Shola Akinlade - Afrikan Heroes

Paystack Co-Founder Shola Akinlade, Launches Sporting Lagos Football Club

February 7, 2022

Tech mogul and co-founder of Paystack, Shola Akinlade, has established a football club, Sporting Lagos Football Club, as part of a community project that he believes will nurture the next generation of Nigerian sporting talent. The club’s governing body will be led by Ekene Agu, a Paystack employee, Colin Udoh, a former Super Eagles media officer, and Fola Olatunji-David, an early stage investor and Former Google employee.

The Lagos-based side will also play its first game in the Nigerian National League second division on Feb. 12 at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos, Nigeria.

With famous names like Godwin Enakhena, CEO of Global Media, who will serve as the club’s chairman, and Uzo Okonkwo, involved, the club’s governing body will be led by Ekene Agu, a Paystack employee, Colin Udoh, a former Super Eagles media officer, and Fola Olatunji-David, an early stage investor and Former Google employee.

Speaking on the establishment of the Sporting Lagos Football Club, Akinlade explained that the platform aligns with the movement to harness football’s transformative power to bring together people from all walks of life and create economic opportunities on a large scale.

According to him, “in the last few years, several platforms have emerged to provide opportunities for young Nigerians to perform at the highest level of excellence. Young Nigerians came together to turn technology, music, and cinema into hugely successful industries that command global attention, and we’ve built flourishing ecosystems around these platforms that benefit millions of people. In sports as well, we have a long history of individual Nigerians using football – and sports in general – as a platform to ascend to global recognition.”

Akinlade added that he would remain fully focused on Paystack and building payments infrastructure for Africa. “I’ll provide most of the financial investment necessary to get this off the ground and will entrust the full-time team to realise our bold ambitions,” he said.

Speaking on the club’s ambition, Enakhena said the team’s spell in the Nigerian second division would not be more than a season before joining the top teams in the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL).

“I don’t see myself as someone that wants to run an NNL team, we tried our best to get an NPFL team, but it didn’t work out. We are an NNL team for now, but we will not spend more than one season in the second division,” he said.

The Lagos-based side is set to play its first game in the Nigerian National League second division on Feb. 12 at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos, Nigeria, with ambitions to advance to the national league’s first division in the coming years. The club has also invited the general public to support the establishment by becoming Founding Members at a one-time fee of NGN 50,000 (or ~$100).

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry

Nigerian Fintech Company, Paystack, Plans Entry Into Côte d’Ivoire

June 26, 2021

Since being acquired by the American Stripe in October 2020 for little over $200 million, Paystack ’s ambition has been to extend its expertise across the continent’s 54 nations, with the Ivory Coast being the second African hub — after South Africa — to be affected by this expansionist desire. The Nigerian fintech, wants to begin operations there this year, according to Henri Huet, the company’s growth manager.

Shola Akinlade co-founder, paystack — Shola Akinlade,cofounder, Paystack

“In 2021, we want to get into all African hubs: East Africa, North Africa and West Africa. That’s why we’re here in Abidjan to start with the Ivory Coast, ”he said.

Paystack is the first innovative fintech in the Federal Republic of Nigeria to get funding from Y Combinator, one of the world’s most efficient startup accelerators. Paystack’s aim is to enable merchants and enterprises accept online payments and transfer money. It was co-founded by Nigerian Shola Akinlade. She began her efforts in Nigeria in 2016, and they were a success. Henri Huet appreciates the fact that half of all online transactions in this country of more than 200 million people now go through Paystack, indicating that e-commerce prospects are expanding.

The company moved to Ghana in 2018, and subsequently to South Africa in May 2021. Paystack is currently attempting to win the Ivorian market as part of its international growth.

“We are very excited about the Ivory Coast. It is a growing market: 7% of GDP on average over the last ten years,” explained Henri Huet, before asserting that this country — where 90% of e-commerce transactions are paid on delivery and in cash — has “great potential for online payments”.

Then he added:

“It means that the impact we can have on the market is really huge. We see growth, potential, we also see the beginnings of what happened in Nigeria five years ago; and it can all really speed up. “
Read also:MTN Partners WhatsApp for Online Payments in South Africa

Paystack wants to impact online payment by providing more “fluid with fewer friction” solutions. “Consumers, on the other side, need to have greater faith in these solutions and be more willing to pay online,” Henri Huet said. Paystack’s history “may also comfort consumers that the payment they make online is safe and will not be an issue for them,” according to him.

Paystack has received funding from Visa and Tencent, a Chinese internet and mobile services firm that owns the WeChat messaging platform, in addition to Stripe.

Paystack Cote D’ivoire Paystack Cote D’ivoire

Here Is What Paystack’s $200m Acquisition Is Teaching Other African Startups

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer

A Year Of Expansion For African Startups: Nigeria’s Paystack Follows Suit, Heads To South Africa

May 7, 2021

Paystack, the Nigerian fintech startup that was acquired by American payments company Stripe for over $200m last year, doesn’t look like it will be left out of the ongoing waves of expansion sweeping across startups in Africa. The startup is headed for South Africa, out of its home country Nigeria, which has been disemboweling startups with unfavourable regulations in recent times. The South African expansion comes on the heels of a six-month pilot phase in the country.

