This is it: the Kuda team waited for me for 3 hours in Lagos for a possible small investment in Kuda. When it was all done, I did not write that cheque. I had arrived from US to run a program for our nation’s leading CEOs; the innovators abandoned everything in the startup, and camped as I guided the executives on the mechanics of business systems.
Today, Kuda is worth at least $500 million. I wanted to write them a cheque of $100k but later pulled out as I did not understand how they would make money (it is a self-styled bank of the free). Had I pushed the trigger, that $100k would have become at least $7.5 million within two years!
Do not pity me (I am fine…lol); pity the 99.99% who are disconnected from this new dimension of value creation and capture. It is because of that anomaly that I created Tekedia Capital, to provide opportunities for We The People to co-own a piece of the empires of the future.
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While early startup investment is risky, the fact remains that out of these new species of companies, the future empires will emerge. The largest financial institution by market cap in Nigeria (yes, Flutterwave) is less than 7 years old.
People, open your playbook because by 2025, Nigeria would be radically transformed if you check what is happening in these new species of companies. Upon them, I see a promise, to win trophies called Unicorns, special startup-like-animals worth at least $1 billion. Africa is breeding them at scale (click and watch my video – Africa’s Unicorn Farms).
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We are already in a dysfunctional society with ridiculous gap in class difference, so the prospect of American style capitalism and company valuation will only bring more distortion and discontent; we have that responsibility to do some tweaks right now, before we scale the wrong gospel.
Do we measure Flutterwave growth by valuation which few people can prop up or bring down as they deem fit, or we use what is more relatable and measurable?
The impact of $5 billion unicorn won’t be much here, rather it will only create some tech billionaires and millionaires, with the rest still disconnected from the economic system. Can we rather measure things that matter? Let’s say Flutterwave as a fintech, if we have 10000 SMEs connected to it, how has such integration translated from annual turnover for a small business from $1 million to $10 million? That’s 1000% growth for that small business, which will also translate to more revenue for Flutterwave.
Scale such numbers, and we begin to see a semblance of an economy that works for all, anchored on financial technology platforms.
This ephemeral dance on Unicorn is no longer in vogue, certainly not with cries of poverty and insecurity in many places.
We have the tools to adjust things.