The Tech Vantage

www .the sparkn g .co m 

The Spark | Ignite / Connect / Achieve 

@the 

sp 

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1

From Our 

Guest Editor 

Published By 

Publisher 

Frank Aigbogun 

Executive Publisher 

Ikenna Onuorah 

Managing Editor 

Sharon-Ann Adaigbe 

Head of Business & Growth 

Oghenevwoke Ighure 

Editor 

Patrick Atuanya 

Head of Operations 

Fabian Akagha 

Guest Editor 

Joseph Agunbiade 

Creative Director 

Segun Adekoye 

TechVantage 

Quantum computing (IBM), Autonomous robots (irobot), Internet of Things (Oracle), 

5G Networks (Huawei), Electric Self-driving cars (Tesla), Neuro-technological brain 

enhancements (Neuralinks), Genetic editing (Spark Therapeutics) - The evidence of 

dramatic change is all around us and it’s happening at exponential speed. This is the new 

conversation around the world; The Fourth Industrial revolution (4IR) changing the way 

we live, work and relate to one another. 

The First Industrial Revolution used water and steam power to mechanise production. 

The Second used electric power to create mass production. The Third used electronics 

and information technology to automate production. 

Now the Fourth Industrial Revolution is building on the Third, the digital revolution that 

has been occurring since the middle of the last century. It is characterised by a fusion 

of technologies blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres. 

(weforum.org, Klaus Schwab 2016) 

In Nigeria, we are closing the circuit by leapfrogging from our ripening third industrial 

of Systemspecs (John Obaro), Infographics (Chinenye Mba-Uzokwu), Interswitch (Mitchell 

Elegbe) etc. to the new startups like Co-creation Hub, Lifebank (a smart blood system 

saving lives in Lagos), Paystack, Andela, Univelcity, HNG accelerating Talent Development, 

BudgIT using tech for civic advocacy, 54-Genes unlocking the African Genome, I can go 

on... 

Art Director 

Kola Oshalusi 

ED, Strategy & Planning 

Bankole Jamgbadi 

Associate Editor 

Omoleye Omoruyi 

Editorial Assistant 

Ayandola Ayanleke 

Contributing Editors 

Lucy Onuorah 

John Iyoha 

Design 

Oladapo Sodeinde 

Growth and Strategy Team 

Ayishat Olanrewaju 

Chuka Emereuwaonu 

Production Team 

James Otihi 

Duru Azubuike 

Kelvin Omozua 

IT Team 

Andre Udegbe 

Michael Aworoghene 

Damilola Adebesin 

We must, however, not forget that whatever we are building must be tailored towards 

solving our own local problems like epileptic power supply, bad roads etc. 

Imagine what the term “Future of Work” means to the over 91 million Nigerians living in 

extreme poverty (Sahara Reporters, June 2019) or the over 17 million housing deficit, and 

how it impacts their living conditions? Our increasing security threat to life and property 

The question is: What are we going to change with what we are building? 

All the preceding industrial revolutions have added incremental improvements to the 

world so much so that the nations that first participated and led the movement are today 

termed developed nations while others like Nigeria is termed ‘developing’ (to put it nicely). 

We must do everything we can to be part of this revolution and not continue to be 

consistent latecomers. Indeed, this might be our last chance to redemption! 

Joseph Agunbiade 

Address 

George V Street, Lagos Island. 

BusinessDay Media Ltd: 6 Point Rd, 

Apapa, Lagos. 

Enquiries 

+2348123183458, +2347030951270, 

+2348182799268 

Email: info@thesparkng.com 

Website: www.thesparkng.com 

Social media: 

@thesparkng

Contributors 

Adia 

Sowho 

Ayodele 

Elegba 

Oladele 

Bakare 

Godwin 

Benson 

is the Managing Director/ VP of Growth at 

Mines, a fintech company founded in 2014 

which provides a digital platform that enables 

institutions such as banks, telcos and retailers 

their customers with no smartphones required. 

She has an MBA from the Kellogg School of 

Management 

is the founder and CEO of SPOOF MEDIA 

LIMITED, the mother company of Spoof 

Animation and Spoof Comics. Spoof Media is into 

the production of comic books and 2d animation 

with local content and stories in mind. He is also 

the convener of Lagos Comic Convention, a 

gathering of people from all across the country 

and beyond who love arts, comics and animation. 

Findworka. He has over 10 years of experience 

in the technology industry, specializing in 

enterprise-level software engineering. Dele 

studied software engineering at the National 

Institute of technology (NIIT) and obtained a 

degree in business computing from Anglia Ruskin 

University, UK. 

is the founder of Tuteria, Nigeria’s foremost online 

platform that connects learners with competent 

teachers in any skill or subject nationwide. He is 

the first Nigerian to win the prestigious Africa 

Prize by the Royal Academy of Engineering, UK 

as well as Facebook’s Internet.org Innovation 

Challenge for his impact in Education in 

Africa. He has been featured on BBC, Forbes, 

FastCompany, Aljazeera, CCTV and other media 

platforms 

Temie Giwa- 

Tubosun 

Jessica 

Hope 

Samuel 

Odeloye 

Dr. Maymunah 

Yusuf Kadiri 

studied International Public Management from 

the Middlebury Institute of International Studies. 

She has over 10 years of health management 

experience with the Department For International 

Development (DFID), World Health Organization, 

UNDP, and the Lagos State Government. In 2014, 

the BBC listed her as one of the 100 Women 

changing the world. She was also recognized as 

an African Innovator by Quartz and the World 

Economic Forum. She is the Founder and CEO of 

LifeBank; Africa’s healthcare supply chain engine. 

The company helps hospitals discover essential 

medical suppliers and delivers them in the right 

condition and on time. 

is the Founder of Wimbart, a London-based 

Public Relations agency focussed on Africa 

and emerging markets. WIth over 13 years 

experience in communications, Jessica and her 

team have crafted strategic, impactful media 

campaigns and communications for both seedstage 

and venture-backed start-ups, as well as 

entrepreneurs and public bodies, for over four 

years. 

is a Founder & CEO at RoadPreppers 

Technologies— An AI transportation 

developing countries. RoadPreppers is popularly 

known for its hyperlocal public transit directions 

solution—Lara.ng. A platform helping over 

300,000 users navigate their cities better, since 

an adventurous spirit and a daring entrepreneur 

with over 10 years of experience in various 

entrepreneurial disciplines, product design, 

business management, business analytics and 

operations. 

popularly referred to as “THE CELEBRITY 

SHRINK,” is a multiple award winning Mental 

Health Physician & Advocate with over 15 years 

experience. She is the Medical Director and 

Psychiatrist - In - Chief at Pinnacle Medical 

Services, Nigeria’s leading and foremost 

Psychology and Mental health clinic prominent in 

the application of innovative clinical approaches 

in the management/treatment of a wide range of 

psychological, emotional, and behavioral related 

disorders. 

Olusola 

Amusan 

Aderinsola 

Fagbure 

Ivie Martins 

Ogbonmwan 

Uwem 

Uwemakpan 

is a graduate of Electrical Engineering and has 

over 18 years experience in Software Design 

and Application Development. He is an ICT 

Consultant and has been involved in Software, 

Mobile and Web Application Development in 

various capacities. Bade is actively involved in 

the IT world of Open Source. He was the head 

of Joomla! User Group, Nigeria and is very active 

in the Drupal , Wordpress , PHP & Open Source 

Communities. 

is a Corporate lawyer with special interest in 

corporate governance. She is a Senior Associate 

in the Transaction and Business Support Practice 

of Esher and Makarios. She is a graduate of 

Igbinedion University and has a Master’s Degree 

in Corporate Law from University College 

London. She is a member of the African Society 

of Crowdfunding. Her column “in black and white 

“which is published in Thisday Law discusses 

innovations in corporate governance and 

finance. Derin is passionate about advising small 

businesses with a view to ensuring that they 

outlive their founders. An active bar member, she 

currently serves as the Chairman of the Young 

Lawyers’ Forum of the NBA Lagos Branch. 

serves as the Lead Consultant at Elite Hunters, 

responsible for strategies to attract, develop, 

and retain talent for corporate organizations and 

SMEs in diverse industries across Nigeria. 

In the course of her HR career, she has 

successfully managed the overall provision of 

Human Resources services, policies, and 

programs and has helped various 

organizations boost overall performance through 

and coherent compensation & benefits, and 

employee engagement. 

is the Entrepreneurship Programme Manager 

of the Tony Elumelu Foundation which uses 

$100 million to identify, train, mentor and fund 

African Entrepreneurs across Africa. Uwem is 

also the Lagos Chapter Director of Silicon Valley 

based startup Grind. He drives ‘The Afropreneur 

Network’, an initiative dedicated to growing 

the African Entrepreneur and also sits on the 

Advisory Boards of the South By SouthWest 

(SXSW) Accelerator, Injini (Africa’s EdTech 

Incubator) and the Lagos Ambassador for 

Startup bootcamp. 

Francis 

Osifo 

Oghenetega 

Iortim 

Modupe 

Odele 

is the Co-founder and VP of Engineering at 

54gene, Francis has over 10 years software 

development experience building enterprise 

solutions for businesses across Nigeria. He has 

also led teams to build solutions for Visa, DFID, 

Microsoft, and more. 

He managed the implementation of the World 

Bank funded Startup SouthWest project across 

6 states in Nigeria as well as the implementation 

of AFBD/Microsoft Code for Employment 

project across Nigeria. He is an alumni of Fate 

Foundation and Lagos Business School. 

studied Information Communication Technology 

and has managed multiple development projects 

that process $1 million in annual revenue. He 

has also worked on technology development 

initiatives across multiple industries including 

Power, Manufacturing, Agriculture, Oil and Gas. 

He is the Co-founder/CEO at Gricd, a business 

that builds last mile smart cold chain solutions 

of temperature sensitive commodities. 

is an International Attorney and Business Consultant who is 

focused on Startup advisory and Impact Investing. She is the 

Impact Investing and Social Enterprise Lead of a boutique 

United States. She also runs a social enterprise called “Scale 

My Hustle” which is focused on providing resources to enable 

entrepreneur’s better structure their business. Moe has a 

Master’s degree from Columbia University where she graduated 

as a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, a David Leebron Human Rights 

Fellow, a Salzburg Lloyd N. Cutler International Law Fellow 

and a recipient of a fellowship from the Columbia Center on 

Sustainable Investment. 

Copyright © 2019 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 products or services mentioned in any of the articles and are not responsible for the outcome of using such products or services.



Contents 

04 

MINORITY REPORT 

Building Up With Tech 

22 

BULLSEYE 

A Story Worth Telling 

06 

BOTTOM LINE 

EdTech - Social Enabler 

24 

CORPORATE CODE 

When H meets R and You 

07 

WIRED IN 

Artificially Intelligent Finance 

25 

FEATURES 

Experience TransDisruption 

08 

PRO BONO 

Don’t Sign Just Yet... 

The Future is Female 

Savings on Account of Life Bank 

Finding Funds 

Cold-chain Tech 

Tech Up and Fly 

10 

GREENLIGHT 

Gridlock’d - The Apapa Saga 

36 

Tech Meets Genes 

Today’s Idea, Tomorrow’s Innovation 

FREESTYLE 

One Pixel at a Time 

11 

VITAL SIGNS 

When Doors Don’t Open 

38 

SME SPOTLIGHT 

Vazi Legal 

13 

THE SPARK EFFECT 

Introduction - The TechVantage - 

VoguePay Chronicles 

Itanna 

Michael Simeons - CEO, VoguePay 

Adeleke Ojikutu - CTO, VoguePay 

Mohammed Jega - CBDO, VoguePay 

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www . the sparkng.c o m 

MINORITY REPORT 

Building Up 

With Tech 

Building the economy through 

businesses enabled by technology 

players in the ecosystems 

By Uwem Uwemakpan 

Introduction 

Technology is a broad term and mostly 

misunderstood as solely applicable to 

software or writing code. But, giving a 

definition, I would say that Technology is 

anything that makes life easy. It can be 

used to complete various daily tasks and 

as such, can be seen as products or services 

that simplify our everyday life. 

Technology can be applied in our everyday 

tasks, in communication, transportation, 

learning, manufacturing, scaling 

businesses and so much more. 

The application of technology often 

involves the interplay between tools, 

materials, and systems that result in improved 

products and services. Therefore, 

we ought to look at technology as a business 

enabler and not just the product. 

This means a lot of businesses (not otherwise 

regarded as tech businesses) can 

be transformed, optimised and scaled to 

serve more people with technology. 

ogy to deliver those products and services 

to their customers on time and 

within budget. 

Tech Across Eras 

Technology is dynamic and it keeps on 

improving because our needs, demands 

and applications keep changing with 

time. The world is in the Fourth Industrial 

Revolution and technology has played 

an active role in each revolution era. 

The First Industrial Revolution leveraged 

water and steam power to mechanise 

production. The invention of the steam 

engine created a new type of energy 

that powered all processes thanks to 

the development of railroads. This led 

to the acceleration of economic, human 

and material exchanges. Companies with 

large sums of capital had the potential 

of using these expensive technological 

tools to gain a competitive edge; small 

businesses had less potential because 

- 

facturing or processing tools. 

The Second Industrial Revolution saw 

the mass production of steel, the synthesis 

of petroleum products – oil and 

gas, electric power generation and distribution. 

Advancements in manufacturing 

enabled the widespread adoption 

No gain arguing that many businesses 

use technology to remain competitive; 

they create new products and services 

using technology, and also use technolof 

new technological systems such as 

the telegraph, rail networks, gas supply, 

water supply and sewage systems, 

which had hitherto been concentrated 

around a few select cities. For example, 

the enormous expansion of rail and 

telegraph lines allowed unprecedented 

movement of people and ideas, which 

resulted in a new wave of globalisation. 

It became easy for entrepreneurs to set 

up businesses in regions they would previously 

not have been able to reach or 

operate in favourably. 

Technological advancement created a 

new economic environment which ushered 

in the Third Industrial Revolution. 

This era was characterised by the digitisation 

of the manufacturing sector. With 

advances in computing power, production 

capacity was accelerated and improved 

through automation and robots. 

With a new communication system, the 

internet, information sharing became 

environment, and has helped entrepreneurs 

and small businesses gain a position 

in highly competitive markets. 

Now a Fourth Industrial Revolution is 

building on the Third; a digital revolution 

characterised by a fusion of technologies 

blurring the lines between the 

physical, digital, and biological spheres. 

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is all 

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be used by the government to invest in 

struggling sectors and more importantly, 

human capital. 

How can we aid entrepreneurs? 

about interconnection. The applications 

are already enormous: predictive maintenance, 

improved decision-making in 

real-time, anticipating inventory based 

on production, improved coordination 

among jobs, etc. 

The tech businesses of the future are not 

businesses who write code or build applications; 

they are businesses that will 

leverage heavily on technology to function 

optimally while reaching the most 

customers in record time. 

Technology will be used to extend human 

abilities in life and business. This 

makes people the most crucial part of 

any technological system. How then can 

we drive tech adoption in a way that 

builds and improves our economy? – 

Through the entrepreneurs. 

Why Entrepreneurs? 

Entrepreneurs spur economic growth – 

new products and services created by 

these entrepreneurs can produce a casbusinesses 

in various sectors, thereby 

furthering economic development. 

“Entrepreneurs spur 

economic growth” 

A few IT companies existed in India 

around the 90s. As they expanded, numerous 

support businesses were established 

- call centers, network maintenance 

companies, hardware providers, 

etc. 

More recently, alumni from Jumia and 

Konga have created successful businesses 

like Cregital, Accountinghub, Prep- 

Class, Farmcrowdy and Supermartng. 

This shows that the more tech businesses 

succeed, the more the likelihood of 

other tech businesses being conceived 

from those that worked in these successful 

companies. 

Entrepreneurs are important because 

they improve standards of living and create 

wealth. They help drive change with 

innovation, where new and improved 

products enable new markets to be developed. 

New and improved products, services 

or tech from entrepreneurs enable new 

markets to be developed and new wealth 

created, due to increased employment 

and high earnings. This is evident in the 

employment created by the telco recharge 

card seller stands and kiosks as 

well as agent banking. 

All these contribute to higher national 

income in the form of higher tax revenue 

which translates into increased 

government spending. This revenue can 

1. Training and Mentoring: The most 

entrepreneurial nations are not 

those with the most entrepreneurs, 

but those with the best entrepreneurs. 

The quality of entrepreneurs 

who are able to create innovative 

sustainable businesses that generate 

high revenue and jobs can be 

improved through training, coaching 

and mentoring. 

2. Infrastructure: Infrastructure is 

made up of the physical, institutional, 

organisational structures that 

support economic activity. These 

come in the form of power, work- 

- 

able internet, good road network, 

business and skill acquisition cenhave 

to be put into building infrastructure 

that will sustain and support 

these entrepreneurs and small 

businesses. 

3. Funding: Ask any Nigerian entrepreneur 

about his or her greatest 

challenge, and the response might 

likely be capital. Finance/cash flow 

is the lifeblood of every company, 

and for SMEs it is very important. 

To tackle the problem, we need to 

start, create and grow entrepreneurship 

funds. Access to low-risk 

capital through banks and private 

institutions will definitely encourage 

more entrepreneurs to start and 

scale innovative business. 

4. Policy: China’s explosive economic 

growth over the past 25 years is 

due largely to removing ownership, 

bureaucratic, and financial limits 

on the entrepreneurial drive of the 

Chinese people. The government 

needs to do more in reducing the 

barriers to entry and success for 

entrepreneurs. Policies crafted specifically 

for entrepreneurs and SMEs 

need to be put in place to ensure 

that the chances of innovative businesses 

surviving long-term will be 

increased. 

This is why at Tony Elumelu Foundation, 

we do our best to support our entrepreneurs 

with all these and more, through 

advocacy and partnerships with key organisations 

who share the vision. 

Building the economy through businesses 

enabled by technology must be a dethe 

private sector, ecosystem players 

and the government. We cannot wish 

good businesses, or a great economy 

into being without working on the points 

stated above. And as Victor Asemota always 

says - “Hope is not a strategy”. 

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www . the sparkng.co m 

BOTTOM LINE 

EdTech - Social Enabler 

Technology is now building bridges and connecting 

students to tutors in interesting ways. 

By Godwin Benson 

Inspiration 

I 

had a personal experience in 2005 

which formed the initial idea for what 

has now become Tuteria. 

Being an A grade student, I was hired 

to tutor a man’s son in Math for N6,000 

per month at the time. They lived about 

15 minutes from my house, but had been 

looking for a teacher for several months. 

This was my first paid tutoring experience. 

I prepared so well, and taught his 

son much more than was agreed which 

was evident in his, almost instant, improvement 

in his Math assessments. 

Sadly, at the end of the month, I wasn’t 

paid any money despite all my attempts 

to collect my payment. 

So I thought about what I could do to ensure 

this didn’t repeat itself to me or any 

other tutor, as well as help students quickly 

find the very best teachers nearby to 

help them master the subjects, topics and 

skills they need help with. 

That idea is what has evolved into Tuteria, 

which is an online platform that connects 

people seeking to learn any subject 

or skill with high-quality local tutors who 

can teach them what they wish to learn. 

Getting Buy-In 

Well, before we launched, we spoke with 

a lot of people to try to understand what 

their concerns or reservations might be 

for using a service like ours. This helped 

us a lot in planning the initial version of 

Tuteria to incorporate some of the feedback 

we received. 

However, after we launched, we continuously 

made changes to our business 

model, design, operational processes, 

etc., to reflect the way people were actually 

using our service. 

At the early stages, I personally called every 

customer to reassure them that they 

could trust us, while responding to any 

questions or complaints they had. So we 

kept iterating based on user feedback till 

we progressively built a service that people 

loved to use. 

We paid a great deal of attention to tutor 

competence, thorough verification and 

safety as well as excellent customer support 

which has won us a lot of trust with 

our thousands of customers nationwide. 

Exploring New Frontiers 

grown a lot in our understanding of the 

needs of the markets we serve. 

We’re currently exploring new business 

models and target markets which I may 

not be able to disclose now, but in a couple 

of months, we will see a brand new 

Tuteria well posed to lead the market in 

Africa. 

Bridging the Gap 

Education technology is a burgeoning 

industry in Nigeria with a lot of room for 

immense growth and impact. Over the 

to bridge the gaps inherent in our current 

educational system. 

These gaps range from finding innovative 

ways to educate millions of out-of-school 

children; helping students make the right 

career choices; providing world-class 

education for teachers; providing educational 

financing services to parents, 

school owners, students; helping children 

master a topic they didn’t understand in 

class; teaching kids 21st century technologies 

like programming, robotics, AI etc., 

helping people practice and prepare for 

exams etc. 

There are an infinite number of possible 

edtech businesses that can be created 

to serve these markets. So the industry 

is very young and growing, and we expect 

to see more activity in the education 

space in the nearest future. 

And yes, I have always been a business-minded 

person. My first business 

was shoe-making where I made leather 

shoes by hand and sold them to my 

friends in 2002. I was in JSS 2. 

At other times, I helped manage my 

mom’s and grandma’s businesses which 

gave me more exposure to dealing with 

customers, basics of bookkeeping and 

the science of exchanging value for money. 

For Aspiring Edtech-preneurs 

I don’t think anyone should start a business 

in education with the aim of making 

it as prominent as other industries. Each 

industry has its time and season, especially 

in Nigeria where we’re still in the early 

stages of internet-technology driven 

businesses. 

First we saw a wave of Ecommerce and 

logistics, with the likes of Jumia and Konga, 

and now we’re seeing increased interest 

in payments and financial services. 

Following strongly is Agric-tech, healthtech 

and edtech. 

obsessively focus on meeting the needs 

of their customers and providing superior 

support without compromising on quality 

and user experience. 

With time, we’ll also see more interest in 

edtech businesses. 

How It Began 

Both co-founders funded Tuteria from 

our personal savings initially. I previously 

worked at Deloitte and had saved most of 

my salary which we used to cover most of 

the initial setup costs like internet, fueling, 

hosting, marketing etc. 

We also endeavoured to keep our expenses 

as low as possible. Neither of us took 

a salary until Tuteria started getting revenue. 

That’s also when we hired our first 

Also, we’re fortunate to have received a 

number of grants from supporting organisations 

including Facebook, Tony Elumelu 

Foundation, MIT, Harvard Africa Business 

Club and the Royal Academy of Engineering. 

These grants helped us make tremendous 

progress as a company. However, our 

greatest source of funding has come from 

our thousands of customers who use our 

service every single day. 

Growing Organically Versus Getting External 

Funding 

I personally prefer to have achieved some 

measure of organic, increasing and repeatable 

growth before seeking out VC 

funding, especially in a place like Africa. 

- 

preneur would have to assess the level of 

capital required for the business to start 

would be best - loans, equity investment, 

friends and families, VC funds. Etc. 

Also, beyond the funds that VCs (or investors 

generally) bring into the business, 

other invaluable, non-financial support 

that can help drive the success of the 

business in terms of access to market, 

industry expertise, navigating regulatory 

bottlenecks, distribution etc. 

“Entrepreneurs looking to 

start a business in education 

should obsessively focus on 

meeting the needs of their 

customers and providing 

superior support without 

compromising on quality and 

Tuteria as a brand has grown a lot over 

the years. We have received more than 

However, these will take time as each industry 

is unique. So entrepreneurs look- 

50,000 requests from clients and over 

45,000 tutor applications. We have also 

06 ing to start a business in education should user experience.” @the 

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WIRED IN 

Artificially 

Intelligent 

Finance 

The traditional world of finance is 

undergoing a revolution. 

by Olusola Amusan 

F 

intech refers to technology solutions 

for re-inventing traditional 

finance. The word like most buzz 

words after the dot com boom has become 

an entire industry worth more than 

$3 trillion. More than ever before the 

leaders in finance are becoming technology 

adopters With gartner predicting 

that most financial service providers 

will become technology providers of the 

future. How possible? As customers demand 

more speed and accuracy, finan- 

- 

vices that meet this demand. Innovative 

technology solutions that keep them as 

market leaders and companies of choice. 

The Technology department of most 

banks, insurance companies and security 

exchanges are getting bigger than core 

operations. We believe this is happening 

because they are hiring more software 

engineers, IT infrastructure managers, 

Data Analysts, cyber security experts 

(to wade of cyber attackers), big ticket 

innovate for the consumer space. 

Cybersecurity and the new threats to 

global finance 

With cyber theft and online marauders 

becoming such big threats for corporations 

and now nations, investment in 

technology to drive the fintech industry 

is increasing now more than in the past 

two decades. Issues may range from 

theft of user passwords that cost a few 

thousands of dollars to major breaches 

in firewalls and sensitive data that 

is worth billions of dollars. Increasing 

incidences have ensured that the Chief 

banks call for stricter measures in user 

authentication and customer sensitization. 

In a recent study where more than 

254 companies surveyed globally, it was 

discovered that financial institutions suf- 

fer an average of 125 intrusions a year 

each costing an average of $900,000. 

The paradox of this is that as we look for 

more advanced ways to serve the customers 

better to create ease of service 

and access, the more we create room 

for new threat. Researchers have argued 

that this is a necessary evil. Many of them 

positing that we cannot deny consumers 

new and improved service because 

we are afraid of Malicious attacks. While 

examining my thesis for my graduate research, 

I considered how social attacks 

is now made possible through social media. 

The closer financial services (loans, 

retail banking and investment) come 

close to social media, the more the need 

to massively invest in advanced technology 

to protect user information from 

malicious users. This is the fuss about cyber 

security. The field of cyber security 

is greatly influenced by our knowledge 

of computers and human behavior. It 

is about how we study patterns. These 

patterns allow system engineers to design 

software that can identify pattern 

through a methodology called pattern 

- 

cient, system engineers must automate 

the learning process and enable machines 

do the same, allowing software 

to learn the patterns and predict more 

complex scenarios than humans would 

ever do. This deep neural networks can 

detect forgery by imitating and creating 

deep fakes in digital signatures and 

testing themselves with this deep fakes 

to gain strong resistance against future 

attempts by humans or other malicious 

software. 

The Market Size 

In 2018, the International Data Corporation 

IDC estimated the investment of 

financial institutions in the US in AI systems 

at about $4Billion. This is an isolated 

statistics of the US alone, without 

considering all other investment in technology. 

The IDC further postulates that 

this spending may go beyond $77Billion 

by the year 2022. That is a huge market 

any software company looking to 

select a niche should consider. Some 

knowledge of computers 

and human behavior.” 

of the popular use cases of AI in Fintech, 

include Insurance underwriting, 

debt collection, fraud and crime detection 

and credit scoring. Anyone would 

agree these are fundamental operation 

areas for many finance practitioners. 

AI is being used for processing claims 

in the insurance sector, identifying malicious 

patterns and building new resilience, 

determining who banks should 

paying back. Some more mainstream 

ways business in the Finance space apply 

Artificial Intelligence is in Customer 

Service management. Advancements in 

Natural Language processing and cogshelf 

customer service tools available at 

companies now invest in building their 

own chatbots to get closer to customers. 

Chat bots allow individuals to converse 

with natural language with a computer 

with a body of knowledge and perform 

simple or complex task. Advance use 

of AI will be in Algorithmic trading and 

business intelligence. 

At the core of it most of the problems 

AI seeks to solve in finance are Big Data 

Problems. How do we collectively analyze 

millions of lenders, their assets, collaterals 

and spending patterns over a period 

of time to make tiny improvements 

that can save us millions of dollars. Lending 

is founded on the credit worthiness. 

AI is helping banks and other companies 

- 

ing the applicant’s credit score analyzing 

thousands of data points for those with 

past credit history and using what is 

called alternative data for new lenders. 

Alternative data is founded on an applicants 

digital footprint or social capital. 

The use of alternative data has helped 

companies like Lenddo, ZestFinance and 

Social Lender to help hundreds of thousands 

access loan without credit history 

and lenders approve 50% more applicants. 

The three companies all claim to 

use AI to analyse over 10,000 data points 

from an applicant’s social presence, geo 

location, smart phone data to decide 

who is credit worthy and who is not. 

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PRO BONO 

Don’t Sign Just Yet... 

Taking you through ideal 

partnerships in the eyes of the law 

By Aderinsola Fagbure 

“It is advisable to look out for 

a co-founder who would act 

as a complement. Virtues 

such as commitment and 

integrity must not be overlooked.” 

Introduction 

Just a while ago, I met a tech entrepreneur 

who was having challenges with 

the relationship between himself and 

his co-founder. The constant squabbles 

which involved shouting matches 

between them, inability to make joint 

- 

- 

ulating the goals of the business became 

the order of the day. 

Undoubtedly, both co-founders were unhappy 

because they had each contributed 

significantly to the establishment 

of the business and its growth thus far. 

The party I spoke to complained about 

having made a mistake entering into a 

partnership, arguing that since the idea 

was his, he could have simply started in 

his house. 

Not a bad idea, I dare say. However, 

the advantages of entering into a partnership 

operated under clearly defined 

terms far outweigh the disadvantages 

of carrying out business as a solo entrepreneur, 

in the long run. The modalities 

of partnerships and its advantages and 

disadvantages will be discussed by the 

writer in this article. 

Choosing a Co-Founder 

The term partnership as used in this article 

is used in the strictest legal sense. 

It is used to describe two people doing 

business together. 

There have been various arguments for 

and against partnerships. However, I belong 

to the school of thought which ascribes 

strength to numbers and believes 

in the opportunity to share profits and 

losses with a co-founder or two. 

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In making a case for partnerships, it must 

be mentioned that care must be taken 

when choosing a partner. Generally, it is 

advisable to look out for a co-founder 

who would act as a complement. Virtues 

such as commitment and integrity must 

not be overlooked. 

When you are deciding who to start a 

business with, it is important to ensure 

that both parties share a common vision, 

aimed at growing and nurturing the 

business to greater heights. Extensive 

due diligence must be carried out on a 

prospective partner, prior to commenc- 

ing the business relationship. The right 

foundation must also be put in place 

to ensure that the business relationship 

stands the test of time. Therefore, 

co-founders who look forward to building 

a successful brand must ensure that 

they sign a co-founders’ agreement between 

them. 

Founders’ Agreement 

A founders’ agreement sets out the 

terms and conditions of doing business 

together and meticulously spells out the 

duties and responsibilities of each party. 

Most tech entrepreneurs have minimal 

legal experience, which can pose a 

problem as the company expands, and 

stakeholder accountability becomes 

priority. It is therefore important to lay 

the necessary legal foundation for the 

business from the inception. With the 

advice of a lawyer, a number of legal issues 

need to be addressed and captured 

in some form of legal documentation. A 

few of the questions which need to be 

answered and captured in a founders’ 

agreement are as listed below: 

• What is the percentage ownership 

of each founder? 

• Is the percentage ownership subject 

to vesting based on continued 

participation in the business? 

• In the event that one shareholder 

leaves, does the company or the 

other founder have the right to buy 

back that founders’ shares and at 

what price? 

• Are the founders to be paid a salary? 

If yes, how much? 

• What is/are the reporting structures 

and decision making structures? 

• What are the roles of each of the 

founders? 

The contents of a founders’ agreement 

are not limited to the answers given to 

the questions above. However, providing 

answers to these questions is useful and 

helps reduce the chances of friction between 

the parties. Generally, a co-founder 

agreement is described as a prenuptial 

agreement, while partnership in itself 

is described as some form of marriage. 

On the issue of share ownership/splitting 

equity among co-founders, the easiest 

model is to have an equal share split. In 

the instance where there are two partners, 

each partner would own 50% (fifty 

percent) equity. 

However, it is known that equal share 

does not necessarily add up to fair share. 

Equity share should therefore be calculated 

based on each party’s contribution 

but in terms of cash contribution 

and ideas contribution. The partner who 

brought the original idea to the table 

should be given some credit for his or 

her creativity and therefore could be given 

extra shareholding. 

Monetising creative ideas or contribucan 

be reached on how shares will be 

distributed among the co-founders. It 

could also be agreed that the person 

bringing something of value to the company 

during its formative stages such 

as a filed patent (not a provisional), a 

compelling demo, an early version of the 

product, or something else that means 

much of the work towards financing or 

revenue is already done should receive a 

considerable part of the equity. This topic 

is often a sore point between business 

partners and should be dealt with decisively 

and objectively from the inception 

of the company. 

Legal Foundations for the Business 

Having stressed the need for a co-founder’s 

agreement, it is important to mention 

that a co-founders’ agreement will 

not serve its purpose if the necessary 

legal structure is not put in place. First, 

it is important to register the business 

a limited liability company, preferably. 

Also, protection of intellectual property 

is very important for tech companies. 

Therefore, it is germane to protect the 

intellectual property rights of the company 

during its formative stages. This is 

done by relying on patents, trademarks 

and copyrights as well as ensuring that 

all co-founders and third–party developers 

assign their rights in the intellectual 

property created for the company. 

The importance of drawing up contracts 

to guide the relations between the company 

and other third parties including 

service providers, clients, suppliers, etc. 

should not be overlooked. 

When running a business with more than 

one person, adherence to corporate governance 

principles becomes even more 

important as the need for accountability 

is heightened. 

On a Final Note... 

Having appreciated the value his 

co-founder brings onboard the company, 

Mr Crypto, as he is popularly called, 

has decided to put in place the necessary 

legal structure to protect the relationship 

between himself and his co-founder, 

as well as the brand-reputation of the 

company. He engaged the services of a 

lawyer to draw up the necessary legal 

agreements. 

Be Like Mr Crypto. 

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GREENLIGHT 

Gridlock’d - 

The Apapa Saga 

The loss of man-hours and eventual profit caused by 

are soon going to be a thing of the past. 

by PEBEC 

A 

presidential directive was issued on 

Wednesday 22nd May, directed towards 

the immediate clearing up of 

the Apapa gridlock and the restoration of 

law and order to Apapa and its environs. The 

directive mandated truck owners to implement 

the immediate removal of all trucks 

from the bridges and roads within Apapa 

and all adjoining streets leading into the 

Apapa axis within 72 hours, and established 

management solutions for two weeks after 

the ultimatum deadline. 

Two weeks since the issuance of the directive, 

Ikorodu Road, Costain, Breweries, 

Carter Bridge, Eko Bridge are now clear of 

trucks, leading to significant improvement in 

has also been restored along the Ijora-Wharf 

axis with a single unhindered lane access for 

the movement of vehicles with legitimate 

business into the ports. The Nigerian Ports 

Authority, working with terminal operators, 

shipping lines and truck unions, has a callup 

system in place that channels the flow 

of trucks from the 34 private trailer parks, 

through Lilypond terminal, to the Apapa 

port. Under the current arrangement, Lilypond 

caters for export cargo with the required 

documentation and called-up empty container-laden 

trucks. A window has also been 

created for the movement of trucks belonging 

to manufacturers operating within the 

port area. Over 100 non-compliant trucks 

have also been impounded by the combined 

team of mobile police, LASTMA and FRSC 

Speaking on the progress of the operation, 

Dr Jumoke Oduwole, SSA to the President 

on Industry, Trade & Investment/PEBEC 

Secretary stated: “The overarching mission 

of the taskforce is to create respite for 

road users in and around the Lagos ports. 

We are relieved to see remarkable improvement 

along the Ijora-Wharf axis. Enforcement 

commenced along the Mile 2-Tin-can 

expressway on June 3 and we expect to 

see some improvement in the coming days. 

While there is still much to do on an ongoing 

basis, it must be said that the restoration 

of law and order at our ports goes beyond 

to restoring normalcy to our ports area, and 

the Task Team is collaborating with Government 

institutions to ensure sustainability of 

the progress already recorded.” 

The directive was issued by the president 

based on the outcome of an emergency 

meeting convened at his request and 

chaired by His Excellency, the Vice President 

Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, SAN GCON. The meetcleaning 

up the gridlock and decongesting 

issues had severely restricted operations in 

and around Apapa and its environs. 

All this signals the commitment of this current 

administration to creating an enabling 

environment for enterprise to fourish within 

the nation. 

presidential directive. 

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VITAL SIGNS 

When Doors 

Don’t Open 

Experiencing rejection comes with 

entrepreneurship but what makes 

with it. 

By Dr Maymunah Kadiri 

y definition, entrepreneurship is a 

Ba business or a chain of businesses, 

building and scaling it to generate profit. 

It encapsulates transforming the world 

by solving big problems like initiating 

social change, creating an innovative 

product or presenting a new life-changing 

solution. 

But what the entrepreneurship definition 

doesn’t tell you is that entrepreneurship 

is what people do to take their career 

and dreams into their hands and lead 

them in the direction of their own choice. 

It’s about building a life on your own 

terms. No bosses. No restricting schedules. 

And no one holding you back. Entrepreneurs 

are able to take the first step 

into making the world a better place, for 

everyone in it. 

Without entrepreneurs, jobs wouldn’t 

exist. They take on the risk to employ 

themselves. Their ambition to continue 

their business growth eventually leads 

to the creation of new jobs and as their 

business continues to grow, even more 

jobs are created. Entrepreneurs usually 

dream big so it is natural that some of 

their ideas bring about positive change. 

They might create a new product that 

solves a burning problem or take on the 

Handling rejection requires you to anticchallenge 

to explore something never 

explored before. Many believe in improving 

the world with their products, ideas 

or businesses. 

Entrepreneurs are also some of the biggest 

donors to charities and nonprofits 

for various causes. Some seek to invest 

their money in creating solutions to 

help poorer communities have access 

to things we take for granted like clean 

drinking. 

Yet, entrepreneurs often face rejection 

in business, as they test marketing products 

and daily activities. Sometimes, it 

comes in little ways such as having people 

unfollow their activities on social media, 

blocking or screening their calls, and 

refusing to reply their texts. 

There is nothing wrong with rejecting 

people and their businesses. You, there- 

- 

tion. In more elaborate terms, we will be 

highlighting two types of rejection - personal 

and business. 

If someone you love and have a personal 

relationship with rejects you, it makes 

sense if you feel hurt and avoid such an 

individual. But when you are rejected by 

a potential customer who hardly knows 

you and doesn’t see you providing a 

needed solution, you should be challenged, 

not worried. 

Mindfully, we understand that we’ll experience 

rejection in our lives and even 

as we build our businesses. But when we 

get to that bridge, it’s usually a com- 

Whether it’s a teeny-weeny rejection or 

a major bump in the road, it’s very easy 

to get lost in the overwhelming feeling of 

loss. The smallest sense of rejection can 

easily lead to days (or more) of ignoring 

business tasks while you binge-watch 

your favourite movies or do some other 

thing to take your attention away from 

the feeling of hurt. 

If you are taking action on trying to accomplish 

your goals, rejection will be 

a constant phenomenon. If you aren’t 

being rejected, you have to ask yourself 

if you’re taking bold steps. Growth 

happens when you step outside of your 

comfort zone to do the things that scare 

you. In that space, rejection is possible. 

“Growth happens when 

you step outside of your 

comfort zone to do the 

things that scare you. In 

that space, rejection is 

possible.” 

Here are things to do when you experience 

rejection. 

Take a Moment To Scream 

You’re human. You can try bottling all 

those feelings and emotions inside but 

good luck with that strategy. At some 

point, you’ll explode -- probably in a way 

that you’ll regret. Let your humanity out. 

Scream, go for a run, punch your mini 

desktop punching bag. 

Talk out loud even if you’re alone and acknowledge 

exactly what’s on your mind. 

Talk to your significant other or a friend. 

Bring it up at your mastermind meeting. 

The point is, to heal you have to first acknowledge. 

You can’t fix a problem that 

you won’t admit is there. 

Evaluate the “why” behind the rejection 

Our minds put rejection in the “not good 

for us” category but that’s not always 

the case. Life is our greatest teacher. 

make sure what we’re doing is right for 

us. Evaluate why the rejection came. Determine 

if this is something you really 

want to do, but need a better approach. 

If you need more expertise, get it. If this 

is a warning message for you telling you 

that what you’re pursuing is not what’s 

best, listen. After you’re done processing 

your feelings and emotions, get tactical 

by examining what happened. A rejection 

can be a bump in the road or worse. 

What happens next is your choice. I 

vote for learning and coming back even 

stronger. 

Lifespan of Feelings 

- 

ers and everybody else is the lifespan 

of their feelings, or how long they dwell 

on rejection. Most people hold on way 

too long to feelings of rejection. Nobody 

likes getting rejected but the high 

achievers don’t go around for days and 

weeks telling everybody about the big 

Your goal is to constantly shorten the 

lifespan of your rejection feelings. It’s 

never going to be zero seconds because 

you are not a robot, but you can work on 

it to get it to a few minutes. 

Anticipation 

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ipate. Gaining this perspective will help 

you internalise the issue at hand and 

make an informed decision. You address 

concerns before they arise and you limit 

the possibility of rejection. 

Immediate Positive Reaction 

Anytime rejection happens you got to 

distract yourself immediately. It will help 

shorten your feelings’ lifespan. This is so 

you can bounce back and make that next 

call or appointment and have the right 

mindset going into it. 

Determine your next steps 

Your next steps after a rejection have to 

be strategic and tactical. Take a few days 

to plan out what to do next. If it’s getting 

more expertise, be specific about how to 

do that and attach a timeline to it. If it’s 

the same opportunity, take some time 

to examine what others before you have 

done that helped them achieve success. 

Use each rejection to fuel your motivation 

It takes a lot to build a business. There 

will be more than a few times when 

you’re just not feeling it. You’ll need to 

be inspired and motivated to keep going 

when it feels like nothing is going right. 

There’s a mindset shift that can give you 

the fuel you need to consistently get motivated. 

Use each rejection as fire to light 

you up and motivate you. 

Those lessons help you become the best 

version of yourself. Refocus the way 

you view rejection. Get even more determined 

to accomplish that goal. Use 

the rejection as your motivation to continue 

doing the work. At the end of the 

day, doing the work consistently is what 

builds your business and accomplishes 

your goals -- it’s not your feelings and 

emotions. 

Experiencing rejection doesn’t have to 

be the end of our story. Change your 

story and you can change your life. You 

have a choice to make and you should 

never choose anything that takes away 

your inner power. 

View rejection as a lesson and get tactical 

about what you’ll do next. This is your 

life and you only get one. Make each experience 

and decision count. 

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THE SPARK EFFECT 

The TechVantage - 

VoguePay Chronicles 

F 

ounded in 2012, VoguePay has 

fast become a leading payments 

solution company; not just in 

Nigeria, but across five continents 

(Africa, North America, Europe, Middle 

East, and Asia). 

Started by a team of 4 Nigerian 

co-founders: Michael Femi Simeon, 

and Ojikutu Quam, their passion to 

unify African payments and bridge 

it with the global commerce market 

has turned to their idea to a global 

financial technology company enabling 

businesses, traders and consumers 

safely receive online and crosscurrency 

payments. VoguePay is boldly 

changing the narrative associated with 

Nigeria in the payments space. This 

is evident in its multiple operations in 

Nigeria, UK, Estonia and Bahrain with 

the soon-to-launch Canada operation 

to be headed by co-founder, Quam 

Ojikutu. 

Their accomplishments are recognised, 

not just in Nigeria, but in the 

international community with a plethora 

of awards such as Best Emerging 

Online Payment Platform by the African 

Information Technology and Telecom 

Awards in 2016 and Most Innovative 

Online Payment Platform of the Year 

by Finance, Mobile and Entertainment 

Summit in 2018. 

VoguePay was most recently 

recognised as the African online 

platform of the year at the 2019 African 

Achievers Awards and 7th African 

Ambassadors Interactive Forum. 

Dive in, to read more from the team 

that’s making the dream work - Taking 

VoguePay from Africa to the World. 

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Michael 

Femi 

Simeon 

CEO, VoguePay 

Michael Simeon, CEO of VoguePay 

shared with The Spark team how 

the company is flying the flag as 

a proud African company in the 

global payment space. 

“Nigerians are one of the 

most creative people on the 

global scene, and that’s why 

we thrive abroad, but we 

need to do more, especially 

when we compare with how 

other countries nurture their 

talents.” 

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“We got into the payment 

space because we saw 

an opportunity where we 

could make a big 

difference, especially to 

SMEs and individuals.” 

Background 

Receiving an award for the Payment Personality 

Leader of the Year 2018 means a 

lot of hardwork had taken place before 

then; with that comes a responsibility to 

do more. And Michael says he is ready 

to take up more challenges to lead the 

payment space. 

With determination and as a focused 

strategist, Michael has now become a 

recognised shareholder in the tech ecosystem. 

He has a dream to change the 

status quo and impact society, a disposition 

that led to his initial transition from 

Politics and Economics to Tech. 

Flashback 

VoguePay was launched as a beta product 

between 2011 and 2012 - a period 

when online payment systems were a 

luxury and took as much as $1000 to set 

up. It is for this reason that Michael says, 

“we got into the payment space because 

we saw an opportunity where we could 

and individuals. We saw ourselves as basic 

activists who really wanted to help 

people solve payment problems. So, we 

walked into the market, introduced free 

integration - which is what everyone now 

uses in the market - and that’s how we 

- 

dreds of businesses.” 

