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Why We’re Investing $3.4 Million In Okra- Omobola Johnson, Susa

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Nigeria’s former Minister of Communications Technology, Dr. Omobola Johnson who is a Senior Partner at TLcom Capital says the confidence exuded by the founder of Okra, Nigerian fintech platform and Open Finance (API Economy) pioneers, let to them investing $3.5 million in the company.

The round was led by US-based Susa Ventures, with participation from existing investors TLcom Capital, and newly joined Accenture Ventures. This comes just under a year from closing its $1 million pre-seed round with only TLcom Capital participating in the round.

Omobola Johnson says, “We have consistently been impressed with Fara’s technical depth and expertise, which when combined with the entrepreneurial acumen she and David bring to the company leaves us confident that they are building Africa’s most stable and robust API infrastructure. TLcom is delighted to continue partnering with Okra.”

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Okra Dashboard and Widget

This brings Okra’s total funding at seed to $4.5 million. The capital will be deployed to expand Okra’s data infrastructure across Nigeria. Leading the round, San Francisco-based Susa Ventures is known as one of the premium seed stage funds in Silicon Valley with notable early investments including Robinhood, Flexport, Andela and Fast.  

Susa is also known for co-investing with top tier firms like Peter Theil’s Founders Fund, Index Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, GV (Google Ventures), General Catalyst, Andreessen Horowitz, & Accel Partners. 

Susa’s General Partners include Chad Byers, who is the son of Brook Byers, a founding member of Kleiner Perkins; Leo Polovets, ex-LinkedIn and Google engineer; and Seth Berman, who was previously the VP of marketing at luxury good company Richemont (CFR:VX) — owners of Cartier, Montblanc, Piaget, etc. Seth Berman, General Partner at Susa adds, “We’re thrilled to partner with Okra as they enable developers across the African continent to transform digital financial services. We’re blown away by the quality of Okra’s team, pace of development, and the excitement from the customers building on their API.”

Accenture, a global professional services company with leading capabilities in digital, cloud and security also participates in this round, with Tom Lounibos, Managing Director,t Accenture Venturesadding,“Fara and David have a compelling vision and value proposition, and we believe Okra’s powerful technology can address critical challenges in the African financial market. We look forward to working together to help Okra scale its solutions for maximum impact.“

Beyond Susa and Accenture Ventures, Okra brought on three super angels to this round. Rob Solomon; Chairman at GoFundMe — he is also a former Partner at Accel, Arpan Shah; Founding engineer and ex- Head of Data Platforms/Data products at Robinhood, and Hongxia Zhong; Founding engineer and ex- Senior engineering manager at Robinhood.

Founded by Fara Ashiru Jituboh and David Peterside in January 2020, Okra’s Open Finance platform is the digital transformation tool for businesses in Africa and its API enables developers and businesses to build personalized digital services and fintech products for customers.

Since launch, the fintech infrastructure company has provided its services to high calibre financial institutions, startups, and government agencies including Interswitch, Access Bank, uLesson, Aella App (YC W17) and over a 100 digital-first platforms.

In just under a year from launch, the fintech infrastructure company has seen an averag month-on-month API call growth of 281 per cent. In addition, the company has analyzed 20 million plus transactions and analyzed over 5.5 million transaction lines in March 2021 alone. 

Okra co-founder and CEO/CTO, Fara Ashiru Jituboh said, “We build the tools that businesses need to achieve full digital transformation and we are excited to be welcoming some highly strategic global investors as we scale our Open Finance-as-a-Service operations. The opportunities to collaborate and grow together are significant and we are now in a strong position to continue to build and scale in the African, and global API space.”  

Okra co-founder and COO, David Petersidesaid, “The companies that will dominate the business landscape over the next decade are prioritizing a digital-first experience for their customers today — and will leverage data & personalization to win market share over time. We share the same vision on Open Finance in Africa and are excited to be working closely with the team at Susa. Having Accenture Ventures  join us at Seed stage speaks volumes about our team’s ability to execute at a global scale.”

Consumer behaviour in Africa is changing and consumers are demanding full digital experiences of all services — including financial services. Across the business landscape, the number one priority across every board room is digital transformation and Okra is the go-to platform for developers and businesses to build end-to-end personalized digital experiences for consumers in Africa. 

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Start-ups/Fintech

NCC Opens Applications for 2023 Talent Hunt Research Through Hackathon

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The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has kicked off activities for the third edition of its Talent Hunt Research through Hackathon as part of giving expression to its Strategic Vision Plan 2023-2025, which is to encourage the development of new technologies and indigenous content through cutting-edge research. The goal of this initiative is to stimulate sustainable economic growth and development in Nigeria.

