are ten 

organisations that are ready to invest in your idea. 


Technology is here to stay and it is ever growing. Technology 

is the present and it is the future. The world has recognised it 

and has quickly embraced its potency, little wonder some of 

the most developed countries are also the most technologically 

advanced. Fortunately, developing countries have also seen 

the light and are running with it as well. Nigeria is one of such 

countries. There are so many technologically advanced and 

savvy minds in Nigeria. Some have reached the peak and many 

more starting out. If you are in the latter category, then you need 

information on organisations that have been set up to not only 

fund your tech ideas but help bring it to fruition. 

3. NG_HUB 

NG_HUB is an idea of Facebook in collaboration with CCHub (Co-creation 

Hub) to bring techies together to learn and exchange ideas. A very recent 

venture, NG_HUB has also launched a research and mentorship-driven 

6-month program called FbStart Accelerator. The program is targeted at 

innovative teams creating solutions through advanced technology such 

as Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality, Data Science, Internet-of-Things 

(IoT), Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR). For more information, 

visit https://cchubnigeria.com/fbstart. 

1. GreenHouse Capital 

GreenHouse Capital is the brain child of Venture Garden Group 

(a holding company of financial technology entities). 

GreenHouse Capital was launched in January 2016 as an 

independent investment holding company and their goal is to 

build the largest fintech investment holding company in Africa 

by investing in technology companies in Africa. Contact them 

by visiting Unit 2, Alma 2, Richmond Gate, Lekki, Lagos State, 

Nigeria, calling +2348099518140 or sending an email to info@ 

greenhouse.capital . You can also check out their website at 

http://greenhouse.capital. 

4. Africa Fintech Foundry (AFF) 

AFF is a pan-African fintech accelerator supported by Access Bank, 

Microsoft, IBM, Kantar TNS, SAS and SystemicLogic. The accelerator was 

established in order to boost technology forward and they achieve this 

by investing in technology start-ups through training mentorship and 

funding. Companies are expected to apply and stand a chance to be 

chosen for mentorship from world-class investors that will assist startups 

in reaching their full potential; to receive seed investment of 10% 

-12% equity investments that range from $25 000 - $50 000; receive 

office space that is perfect for collaboration and networking and other 

benefits including marketing and legal services. Get more information 

by visiting https://www.africafintechfoundry.com/ or apply here https:// 

www.africafintechfoundry.com/apply-now 

2. Leadpath Nigeria 

Leadpath Nigeria is a seed capital fund that provides start-up 

entrepreneurs in the tech space with the required mentorship, 

enabling environment and funds in order to bridge the gap 

between start-up and market dominance. They are especially 

focused on high growth technology areas like software, web 

and mobile technology. Leadpath accepts applications all year 

round. For more information, visit them at 70, Olonode Street, off 

Hughes Avenue, Alagomeji, Yaba, Lagos or send your inquiries to 

info@leadpath.com.ng . You can also visit their website at http:// 

leadpath.com.ng/. 

5. Google Ventures 

Google Ventures is a Capital Venture arm of Alphabet Inc. that provides 

venture capital funding to companies bold enough to push innovations 

in the fields of life science, healthcare, artificial intelligence, robotics, 

transportation, cyber security, and even agriculture. Since its launch in 

2009, they have invested in over 300 companies that dared the impossible. 

Visit their website https://www.gv.com/ to get more information. 

@thesparkng 

23



6. Accion Venture Lab 

Accion Venture Lab is a seed-stage impact investment initiative of Accion, 

a global non-profit organisation that seeks to create a financially inclusive 

world by giving people the financial help they need to improve their 

lives. Accion Venture Lab offers financial and other forms of support to 

innovative start-ups, especially in areas like alternative data, blockchain, 

machine learning, digital identification and other emerging technologies. 

Contact them at info@accion.org or visit their website https://www.accion. 

org/ to get more information. 

9. Venture Capital for Africa (VC4A) 

Venture Capital for Africa is focused on connecting African start-ups to 

different opportunities in different sectors. VC4A seeks to strengthen the 

start-up eco-system, including that of the tech sector, by exposing them 

to all they require to succeed including mentorship, funding, training, 

research opportunities and other forms of empowerment programs. For 

more information, visit https://vc4a.com/ . 

7. Trequity Capital 

Trequity Capital is a global finance and asset growth company with key 

investment focus on technology companies as well as other sectors, 

including film production. The company, which is currently headquartered 

in Lagos, also operates in Dubai, London and New York. They invest in tech 

companies that create value through artificial intelligence, mobility, IOT, 

cloud computing, augmented reality, virtual reality and other emerging 

technologies. To find out more, send a mail to info@trequitycap.com, call 

2341230101 or visit their website at https://www.trequitycap.com/ . 

10. Seedstars World 

Seedstars is an idea born in Switzerland to accelerate innovative ideas by 

connecting them with empowerment. It is all about impacting people’s lives 

through entrepreneurship and technology. They empower entrepreneurs 

by providing them with mentoring, funding, visibility, network and even 

office space. They also conduct Seedstars World Competition where 

start-ups or emerging entrepreneurs apply to pitch their ideas regionally 

and globally. For more information, go to their website at https://www. 

seedstars.com/ . 

Help is sometimes closer than you think. If you are tech start-up, there you 

go; ten organisations at your fingertips ready to help you build your 

innovative idea. 