Bootstrapping and Growth 

Would you have thought that there are 

payment platforms, who have a large 

share in the market, and got to that level 

with little or no funding? Well, Michael 

has this to say: “Many times, we don’t 

see customers, we see partners. When 

you have good, strong partners and are 

very fair in the way you treat them, then 

your business surely grows.” 

He says the team initially thought about 

opening their doors to investors but saw 

exponential growth and decided to “take 

a pause to actually maintain, control and 

solidify growth.” 

It is for this reason that the visibly empathetic 

CEO says giving value has been at 

the core of the company’s mission. 

He stated that VoguePay is “the only 

payment processing or tech company in 

Nigeria or Africa that never raised money. 

We started the business with $1000 

and today, we are processing over $1million 

for merchants everyday. This is a 

success story - a tale of how talent can 

be harnessed and directed to the right 

corner. Basically, we represent Nigeria’s 

potential; what everyone in Nigeria can 

achieve.” 

Tangible Impact 

Any business that wants to remain on 

- 

ly to stay ahead of the curve. VoguePay 

is clearly doing more than expected. The 

CEO says, “We haven’t stopped tuning 

the payment space as we are adding 

new products and features that none of 

our competitors have. In essence, we always 

lead but more importantly, we like 

the fact that we are creating employment 

opportunities for young people.” 

He adds that the team has partnered Nigerian 

Association of Computer Science 

Students in Nigeria, so as to mentor the 

students, then select about half of them 

for internship and ultimately invest in 

the obvious talents. “We feel this is a 

movement in the right direction for us 

because we want to see the impact we 

are making on society.” 

“Many times, we don’t 

see customers, we see 

partners. When you have 

good, strong partners and 

are very fair in the way you 

treat them, then your 

business surely grows.” 

Challenges 

No business is without challenges and 

VoguePay must have faced its fair share 

as a Nigerian business wanting to play 

internationally. Distrust was one prominent 

challenge VoguePay had to overcome 

early on, as not too many people 

within and outside Nigeria trust Nigerians 

to handle their transactions without 

defrauding them. 

Michael explains, “if you go to London 

and say that you are a Nigerian in the 

payment processing business, everyone 

laughs. I initially found it very uncomfortable 

because my competitors did 

not need to prove their trust to potential 

customers. We had to consistently explain 

that this was not some new type 

of Advanced Fee Fraud (419) or ‘Yahoo 

Yahoo’. It’s been a constant demonstration 

of our integrity and we’ve been able 

to win them over.” 

The other challenge, he says, has been 

trying to get qualified young Nigerians. 

“We always try to ensure that most of the 

things we develop combine international 

practices with our local knowledge. This 

motivates our decision to employ more 

young Nigerians but getting qualified 

candidates always seems Herculean.” 

Seeing the high rate of unemployment 

in Nigeria, Michael Simeon says he will 

always prefer to have more young Nigerians 

on the team but “this can only happen 

when young people focus on learning 

and the government pays attention 

to this space.” 

Entrepreneurship or 9 to 5 

The techpreneur admits that starting out 

as an employee before becoming an entrepreneur 

depends solely on the field 

and discipline. 

“Still, there is some level of experience 

you will need to run a business. I believe 

that when you are starting out, 

you should first understand yourself and 

never stop feeding yourself with information, 

or else, you will be torpedoed at 

one point by your own naivety. Also, before 

you scale, try to observe how your 

competitors are doing it.” 

The Tech Space in Nigeria 

Michael couldn’t wait to be asked to assess 

the tech space in Nigeria. He has 

been a player in the game, so he definitely 

knew that Nigeria isn’t, “harnessing 

the demographic dividends considering 

our size, energy and capabilities. 

This is fueled by expectations of external 

investments, forgetting that there are 

willing investors around who only need 

to be told what is being done. No doubt, 

Nigerians are one of the most creative 

people on the global scene, and that’s 

why we thrive abroad, but we need to do 

more, especially when we compare with 

how other countries nurture their talents. 

The government also needs to formulate 

policies and give tax incentives to help 

businesses grow.” 

Beyond Work 

With all these accomplishments, one 

might be tempted to think that Michael 

is all work but he quickly allays our fears. 

“I am a foodie; I like good food”. I read 

and I also like to dance. Aside from that, 

he says he has several favourite quotes 

- 

dela always catches his attention: ‘We 

shall not remember the noise of our enemies 

but we shall remember the silence 

of our friends.’” 

- 

er shoes but Michael tells us that if he 

weren’t an entrepreneur, he would either 

be a barrister or a developer. While he 

might have done well in either career, 

there’s no doubt that the Payments 

space will remain forever marked by the 

impact of the VoguePay team with Michael 

Simeon at its helm. 

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Adeleke 

Ojikutu 

CTO, VoguePay 

Adeleke Ojikutu is one of 

the partners and the CTO of 

VoguePay. Speaking to The Spark 

team, he talked about his role in 

VoguePay as well as the fintech 

space and doing business in 

Nigeria 

“We believe the true test of 

our security system is the 

ability to solve a problem 

before it becomes an 

emergency.” 

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“Each member of 

the team is an entrepreneur 

even 

though we have 

our individual core 

set of skills.” 

Background 

T 

he conversation on dumping certificates 

to pursue your passion 

might never end, as many parents 

still insist on determining what career 

path their children should be taking. We 

can’t even start a debate here on how 

schools abstractly think a student should 

be studying this instead of that. 

Mr Ojikutu was one of those students 

who passed through school and got a 

certificate he might never use. From junior 

school, he had already learnt how 

to code using an old Commodore VIC 

64 Computer and was passionate about 

Engineering at the University. 

Of course, he got the certificate but 

went on to learn tech from scratch. He 

says, “I started from a business centre, 

just so I could be close to a computer.” 

He is now a founder and CTO of 

VoguePay and as head of the technology 

department, he says he is “in charge 

of designing the technology processes, 

the information security mechanisms, 

planning and creating the technology 

policies and principles the company operates 

on.” 

Challenges 

There is a sense of urgency to have more 

tech-enlightened youth in Nigeria when 

Mr Ojikutu talked about VoguePay’s initial 

challenges. 

“As you know, if you want A-list result, 

you employ A-list talent and if you are 

salaries. But even if we were willing to 

he says. 

He adds that “most of the people we 

were getting were those who went to 

computer schools to learn Desktop Publishing 

and Computer Appreciation and, 

those who had the certificate could not 

deliver the result.” 

However, he says VoguePay set up an 

internship program, took in interns, assigned 

them to qualified programmers 

and paid them. That led to having more 

qualified people; with some of them who 

were part of the first session in 2012 still 

working with the company. 

The other challenge was getting a license. 

When VoguePay started, there 

were no regulations and “Banks weren’t 

ready to partner with us without a license 

and at that time in Nigeria, there 

was no license covering that category. 

We were basically pioneering a sector 

that was yet to be regulating but required 

regulation, so it was a big hurdle 

for us to cross.” 

Then fraud. One prominent item on a list 

of issues bedeviling the fintech ecosystem. 

To solve this problem, the VoguePay 

team had “to come up with an algorithm 

that detected the fraud before or during 

the process.” 

Global Vision 

We asked him if there was a conscious 

attempt at penetrating the global marsaid, 

“We wanted to start out small but 

we never saw ourselves as a Nigerian 

company; we saw ourselves as a global 

company that originated from Nigeria. 

Our attempt to move out of Nigeria met 

- 

body wanted to deal with Nigerians in a 

business that involved money.” 

To upturn that narrative, Mr Ojikutu said 

the VoguePay team registered in the UK. 

“We enjoyed recommendations from clients 

that had dealt with us and were extremely 

happy and proud that Nigerians 

could deliver that kind of service.” 

Talking about the partnership 

As a co-founder of one of Nigeria’s pioneer 

fintech companies, Mr Ojikutu says 

the VoguePay partnership is unique. 

He explained that, “as far as similarities 

go, we are all entrepreneurs. But we 

to make sure the team does not have 

“Fintech industry is a dynamic, 

constantly-changing space.” 

duplicate skills. It is an advantage and 

has helped us leverage each person’s 

strength.” 

Dealing with security threats 

Naturally, as the CTO, we asked how the 

2019 African Online Payment Platform of 

the Year deals with cyber threats and he 

says, “we have a dedicated team of security 

experts that work round the clock 

to ensure they are abreast of any form 

of security threat even if it is zero vulnerability. 

We believe the true test of our 

security system is the ability to solve a 

problem before it becomes an emergency.” 

Fintech in Nigeria 

Fintech was not in our conversations 

that the fintech industry is a dynamic, 

constantly-changing space and says 

VoguePay will be “releasing some products 

soon that will indicate the direction 

fintech is going. I think most companies 

that will be starting-up in that space are 

either going to be flying very high or 

closing shop quickly.” 

The Five-Year Dream 

“VoguePay is already looking at going 

beyond payment to other sectors and 

bringing the payment sector together 

into one space. Right now, payment is 

very fragmented and VoguePay is thinking 

of bringing them together. The company 

is looking at some other things that 

support payments to incorporate them 

so we can diversify while unifying payments,” 

VoguePay’s CTO says. 

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Mohammed 

Jega 

CBDO, VoguePay 

In spite of his role as the Co-founder 

and Chief Business Development 

a well-known techpreneur, in person, 

Mohammed Jega is warm and jovial. 

He speaks with passion, an insightful 

understanding of the tech ecosystem 

in Nigeria and beyond and a profound 

desire to leave his footprints in the 

sands of time. 

“Having a team spirit has 

kept VoguePay going, 

especially as it is a group 

of culturally and religiously 

diverse individuals with 

different skills, strengths 

and capabilities. With our 

individual efforts in various 

departments, we’ve been 

able to reach targeted 

milestones.” 

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The Journey 

“ 

I was seeing the future in the early 

2000s,” said Jega, stating that he 

moved on to IT after he studied Business 

Administration. 

Mohammed narrated the journey from 

when he began to see ideas turning into 

solutions and how access to the internet 

at home gave him an opportunity to do a 

lot of research. This also enabled him to 

learn application development and keep 

abreast of global tech events. 

The Kaduna-bred techpreneur said he 

was able to penetrate the market and 

enlighten people in the state because 

tech was not a big deal at that time. 

“This led me to get a second degree in 

Computer Science and a certificate in 

Assessing Information Systems to have 

the prerequisites; something to reinforce 

my thirst for technology,” he said. 

The VoguePay Partnership 

His core motivation to impact the tech 

ecosystem, the economy and of course 

people led him to go into a partnership 

to establish an online payment processor 

- an idea that was relatively new in 

Nigeria. 

He says he had made a lot of mistakes 

and would later understand the quote: “if 

you want to go fast, go alone but if you 

want to go far, go with someone.” 

He believes that, “Having a team spirit 

has kept VoguePay going, especially as 

it is a group of culturally and religiously 

strengths and capabilities. With our inwe’ve 

been able to reach targeted milestones.” 

On the Ease of Doing Business 

This is a conversation that has become a 

source of concern, as analysts will regularly 

argue that doing business in Nigeria 

is more Herculean than imagined. 

Being a co-founder of Domineum and 

the founder of Startup Arewa, Mr Jega 

agrees that “Nigeria is an entrepreneur’s 

haven but an obvious lack of a 

the growth of entrepreneurship. There 

is a lot of potential, young people who 

have ideas, solutions that can turn things 

around but these ideas blur out with no 

motivation.” 

Yet, he highlights that there are individuals 

who have braved the storm, used 

competitive advantage and human resources 

to build technologies to solve 

problems. 

“I was seeing the future in 

the early 2000s.” 

His Muse 

“Talents are everywhere in the country,” 

he begins. Then he continues. “We have 

a lot of bright minds but no one is talking 

to them and many of them have lost direction.” 

He adds that there are hopeful and confident 

people thinking of solving problems 

with tech and “seeing that energy 

from young people gives me hope because 

our generation are digital natives. 

We were born with computers and were 

born to break barriers. So growth is possible 

if we are ready to do it right.” 

Lessons From The Past 

Who does not have a past to learn from? 

For Mohammed, it is trying to be the 

‘Jack of all trades’. However, he says 

“through the years as an entrepreneur, 

I’ve realised that you can’t do it alone 

and you can’t know it all. You, therefore, 

need to have a support structure 

- a team. You also need to understand 

your strengths, your unique selling point, 

weaknesses, learn from your mistakes 

and build on them.” 

Think Local, Act Global 

On this one, the techpreneur says you 

should be building products and services 

for the global market. 

“If you are innovative and want to launch 

a product, you should understand the 

dynamics of it. For example, when we 

were building our product, we understood 

that the financial tenure of the 

industry has come to stay and a lot of 

people feel convenient and comfortable 

doing online transactions irrespective of 

their location. We also decided to give 

customers a game-changer product 

which can give them a sense of belonging.” 

“Nigeria is an entrepreneur’s 

haven but 

an obvious lack of 

a support structure 

has notably affected 

the growth of entrepreneurship.” 

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Geoffrey 

Weli-Wosu 

CLO, VoguePay 

The Spark team to speak about the company’s 

accomplishments and how they remain leading 

lights in the Nigerian tech space. 

“We realised that the transaction 

volume we needed 

to achieve our goals could 

not be achieved by simply 

doing the local transactions; 

we needed global 

participation, which would 

then give our local people 

the opportunity to sell globally 

as well.” 

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“My advice to 

potential entrepreneurs 

in the 

tech space will be 

to build a solution 

for the future and 

work hand-inhand 

with the 

merchants.” 

The Beginning 

M 

r Weli-Wosu took us to the beginning 

of VoguePay’s operations 

and explained how the company 

was able to get buy-in from customers. 

“When we started, it was tough for us 

to get the trust of customers, especially 

internationally. But then, we established 

while they wouldn’t deal with Nigeria diand 

relationships because our customers 

knew that if you were operating in the 

UK, you had to abide by the regulations 

there even when they later realised that 

the solution came from Nigeria.” 

Standing Out 

The payment processing space is a saturated 

space but VoguePay stands out in 

tell us why. “A lot of merchants come to 

us because we look at their pain points 

and then provide end-to-end solutions; 

going beyond just processing for them. 

- 

ence for us.” 

Winning on the Global Scene 

Speaking on how the company has become 

globally relevant, he says, “We 

to deal with the local challenges before 

we expanded. We realised that the transaction 

volume we needed to achieve our 

goals could not be achieved by simply 

doing the local transactions; we needed 

global participation, which would then 

give our local people the opportunity to 

sell globally as well.” Now, VoguePay has 

a presence across 5 continents - Africa, 

North America, Europe, the Middle East 

and Asia. 

Partnership 

In a time when everyone is quick to pursue 

their own interests, a partnership like 

on to explain how it’s been successful. 

“To be honest, without the partnership, 

we would not be where we are today. It is 

not just about the solution, the partnerskills 

and we came together to achieve 

a common goal. That is the source of 

our success. Knowing that in Nigeria, 

lasts, we are glad we have been together 

for more than 7 years. Partnership is a 

strength that Nigerians must utilise, as 

there are many times you feel discouraged 

and you need others to lean on. 

We have been doing that through the 

but we have managed them by listening 

and taking the most reasonable decision, 

understanding that the company comes 

first before individuals.” 

“To be honest, without the 

partnership, we would not 

be where we are today. It 

is not just about the solution, 

the partnership is our 

strength.” 