“South Africa is one of the continent’s most important markets, and our presence there is an important step in our mission to accelerate trade in Africa,” said Shola Akinlade, CEO of Paystack.

“We are delighted to continue to develop the financial infrastructure that empowers ambitious businesses in Africa, helps them scale and connects them to global markets,” he added.

Paystack South Africa — *L-R: Paystack co-founders, Ezra Olubi and Shola Akinlade*. Photo Credits: Brent Franson for Paystack

Founded in 2015 by Shola Akinlade and Ezra Olubi, Paystack helps businesses in Africa get paid by anyone, anywhere in the world. The company is active in Nigeria and Ghana, before expanding to South Africa.

A Strategic Way Of Dodging Regulatory Bullets

Startups are on high alert. Regulators across Africa, especially in Nigeria, are not smiling any more.

Nigeria’s central bank recently blocked banks in the country from hosting accounts associated with cryptocurrency trading. It has also stopped fintech startups from receiving remittances into Nigeria. The country’s Lagos state government has also banned bike-hailing activities on its major highways, a singular act that has put so many investments in bike-hailing startups in the West African country at risks of failure.

Shooting sporadic shots of expansion into other African countries is therefore a strategic way of diversifying regulatory risks.

Paystack’s fellow country startup, Flutterwave, apart from headquartering in the United States, also maintains legal presence in countries where it is currently in operations. This strategy was crucial in assisting the startup to achieve a unicorn status.

Before Paystack is a host of other startups, some of which are listed below.

S/N	AFRICAN STARTUP	SECTOR	BASE COUNTRY OF OPERATIONS	COUNTRY EXPANDED INTO IN 2021 (AS AT MAY 7^TH)

1	mPharma	Healthtech	Ghana	Ethiopia
2	Aza Finance	Fintech	Kenya	South Africa
3	Gozem	Ride-hailing	Togo	Gabon
4	Andela	Edtech	New York, USA	Latin, South America
5	SWVL	Ride-hailing	Egypt	Saudi Arabia
6	GOMYCODE	Edtech	Tunisia	Morocco; Senegal
7	FairMoney	Fintech	Nigeria	India
8	Autochek	Car listing	Nigeria	Ghana
9	Daystar Power	Solar energy	Nigeria	Togo
10	ZeePay	Fintech	Ghana	Zambia
11	Catch	Ride-hailing	Ethiopia	Kenya
12	AURA	Security	South Africa	Kenya
13	Paystack	Fintech	Nigeria	South Africa

Data not exhaustive of all expansions in the year stated

Aiming At Unicorn Status

Another way of explaining the spate of expansion among African startups is that the chase for ‘unicorn’ status is on, especially after Flutterwave became the continent’s latest startup to join the gang. The Nigerian fintech launched operations almost immediately at the time it was founded, across Ghana, Kenya, and Uganda (and later to other countries), a key factor which eventually aided it in attaining the highly coveted $1bn valuation.

Paystack South Africa Paystack South Africa

Here Is What Paystack’s $200m Acquisition Is Teaching Other African Startups

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer

Paystack Partners Google to Empower 5,000 SMEs In Nigeria and South Africa

November 3, 2020

Nigerian fintech startup Paystack which was recently acquired by American giant Stripe has entered into a partnership with Google to empower at least 500,000 Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa, via the Google Economy Recovery Program for SMEs. Paystack in a statement posted on its official Twitter handle said that the partnership is to help the SMEs “restart, recover and digitize their businesses with new tools, financial support and training.”

According to Shola Akinlade, Founder of Paystack, the partnership with Google would enable reliability, “which would guarantee that all businesses paid via Paystack are thoroughly checked for legitimacy and credibility. In a low-trust environment like Nigeria, where many people are paying online for the first time, it’s important to deliver a safe, fraud-free experience. This is a responsibility that Paystack takes extremely seriously.”

Paystack’s partnership with Google will help SMEs to grow and digitize their businesses with new tools, financial support, training and help businesses in the selected African countries – Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa to grow and expand their country’s economy. It will further help businesses bring their ideas to market and grow their online sales, using Paystack’s collection of simple, powerful commerce tools. In 2018, Paystack partnered with other tech-based platforms like Truecaller, a smartphone application that has features of caller-identification, call-blocking, flash-messaging call-recording and more to facilitate online payments across the African continent.

The partnership with Truecaller involves using Truecaller’s database of verified phone numbers to verify payments for transactions performed on their platform. Paystack and Google share a lot in common, especially their dedication to helping businesses in Africa find growth by leveraging technology to provide them with the essential tools needed to find more customers and grow online sales.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry