The fintech startup Flutterwave has become a central force in Africa, spearheading its rapid propulsion into the digital economy. As one of the first unicorn startups (a company with a valuation of more than $1 billion) on the continent, it has played a mighty role in altering the financial landscape of the continent.
To understand how the company first envisioned and then manifested change on a continental level, it helps to understand Flutterwave’s enterprising CEO and founder, Olugbenga “GB” Agboola, an engineer who previously served in roles at Google Wallet and PayPal. He first came up with the idea that would become Flutterwave while working at a traditional financial institution in South Africa and Nigeria, where he noticed that many of his multinational clients felt frustrated with the pace of business on the continent.
“I recall when I was working for a particular bank, we were trying to help a large corporate [entity] get paid. They were going from South Africa to Nigeria, and it was hard to do so,” Agboola said. “And it wasn't because the bank I worked in couldn't do it. We just lacked the technology, infrastructure, the will, the scale to get it done.”
Even though his employer had branches in both countries, moving money from one country to another took a long time.
“It wasn’t because we couldn’t do it. It was because of the regulatory barriers, technology barriers, and the lack of agility on our part to build quickly and scale,” he said. “That was one of the triggers behind Flutterwave. I was wondering, ‘Why can’t we just build this infrastructure? Why, if I want to send money to Ghana, does money have to move from Lagos to New York, and from New York to Ghana?’”
Motivated to address the inefficiencies he saw around him, Agboola aimed to create a streamlined e-payments platform capable of simplifying the transactions that stymied growth all across the continent.
“Those were the driving forces behind Flutterwave: How do we become like a butterfly that can create a ripple effect in the ecosystem and still be tiny, yet we can make waves?” he said. “Hence the name Flutterwave, by the way.”
Thus, in 2016, the company launched. It was an instant hit. Quickly, it began expanding its reach across the continent.
Scaling for the Future
Flutterwave’s strategy has always included a commitment to something beyond profit. From the beginning, Agboola articulated that his company’s goal was to connect all of Africa together.
“When we were starting Flutterwave, a major core thesis has always been about making Africa feel like a country,” he said. “It's not a country, but when it comes to payments, let's make it feel like one in Flutterwave. Payments is extremely broken in Africa, but it can be simple. We're the largest payment network today in Africa, we have the most licenses in Africa today, we have the most reach in Africa today.”
But with dozens of countries and over 40 different currencies, the complexity of creating a single network to serve them all proved to be an enormous challenge.
“It's been hard, speaking very frankly. It's been really hard,” Agboola said. “When you attempt to build payments infrastructure across 30 countries, 30 different central bank licenses to apply for, 30 different requirements of compliance to adhere to. We're one of the most complex companies in Africa today because of one big reason: We have a board in every country. A board in Nigeria, a board in most markets, a board globally as well, regulatory requirements to fulfill across the board.”
Never one to back down from a challenge, Agboola has remained committed to his core principle of serving the good of Africans.
“Our growth has been customer-defined, our expansion is always customer-driven,” he said. “Where does the customer want us to be? We listen to the customer a lot in Flutterwave, in fact, extremely. We have an extreme customer obsession in Flutterwave when it comes to what our customers want and how we deliver to the customer.”
The Secret to His Success
If Flutterwave has done what no one predicted, it was because Agboola’s vision for Africa’s technological advancement was unlike anyone else’s. He believed the continent could skip a few steps on the road to a fully digital economy.
“Africa has always been known to leapfrog,” he said. “We go from nothing to something, consistently — no phones, to mobiles, to the internet. People skipped browsers; they search for what they want to buy on Instagram. We've always been that way when it comes to leapfrogging a generation.
“We're playing the long game,” he added. “We're here for the long term as a company. We want to be here for a long time. We want to be the story of a company that started from zero and became something in Africa. We've had to restart from zero, but what is important here is that we're still here and we're thriving, which is very interesting.”
Beyond Payments: Expanding Impact
While payments remain central to Flutterwave’s mission, Agboola has added a new component to his personal vision. He wants to find other ways to improve the lives of Africans. He’s particularly interested in health care.
“We've launched two hospitals, one in Victoria Island, one in Ikoyi in Lagos, Nigeria,” Agboola said of the passion project, which is not related to Flutterwave. “And the goal is to provide world-class health services for people in that area. The goal there is to actually have a great hospital in the system that can treat people.”
Guided by the same data-based approach that helped him take Send App by Flutterwave to both North America and Europe, Agboola’s philanthropic philosophy emphasizes a sustainable business model.
“I think for me it's really for profit and for good,” he said. “That is the way I see it. I think it's supposed to do business and make a profit and also do good at the same time. Not just make a profit and keep it moving.”