Advice For Potential Entrepreneurs 

With more young people embracing 

- 

li-Wosu has a few words of advice. “Build 

solutions for the future and work handin-hand 

with the merchants. You cannot 

survive by just processing; you have to 

look for innovative ways to get involved 

in your merchants’ businesses, knowing 

what they want before they think about 

it and giving it to them. So, founders 

must look beyond processes and look at 

how to work closely with the merchants. 

I see payment companies also lending 

to their merchants to encourage them 

to do well; this and more are some of 

the future solutions entrepreneurs need 

to look into. I think this is what makes 

business.” 

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BULLSEYE 

A Story Worth 

Telling 

Known or unknown - which do you 

prefer? But...is your story worth telling? 

By Jessica Hope 

“PR is a useful tool to get 

your name out there and 

to engage with a variety 

of audiences, but before 

you start down this route, 

ensure your business is in a 

robust state.” 

You exist. So what? 

W 

hat is Public relations? A 

question I’m asked frequently. 

In short - PR is the means 

in which you tell your “story” and build 

an emotional connection between your 

product or platform, and the end user; 

via the media. 

More formally, and according to the 

Chartered Institute of Public Relations 

(CIPR) in the UK, “Public Relations is 

about reputation - the result of what you 

do, what you say and what others say 

about you…. 

It is the discipline which looks after reputation, 

with the aim of earning understanding 

and support and influencing 

opinion and behaviour. It is the planned 

maintain goodwill and mutual understanding 

between an organisation and 

its public”. 

But why is it necessary to build a reputation? 

As you’re starting out, in the 

earliest days of a company - you need 

to ensure you develop a strong narrative 

and secure strategic press coverage in 

order to get your name out there; strategically. 

For example, you may need to 

hire top talent. 

You can use PR and storytelling to make 

your company, and your executive team, 

an attractive proposition for potential 

new hires. You need to broker a deal with 

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a government agency in order to scale? 

Well...why not have them read about you 

first in targeted media outlets, so that 

when you approach them, they have 

hopefully already heard of your company 

and you don’t have to start the conversation 

from scratch. 

An even better scenario is to use the 

press to generate inbound enquiries - 

have them come to you. 

Importantly, you need to be able to pass 

the “So What” question; this is what any 

good journalist will ask about your company 

upon first hearing about what you 

do. 

Yes, you exist - but so do other companies. 

Thousands. Literally. Why should 

they care enough about you to cover 

you? Why do you stand out? Why are 

you unique? Why do you deserve column 

inches or air time? 

The “So What” narrative can often be 

a tricky hurdle for start-ups to tackle, 

and I will tell you why. When you start 

a company, and I speak from personal 

experience, everything is important; Everything. 

on a logo, to making your first hire, to 

making sure you have internet sorted, 

to making the first few months’ payroll. 

These are important to you. 

These are newsworthy to you and your 

business. But they are not generally of 

interest to media outlets. 

However, in the midst of start-up fatigue 

- 80+ hour weeks and extreme levels 

of mental and physical exhaustion as 

- 

entiate between internal versus external 

“news events”. 

Part of what’s required is to be able to 

look from within, often with the help of 

external resources (don’t just ask your 

immediate circle - those who love you 

will often struggle to be constructively 

critical). 

You need outsiders to probe what you’re 

doing, your business model, your growth 

strategy, as well as what makes you 

unique - and at this stage, you will start 

to develop your story and can start planning 

for a proactive communications 

campaign - be it on social media, blogging, 

in the press or even getting out to 

events. 

Your digital footprint will open doors 

Never forget the power of Google; very 

few people agree to a meeting without 

doing their own personal due diligence 

on you. Decision makers and leaders are 

time poor, so they need to be persuaded 

if you are going to take up their valuable 

time. 

If you email someone and ask them for a 

meeting to discuss your business, chances 

are they will type your name and your 

company into Google to try and gauge 

whether or not they should speak to you 

and why such a meeting will be beneficial 

to them. 

They will also check out your LinkedIn 

and your social handles - so make sure 

there’s consistency across the board and 

your digital footprint faithfully reflects 

you and your company. 

You should always think about how PR 

and storytelling will build your digital 

footprint and turn queries or cold calls 

into meetings and subsequent deals. 

And whilst your social footprint, Twitter/ 

Instagram/LinkedIn, is your attempt to 

represent yourself, having a third party 

cover you, such as a news platform or 

blog, in whatever format, is a far more 

compelling means of persuasion than 

simply you alone advocating for yourself. 

There’s one thing YOU saying how great 

or innovative your company is, but it’s 

another thing for a knowledgeable journalist, 

working for a reputable news outlet, 

to endorse what you are doing. 

For those looking to attract investment, 

building your brand and ensuring potential 

investors can understand your product 

and your business model, is another 

great use-case for embarking on a Public 

Relations push. 

Investors on the continent are fully focussed 

on deal flow; they have money to 

invest, and they are competing with one 

another to secure the best deals with the 

most exciting start-ups. 

They need to hear about you, before 

they can invest in you. And yes, whilst 

you may have some connections with 

VCs in your network already, it certainly 

doesn’t hurt to spread your net farther 

afield, in a bid to garner interest from 

more investors. 

Of course, none of the above - no comactual 

change for your company, unless 

you and your business are in a good 

place. 

By this, I mean you need to make sure 

you can execute (as a business) on what- 

- 

active storytelling and communications, 

before you start. 

Why? Because the PR is just the beginning; 

that is the brand recognition, profile 

raising and (potential) lead generation. It 

but to sign those deals and ensure you 

win big, it’s essential that operationally, 

you can execute. 

If not, you may be on the receiving end 

of some negative PR, which requires a 

- 

agement. It only takes a couple of people 

who are on the receiving end of substandard 

service, to head on to social 

media and start denigrating your brand. 

So yes, PR is a useful tool to get your 

name out there and to engage with a variety 

of audiences, but before you start 

down this route, ensure your business is 

in a robust state. 

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CORPORATE CODE 

When H 

meets R 

and You 

Here’s a cheat sheet for 

you to help you become a 

star performer at work. 

By Ivie Martins Ogbonmwan 

A 

s a budding professional in the 

workforce, you’ll find that there 

are many things you have to 

learn—and unfortunately, most of them 

aren’t explicitly taught. 

So, most of the time, you have to wing 

it and stumble around for a while, and 

make some mistakes. However, there are 

tips and tricks you can learn to facilitate 

a smooth work life for you, to ensure 

that you smash your personal and career 

goals. 

These are tips that your human resource 

manager or supervisor may not directly 

share with you for various reasons 

ranging from limited personal time with 

employees or a summarised onboarding 

process. 

Some of the tips are: 

Showing personal drive and commitment 

to your work will increase your 

performance ratings and appraisal. It is 

important that beyond just performing 

your regular tasks and roles, you show a 

sense of passion and personal responsibility 

for your job. 

Taking initiative, anticipating and providing 

solutions to team challenges show 

your team, supervisor and the organisation 

as a whole that you bring substantial 

value to the table and that it would be 

a wise decision to invest in your growth 

and career development. 

Speaking up: You have every right to ask 

questions and seek clarifications about 

your job role, benefits package and work 

culture. 

feel like you have been given a wrong 

job description or your health insurance 

package is taking time to become active, 

it is perfectly fine for you to walk up to 

your HR manager and seek clarifications 

when required. This shows that you are 

assertive in your own right and are professional. 

Utilising training opportunities: You can 

request training opportunities or take 

advantage of the training opportunities 

provided. Usually, the HR department 

and while some HR managers will notify 

you that you are entitled to professional 

training at the company’s expense, other 

managers may not formally notify you 

except you make a request. So, if you 

feel like you require some form of technical 

training or skill to perform your tasks 

better, then ask for it and it will definitely 

be considered. 

Research before asking for that salary 

increase: A lot of times, the request for 

salary increase from employees is turned 

down because of, either the approach 

you employ to present this to your supervisor/HR 

Manager or the lack of merit 

on the request. 

When requesting an increase in salary, 

ensure that you can back up your request 

with proof of your contributions 

and value to your team and the organisation. 

Pull out the evidence and do not 

be sentimental in your approach. 

Also, be prepared to negotiate how it will 

be given to you in terms of an increased 

benefit package, exclusive training opportunities, 

etc. 

Those queries and memos matter: Every 

and fine addressed in your name will 

count during your performance appraisal 

and promotion review. It’s not enough 

to just show up at work and do your job; 

you must also be aware of the rules and 

conduct codes guiding your organisation’s 

operations to avoid infractions. 

Feedback is a great way to better understand 

your skills, strengths, and areas 

you need to improve on as a professional. 

It inadvertently helps you to better define 

your career path and identify ways 

you can improve your work. Showing a 

receptive attitude towards feedback will 

help you greatly. 

Keeping a record of your achievements 

and milestones in your organisation and 

make sure relevant parties like your line 

supervisor and HR are aware of your 

feats. 

Showing up to work on time is a part of 

the job. You may be great at your job and 

meet your targets but if you constantly 

show up late or are absent more often 

without proper notice or following stated 

processes, you may be shooting yourself 

in the foot. Your attitude towards 

the organisation’s service standards are 

as important as your department’s goals 

and deadlines. 

Reading the contract first is important. 

Be sure to read and understand your 

manuals, service standards, NDAs, etc. 

before penning your signature on them. 

Often times, in the excitement of getting 

- 

vironment, employees often forget to 

go through the terms of employment to 

better understand what is required of 

them and what the company is obligated 

to do for them in return. This way, you 

avoid friction with your HR manager and 

company management on the terms and 

engagements of service. 

If you take all these into consideration, 

you’ll definitely be on the fast track to 

top performance. 

“Keep a record of your 

achievements and milestones 

in your organisation 

and make sure 

relevant parties like your 

line supervisor and HR are 

aware of your feats.” 

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FEATURES 

Experience 

TransDisruption 

The future of transportation is here, but 

are you ready? 

By Samuel Odeloye 

Currently, there are a number of working 

innovations from self-driving cars to 

systems. IBM’s Olli, launched in June 

2016, a self-driving electric shuttle can 

perform functions like transportation of 

passengers to requested locations, providing 

suggestions on local sights and 

answering questions about how Olli’s 

self-driving service functions. 

Driverless buses are fast becoming a 

regular system across Europe, using sensors, 

cameras, and GPS to safely ferry 

passengers to their destinations. In Singapore 

and China, Engineers have start- 

- 

tems that would process complex data 

in order to advise on the best routes for 

drivers. In 2018, the ART - Autonomous 

Rail Rapid Transit was launched in China, 

- a train that doesn’t require tracks. 

It instead follows a virtual track made 

of painted dashed lines. Dubai saw the 

maiden voyage of a drone taxi in 2017. 

The future in Africa 

“AI-driven innovations 

are helping the transport 

industry build 

intelligent transport 

systems, which are a 

direct response to the 

growth of on-demand 

mobility solutions 

across the globe.” 

T 

oday, the world has entered the 

Fourth Industrial Revolution, driven 

by seamless automation, endless 

connectivity and characterised by merging 

physical and digital advanced technologies 

such as artificial intelligence, 

big data analytics, the internet of things, 

and blockchain. 

There are growing importance and widespread 

acknowledgment of Artificial 

Intelligence (AI) as a disruptive technology 

for impacting all sectors and gradually 

gaining momentum in the public 

transport industry. 

AI-driven innovations are helping the 

transport industry build intelligent 

transport systems, which are a direct 

response to the growth of on-demand 

mobility solutions across the globe. 

Africa is also catching the AI transport 

system. Road Preppers Technologies 

(RP) creators of Lara.ng— an AI powered 

transport chatbot, that provides 

commuters with detailed public transit 

directions, estimated fares and travel 

time for their daily trips is one worthy 

pioneer. By public transit directions 

we’re referring to informal travel modes 

such as; Danfo, Keke, Okada, BRT, Ferries 

etc. 

At RP’s core is a mission is to build solutions 

that empowers people in developing 

cities: plan, commute and connect 

better on their trips. A requisite solution 

for major cities across the world as 

from the decrease in profitability and 

reliability. In other words, public transit 

systems need to be restructured to 

meet the growing demand as a result of 

an increase in the world population. 

In Africa, Asia, Latin America, and other 

emerging economies; fragmented and 

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Photo credit: Adekoya Eyitayo 

tems are often the norm. About 80% of 

the population in these regions rely on 

para-transit systems as their primary 

means of mobility, for accessing their 

jobs, education and other public services. 

The informal and flexible nature of 

these systems make them highly erratic, 

as such Government agencies are often 

reluctant to collect data on these systems 

as they find them too “chaotic” to 

address. The lack of data makes it hard 

for commuters to know how to navigate 

cities -- That’s where RP comes in. 

History and Challenges 

Since RP’s Incorporation in 2013, the 

company has since expanded its products, 

service listings, network and coverage 

beyond the shores of Lagos. Most of 

the growth RP benefits from today, can 

be attributed to a culture that celebrates 

innovation, rapid experimenting, learning 

and failing. 

Just like every other startup out there, 

we’ve experienced a lot of setbacks 

along the way, but at its core we are a 

great team of people filled with loads of 

grit and resilience. Additionally we are 

very passionate about improving the 

transit experience for people who live 

and work in cities like ours. 

Our first product; myrp.ng was a webbased, 

trip planner application that gives 

its users access to driving and transit 

directions via a map interface; and the 

second, RP API which allows anyone to 

add an interactive map with directions to 

their websites. 

We quickly learned that with our prior 

products that we may have been ahead 

of our users by a couple years. Majority 

of our users circa 2015, were not very 

motivated to navigate their cities by using 

a map interface. So we pivoted to 

providing our services to our users in 

a format they already understand, text 

messaging. We decided to mimic the 

whole process of seeking directions - by 

simply asking as you would with your 

friend on WhatsApp or any other messaging 

platform— Hence Lara. 

Lara’s success stories 

Two months ago, I was at a friend’s wedding 

and in my usual manner of spreading 

the gospel of Lara, I engaged those 

around me in a bid to inform them about 

our fantastic directions assistant and 

was interrupted by two ladies who raved 

on about how Lara has saved them from 

getting lost and being a laughing stock 

for conductors around Lagos. Both are 

doctors who recently moved to Lagos 

city. And like me, they were clearly tired 

of the usual ‘turn left, turn right, you just 

passed the place’ talks. 

Also, a friend attended a conference recently 

where one of the speakers talked 

about how Lara helped her young 

daughter, a university student navigate 

seamlessly around the city without having 

to call home every minute to confirm 

directions. 

Stories like these ones above are the 

many inspirations behind the creation of 

the Lara bot. With the wariness of talking 

to strangers and the possibility of human 

error, getting around can be a mystery. 

Lara is that friend you call when you find 

yourself lost in an unfamiliar place or 

before you leave for an unfamiliar place. 

Lara has served over 300,000 Lagosians 

and recently Abuja since her launch in 

March 2017, she is available on-demand 

24/7 and is easily accessible, just type in 

Lara.ng in your browser. 

The future 

Technology is revolutionising the wave 

of sustainable mobility for all. We look 

forward to seeing smarter and connected 

transportation systems such as 

self-driving cars, autonomous vehicles 

and skies filled with flying cars in a megacity 

like Lagos. 