Therefore, the Commission has invited Tech Hubs, and Innovation-Driven Enterprises (IDEs) in Nigeria to enrol their start-ups and their solutions in the Talent Hunt Research through a Hackathon organised by NCC. The Hackathon focuses on Blockchain-enabled Data Protection Solutions for Enhancing Regulatory Compliance; Assistive Technology Solutions for the Elderly and People with Disabilities; and Technology Solutions for Renewable Energy in Rural Areas.

The NCC Talent Hunt Research Through Hackathon leverages Emerging Digital Technologies to facilitate the development of home-grown innovative solutions and local content development in the telecommunications sector while fostering economic growth and social advancement in Nigeria.

The competition enables the translation of novel ideas into the development of hardware/software solutions that address industry and societal challenges. The best three solutions, one from each of the three areas listed above will receive grants of N10 million each for the development of the solutions.

The Commission has set out eligibility criteria for those seeking to participate in the competition, which include that the Enterprise must provide a certificate of registration with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), the Enterprise must not have previously received support from the Commission, the project should have clear relevance to one of the three thematic areas above, it must provide a clear problem statement, proposed solution, and roadmap to deployment.

Other requirements include a proof of concept (which may also include technical feasibility of the idea with diagram, algorithm, existing models, or case studies; the solution must be novel with the applicant making a declarative statement on ownership of the intellectual property, the solution including prototype development shall be concluded within 6 months of receipt of the Grant and must propose a detailed commercialization plan of the prototype.

The Entry Submission format indicated that the proposal must include ideation,

Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and solution, Current Sweat Equity Investment, Product-Market Fit status, Verifiable Go-to-Market status, Growth Feasibility Assurances, Maturity Model and Timeliness and existing time: Disaster Recovery, where applicable

All applications should be made online and must follow the stipulated entry format and there is no financial cost to participating in the competition while full control and ownership of the intellectual property of the developed solutions remain with the Commission.

The entries must be made by a Tech Hub/Innovation-Driven Enterprise that must show evidence of the relationship with the Start-up/solution being entered, a 4-page Executive summary of the project concept, a 3-5 minute video of the pilot project, names, age, contact details, passport photos and profile of all team members and the website (if available) as well as an E-mail address of the applicant.

All interested and qualified enterprises should submit requested documents in a zip folder to https://ncc.gov.ng/talenthuntresearchhackathon2023 with the subject of the mail titled “Submission from <business name>” and the zipped file named after the business.  

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Visa Unveils Africa Fintech Accelerator Program to Kickstart $1bn Investment

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Visa has announced the launch of the new Visa Africa Fintech Accelerator program to help enable Africa’s expanding start-up community through expertise, connections, technology, and investment funding. 

The launch of the Africa Fintech Accelerator program follows Visa’s recent pledge to invest $1 billion in Africa’s digital transformation and its long-term commitment to advancing Africa’s economies and driving inclusive growth.

The initiative was introduced by Visa Executive Chairman Alfred F. Kelly Jr. at Bloomberg New Economy Gateway Africa in Marrakech, Morocco.

The Visa Africa Fintech Accelerator will enable up to 40 start-ups each year to accelerate and grow through a three-month intensive learning program focused on business growth and mentoring.

Following the program completion, Visa intends to further support fintech growth with capital investment in select participating businesses, while accelerating their commercial launch through access to Visa technology and capabilities.

Fintech startups throughout Africa can apply to be part of the program through two application phases each year, starting from July 2023. With more than 1,000 Africa Fintech start-ups taking part in the Visa Everywhere Initiative* (VEI) competition in 2022, finalists from Africa country editions this year will be invited to join the accelerator program.

“Africa has one of the most exciting and admired fintech ecosystems in the world, bringing outstanding entrepreneurial talent to a young digital-first population that is growing fast,” said Alfred F Kelly Jr., Executive Chairman, Visa, Inc. “Visa has been increasing our investments in Africa for decades and strengthening partnerships throughout the continent to support the next wave of innovation and growth.  Our new Fintech Accelerator will bring expertise, connections, and investment to Africa’s best fintech start-ups so they can grow at scale.”

The support for participating fintechs will help further strengthen the payment ecosystem by fast-tracking new innovations and technologies that provide solutions to challenges that are unique to the African continent, and which can further advance Africa’s digitization. In line with Visa’s corporate purpose to uplift everyone, everywhere by being the best way to pay and be paid, this support of Africa’s fintechs will facilitate additional opportunities to expand financial inclusion.

