I spent the day with Soulmate Industries Limited. Soulmate is the largest wholly indigenous hair beauty brand in sub-Saharan Africa. The Founder and CEO, Chief Sir Ndukwe Osogho-Ajala, is our big fellow FUTOite who took his university project in FUTO to build a multi-billion naira empire. To all of us from FUTO, he remains a legend, offering support. When I set up a shop in Nigeria while a student in the Engineering Lab of the Johns Hopkins University, Soulmate was the first client that prepaid for our services.  Today, Soulmate remains a client – and we are very thankful.  I must confess that I have never seen a better industrial microbiology lab in Nigeria to what I saw today – very brilliant young people building this nation. #BelieveInNigeria

Soulmate Industries Limited (RC 204468), commenced production of hair care products on January 8, 1992.  The company, since its inception a little over two decades ago, has diligently pursued technical excellence and produced high quality products that competes favourably with any brand across the globe.  Over the years, Soulmate has invested heavily in research and this investment has assisted us in gaining public recognition as producer of high quality products.

The redesign is here – Kenya’s mobile network provider, Safaricom, is predicting that revenue from MPESA, its mobile money unit, will generate more than 50% of its revenue by 2022. In other words, MPESA will be bigger than selling airtime and broadband services for the telecom company. That would be a massive inflection point as it does imply that Safaricom has completed a double play strategy: build solid customer base in one area but make money in something else which is tangential.

Driven by a 19 per cent increase in revenues at Mpesa, the company reported annual service revenue of Ks240.3bn ($2.4bn) for the financial year to the end of March, an increase of 7 per cent. The mobile payments platform, which is used by two out of every five Kenyans to send money and pay for goods and services, generated almost a third of total revenues and will surpass 50 per cent in three years, said Mr Collymore.

Telecom services will remain the heart of Safaricom because the promise of MPESA will only ride on the telecom service users. Yes, MPESA derives its life from the users of the telecom services. As I have noted in the One Oasis Strategy, MPESA was engineered to make the telco service better by providing incentives for users to choose Safaricom network. But soon, MPESA is emerging as a great product that will anchor the company into the deep future.

Do you know the company that is making Samsung greater? Apple. Yes, that arch-rival is also the company that is feeding into the profitability of Samsung. As I explained in the One Oasis Strategy, there are just few firms in the world that can meet the quality and scale Apple needs. One of those firms is also the main competitor in Apple’s core business of mobile devices. The rivalry between iPhone vs. Samsung Galaxy is just for the newspapers: many things hold them together. The mobile devices are born from the same semiconductor factories.

Simply, Safaricom has executed One Oasis Strategy and Double Play Strategy at the same time. That is why it is one of the most respected brands in Kenya: it is fixing frictions at deep level in the lives of Kenyans.

It is very close now – yes, electric vehicles hitting parity with fossil fuel cars on cost. The date is now 2022 when the cost of electric vehicles will be at parity with internal combustion vehicles. As this happens very fast, Nigeria needs to improve its game plan as the post-petroleum era is coming faster than most think.

Every year, BloombergNEF’s advanced transport team builds a bottom-up analysis of the cost of purchasing an electric vehicle and compares it to the cost of a combustion-engine vehicle of the same size. The crossover point — when electric vehicles become cheaper than their combustion-engine equivalents — will be a crucial moment for the EV market. All things being equal, upfront price parity makes a buyer’s decision to buy an EV a matter of taste, style or preference — but not, for much longer, a matter of cost.

Every year, that crossover point gets closer. In 2017, a BloombergNEF analysis forecast that the crossover point was in 2026, nine years out. In 2018, the crossover point was in 2024 — six years (or, as I described it then, two lease cycles) out.

The crossover point, per the latest analysis, is now 2022 for large vehicles in the European Union. For that, we can thank the incredible shrinking electric vehicle battery, which isn’t so much shrinking in size as it is shrinking — dramatically — in cost.

We need to get to work as a nation as quickly as possible.

The nation still has lots of opportunities to prepare for the post-petroleum era. First, it has to invest in education. This is important as education remains one of the best ways to sustain any economy. It is an organic engine for national, political and economic succession and catalyst for national prosperity. Because every nation has got a limit to its wealth creation without science and technology, Nigeria must invest in technology creation on agriculture, nanotechnology, biotechnology, manufacturing and Internet. We must position our nation to transmute from petroleum-driven economy to technology-driven one. Nigeria has to allow market driven-industrialization work by improving the necessary frameworks to make it possible. Government must boost scholarships for technical education.