8. StartPreneur 

StartPreneur is a technology accelerator and venture builder that helps 

build innovative ideas anchored on augmented reality, data science, 

machine learning, artificial intelligence, virtual reality and blockchain. They 

are focused on growing a completely digitalised Nigerian economy and 

one of the ways they do that is by investing into innovative ideas geared 

toward their goal. If you want to join and be among the over 4000 people 

they have trained, then visit their website at http://startpreneurs.com.ng/ 

or contact them at info@startpreneurs.com.ng or call +2348140424240. 

24 

@thesparkng



Smartphone - A Millennial Addiction 

The Smartphone has taken over Nigerian millennials and practically made them illequipped 

to handle a PC. 

- By Frank Eleanya 

Every research on millennials has one insight or the other 

about how they will transform or disrupt the workplace. 

They are also the butt of many stereotypes including selfish, 

demanding, entitled and overly addicted to technology. 

A PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report predicted that by 2020, 

almost half of the workforce will be made up of millennials. The 

stereotypes therefore give a picture of what the future workplace 

will look like. 

As companies around the world begin the process of transforming 

their workplace to accommodate the millennial generation, here 

in Nigeria the transformations are not happening very fast. For 

instance, while most companies abroad are doing away with 

desks and replacing wood panels with colourful sofas and glass 

doors, it hasn’t caught on here, only a handful have thought it 

necessary in Nigeria. What may be increasing are organisations 

replacing desktops computers with laptops. 

Without a doubt, companies’ adoption of technology and 

everything digital is increasing in the country. The mobile 

whirlwind that is sweeping across the country is also impacting 

many of these companies as they devise digital strategies to 

push their products. However, whereas laptop and PC rate may 

be declining as more individuals go mobile, organisations are 

not doing away with the older technologies any moment. The 

National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) recently revealed that Nigeria 

currently has 4.5 percent computer penetration, a decline when 

compared with 11 percent in 2016 and an 84 percent mobile 

phone penetration as at March 2018. 

from using one finger to type on the keyboard, to not being able 

to identify computer icons, and not knowing how to browse with 

a laptop. 

Their mobile phone skills, however, were not in question as they 

were often found using them during office hours. 

Interestingly, millennials in other countries maintain a healthy 

balance between their mobile phones and PCs. A survey 

conducted for Pew Research Center found that 30 percent 

of people ages 18 to 35 said they could not live without their 

laptops and 34 percent identified their mobile phone as the 

technology they could not live without. 

That Nigerian employers do not hand out mobile phones to new 

recruits is a reality that many millennials learn very late. In nearly 

99 percent of organisations, you are started off with either a 

laptop or a desktop computer. Thus, there is a need for a healthy 

balance between addiction for Smartphones and learning to use 

a either a laptop or desktop computer. 

While the odds may favour a mobile phone culture in the 

workplace, companies – at least those in Nigeria – are still 

considerably dependent on the laptops to carry out their 

operations. Hence, millennials joining these organisations will 

be setting themselves up for a fall expecting the work tools to be 

different when it concerns them. 

Two years working as online content manager has been an eye 

opener for this writer. Usually the company recruits interns to 

supplement the online desk. Nearly 80 percent of the young 

adults between the ages of 18 to 26 that have been assigned to 

the unit had problems using a computer. The problems range 

“ 

According to Pew Research Center, 30% of 

people between ages 18 to 35 can’t live without 

their laptops and 34% can’t live without their 

mobile phones. 

“ 

@thesparkng 

25



Accelerating the 

Future of Fintech 

in Africa 

- By Lanre Solarin 

Given the opportunity, the average Nigerian youth will take 

advantage of every opportunity announced on mainstream 

media, as long as it holds the prospect of helping them 

achieve their dreams. This is why this economy can never get tired 

of brands and institutions looking to make positive change in the 

lives of many. 

Access Bank, which is presently one of the five largest banks in 

Nigeria in terms of assets, loans, deposits and branch network, 

understands that to thrive in a fast paced economy, with 

technology as the catalyst, it needs to continuously create value 

while being flexible enough to adapt to change. 

In an interview with Ade Bajomo, the Executive Director of 

Operations and IT at Access Bank, he affirmed the fact, stating 

that the bank believes in driving innovation, digital financial 

services, financial inclusion, secure banking services, speed and 

enhanced services. It also believes in enhancing the capability of 

the wider ecosystem – the youths. 

As he stated, “I can say that Herbert Wigwe (Chief Executive 

Officer, Access Bank) is the top digitally aware financial services 

CEO in Africa today because he understands instinctively, that the 

financial services landscape needs to adapt fast, innovate, and 

either disrupt itself internally to remain relevant to its customers, 

or wait to be disrupted by Fintechs and other new players”. 

Ade Bajomo added: Customers today want fast, personalised 

financial services that can be accesses in a simple, efficient and 

seamless manner, from anywhere and at anytime. The millenials 

in particular thrive on innovative solutions. This is what we 

constantly move to achieve with our digital solutions. 

One way Access Bank has created value to stay at the forefront of 

innovation is by providing access to content that the wider 

ecosystem desires. They’ve done this through the innovative 

social interaction platform known as Accelerate TV. 

Accelerate TV 

Inspired by Access Bank, this platform is targeted at professionals 

and youths interested in world trends in order to stay informed. 

It’s a fulfilment of the bank’s promise to cater for the needs of 

its heterogeneous customer base – they identified a gap and 

decided to fill it up. 

It’s a haven for creatives, doers, thinkers, champions and everyone 

in between. Accelerate TV empowers the audience by being the 

lightning rod for cultural provocation, documenting Nigerian/ 

African stories and pop culture while ensuring they continue 

blazing the trail in new directions. 

