This special live podcast session was recorded at Ventures Park, Lagos, during Ventures Platform’s in-person mixer for portfolio founders on July 27, 2024
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My guest today is Deepankar Rustagi, a seasoned tech entrepreneur and one of the sharpest minds in Nigeria’s B2B commerce space. I’ve known Deepankar for over seven years, going back to his days at Vconnect. He was one of the very first guests on this podcast in 2017, where we discussed his journey - how he started, what led to the company he was building at the time, and the broader lessons from founders navigating Nigeria’s startup landscape.

Fast-forward to July 2024, I reconnected with him - this time, to dive into profitability and the evolution of his latest venture, OmniRetail - an asset-light B2B e-commerce platform redefining trade for retailers and suppliers across Africa.

Later that month, my team decided to bring one of our podcast episodes to life at our mid-year in-person portfolio event - a live session designed for founders to not just listen, but actively engage, ask questions, and leave with real, applicable insights. Naturally, Deepankar was the perfect guest to expand on our earlier conversation—delving deeper into his business model, the realities of scaling profitably, hiring top talent, and making tough strategic decisions as a founder.

What does it really take to build a million-dollar business in Africa’s fast-moving tech ecosystem?

In this VP Special Live Podcast, I sit down with Deepankar to unpack it all. Our conversation covers:

• Navigating Asset-Light vs. Asset-Heavy Models: The conversation unpacks the trade-offs between the two models, emphasizing why OmniRetail's asset-light approach - focused on data ownership and ecosystem partnerships - has been key to its success.
• The Role of Timing & Infrastructure in Business Viability: Highlighting the importance of aligning business strategy with market maturity, available infrastructure, and shifting consumer behaviors.
• Data-Driven Profitability at Scale: Discussing how OmniRetail’s meticulous approach to data ensures unit economics remain positive, enabling the company to scale profitably rather than chase top-line growth at unsustainable costs.
• The Power of Strategic Partnerships & Vertical Integration: How collaborating with key players - rather than trying to own everything - creates efficiency, enhances profitability, and drives long-term competitive advantage.
• Culture & Team as Key Assets in an Asset-Light Model: A compelling story on talent retention, hiring strategically, and why company culture plays a critical role in building a resilient and high-performing team.
• Managing Board Relationships Effectively: Reflecting on lessons learned in working with a board, emphasizing the importance of leveraging board members’ expertise while maintaining strategic autonomy.

If you are a founder, investor, or just fascinated by Africa’s startup landscape, this is one conversation you can’t afford to miss.

Enjoy listening!

This season of Building the Future was made possible by Moniepoint

My guest today is Dare Okoudjou, Founder & CEO of Onafriq (formerly known as MFS Africa). Dare has built a long-running startup success streak on the continent, having started the business over a decade ago to become a multimillion dollar revenue company today.

Onafriq is building a “network of networks” to enable payments interoperability across the continent. After finding product-market fit, the company went through rapid expansion, completing four startup acquisitions in a two-year period (2020 - 22): Beyonic, Baxi, SimbaPay, & GTP (US), and increasing its headcount from 65 people to over 500.

In this episode, we explored:

• The philosophy behind Onafriq’s M&A, including post-merger integration (people, technology, & operations), how to manage growth, and long-term value creation
• Dare’s vision for Onafriq’s payment network, highlighting why interoperability is important, and the integration of online and offline components to align with purchasing behavior on the continent
• His growth as a leader, and how management and communication styles must evolve as a company grows
• Insights on successfully raising capital in the African ecosystem, including the role of timing, rhythm, and relationships in fundraising and business (“Fundraising can never be a stop-start project”)

Book Recommendations: Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver and La Ambigu (English translation: The Ambiguous Adventure) by Cheikh Hamidou Kane

Bonus: Africa’s S-Curves by Stephen Deng. Link

Quote: “…you also have to remember that the game is dynamic and what the picture looks like today may not be what the picture looks like in two years, and not the picture looks like in five years.”

Transcript

I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did.

CREDITS

Host: Dr. Dotun Olowoporoku
Produced by: The Subtext
Editing: Osarumen Osamuyi, Chinedu Anatune
Show Notes: Grace Obaloluwa
Design: Jonathan Nwachukwu
Voice Overs & Project Coordination: Damilola Teidi
Season Intro Video: Chukwuka Ezeiruaku

This season of Building the Future was made possible by Moniepoint

My guest today is Uka Eje, the co-founder and CEO of ThriveAgric. I've known Uka since 2017, when he and his co-founder, Ayo, received their first institutional investment from Ventures Platform.

ThriveAgric empowers nearly one million smallholder farmers on the continent with technology, credit, and access-to-market. The company started as an idea between two classmates, and their journey so far has involved overcoming operational and financial hurdles, surviving a near collapse during the COVID-19 pandemic, pivoting, and maturing into one of the most impactful businesses in Africa.

This year, ThriveAgric was recognized by the Financial Times as one of Africa’s fastest-growing companies, with partnerships with major offtakers like Flour Mills of Nigeria, Dangote Foods, and Nestle.

In this episode, we discussed:.

• The uniqueness and importance of ThriveAgric’s business model, including how they enable capital and market access for smallholder farmers, organizing them into efficient production clusters, resulting in significant yield increases.
• The challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, including logistical disruptions, and how ThriveAgric fortified its risk management and operational capabilities.
• The pivotal decision to bring in a more experienced CEO, Adia Sowho, to help rebuild stakeholder trust, stabilize operations, and refocus efforts towards the company’s long-term growth.
• Uka’s growth as a leader through the different phases of the company’s journey.

I am grateful to Uka for having an honest conversation with me. I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did.

Book Recommendation: The Hard Thing about Hard Things by Ben Horowitz

Quote: “Quite a number of people asked me why stepping down was the solution for Thrive Agric. My response was pretty simple, although the process was not easy for me emotionally, considering we built this business, myself and my co-founder, right?

But we had to ask ourselves a question: ‘what is most important to us, that this business survives and it continues to be a scalable business, or the idea that it’s on record that there was a step down?’ [...] We also had to think about the future of the business. We wanted to build something for the long haul. [...] people need to trust you enough to do business with you”

CREDITS

Host: Dr. Dotun Olowoporoku
Produced by: The Subtext
Editing: Osarumen Osamuyi, Chinedu Anatune
Show Notes: Grace Obaloluwa
Design: Jonathan Nwachukwu
Voice Overs & Project Coordination: Damilola Teidi
Season Intro Video: Chukwuka Ezeiruaku