Are you ready? 

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The Future 

is Female 

By Ayandola Ayanleke 

“Women’s Education Ends In Kitchen” 

I 

f you grew up in Nigeria, you’ll probably 

know the full meaning of the coinage 

‘Week’, but I am here to help you if 

you grew up abroad. 

When we were kids, we had meanings 

weren’t abbreviations. It was just something 

we did that I can’t really explain. 

But this is not the story. 

We thought the meaning we gave “week” 

made a lot of sense, until it didn’t. It no 

longer made sense not because someone 

simply had an epiphany but because 

no matter how messed up society was to 

limit a woman to a kitchen, we had examples 

of great women all around who 

were doing great things. 

Some of these women ended up in the 

tech ecosystem, an industry traditionally 

regarded as the men’s space. And the 

great thing about these women is that 

despite all the obstacles – both written 

and unwritten – they have become indispensable, 

paving the way and inspiring 

other women. This is why The Spark 

team has taken the time to curate a list 

of tech amazons you should definitely 

know about. 

2. Nkem Begho 

She is the Founder and Managing Director 

of Future Software Resources, one 

of Nigeria’s top IT solutions provider focused 

on online solutions, e-learning and 

IT security. With a degree in BioInformatics 

from Ludwig-Maxmillians Universitat 

Munchen, Germany, Nkem demonstrates 

a passion for driving innovative thinking 

and building a globally recognised 

technology brand. She is involved in 

programmes and also a recipient of different 

awards. 

3. Odun Eweniyi 

The co-founder of PiggyVest, Odun 

Eweniyi, is one of the faces of the fintech 

industry in Nigeria. Her company started 

from a small virtual PiggyBank for savings 

to a comprehensive financial platform 

for savings, investments, HMOs and 

other forms of financial growth processes. 

Before PiggyVest, she co-founded 

PushCV, a digital recruitment sites that 

connects the unemployed to job recruiters. 

the Andela story in an authentic way. 

Through Andela, she had the opportunity 

to tell the tech story at WIMBIZ and 

Women In Tech conferences. She has 

since joined Paystack as Media Manager. 

5. Olayinka David-West 

A senior fellow in the Operations, Information 

Systems and Marketing Division 

of Lagos Business School, Dr David-West 

is an Information Systems professional. 

Through her work in LBS, she convenes 

leaders and policy-makers in the financial 

industry with the goal of promoting 

the use of digital financial services in 

Nigeria and to ensure financial inclusion 

and entrepreneurship in Nigeria. 

6. Damilola Teidi-Ayoola 

Damilola has over 8-years experience 

working in the tech space, with a focus 

on scaling tech start-ups. She founded 

GoMyWay, a tech startup that served as 

a carpooling platform for intrastate and 

interstate trips. She is presently a Director 

at CcHub, where she incubates startups 

and helps them scale. 

1. Juliet Ehimuan-Chiazor 

Juliet is Google’s Country Manager in 

Nigeria. She is a technology expert and 

entrepreneur, who was listed in Forbes’ 

20 Youngest Power Women in Africa 

in 2011. With a first degree in Computer 

Engineering from Obafemi Awolowo 

University and a postgraduate degree in 

Computer Science from the University of 

Cambridge. She has won various awards 

and recognition for her work in the technological 

space. 

4. Mohini Ufeli 

Tech is not limited to coding, there are 

other non-technical sub-sections of tech 

and Mohini Ufeli has been able to find her 

place in one. She started her career with 

Andela where she developed and told 

7. Yetunde Sanni 

Yetunde is a software developer and has 

been interested in technology since she 

was barely 12 when her family bought 

a PC. Realising her love for computers, 

she chose to study Computer Science at 

the university and has since developed 

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her career in Andela. She is involved in 

TechInPink and Komplete Woman Slum 

Empowerment, two organisations that 

were inspired by her passion to develop 

women in tech. 

Nicknamed the “Coding Hero”, Abisoye 

became the first Nigerian to make the 

CNN Heroes list in 2018. She has demonstrated 

a determination to ensure gender 

parity in the technological space. 

She is a graduate of the Nigerian Institute 

of Information Technology (NIIT) 

and the University of Lagos. She established 

Pearls Africa Youth Foundation, 

an NGO created to close the gender gap 

in technology by helping girls develop 

technological skills. 

Maya is a venture capital investor and 

the founder of Ingressive, a market entry, 

technology research and market operations 

services that have helped more 

than 50 top investment funds enter and 

operate in Sub-Saharan Africa. She was 

listed in the Forbes’ Africa 30 under 30 

list, under the technology category. 

8. Adeola Shasanya 

Adeola is the co-founder of Afro-tech 

girls, a non-profit created to promote 

the participation of women in STEM 

(Science, Technology, Engineering and 

Mathematics). She is a graduate of Electrical 

and Electronics Engineering from 

Covenant University, she is also involved 

in Girls Code Academy and SheProfitsAfrica, 

all in a bid to ensure gender parity 

in the tech space. 

11. Ire Aderinokun 

Ire is a UI/UX Designer and Front-End 

Developer. With an undergraduate degree 

in Experimental Psychology and a 

postgraduate degree in Law, Ire initially 

considered web design and development 

as a hobby and not a career choice. 

She soon discovered she could turn her 

passion into a career and there was no 

stopping her. The blogger at bitsofcode 

is Nigeria’s first female Google Developer 

Expert. 

14. Tarebi Alebiosu 

With a first degree in Computer Science 

and Certificate in Entrepreneurship 

from the Sloan School of Management, 

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 

Tarebi is the Managing Director of Yoke 

Solutions Limited, a technology firm that 

specialises in software development that 

has developed tech solutions for over 

200 organisations, including the Lagos 

State Government. 

9. Judith Okonkwo 

Described as a Tech Evangelist, Business 

Psychologist and Organisation Development 

Practitioner, Judith Okonkwo has 

experience working in Africa, Europe 

and Asia. In 2016, she founded Imisi 3D, 

Nigeria’s first virtual reality creation lab 

in Lagos focused on building the Nigerian 

environment for extended reality 

technologies. She also sits on the board 

of the European Organisation Design 

Forum. 

12. Banke Alawaye 

The International Business Manager with 

Praekelt Foundation is a Speaker, Management 

Consultant and Transformation 

Specialist. Her work with Praekelt included 

many social impact projects and applying 

mobile solutions to development 

problems. She was very involved in Code 

Lagos, an initiative created to train a million 

Lagosians to code. 

15. Desiree Craig 

A graduate of Computing from the University 

of Plymouth, Desiree is the Technology 

Product Manager at Andela. Before 

Andela, she was Head of Product 

at CcHub. As a Product Manager, she is 

passionate about leveraging technology 

to solve some of the world’s most pressing 

challenges. She was recently listed 

in the Techcabal’s Tech Women Lagos, a 

portrait exhibition celebrating 50 women 

in technology. 

No doubt more amazons will find their 

paths in the tech space and until then, 

let’s celebrate these women who are already 

providing solutions and inspiring 

others to join in. 

10. Abisoye Ajayi-Akinfolarin 

13. Maya Horgan-Famodu 

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Savings on 

Account of 

Life Bank 

Technology is a saviour of some 

sort. It provides solutions and 

saves lives in unimaginable ways. 

By Temie Giwa-Tubosun 

“We use a combination of 

high and low technology 

such as blockchain, mobile 

phones and USSD platforms 

to ensure 24/7 access and 

connection for hospital 

teams to discover the 

products they need to save 

lives.” 

I 

t was just about 4 am when the doctor 

told Jumoke Oladehinde’s family 

(name changed) that she needed four 

bags of blood otherwise she was going 

to die. 

He also told them they needed to have 

the blood available in about one hour 

and the blood had to be in the best condition. 

A few hours before, Jumoke had given 

birth to a baby girl, her second. Her husband 

had been called from his Okada 

work, and he had come to the hospital 

for a visit and then left to drink with his 

friends, to celebrate the new baby, thinking 

all was well. 

The plan was to return the next day, pick 

up his wife and head home to start their 

lives as a family of four. 

A few hours later, he was called and told 

that his wife had only one hour to live. 

In Nigeria, limited access to blood is 

responsible for the annual deaths of 

26,000 pregnant women, 35,000 children 

with malaria and many more of the 

most vulnerable citizens in our community. 

Similarly, limited access to oxygen is 

responsible for the annual deaths of 

177,000 children with pneumonia and 

Our blood donor app is a web applicritical 

access to oxygen can help save 

the majority of them. Jumoke did not 

survive the birth of her second child, and 

stories like hers are too common in Nigeria 

and all over Africa. 

Nigeria’s annual blood need is estimated 

at about 1.9 million pints. The World 

Health Organisation recommends that 

100% of the country’s blood supply 

should come from voluntary, non-remunerated 

blood donors. 

Unfortunately, Nigeria only collects 

about 500,000 pints each year and our 

blood supply is dominated by commercial 

(paid) blood donors. 

Voluntary non-remunerated blood donors 

account for only 10% of Nigeria’s 

total blood collection while family/friend 

replacement and commercial (paid) donors 

account for 30% and 60% respectively. 

These figures are worrisome. 

Family Replacement, a process where 

family members or friends are mandated 

to donate blood on behalf of a loved one, 

is a poor substitute for voluntary donation 

due to the fact that it causes undue 

stress and trauma for people already in 

distress and reduces the likelihood of 

such family members committing to become 

lifelong voluntary blood donors. 

Unfortunately, hospitals resort to this 

tactic due to the dearth of voluntary 

blood donors. 

LifeBank is a medical distribution company 

committed to saving millions of 

Nigerian lives through ensuring access 

to essential medical products like blood 

and oxygen. 

In over 3 years of operations, we have 

worked with over 300 hospitals to distribute 

over 15,200 units of blood and 

oxygen and saved over 4,400 patients 

from death. 

We use a combination of high and low 

technology such as blockchain, mobile 

phones and USSD platforms to ensure 

24/7 access and connection for hospital 

teams to discover the products they 

need to save lives. 

We use a wide variety of mobility tools 

to reach our customers; including but 

not limited to motorcycles, boats, and 

light trucks. 

We are also committed to our work to 

improve blood supplies by building a 

movement of blood donors. 

At LifeBank, a company I founded four 

years ago, we are deeply committed to 

boosting the availability and safety of 

blood supply in Nigeria. 

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cation that connects people to blood 

banks. Registered users can book appointments 

on the app to donate blood 

at a blood bank closest to them, and 

earn rewards for completing donations. 

Our Pop-Up Blood Drive service is a fun 

and memorable blood donor clinic experience 

that enables busy Nigerians working 

in corporate organisations donate 

- 

es. In addition to being a wonderful CSR 

initiative, it is also a great bonding activity 

that improves organisational morale 

by helping people do good. 

Raising awareness about the importance 

of voluntary blood donation is also critical 

to improving the quality of blood 

supply in African countries. 

Due to the overreliance on paid blood 

donors who are at a higher risk of transfusion-transmissible 

infections like HIV, 

Hepatitis and e.t.c, blood transfusions 

account for 5% - 10% of new HIV infections 

in the region. 

It is no surprise that sub-Saharan African 

countries have a disproportionate percentage 

of the world’s HIV burden. 

However, it isn’t all bad news. Some cities 

across Africa have been successful in 

the pursuit of safe blood for all. Lagos 

State is one of them. 

In 2014, the state government created 

the Lagos State Blood Transfusion Committee 

(LSBTC) to regulate blood supply 

and improve the rate of voluntary blood 

donation. 

Under the leadership of Dr Modupe 

Olaiya, the First Executive Secretary 

of LSBTC, Lagos state implemented a 

policy requiring all blood collected for 

transfusion within the state be tested by 

government-regulated screening centers, 

and carry a removable seal showing 

proof of this additional layer of safety. 

The decline in the prevalence of HIV in 

Lagos state from 5.1% in 2013 to 4.1% in 

2016 indicates that this measure of ensuring 

blood safety combined with other 

HIV prevention and treatment initiatives 

by the Lagos State Health Service 

Commission, are working to reduce the 

state’s HIV burden. 

The recent appointment of the acting 

Executive Secretary, Dr. Bodunrin Osikomaiya, 

a renowned hematology consultant, 

shows that the state is serious in 

continuing these reforms and extending 

innovation in the blood chain. Our goal 

is to see similar innovation occur in all 

states in Nigeria, including the Federal 

Capital Territory. 

While there was a modest reduction in 

HIV prevalence in blood, the rate of TTIs 

in our blood system still remains uncomfortably 

high. It is clear that the blood 

donation system requires more transparency, 

accountability, and a process that 

is completely immutable and that is tamperproof. 

Recently, we launched SmartBag, a 

blockchain-powered blood integrity 

solution that can help Nigeria achieve 

universal safe blood. 

Smartbag helps patients and health 

providers discover the safety records 

of blood and blood products with information 

about all the process involved in 

blood supply recorded on a blockchain, 

preserving its integrity, and making it immutable. 

When scanned, the SmartBag gives hospitals 

access to all the details about the 

donation, collection, screening, storage, 

and delivery procedures involved in the 

blood and blood components transfused 

into their patients. 

This system will increase provider confidence 

in the quality of the blood products 

and help to reduce the clinical risk 

linked to blood transfusions. 

SmartBag adapts blockchain, a high tech 

solution, to fit the Nigerian landscape. 

For hospitals and healthcare providers 

without access to smartphones, computers 

or the internet, this information 

will be made available on simple feature 

phones through USSD shortcodes. 

This technology can also be used to 

monitor the distribution chain of controlled 

drugs such as codeine and tramadol, 

as well as fight back against drug 

counterfeiting in developing countries. 

The goal is to build a safe and secure 

system that is universally available to every 

Nigerian, regardless of their economic 

status, especially as Nigeria has a large 

population of people living in extreme 

poverty, and Jumoke’s family was one 

of them. To add that lack of immediate 

access to funds leads to deaths of over 

121,500 people in Nigeria alone. 

To reduce this, we launched Blood and 

Oxygen Access Trust (BOAT), a fund set 

up by LifeBank to pay for emergency 

blood and oxygen needs of low-income 

Nigerians using private and government 

capital donations and allocations. 

This project has helped improve access 

to these critical supplies in poor communities 

around Lagos and Abuja. In the 

coming months, we will expand this service 

to every state in Nigeria. 

At LifeBank, we believe that no Nigerian 

should die from a shortage of essential 

medical products, and we are on a mission 

to solve this using technology. 

To learn more about our work, visit lifebank.ng 

and lifeabankapp.ng to find out 

how you too can join our movement of 

blood donors! 

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Finding 

Funds 

Access to credit is still a big deal 

and this is how we plan to solve it 

By Adia Sowho 

“Our goal is to go 

further to build an 

even more robust 

network of merchants 

and small 

business owners 

whose customers 

from the use of 

this service.” 