With several shows and publications under their belt, championed 

by a creative pool of next generation writers, stylist videographers 

and image makers, this multimedia outlet is stopping 

at nothing to ensure that as they blaze trails at top speed, they’re 

taking millennials along. 

Asides inspiring the creation of a forward-thinking media platform, 

Access Bank is also keen on helping new start-ups create an enabling 

environment to thrive. As stated by Ade Bajomo, “We need to 

provide easier access to technology, better training, capital and a 

strong but agile 21st century regulatory environment. In Africa, we 

have the opportunity to create innovative digital financial services 

to solve our unique problems by leveraging global technologies. 

Look at past industrial revolutions for instance. We first had the 

invention of the steam engine, then we had mass production. 

Next, was the electronics revolution when the ENIAC was built. But 

where was Africa in all this? This is the fourth industrial revolution 

and it’s exciting for Africa because of a few reasons: 

• There’s accessibility. 

• We have the highest number of innovative and entrepreneurial 

youths. 

• We can now solve our problems. We can take expertise from 

abroad to create local solutions and still get better results.” 

Empowering Africa Through Fintech 

Africa Fintech Foundry (AFF), unveiled December 2017, is a fintech 

accelerator that’s powered by Access Bank. AFF’s goal is to create 

new opportunities in Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa, providing 

the investment and support that tech entrepreneurs need to 

launch and scale up, while mitigating any risks. 

It’s a platform designed to inspire and challenge African innovators, 

entrepreneurs and developers. AFF makes this possible through 

networks – via its ecosystem of and associates partners, including 

Fintech Nigeria. 

The idea of having an accelerator program was conceived in 2016 

when Access Bank brainstormed ways to introduce more innovation 

into the economy and maintain long term relevance. As a forwardthinking 

bank, Access Bank is always on the lookout for ways to 

create value for their shareholders and customers. To achieve this, 

Africa Fintech Foundry was created in 2017 to provide African tech 

start-ups seeking to launch their products, with capacity building 

and training in business development. They’d also make access to 

capital easier, facilitate partnerships and will drive the introduction 

of top notch Africa-led innovation solutions. 

Through AFF, Access Bank plans to generate new products and 

enter new markets. It is also an avenue for creative people, such 

as innovators and developers to achieve success, thanks to its 

digitally-savvy team that provides advice, support and finance for 

these start-ups. 

‘Our vision at AFF is to bring innovative digital financial services 

originated by Africans to the world; and to bring the world to 

Africa through digital innovation’. Bajomo added. 

As a financial institution, Fintech (financial technology) was a viable 

area of technology to focus on. It involves the use of software 

and other technology to support or enable banking and financial 

services. 

//Re:Code Nigeria 2017 

On March 24 to March 26, 2017, Africa Fintech Foundry organised 

a 48-hour hackathon titled ‘//Re:Code Nigeria’, with N2.75m to be 

won. This hackathon, which was the first of its kind in the financial 

services industry, attracted multiple teams of talented developers, 

designers, problem-solvers, and innovative thinkers to tackle 

challenges in the financial services industry, and was supported 

by industry giants such as Microsoft, IBM, Access Bank, and Idea 

Nigeria. 

26 

@thesparkng



With collaboration from Access Bank, the objective was to ensure that 

shareholders’ value and growth in tomorrow’s complex financial 

technology ecosystem can be delivered. Through the hackathon, Access 

Bank was ready to create the future now. 

As Ade stated, “The unique thing about our hackathon is that we’re not 

just solving problems for specific people. We’re solving problems for 

specific streams of businesses and industries.” 

The participating teams had the privilege of building hands-on solutions 

that leveraged application programming interfaces such as Microsoft’s 

Azure cloud computing infrastructure, IBM’s Bluemix artificial intelligence 

platform and Access Bank’s digital financial services platform. 

17 teams participated and created several applications and services 

creating a fusion between customers and banking services, with 3 teams 

emerging as winners. 

The winning team created an app called “Voice It” which activates banking 

transactions via voice. By simply tapping a button, customers can speak 

into the application and initiate transactions such as bank transfers, 

checking account balance, mobile recharge, etc. 

The second place team, called Paysense, developed a bot, nicknamed 

“Victor”, which provides payment solutions and easy access to financial 

advice and uses this information to create customer profiles based on 

spending habits. This provides the bank with information needed to make 

better financial decisions with respect to giving out loans, and more. 

The third place team created a financial assistance app called “Fissit” which 

helps users manage money and make payments from any messenger app 

– Facebook messenger, SMS or Slack. 

Every participant received one month Azure subscription while the winners 

received a full year’s worth of Azure, BizSpark and MSDN subscription 

worth over $10,000, with one selected team receiving admission into 

Africa Fintech Foundry’s 17-week accelerator program worth a $50,000 

early stage investment. 

//Re:Code Nigeria 2018 - The Biggest Hackathon in Nigeria, Ever. 

The second edition of //Re:Code Nigeria Hackathon themed “2018 Data 

Hack” took place between July 20th and July 22nd, 2018, and attracted 

a new set of innovators and developers with the objective of creating 

innovative solutions in response to challenges in some of Nigeria’s 

leading sectors such as Fast Moving Consumer Goods, Agriculture and the 

Financial Services ecosystem. 

Some of these problems include, but not limited to: 

• How financial technology can address supply chain challenges (from 

finished goods to retail) in the FMCG sector. 

