The Spark Magazine (July 2018)

www.thesparkng.com
The Spark | Ignite/Connect/Achieve
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
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