Introduction 

There are more than 3 billion adults globally 

without access to credit, typically 

due to a lack of infrastructure. At Mines, 

our vision is that every one of these 

people will have instant access to credit 

within the next 10 years by developing 

the digital infrastructure for providing 

credit. Mines was founded in 2014 by a 

small group of computer scientists working 

on an artificial intelligence research 

project at Stanford University. Having 

grown up in developing markets and uncredit, 

our founders (Ekechi Nwokah and 

Kunle Olukotun) decided to direct their 

energy and expertise towards solving 

one of the greatest social equality chal- 

We believe in sustainable impact, which 

requires a profitable business model, 

deep humility to the complexity and nuance 

of local cultures around the world, 

and a focus on both macro and micro 

economic outcomes. We also know that 

technology alone is not enough to solve 

this problem, so we’ve decided that the 

best way to sustainably solve financial 

access is to work closely with domestic 

institutions to deliver world-class products 

tailored to their own markets. 

Customers get best-in-class products, 

local businesses drive higher revenue, 

and regulators have banking oversight, 

so everybody wins. 

Looking Ahead 

In the past 5 years, we have worked tirelessly 

to build a credit-as-a-service digital 

platform that enables institutions to 

at the click of a button or a few strokes of 

the keypad with absolutely no questions 

asked. We have done this through the 

use of our proprietary algorithm which 

leverages on a host of data sets to make 

informed decisions on who to serve and 

what loans at what point in time. We 

have successfully provided this service in 

collaboration with banks, telcos, switches 

and retailers across the country. Having 

built this successful network of partners, 

our goal is to go further to build an 

even more robust network of merchants 

and small business owners whose customers 

could also benefit from the use 

of this service. We aim in the next few 

years to become the commerce backbone 

for informal economies both within 

and outside of Nigeria. 

Why Technology? 

I’ve always been inclined towards techfor 

creating transparency in any industry. 

Numbers and problem solving just 

seemed to appeal to me naturally, so I 

have not studied any other thing deeply. 

In school, I gravitated towards maths 

and science more so than other topics. 

Throughout my education and career, 

I have found the most comfort amidst 

the more technical competencies. Becoming 

an engineer was inevitable for 

me. 

On Women Going into Tech 

Just do it! It’s so much fun, and women 

are natural problem-solvers anyway, so 

there is a more natural fit than many believe. 

Nigeria’s cadre of women leaders 

is becoming more visible and I hope this 

trend continues as we can set an example 

for the world. We have a long way 

to go with advancing women’s rights 

in general, but there is an encouraging 

number of women in technology. So 

please join - you will be in good company. 

I also think that it is important to remember 

that technology is an enabler 

of EVERY industry, so no matter what 

industry one is in, there is a technology 

opportunity to consider. 

I wish I knew not to put my femininity in 

a box when I was a student and a young 

engineer. These days, I enjoy being a 

very colourfully dressed geek. 

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Cold-chain 

Tech 

Solving logistics is a key part 

of the puzzle 

By Oghenetega Iortim 

The Man Himself 

I 

’d describe myself as a reserved but 

highly observant person who has always 

had an eye for business. I recall 

in primary school when I would use my 

pocket money to buy small chocolate 

bars and sell to my classmates during 

class breaks. This business acumen developed 

and constantly evolved leading 

me to try my hands on multiple business 

ventures; from simple trading with 

friends to building solutions to global 

problems. 

The Beginning 

I started GRICD in 2017. Prior to that, I 

got involved in Agriculture where we 

crowd sourced funds to enable farming 

operations. We experienced a lot of losses 

upon harvest due to knowledge gaps 

challenges inspired me to think of and 

design a solution that could help prolong 

the useful life of harvested produce and 

consequently reduce farmers’ losses. In 

attempting to solve this problem, we developed 

a solution, which turned out to 

be replicable across diverse verticals including 

health. 

We bootstrapped all through 2017 into 

mid-2018 and fortunately, we got into 

the FBStart program sponsored by 

Facebook, where we were able to raise 

funds to develop/build the first phase of 

our actual product. 

Our product has gained a lot of acceptance 

in the market since we launched it 

and achieved popularity with members 

of the healthcare community/public. We 

have held exhibitions/showcases at various 

programs including Access Bank 

Disrupt 2019 where we got very engaging 

and positive feedback from the community. 

GRICD and the Economy 

GRICD is a cold chain technology com- 

- 

omous cold chain solutions for storage 

and logistics in Healthcare and Agriculture. 

We are a hardware startup that 

prides in building our solution in Nigeria. 

it’s the right way to go to foster technological 

growth. 

According to FIIRO, Nigerian farmers 

lose more than 50% of their produce annually. 

So, almost half of the total revenue 

to be earned on produce is lost due 

to the absence of good storage facilities. 

GRICD aims to bridge that lacuna and 

help preserve and increase the revenue 

of those in the agro supply chain. Given 

that agriculture still accounts for a huge 

proportion of informal employment especially 

among rural populations, any 

solution that helps save close to 50% of 

farmers’ revenue is surely a welcome development 

for the economy. 

Staying Relevant 

I would give a lot of credit to my team for 

consistent innovation. In recent months, 

my primary focus has been strategy and 

business development. My team members, 

Godwin (Embedded Systems 

Engineering Lead ) and Simi (Software 

Product Lead) have played vital roles 

in continuous innovation. They are very 

passionate about solutions and always 

come up with new and plausible ideas. 

Most times, I listen to their recommendations 

on what’s possible based on user 

experience, economic value and milestones 

timelines. 

Global Competitiveness 

Nigerian tech entrepreneurs are already 

competitors on the global scene and 

we have seen this through the number 

of acquisitions that have taken place in 

the last 5 years. Last year alone, acquisition 

transactions worth $178 million 

took place and it is evident that our in- 

digenously grown solutions are not just 

solving local challenges but are also 

becoming increasingly accepted on a 

global scale. 

Lessons Learnt 

Building a business as a young entrepreneur 

makes you susceptible to a lot 

of mistakes, especially in this clime and 

with all the structural challenges that exist 

within the ecosystem. Mistakes in hiring 

and people management were made 

in the early years of starting out but, as 

with growing pains, they helped to teach 

lessons, to refine and reshape our business 

strategy as it relates to hiring, mo- 

Feedback 

The feedback from our clients has been 

great. Their opinions serve as a resource 

to improve customer experience. More 

often than not, we ask for customer 

feedback to know what the customer 

thinks about our product and how we 

can improve on our service, which enables 

us to stay ahead in our industry. 

Role Model 

I consider Femi Adeyemo, CEO of Arnergy 

as a role model. I am impressed by 

his discipline, incredible work ethic, tech 

savviness, continuous innovation and 

his commitment to ensuring profitable 

bottom lines and not just fundraising. 

They recently concluded their Series A 

funding last month where they raised $9 

million. He’s definitely someone that in- 

Unwinding 

“We are a hardware 

startup that prides in 

building our solution in 

Nigeria.” 

Building GRICD is taking up all my time 

at the moment but hopefully when we 

achieve some important milestones, I 

should pick up on my writing. 

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10 Must- 

Have Tools 

for African 

Technopreneurs 

By Ayishat Olanrewaju 

your audience activities on your 

locations, etc. 

7. Dashlane: Dashlane helps you save 

and manage all your passwords in 

one place. There’s no need trying 

to remember passwords or writing 

them down in a notebook, Dashlane 

does it best for you. 

O 

ne of the reasons why running an 

online business is desirable is due 

to the low cost of start-up capital 

involved. Once you have a great idea and 

you can prove the desirability, feasibility, 

and the viability of your idea; coupled 

with a laptop and access to the internet, 

you are almost good to go. 

However, one of the other important 

aspects of running an online business 

is having the right tools of trade readily 

available. If you are running an online 

business or using tech for your business, 

i.e. you have a technology-based business, 

then you are a technopreneur. 

Here are the 10 must-have tools you 

need to consider: 

1. Wave Apps: As a business owner, 

you need to get paid, but how do 

you get paid? Do you send your 

customers text messages reminding 

them of their payment or keep calling 

them over and over again? It’s 

time to handle your business like a 

real business and make use of a tool 

like Wave to help you send invoices. 

It is a financial software specifically 

designed for entrepreneurs. 

3. Google Keyword Planner: To succeed 

online, you need to set your 

business in a way that is easy for 

your ideal audience to find you. One 

of the ways to achieve this is by optimising 

your website and content 

with the right keywords that your 

target audience use in searching for 

content that relates to your products 

and services. Google Keyword 

Planner is a tool you can use to get 

this done. 

4. Feedly: To market your business 

online as a technopreneur, you need 

to create and curate the right content 

to help your target audience 

notice you. Feedly helps you curate 

- 

ferent industries. 

5. Slack: How do you communicate 

with your team, especially if they 

work remotely? Slack helps you 

collaborate with your team, make 

decisions, share files, and so on. It 

basically makes your work easier 

with your team. 

8. Later: As a technopreneur, it’s important 

to ensure that you are 

active on social media, as this increases 

your visibility. Later is a tool 

that helps you easily schedule your 

social media posts. It also provides 

you with insights and tips for your 

social media management. 

9. MailChimp: As an online business 

owner, building an email list is 

non-negotiable. MailChimp helps 

you build your email list, create signup 

forms and landing pages, send 

out newsletters, and so much more. 

It is one of the easiest email marketing 

tools out there. 

10. Canva: What’s an online business 

without great graphics to help you 

stand out? Canva helps you DIY 

your graphics with the option of 

easily creating so many types of 

designs. 

2. Zoom: As a technopreneur, a major 

part of your business would also be 

communicating with clients or customers 

virtually, depending on the 

reach of your business. Zoom is a 

tool that can help you seamlessly 

conferencing capabilities. 

6. Google Analytics: It is not enough 

to create content, you need to measure 

the ROI of the content you 

platforms you put them on. It tracks 

11. Google Docs: Bonus! Google Docs 

is a great document collaboration 

tool that helps you collaborate with 

share files, and do a whole lot of 

things online. 

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Tech Meets Genes 

Genetics is a big deal and as Africans, we should 

put ourselves on this map. 

By Francis Osifo 

General Background 

M 

y dream was to study Medicine 

but I ended up with a certificate 

in Computer Science which led 

me to establish Tech Consulting - focused 

on building products for corporate 

organisations. 

But, there were too many questions to 

be answered in that field. So, my partner, 

who has a Ph.D. in Cancer Biology 

said we should we do something together 

and the ideas that filled our heads 

birthed 54GENE. 

The Fellowship 

I met my partner through a friend who 

knew we could work together. We had all 

these ideas running through our heads. 

Things we had done and things we were 

trying to build. 

We started by trying to build something 

for patients to easily do medical tests. 

We called it ‘Diagnose Me’. But we realised 

there is a bigger market for genetics, 

so, we spread our tentacles to a space 

that was literally not fully harnessed. 

The agreement to become partners was 

an easy one. He was versed in his industry 

and I in mine. It was a match made 

to do more! 

Actually, the initial idea came from him. 

But we both wanted to ensure that the 

product turned out to be able to compete 

on the global scene and that applying 

for funds won’t be almost impossible. 

Success Rate 

Success is very relative and I don’t exactly 

know how to measure it, but we have 

been able to change our narrative. 

There is only 2% of genetic data available 

globally and it is made up of Africans. 

I think we should contribute more 

to data collection so the continent will 

be considered for new drug developments. 

Having enough genetic data will 

also translate to having improved treatments, 

diagnostics and insights into 

new developments. This is what success 

looks like to me. 

Ultimately, success means being able to 

say ‘you know what? I need to get here’, 

then you get human resources, all the 

tools to align and you achieve this goal 

on a day-to-day basis. 

Med-Tech In Nigeria 

I can’t vouch for med-tech companies 

competing on the global scene but there 

is consistent growth and, interest in the 

industry is growing. 

The industry welcomes investors every 

needed specialised services. But, I think 

a lot more needs to be done. 

Healthcare is a fundamental service that 

should be available to everybody, notwithstanding 

the economic status. And 

having enough private participation in 

that space is important. 

Unique Selling Point 

Openness to growth. 

I have learnt that when you make mistakes, 

do not get yourself so worked up 

about it. One of the things my father 

would say is ‘sometimes, you know that 

this might not be the most ideal solution 

but at least it is a stop-gap until you get 

there, you just need to keep moving’. 

One of the key mantras in business is 

Result. It isn’t about the actions or the 

have to keep executing. And, we believe 

that irrespective of whatever it is, every 

team member must be faring at 1000% 

every time, because that is the only way 

you can move at a fast pace. 

Understanding the core of the business 

and knowing when to delegate or outsource 

tasks to focus on some other 

things is also important. 

The Future 

We try to align ourselves around the 

key three things which might expand to 

more. But, for now, we will like to focus 

on Molecular Diagnostics. 

This means we are planning to set up a 

Reference Lab here to ensure that we 

collect data on medical tests and that 

results are no longer sent abroad for 

examination. Essentially, these tests will 

now have a shorter turn-around time. 

Also, we plan on building a genetic bio- 

The goal is to build and have strong pillars 

around those areas first before we 

even explore any other thing. 

Acceptability 

We had to do a lot of enlightenment 

when we first launched and there’s still 

more to be done. However, we understand 

that educating doctors on the value 

of what we do will reduce the workload 

of educating patients. 

Organic Versus Investor Funding 

I don’t think there is ‘right or wrong’ for 

funding. The question you should ask as 

an entrepreneur is: ‘what are you building? 

What is the goal?’ 

I read an article a few months ago that 

said ‘do you want to be rich or be king?’ 

Once you start embracing investors, you 

have to seek some amount of control 

over your business. Find that balance. 

We won’t have come this far if we said 

we wanted to do this without investors, 

as it requires a lot of funding. 

So, just figure out when you need investors 

and focus on consistent significant 

growth. 

54Gene is in a space rarely explored and 

there’s no right or wrong time to embrace 

their work. The time is now! 

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Today’s Idea, 

Tomorrow’s Innovation 

If growth is in your itinerary, then every bit of data counts 

By Oladele Bakare 

we call the Minimum Viable Product 

(MVP). It is the version of your product 

that has just enough features to satisfy 

the key demands of early adopters. 

With the MVP, you can quickly test the 

market, get feedback from your customers, 

improve the product and know what 

they would like to pay for. Remember 

“the market in the gap”. Don’t try to do 

too much, in a tough economy, you may 

be setting yourself up for needless frustration. 

I 

t’s a lot easier to start a business today 

than it was a decade ago. The real challenge 

is achieving traction. The simple 

truth is that growth is never by mere 

chance, it is the result of forces working 

together to give your startup the needed 

jump in the marketplace. See five tips 

that will help any entrepreneur turn their 

ideas into a brand: 

Idea matters 

Just like it is important for artists to record 

good songs in the studio before 

they can think of ace-level concerts, as 

an entrepreneur, you have to get three 

things right. To start with, is there a gap 

in the market? Secondly, is there a market 

in the gap? Finally, do you have the 

skill and passion to pursue the opportunities 

that the gap provides? 

three things is usually a step in the right 

direction; it means you have solved 

the clarity problem. You stand a better 

chance than hundreds of other founders 

who just throw stones at the sky and 

hope that they get lucky. 

Research helps, let the facts validate the 

idea 

Most people jump into execution without 

proper and extensive research. If you 

think you have found the right business 

idea, it is advisable that you still plan 

and conduct a proper research. A proper 

research does not have to be McKinsey-level 

work. You just need to have 

some basic numbers, or at least visible 

demand to prove that you are on a profitable 

adventure. 