• Leveraging big-data analytics, identity management and behavioural 

analysis to identify customers’ needs, providing investment advice & 

lending services. 

• Financial Inclusion for the agricultural and related sectors with a 

focus on improving credit scoring and financing opportunities for 

small and medium scale operators. 

With over 300 registrations, it was great to see young people trying to do 

the right thing and build their own businesses, without relying on 

government. For Ade, he desires that out of AFF, the next round of people 

like Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, etc. emerge as this will benefit Nigeria specifically, 

and Africa as a whole. “Our vision is very big”, he stated. 

The 2018 edition was also supported by industry leaders such as Unilever, 

DELL, AFEX, Microsoft, IBM, SaS, Hitachi, Coca-Cola, amongst others to 

help leverage and create value for the ecosystem. 

‘Our partners were extremely pleased with the outcomes and the 

usefulness of the solutions that arose from the event and will be rolling 

them into their businesses. 

Africa Fintech Foundry has an accelerator program that opens its doors to 

start-ups with good ideas. They then fine-tune those ideas and help them 

grow from start-ups into enterprises that can actually stand on their own 

in the market. 

Also, through the AFF Disrupt conference, the foundry helps raise 

awareness about the importance of technology and building an ecosystem. 

It’s like a festival to celebrate, discover the best technical ideas, to inspire 

and give people confidence around driving their own innovations. 

Start-ups can take advantage of opportunities at Africa Fintech Foundry 

by reaching out and applying to be a part of the start-up accelerator 

program (www.africafintechfoundry.com). The hackathon is run at 

least twice a year and from that, 3 potential cohorts are chosen to go 

through an intensive accelerator program for 20 weeks, which helps them 

understand how to turn their innovation into successful enterprises by 

learning secrets in business and marketing. Mentors come in to teach 

about entrepreneurship, projections, finance, legal matters, etc. 

There’s still more to come from a bank that makes innovation the 

watchword for key business decisions. Tech start-ups can leverage the 

resources made available at AFF now and get started in achieving their 

dreams, and disrupting the market, one solution at a time. 

You can catch up on some of the action from the //Recode Nigeria 2018 

Hackathon on Twitter using the hashtag #RecodeNigeria2018. 

@thesparkng 

27



Into The Mind Of A Digital Curator 

Bankole Oluwafemi is the co-founder of Big Cabal Media, the publisher of Tech Cabal and other 

media outlets. In this interview, he shares his journey into tech industry as a creative. 


Tell us about yourself and what you do. 

I’m a creative. I like to make things. Right now, I make things at 

Big Cabal Media, a digital content company that makes cool 

things for African audiences. 

Big Cabal Media is the publisher of Techcabal.com, a magazine 

website that covers the business of technology, innovation and 

start-ups in Africa; and Zikoko.com, an entertainment website 

that curates and amplifies young African culture and lifestyle. 

We are also the makers of Ebolafacts.com and GetYourPVC. 

com. And we’ve got more exciting stuff on the way. 

Take us through your journey into the tech industry. When 

and how did you first “interact” with the tech industry? 

I kind of stumbled into the whole tech thing; and actually 

consider myself a media guy, not a tech guy. For as long as I 

can remember, I wanted to get into media, and didn’t quite 

know how, because I studied law and had no media training or 

obvious media skills. 

In 2010, when I was in Law School, I got the idea to start 

blogging. It began as a personal journal, and I’d write about 

anything and everything that caught my fancy. But after 

attending a tech event at Unilag, and interacting with internet 

entrepreneurs and developers, I slowly developed an affinity 

for technology blogging. More of the stuff I published started 

to be about gadgets I had or wanted, and apps that I was trying 

out. I was eventually invited to become a contributor to what – 

at the time – was the largest technology blog in Nigeria. 

What inspired the establishment of Techcabal and what 

was the Spark to your success? 

Contributing to an established technology blog made me 

realise that I had a voice, even if it was coming out of an entrylevel 

Samsung Android phone in the back of a Danfo on Third 

Mainland Bridge. And people were not only listening to what I 

had to say, they were sharing and engaging with it. 

I eventually got tired of competing with TechCrunch in 

California to review the latest apps or phones from Lagos. 

At that time, devices that launched in North America/Europe 

would take months to reach Africa, so it really made no sense 

to go head to head with TechCrunch on phone reviews. What 

did make sense to me was writing about local start-ups and the 

people behind them. 

In 2011, the start-up ecosystem in Lagos was incredibly tiny; 

there weren’t a lot of page-views from writing about obscure 

app developers and entrepreneurs. No page-views meant 

no advertising revenue. Page-views came from writing stale 

gadget reviews and recycling press releases from boring 

but, established companies. That was the reigning wisdom. It 

@thesparkng 

29



became obvious to me that the only way to prove my hyper-local coverage 

hypothesis was to start something that was laser-focused on local startups.. 

There are tech websites everywhere. How were you able to grow 

Techcabal to become a primary resource for industry information? 

My decision to write about local start-ups and entrepreneurs seemed 

strategically counterintuitive at the time. In 2013, Techcabal essentially 

zigged when everyone else was zagging. Today in 2018, writing about 

African start-ups makes all the sense in the world, and tech blogs emerge 

everyday. This is a very good thing. Africa is not a country, and there are 

hundreds of local tech ecosystems across the continent that need the kind 

of visibility that only hyper-local media can provide. 

Where do you think technology in Nigeria is headed and what 

innovations are there to look forward to? 