The Nigeria’s Post-Petroleum Era

It was like a fiction: Safaricom and Equity Bank coming together to serve and fix market frictions. For years, Equity Bank has been laboring on how to overcome the challenges MPESA, the mobile money solution controlled by Safaricom, have brought in its financial services market. But at the end, both have decided to come together.

Each of these entities will benefit in big ways: Equity needs a distribution channel a telco offers while Safaricom needs a banking institution for new product lines. Yes, there are things a telecom company cannot just do. This paragraph from the press release summarizes the joint motivations:

Through collaboration that will align their joint purpose to transform lives, Equity and Safaricom hope to build more inclusive financial products, explore regional synergies, simplify cash delivery between their agents and share technical knowledge to build a common approach to risks such as fraud and cyber-security.

I expect other banking institutions in Kenya to fall further behind. Also, other telcos will have more challenges ahead. Equity Bank is a highly respected banking institution in Kenya while Safaricom is a category-king and innovation-leader in the telecom sector. Both coming together should frighten competitors in the respective sectors especially now that technology is narrowing the separation between banking and telecom services.

Kenya Must Not Separate MPESA From Safaricom; Platforms Thrive On Dominance

The Press Release

Equity Group Holdings PLC and Safaricom PLC have announced plans to create a joint transformation agenda that aims to enable more Kenyans to access critical services using an innovative combination of technology and finance.

Through collaboration that will align their joint purpose to transform lives, Equity and Safaricom hope to build more inclusive financial products, explore regional synergies, simplify cash delivery between their agents and share technical knowledge to build a common approach to risks such as fraud and cyber-security.

“At Safaricom, we are continuously driven to explore new ways to provide our customers with the best possible experience on our network. As we continue on our journey to become a more widely accessible digital platform, symbiotic partnerships like this one will unlock new opportunities for our entire ecosystem to benefit from enriched innovation – all based on a socially conscious business model,” said Bob Collymore, CEO, Safaricom.

Specifically, the collaboration will see both companies work together to identify and deepen financial opportunities for Kenyans. Despite years of commendable progress, the majority of Kenyans continue to lack access to essential financial services. Both Equity and Safaricom have built their operations around the belief that technology and innovation can spur growth and create new opportunities for growth in areas like mobile financial services.

“Equity’s purpose is to transform lives and livelihoods of our people socially and economically by availing them modern inclusive financial services that maximise their opportunities. We continuously champion, collaborate and partner to bring this purpose to life. We will harvest, channel and transmit the benefits of the robust macro-economic growth characterized by national infrastructure investments into advantages and opportunities for the ordinary Kenyans especially those in real economy, agriculture, micro, small and medium businesses and enterprises.

Our ambition is to be the region’s leading bank, and we continuously harness the power of technology to create opportunities to transform how people access and consume financial services. We strive to respond to our customers’ emerging needs, aspirations and preferences. As demand for these services evolve in tandem with the changing lifestyles, we are positioning ourselves to create new bridges of opportunity for Kenyans by combining the empowering nature of access to credit with the reach and transparency of technology,” said Dr. James Mwangi, CEO, Equity Group Holdings.

The collaboration will also see both parties enter into mutually beneficial agreements to maximize the ability of more people to benefit from inclusive, tech-driven financial services. Equity and Safaricom have grown thanks to strong partnerships with dynamic entrepreneurs such as their dealer and agent networks. This alliance will enhance and streamline dealer financing for such groups.

Lastly, as technologies continue to evolve, the partnership will facilitate more knowledge transfer opportunities between the two organizations, allowing technical staff to build their skills and enhance understanding of emerging risks such as fraud and cyber-security.

The partnership, which will initially focus on building bridges between the work of the two organizations, was formalized during a signing ceremony attended by the CEOs of both organizations this week.

Greetings! Many came from all over the nation to connect at the Platform. But it was not possible. To make up, I have accepted to keynote LinkedIn Local Lagos on May 11. Let me say that my role is simply to come there, and speak, and possibly inspire some young people. Send all questions to Kayode and his team. There is a link to register to attend the event.I will arrive early with my team and will try to meet as many as possible.

Venue is now  SATURDAY, MAY 11, 2019. 11AM   |  RADISSON BLU ANCHORAGE HOTEL, VICTORIA ISLAND, LAGOS

LinkedIn Local is a global community by the users of LinkedIn, designed to take online relationships offline to get to know the person behind the profile.

LinkedIn Local Lagos is the biggest networking gathering in Nigeria, where business leaders, young and old professionals alike, can participate in discussions, learn and network.

LinkedIn is a platform for career development and planning. So, my talk will focus in that space. I will draw some experiences while in FUTO and my current journey. It is not physics but there are elemental constructs which can be picked from any experience.