“Africa’s fintech community is at the forefront of payments innovation and connecting more of the unbanked with access to the digital economy,” said Otto Williams, Head of Partnerships, Products and Solutions, Central Europe, Middle East and Africa, Visa. “Visa has been working with this innovative community to create new programs and solutions to help fintechs scale, while giving access to Visa’s technology and partner ecosystem.  Through the new Visa Africa Fintech Accelerator, we are looking forward to working with more brilliant entrepreneurs and companies to shape the future of money.”

In addition to its $1 billion pledge to Africa, Visa has recently introduced several business initiatives and programs to further advance the payments ecosystem in Africa.  These include:

  • Establishing local operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia and Sudan to help support and strengthen the local financial ecosystem. Visa has 10 offices across Africa from which it supports payments in all 54 countries.
  • Unveiling the first dedicated Visa Sub-Saharan Africa Innovation Studio, in Nairobi, Kenya, to provide a state-of-the-art environment to bring together clients and partners to co-create future-ready payment and commerce solutions.
  • Introducing and expanding new technologies that help African consumers and merchants make and receive digital payments, such as Tap to Phone to turn a simple mobile phone into point-of-sale terminal, as well as lowering remittance costs through innovative solutions like Visa Direct.
  • Establishing Visa as the fintech partner of choice, working with innovators and entrepreneurs, including through the Visa Everywhere Initiative program, with dedicated country programs in South Africa, Kenya and Egypt.
  • Launching new programs to support women’s empowerment together with financial partners, including She’s Next, which is bringing funding, mentoring and networking opportunities to female entrepreneurs leading growing SMBs in Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, and South Africa.
  • Collaborating, with partners, to advance financial literacy in several languages, including localized versions of Practical Money Skills in Egypt and Morocco for the first time.

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Start-ups/Fintech

Entrepreneurs, Start-ups Receive upscaling strategies as 9mobile’s Hack visits Enugu

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 The coal city of Enugu was abuzz as Nigeria’s innovative and SME-friendly telecommunications brand, 9mobile, further reaffirmed its commitment to the growth of SMEs when it hosted small businesses, start-ups, and budding entrepreneurs at ‘The Hack’, its networking and business mentorship initiative, taking them through strategies and solutions that will help them build their business presence, and upscale.

This edition of ‘The Hack,’ the first in the series for 2023, was held at the popular Amadeo Event Center, by Tunnel Crossing in Enugu.

The Hack’ by 9mobile is an enterprise mentorship and networking event where seasoned SME mentors, business leaders, growth experts, and facilitators share practical business fundamentals and insights to help SMEs and growing businesses scale up.

Lead Facilitator and Online Business Coach Nelly Agbogu, also known as ‘NaijaBrandChick, spoke extensively on the topic: ‘How to use social media to grow your business’, and emphasized the importance of social media to the growth of SMEs. “Every business must be on social media to leverage presence and ease of accessibility, to make sales, engage with customers, and generate business leads”, she said.

Agbogu harped on the choice of social media platforms and knowing the ideal place brands can meet customers, noting that brands must be honest with themselves when making choices of social media platforms to reach their markets. She hinged business success on stability, trust, and intentionality. “I will always tell anybody who cares to listen. To succeed in business, one must be consistent, trustworthy, and intentional about business. If you are not consistent in your actions, you will lose it. So, remain scalable, profitable at every single point in time, and consistent”, she advised.

The Head of Network and IT Procurement at 9mobile, Femi Olaojo, spoke on ‘Negotiating Your Way to Business Growth’, and noted the significance of vendor performance evaluation, cost of ownership, sourcing strategies, and contracting in business.

The Manager of SME Marketing, 9mobile, Segun Dawodu, spoke on ‘Sme Business Automation’, stating how automation can help reduce business costs. “Automation can help you, as an SME, to streamline your processes, increase efficiency, reduce cost, and customer experience”, he said.

“What we do at 9mobile is to help you automate your customer expectations with voice solutions, CUG, accounting, inventory management, customer relations management, and CRM tools”, Dawodu disclosed.

The attendees all expressed gratitude to 9mobile for the initiative. They professed that ‘The Hack’ in Enugu broadened their horizons on how to grow their businesses. 

The Hack’ is a platform by 9mobile that seeks to support and promote entrepreneurs in the SME space. It is anchored as a business and networking mentorship program facilitated by business experts who share business ideas with participants and groom them to scale their businesses. The first edition was held in Lagos and has since made stops in Abuja and Port Harcourt, with the next stop scheduled to hold in Kano.

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