Right now, everyone is going nuts about fintech, and for good reason. But 

the things I care most about are education -- building an army of 

developers, creators and problem solvers that will solve the problems 

of this age and the next; Policy -- creating enabling environments for 

innovative start-ups with forward-thinking legislation. 

How best can techies leverage technology for the future? 

By solving problems. From when wheels were invented to the age of flying 

cars, the purpose of technology has always been to solve humanity’s 

problems and help people live longer, healthier and happier lives. 

What technological trends do you believe can change the Nigerian 

economy if leveraged? 

The most important technological trend that needs to be leveraged on 

right now is fixing electricity in Nigeria. It isn’t rocket science. Fix electricity, 

and watch Nigerians do the rest. Next, let’s get broadband to the last 

mile by getting the state and local governments to align sensibly on those 

pesky right-of-way fees for laying fibre. 

New tech gadgets spring up back to back. How do you think gadgets 

are affecting the technological space in Nigeria? 

The proliferation of gadgets, which I’m assuming in this context, are 

mobile phones, is a huge driver of economic activity and opportunity in 

Sub-Saharan Africa, contributing more than 7 percent to GDP. Cheap smart 

phones are bringing millions of Nigerians online each year and affording 

them access to credit and financial services, educational content, jobs, 

and entrepreneurial opportunities. In a country where only 40 percent 

of the adult working population have bank accounts, where only one in 

five people who sit JAMB will gain admission into University, and where 

unemployment is at over 14 percent and rising, mobile phones and access 

to the internet are a chance to transcend the challenges of one’s immediate 

environment. I am proof of this but, that’s a story for another day. 

How do you think Nigeria can take advantage of the innovations in 

gadgets production to improve the economy? Are we receptive to 

these tech innovations? 

Companies like Innoson and Andela have proven that we can make things 

and export world class talent. But, until the underlying issues of 

infrastructure and education are fixed, Nigeria will continue to be a net 

importer of technology and innovation. That is the real challenge we need 

to rise up to. 

What advice do you have for potential entrepreneurs in the tech 

space? 

I think that if you build something that solves problems, everything good 

will come. 

30 

@thesparkng



START UP 

Being a Founder 

Tomi Davies is the “Collaborator-in-Chief” of technology services company TechnoVision which advises 

clients on technology-led transformation and early stage entrepreneurship in Africa. He sheds light on 

starting up as a tech entrepreneur. 

- By Harry Tomi Davies (TD) 

Starting out as a Tech Start-up 

As a guide to answering this question of “Where do I start?” especially if 

you really want to get your start-up funded, the question of what exactly 

it is that you’re building, measuring and learning should start with 

some old-fashioned thinking about what you see in the future — YOUR 

VISION! I mean taking yourself through a process that recognises you’re 

preparing to build a business (and that’s exactly what your start-up is!) 

that can change the world!It is critical to begin with a think-through of 

the journey you are starting on while you’re still a start-up because once 

you’ve started, while you might evolve, pivot and scale you’re never going 

to get to start the same company again. For how to do this, take a look 

at my article “What’s the vision for your startup?”on Medium - http://bit. 

ly/2NmoHnh 

Demonstrate Your Mastery as a Start-up Entrepreneur 

It is your responsibility as the founder and owner of the venture’s vision to 

figure out and be sure to document how the business will function from 

a process and procedures standpoint. At the minimum, you should be 

able to describe the buy-side (i.e. procurement, vendor management etc), 

inside (i.e. human capital, design, development, production etc) and sellside 

(i.e. marketing, sales, customer relations, etc.) of your operations. 

It is important to demonstrate your mastery (and as appropriate lack of 

knowledge) of your envisioned (or semi-built) organisation in anticipation 

of helping potential investors, partners and employees understand how 

you see it all working operationally to deliver your proposition.Research, 

think through and get advice if need be to bring to life on paper just 

how you expect your startup business to work, highlighting key roles and 

responsibilities of the different units that will make up the company. You 

should also (if possible) identify the main activities that will make up the 

daily operations of the business and any issues associated with them that 

you foresee. 

Courses and Programs for Tech Start-up Entrepreneurs 

Personally, I’m a big fan of Eric Ries’“Lean Startup” and the “Build, Measure, 

Learn” process which is evolving as I write, thanks to the likes of Steve Blank. 

The VC4A Startup Academy is a FREE online resource dedicated to the 

next generation of African startup founders; you can take your business to 

the next level by learning about the latest insights and listening to advice 

from 35 experts like me active in the African early stage ecosystem. It can 

be found at https://academy.vc4a.com/ 

Mentorship 

At each stage of my personal development, I have been privileged to have 

an amazing array of mentors throughout my life including my late brother 

Akin Ogunmade-Davies who built Nigeria’s first ever indigenous Public 

Relations firm ROD Publicitywith his two partners, Jim Obi who built 

Equitable Life Insurance - the most lucrative Agency in New York, and 

Nicholas Negroponte, a co-founder of MIT’s Media Lab who created 

the One Laptop Per Child organization. Today I still benefit from the 

mentorship of both senior and junior mentors who guide me in building 

businesses and their industry expertise. 

Start-up Quick Tips 

Make sure, as I said earlier, that you have a compelling vision that is 

sustainably innovating the solution to a problem in a compelling way; 

choose great co-founders who share your vision enough to build it with 

you then launch fast; let your proposition to the market evolve with your 

understanding of your customers; Avoid distractions to your strategic 

focus while making sure delivery of your offer delightscustomers. Spend 

pragmatically and measure everything you can in the business. Above all, 

don’t get demoralized and don’t give up. 