Ask yourself who your target customers 

are? It surely can’t be everyone. If 

you sell the sweetest candy, diabetic 

patients won’t make a customer, so you 

can’t possibly sell to everyone. Your target 

customers are those who want and 

already pay for something similar. No 

matter how ground-breaking your product 

or service is, there is a version that 

is currently serving your target market. 

The early adopters of Facebook were 

Harvard students who could already 

could use a computer, surf the internet, 

play games and were involved in some 

sort of social activities. So when Mark 

Zuckerberg’s team marketed Facebook 

to them, they already understood the 

idea around online social interactions. 

Build your MVP 

So you have found “it”. Your research has 

proven that there is evidence to prove 

that there is a clear demand for your 

product or service. Next is to develop 

that product, start the business. You do 

not need a lot of money to do this. 

You can start with your personal savings 

or money from friends and family. 

Many people make the mistake of trying 

to build everything in a product or plan 

to sell to everybody when starting the 

business. 

This is why it is important and build to 

identify the key features that are critical 

to your product/business. This is what 

Iterate quickly 

You would know you’ve hit the gold mine 

when users love your MVP. If they don’t, 

tweak things. This is the real growth 

hack - your nimbleness as a business. 

Your ability to make needed changes or 

updates as the case may be. 

At this point, you have sold to a few 

customers, gotten some downloads, 

delivered some products and services. 

You now have to ensure that you are a 

smart listener and can quickly implement 

relevant feedback. 

This will give you that competitive 

advantage that will enable you to serve 

more customers. Focus on what users 

love, every other thing can wait. 

Scale is identifying your KPI and growing 

your numbers. 

KPI means key performance indicators. 

They shouldn’t be more than three. 

They are the numbers that must go up 

to prove that you are growing. You must 

identify these numbers. 

It could be the number of downloads on 

your apps, how much money you have 

saved for your clients, how many people 

are registering on your platform etc. 

Find the numbers that count. 

After that, your next milestone would 

be to come up with a growth plan. A 

growth plan is summarily an answer to 

the question - “how can these numbers 

go up?” 

Build your answers into a model. Repeat 

that model. Revise the model if you have 

to. 

Finally, remember that growth is never 

accidental. There is always a trigger. Find 

yours today. 

“Growth is never 

accidental. There 

is always a trigger. 

Find yours today.” 

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FREESTYLE 

One Pixel 

at a Time 

PhotoWaka Africa is 

spreading awareness of vital 

through their photo walks. 

O 

juelegba, the 2014 single from Nigerian’s 

singer Ayodeji Balogun’s 

(Wizkid) second studio album 

has a catchy beat that could send anyone 

into a feet-tapping and head-bobbing 

frenzy. 

In reality, the idyllic suburb area of 

Ojuelegba which has inspired vintage 

hits by Afrobeat King Fela Kuti, and 

Wizkid, shares similar traits with popular 

districts, streets and areas in Lagos: 

pollution. The common sights of overfilled 

dumpsters commonly left in reckless 

abandon on road sides, toxic smoke 

emitting from overused old vehicles, and 

fumes from generator sets (which have 

been the saving grace for Nigerians in 

Nigeria lacking the basic supply of constant 

electrical power) and machineries, 

are ordinary sights on Nigerian streets. 

These ordinary sights nonetheless, are 

extraordinary agents polluting the environment 

and resultantly causing residents 

environmental health-related hazards. 

Per a World Health Organization 

report, “An estimated 7 million people 

were killed by diseases related to indoor 

and outdoor air pollution alone in 2012.” 

In 2015, the Little Green Data Book 2015 

indicated that 94% of the Nigerian population 

was exposed to air pollution 

levels (measured in PM2.5) exceeding 

WHO guidelines. 

Lagos, to some, sparks the image of 

busy streets, fast money, and huge industries. 

But the reality is, this fast-growing 

city shelters some of the most dangerous 

pollutants in the country. The 

city’s over-populated numbers estimated 

at 21 million, irresponsible disposal 

of trash, and poor waste management 

systems are factors contributing to the 

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While the photo walk of June 29 is flattering 

for PhotoWaka Africa’s image, the 

group above all hopes that the message 

of proper waste management, has been 

properly understood by participating 

creatives. And that next time, before 

these individuals discard waste, they can 

pause and ask themselves whether they 

are part of the reasons overfilled dumpsters 

on Nigerian streets are littered 

with non-degradable waste that will be 

around for thousands of years causing 

havoc on land, water, and air to both humans 

and creatures alike. 

ridiculously colossal air, land and water 

pollution in the state. 

Being aware of these facts, the Directorial 

team of PhotoWaka Africa in deciding 

the theme for its fifth photo walk, unanimously 

voted in favour of Pollution. The 

central theme was then coined to be: 

“Pollution: African’s Untold Stories”. The 

aim was that for the first time, individual 

participants of the fifth photo walk could 

narrate both visually and in their words, 

their observations of pollution in the designated 

areas (Ojuelegba to Yaba). 

On Saturday June 29, as the grey clouds 

gathered in the sky, participants of 

the photo walk gathered also, convening 

at Ojuelegba, where the fifth photo 

Ojuelegba Bridge, Eti-Inyene Godwin 

Akpan, Founder/Executive Director of 

PhotoWaka Africa had begun to sensitize 

participants, about a hundred and fifty of 

them on street photography. 

Eti-Inyene had himself disclosed in interviews 

months earlier, the importance 

of understanding the little hacks to successfully 

thriving in street photography. 

Emphasizing the photo walk participants 

build interactions, relationships, seek 

permission and converse with subjects 

before attempting to have their photographs 

or that of their environment, Inyene 

had participants equipped for the 

photo walk. 

Participants, now equipped with beginner 

level professional background in 

street photography, set to work in their 

allocated groups. The time was past 10 

am: Grouping participants of the photo 

walk was a strategic team-bonding exercise 

to help individual participants bond 

and represent their perspectives on pollution 

easily. 

Testament to the photo walk’s magnetic 

energy, random individuals enthralled 

by the group’s photography activities on 

the streets leading to Yaba from Ojuelegba, 

stopped to inquire about PhotoWaka 

Africa and why participants were rummaging 

through the streets taking pictures 

of trash and litter. 

“Lagos shelters some 

of the most dangerous 

pollutants in the 

country.” 

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SPOTLIGHT 

Introduction 

Vazi Legal is an innovation-driven law 

firm that exists to simplify legal services 

delivery for African startups and early-stage 

investors. 

The importance of access to legal services 

that is contextual to our growing 

technology ecosystem in Africa today 

cannot be overemphasized. However, 

many traditional law firms on the continent 

still do not understand how to provide 

legal services to startups. 

Startups are unique and aren’t like regular 

businesses, so they require legal services 

that are tailored, and at the same 

time flexible enough to be adaptable to 

a startup’s business needs and reality. 

This is the gap Vazi Legal was set up to 

fulfill. 

Who is behind Vazi Legal? 

We are currently set up as a close network 

of startup focused lawyers qualified 

to practice in Nigeria, Kenya, South 

Africa, the United States and the United 

Kingdom. Most of our lawyers are quali- 

Another thing we are set up to do is 

bridge the gap between local law and 

international law. Many startups in Africa 

raise money from outside the continent. 

What this means is that these startups 

usually need lawyers in their home country 

as well as lawyers in the foreign jurisdiction 

– so we act as a one-stop-shop 

for that since our lawyers are qualified in 

some of the most vibrant investor markets 

in the world. 

On the flip side, we also provide legal 

services to foreign investors who are 

looking to invest in Nigeria, Kenya or 

South Africa. Our investor clients also 

find the multiple qualifications extremely 

valuable. 

My name is Moe Odele and I am Managing 

Partner at Vazi Legal. Prior to this, I 

worked for a boutique, Impact Investing 

consulting firm operating in the UAE, Europe, 

Southeast Asia and North America. 

Before that, I worked for a New York City 

based Non-profit that provided pro-bono 

legal services to social entrepreneurs, 

impact investors, communities impacted 

by large scale development projects and 

to governments. 

I started my career in Nigeria until I 

moved to the United States for school. I 

attended Columbia University and right 

after that worked with the University as 

a Post-Doctoral Research Scholar. 

While here, I co-published several papers 

on access to legal services amongst 

others and these were presented at the 

United Nations, the World Bank and 

even to the U.K. Parliament. 

After some years of doing international 

work, I realized that what I really wanted 

to do was contribute to the technology 

landscape in Africa and that’s how Vazi 

Legal was born. Before Vazi Legal was 

formally set up, I had always provided legal 

services to Nigerian-based startups 

so I have about 7/8 years of experience 

doing this and a lot of my early clients 

are now recognisable names in the technology 

ecosystem. 

Additionally, because of the way we are 

regulatory, international tax, intellectual 

property and other specialists in a 

for startups, medium-sized investment 

Our clients 

Our clients are typically early stage investors 

and growing companies, especially 

the ones looking to raise capital. 

We’ve had clients in some of the top 

technology accelerator programs such 

as Google Launchpad Africa, 500 Startups 

and Tech Stars. 

We are sector agnostic and work with 

folks in agriculture, education, healthcare 

and fintech. We also have several 

clients working on frontier technologies 

like blockchain and artificial intelligence. 

In terms of legal expertise, we are focused 

on early stage investing, intellectual 

property protection, impact investing 

and fund formation. 

I am excited about Gender Practice Area 

and in my professional life, I have done a 

lot of work on gender-lens investing and 

courtesy of this experience, I’ve seen 

- 

ness decisions. So, one of the things we 

help our clients do is develop corporate 

legal strategies and policies that are responsive 

to gender and inclusivity. 

Our role in the ecosystem 

As much as the technology ecosystem 

is growing in Africa, we need to understand 

that to ensure sustainable growth, 

we need to bring the service providers 

along as well. No ecosystem can grow 

only with technology companies. 

We need lawyers, accountants, business 

development and public relations experts 

that understand what it means to 

service startups and innovation driven 

companies. 

One of the things we do is organise 

trainings for lawyers who want to become 

part of the ecosystem. These trainings 

take place every quarter and so far, 

we are excited about the impact of this 

project. 

We have now trained over 50 budding 

startup lawyers across the continent and 

are hoping to double that number by the 

end of the year. 

I am also a mentor on several programs 

focused on growing the ecosystem such 

as Google Launchpad Africa, and Replash 

- a training initiative set up by Microtraction 

– one of the most active early 

stage investors in Nigeria. 

For us, participating in the ecosystem 

like this is a long term play and we are 

certain that when the story of the ecosystem 

is told, Vazi Legal will have a line 

in there somewhere! 

“We have now trained over 

50 budding startup lawyers 

across the continent and are 

hoping to double that number 

by the end of the year.” 

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Private organisations are not 

holding back from playing a 

role in creating an enabling 

environment for Nigerian 

startups 

direct investment in AppZone, a Nigerian 

software firm that provides 

home-grown software solutions for 

the financial services industry. 

The Itanna Enterprise Factory is located 

at 2 Abebe Village Road, Iganmu, Lagos, 

Nigeria. The workspace is centrally located 

in the heart of industrial Lagos and is 

easily accessible from Lagos Island and 

Lagos Mainland. 

Team 

The Itanna team is made up of Tony Idug- 

boe (Vice President and Head of Investment), 

Francis Vesta (Senior Investment 

Analyst), Michael John (Programme 

Manager) and Honeywell Group’s Head 

of Innovation and Sustainability, Tomi 

Otudeko. Charles Ifedi (former CEO, 

Verve International and founding partner, 

Interswitch Group) is an advisor to 

the team. 

Itanna’s Unique Selling Points 

Honeywell Group has over 45 years of experience 

building and scaling businesses 

Background 

I 

tanna is a Lagos-based venture capital 

platform conceived and backed by 

Honeywell Group, a leading Nigerian 

conglomerate. It serves to facilitate the 

growth of innovative startups and transform 

them into strategic enterprises that 

will further propel economic growth 

across Africa and the world. 

Itanna is also a major step by the Honeywell 

Group to key into the wave of 

tech-led innovation while making pivotal 

contributions to the development of new 

businesses and new industries in Africa. 

Itanna was founded by Honeywell Group 

in 2017. Honeywell Group is a leading 

Nigerian conglomerate that has built a 

solid track record in the Nigerian business 

environment by successfully establishing 

thriving, world-class companies 

which are market leaders in their respective 

sectors. The Itanna initiative is an 

extension of Honeywell Group’s mission 

of “using enterprise to make our world 

better”. 

What We Do 

Itanna invests in early and growth stage 

technology-enabled businesses across 

sub-Saharan Africa in two ways: 

1. Through an accelerator programme 

where selected investee companies 

receive financial investment and 

practical business management 

counsel from business experts over 

a period of four (4) months. 

2. For its inaugural cohort, Itanna provided 

business support and mentorship 

to four (4) Startups – Powercube, 

KoloPay, Tradebuza and 

Accounteer – and, invested in three 

(3) of the Startups – Powercube, 

Tradebuza and Accounteer. 

3. Through a Direct Investment 

Scheme where we provide strategic 

investments to growth stage companies. 

4. In early 2019, Itanna closed its first 

“We use a combination of high and low technology 

such as blockchain, mobile phones 

and USSD platforms to ensure 24/7 access 

and connection for hospital teams to discover 

the products they need to save lives.” 

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the growth of startups, Itanna is tapping 

into Honeywell Group’s rich experience 

of incubating and growing businesses, 

extensive network of technical and development 

partners, knowledge of the 

operating environment and proven access 

to capital, amongst others. 

Why now? 

Nigeria is arguably the most important 

tech startup environment in Africa right 

now because there is a new wave of entrepreneurs 

looking to use tech to revolutionize 

the way business is done in 

Nigeria. 

Nigeria is also on track to attract more 

venture capital in 2019 than its Southern 

African and East African counterparts, 

given the number and sheer size of equity 

investment deals consummated 

in Nigeria in 2018. Similarly, two of the 

world’s biggest tech companies, Google 

and Facebook (NG_Hub), opened 

their own hubs and launched accelerator 

programmes in Nigeria in 2018. Clearly, 

Nigeria is the trigger and ignition point 

for Africa’s tech revolution and Itanna is 

looking help ignite and fuel the revolution. 

Looking Forward 

Itanna’s plan is to build a top accelerator 

programme in sub-Saharan Africa. We 

plan on going beyond Nigeria and Africa. 

Due to our reach and value add, we 

received applications for both our first 

and second cohorts from over 10 African 

countries. 

One key area of focus over the next 1-2 

years is to do more outreach to other 

African countries. Also, within our direct 

investment scheme, we are positioning 

ourselves as the partner of choice for 

startups looking to enter the Nigerian 

market through Honeywell and its extended 

network. 

In a nutshell, our ambition is to help build 

an ecosystem of tech and tech-enabled 

companies that not only create value 

and disruptive innovation but can also 

compete on a global scale in terms of 

market valuation. 

The Government’s Role 

significantly improve the ease of doing 

business in Nigeria. We have to make 

it easier for businesses to register and 

obtain permits. We should also make 

- 

cially elimination of multiple taxation. 

Government should also consider tax incentives 

for emerging startups. 

Finally, we must continue to invest in 

STEM education and research. We need 

to promote the type of education that 

will provide young Nigerians with the 

skills and competences required for the 

21st century and beyond. 

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