@thesparkng 

31



Online Business 101 

The internet has made it easy to do business that can 

have global relevance. 

- By Stephanie Obi 

“ 

An Online business is not just a 

website or a blog, it is a business 

“ 

Online businesses are booming and have created a fantastic 

opportunity for young people to start businesses without 

necessarily having huge capital. You can even start an online 

business from the comfort of your home, and with your smartphone 

as long as you have access to the internet. The additional beauty of 

online businesses is that you can serve a lot more people regardless 

of where they live. Your customers are no longer limited to the city 

or country you live in. 

Unfortunately, there is a lot of misconception around what an online 

business really is, so let’s start with some definitions. An Online 

business is first of all a business. It is not a website or a blog, it is a 

business. Like every business, it is created to solve a specific problem 

for people, and it has to be a solution that people are willing to pay 

for. Once you are clear about the problem you solve, you have to 

think about what business model to go with. Simply put, a business 

model is how you make money. 

In this article, I will share eight online business models that have 

been tried and tested. 

Advertising: In this business model, you make money by charging 

people or organizations a fee to advertise on your platform (website, 

blog, social media page, email list, etc). To successfully run this 

model, you must have built up a platform that has a lot of traffic, as 

advertisers will pay you to access the people that visit your platform. 

Examples of Nigerian businesses that use this model are Bella Naija 

and Linda Ikeji. You can equally attract advertisers if you have a niche 

audience who engage on your platform. 

Physical Products: In this business model, you make money by 

selling a physical product like clothes, shoes, gadgets, books, etc. 

You can partner with a logistic company to deliver your orders to 

people wherever they live. Examples of Nigerian businesses that use 

this model are boutiques that also have e-commerce stores. 

Marketplaces: In this business model, you create a platform that 

houses different online stores and you make a commission from 

every sale that is made on the platform. Examples of Nigerian 

businesses that use this model are Konga which houses stores that 

sell electronics, clothes, phones, etc and Trayny which houses online 

courses from different facilitators. To successfully run this model, 

you must be able to market the products that have been housed on 

the marketplace. 

Apps: In this model, you make money by selling access to an app or 

by offering in-app purchases. Many mobile phones now come with 

the Android and IOS operating systems which allow developers to 

upload their apps and earn an income from it. People who have been 

successful with this model often have a free version and give their 

users an option to pay for additional features in the app. 

Memberships: In this model, you make money by creating a 

resource or software or a product that people have to pay a fixed 

amount monthly to access. A popular example of this is Netflix, which 

has a library of entertaining content that people have access to when 

they pay their membership fee. Another example of this is Basecamp, 

which is an online productivity software that small business owners 

pay monthly to use. 

Affiliate Marketing: In this model, you make money by marketing 

another person’s product. You get paid a commission each time 

someone pays for the product you are marketing. People who have 

been successful with this model have built up a community of people 

who trust them and who will buy what they recommend for example 

bloggers, vloggers and podcasters. 

One on One service: In this model, you make money by providing a 

service to another individual or organization. It can be business 

coaching, website development, brand consultancy, etc. Meetings 

can be held over platforms like Skype and Zoom. Contracts can be 

signed using platforms like HelloSign. Emails can be used as a means 

of communication and these days, people even use WhatsApp. 

Online Courses: In this model, you make money by teaching what 

you know online as an online course. People who pay for your course 

will receive a username and password to access your content. This is 

currently an industry that is valued at over $107 billion as individuals 

who have a skill, talent or expertise and coming online, building their 

brands, growing their online community and creating online courses 

to sell to their communities. 

With all these options, there has to be an online business you can 

start today. 

32 

@thesparkng



Intune With 

Kemi Onabanjo on Travel Blogging 

Kemi Onabanjo is a management consultant by day and a blogger by night. In this piece, she 

took us through a journey with her as a travel blogger. 

- By Kemi Onabanjo 

Being a management consultant at a global firm like McKinsey 

comes with the opportunity to work on projects across 

multiple countries. However, travel for me started well 

before I became a management consultant. While I worked 

at Ericsson Nigeria, I travelled all over and eventually started 

travelling to other countries (Ghana, Kenya) running change 

management projects. My first trip to Kenya triggered my 

curiosity to see the rest of Africa and I made it a goal to visit one 

new African country every year. 

My first trip ever was a family trip from Lagos to Port-Harcourt in 

1995 to visit my Aunt. It was also my first time ever on an airplane 

– we went by bus and returned by air and I can never forget how 

excited I was to be in an airplane. It was so fascinating! First trip 

abroad was also a family trip in 2000 to the United Kingdom to 

visit my Uncle and his family. 

I started travelling properly on my own in 2009 when I could 

afford to sponsor my trips from my savings (thank God for good 

jobs). 

Planning Travels With a Full-time Job 

This depends on if it is a proper vacation or a quick opportunistic 

trip. Every year, since 2013, I take 4 weeks of unpaid leave off 

work, and plan my proper vacations around that. The great thing 

about working in an organization that is project-based is that 

with good upfront planning (I am talking months in advance), 

you can take time off without worrying about the world crashing 

at work. 

In addition, we have a good number of weekend public holidays 

in Nigeria, and I try to plan quick trips around those as well. My 

latest hack is to join group trips organized during public holidays 

as a way to minimize planning stress and also meet new people. 

Most Nigerian travel experience curators have their annual 

calendars of group trips published in advance so it is easy to 

plan (save money, book, get other friends to join, etc.) ahead. 

Travelling Favourites and Non-Favourites 

My favourite thing about travelling has to be going to new places 

and actually seeing/experiencing things I have read or heard 

about. It is always so cool for anticipation/expectation to be 

met with reality. Those moments also make me grateful for the 

opportunity that I have to be able to touch/see the things I could 

only imagine before. 

My least favourite thing used to be all the time wasted travelling 

but now I actually love it because I do most of my writing when I 

am on train rides or flights (a big chuck of this article was written 

on a flight from Abuja to Accra). For some reason, a lot of my 

inspiration comes when I am in the clouds. To be honest, I think 

it has more to do with the fact that I can’t be on WhatsApp than 

the clouds themselves, lol. That said, I am still not a fan of airport 

security and all that ‘remove your shoes’ business. 

Challenges Encountered While Travelling 

Gosh, too many – here we go; 

Uncertainty – “Abeg, when exactly is the public holiday 

happening? Thursday/Friday or Friday/Monday?” 

@thesparkng 

33



Visa applications – “Oh no, this country only has an embassy in Abuja! 

Why me Lord?” or 

“Please where am I supposed to find my grandmother’s birth certificate 

that this embassy is asking me to submit now?” 

Language – “I am lost in this city but I can’t explain to anyone where I am 

going because the only thing I remember from Google Translate is how to 

say rice and chicken in this language!” 

Cash - “After all the months of saving, I can’t believe that all these my 

plenty Naira is worth only 500 of this other currency!!” 

Unmet expectations – “Excuse me, but this hotel room does not look like 

what I saw on the website o”Hehehe. 

Being unequally yoked –“Dear diary, please remind me never to travel 

with this my friend again - how did we end up spending more time (and 

money) in Zara stores than at the museum?” 

I can go on and on about challenges but I think you get the point now. 

Travel, just like any other worthwhile endeavour, is not devoid of its 

challenges but I have learnt to take them in my stride and laugh about 

them. In the moment, it’s usually not funny but hey, we move anyway! 

Favourite Spots 

I have too many favourite places. My top 3 would be: 

1. Japan because my experience in that country was so deep and rich, it 

overflowed from my heart into a note on my phone that eventually 

became my first ever travel (and the unofficial launch of my writing/ 

blogging career). Japan opened my mind and woke my fingers up! 

2. Lebanon because I had very low expectations (blame it on CNN) and 

I was pleasantly surprised by how beautiful the country is and how 

similar Lebanese and Nigerians are. I genuinely believe that we are 

distant cousins. 

3. Rwanda because I was completely blown away by how well/quickly 

they have rebuilt the country since the genocide in 1991 and it gave 

me hope that Nigeria can be great again in my lifetime. 

Advise for Potential Travel Bloggers and Tourists 

For a potential travel blogger - write from your heart and be authentic 

– don’t try to write like anyone else. Focus on excellence and not on being 

commercial – if you focus on the right thing, everything else will be added 

unto you. Don’t forget to enjoy your trips – it is easy to get caught up in 

documenting everything you see that you end up not enjoying the trip. 

Not all trips will be amazing or article-worthy and that’s okay – there is no 

wasted experience so remember to enjoy all your experiences. 

getting the information to complete immigration requirements (VisaHQ, 

relevant Consulate websites and various forums on Google), booking 

flights (airline websites, travel sites like Travel Start, WakaNow), securing 

accommodation (hotel websites, AirBnB), to discovering and planning 

my itinerary (TripAdvisor, Instagram feeds of country tourism sites and 

fellow travellers, good ol’ Google), sorting out ground transportation 

(Uber, Taxify, GoogleMaps), getting food and staying nourished (UberEats, 

Yelp), managing money matters especially on group trips (Splitwise), 

documenting my experiences (iPhone camera and IG stories), staying in 

touch with family and friends back home (WhatsApp, Facetime) and so 

much more. 

Long story short, technology provides me with relevant and timely 

information and services that make my travel experience simpler, richer, 

more efficient and more enjoyable. 

Role of the Government in Improving Tourism 

There are so many ways we can monetize tourism in Nigeria but I will focus 

on just 2 practical initiatives. There are 2 dimensions to tourism in Nigeria 

– local tourism (for Nigerians in Nigeria) and international tourism (for 

foreigners coming to Nigeria). 

For international tourism, we make money when people actually come to 

this country, so first things first – invest in making Nigeria an attractive 

tourist destination. I fell in love with Lebanon on Instagram. I keep 

dreaming about Bali and the Maldives because of the amazing online 

photos I have seen of these locations. Countries that are serious about 

tourism invest in showcasing their country via dedicated websites and 

other online channels. The power of a beautiful photograph and wellwritten 

experience cannot be underestimated. Nigeria needs to get 

serious about its online presence. 

The second practical initiative is more around local tourism. Even though 

there are a good number of potential tourist attractions/historical sites 

spread across Nigeria, they are either not well-known or well-maintained 

and therefore, not visited and therefore not commercially relevant. Believe 

it or not, a lot of Nigerians have not really explored Nigeria beyond Lagos, 

Abuja and their states of residence or origin, and they are quite keen 

to see more of their country. So, what we can we do? Each state should 

focus on improving the attractiveness of their tourist attractions because 

whatever revenue they make become internally-generated revenue that 

they get to keep 100% (if you know how the Federal Government and State 

Government treat revenues, you will understand how that is a big deal). 

The revenue will not just be from the sites themselves, but from the broad 

ecosystem – money spent at hotels where tourists will stay, restaurants 

where they will eat, tour guides they will patronize, local transport they 

will take, etc. 

For the tourist who wants to see the world – Just do it!!!! Don’t overthink it, 

just go! Be intentional about travel – set money aside every month for it, 

look for deals and packages to help you get more value for money, don’t 

tie your travel destiny to anyone – it is very okay to be a solo traveller 

sometimes. Enjoy the whole process, be adventurous and don’t go abroad 

to be looking for jollof rice and dodo! 

Impact of Technology on Travelling 

I rely quite heavily on technology (a combination of the internet and 

mobile apps) in my end-to-end travel process. From choosing a destination, 

“ 

Don’t forget to enjoy your trips 

– it is easy to get caught up 

in documenting everything 

you see that you end up not 

enjoying the trip. 

“ 

34 

@thesparkng



BrandSpark 

MAX Go vs Gokada 

As urbanization becomes rapid in African countries, technology has also become one of the key players in providing solutions 

to long-standing problems and paving a way for new industries, jobs and a better quality of life. For a State like Lagos, 

population explosion means more vehicles on the road, and also, a worsened traffic situation. This edition of BrandSpark 

paces two tech-powered transportation companies working to alleviate the problem of traffic in Lagos. 

- By Damilola Oyewusi 

Transportation is arguably one of the toughest parts of living in 

Lagos. With almost 20 million people shuttling to work or school, 

the average daily commute for many is as long as three hours. 

From private cars to public buses and taxis, gridlocks have become a 

picture that quickly comes to mind at the mention of Lagos. To augment 

these vehicles of transportation were the motorcycles, popularly called 

Okada within the metropolis. 

By virtue of the size of the vehicle, an Okada could meander its way 

through gridlocks, cutting down travel time for passengers who are 

usually trying to beat time and escape the stress of the regular traffic 

jams. Unfortunately, a high record of road mishaps, including robbery 

and avoidable accidents led to a ban on motorcycles in major parts of 

the State. It did not help that many of the motorcycles were in poor 

conditions and the riders had little training as to proper riding and 

road sharing. 

To solve this challenge, these tech startups have reproduced the car 

hire model used by Uber and are working to provide an integrated 

solution to the obvious and less overt problems of this mode of 

transportation. 

“ 

With almost 20 million people 

shuttling to work or school, the 

average daily commute for many 

is as long as three hours. 

“ 

MAX Go 

MAX (Metro Africa Express) began their journey as a delivery company 

for e-commerce businesses and restaurants. They launched the 

MAX Go service in mid-2017 to transport people in a bid to alleviate 

transportation headaches. To bypass the challenge of the government’s 

ban on Motorcycles, the company only accepts the State approved 

models - 200cc motorcycle and provides safety gears for both the 

drivers and the passengers. Even more important is the screening 

and training availed to riders before they are accepted into the ‘Max 

Champions’ pool of drivers. 

The company also allows motorized tricycles (kekes) on their network, 

providing options for those who remain wary of riding on motorcycles. 

To empower verified drivers who cannot afford the specified vehicles, 

the company works with the Lagos State Employment Trust fund 

(LSETF) to assist with funding. 

The MAX Go website is detailed, functional and user-friendly. You can 

check your price estimate directly on the platform before downloading 

the app as a first time user. 

While this service is definitely applauded and welcome, some 

commercial users on the app have raised issues with pricing for delivery 

services. 

Gokada 

Gokada is fairly new to the market, having launched in January this year 

but have also begun making their mark in both Lagos mainland and 

Island environs. While the team still have a lot of work to do on the userfriendliness 

and functionality of the application itself, they seem to be 

focused on getting drivers out on the road. 

With similar business strategies to MAX Go, the company is providing a 

rent-to-own plan and comprehensive training for their drivers. However, 

they have honed in on providing transportation services to individuals 

alone as against partnering with businesses for delivery services. 

As any tech-based business soon realizes, the solution provided goes 

beyond the intrigues of building an application that works well. Trust and 

reliability are currencies for success in the business. Technology works 

best when it is matched with or enhances good service. Availability of 

vehicles is also an issue at the moment, but with plans like Gokada’s 

rent-to-own and MAX Go’s partnership with LSETF, more motorcycles 

on the road should ease up that challenge. 

Despite the challenges of this teething-stage, MAX and Gokada seem 

to have started on the right foot. It will be great to see the successes 

they record in the coming years. 

@thesparkng 

35

What Next? 

The Spark Connect 

Get Empowered 

Apply now and stand a chance to be empowered 

with cash grants, Mentorship and more. Visit 

thesparkng.com/connect to get started. 

> 

Pro Bono 

Have legal questions concerning your business? 

Visit thesparkng.com/probono to ask now. 

Vital Signs 

Have questions related to mental health? Visit 

thesparkng.com/vital-signs to ask now. 

> 

FreestyleX 

FreestyleX gives you an opportunity to showcase your heart and 

art in our monthly exhibition. Send in your art works (videos, 

audios, poems, paintings, etc) and get published on our website. 

Visit thesparkng.com/freestyle to submit your work of art. 

Submissions are then screened and the artists invited for the 

event. 

BrandSpark 

Participate in our monthly BrandSpark poll and tell 

us what you think about brands. Follow us on social 

media - @thesparkng - to participate. 

Profiles 

Are you an entrepreneur doing something positive? Let 

us profile you. Send an email to info@thesparkng.com 

signifying your interest.

July 2018

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