Overview: Today we’re going to talk about OPay - The African Payments startup, we’ll discuss its early history, initial focus on African payments, blitzscale attempt to become Africa’s Super App & OPay's future outlook. This episode was recorded on August 9, 2020
Companies discussed: Opera Group, OPay (Opera Pay), OCar, OFood, ORide, OExpress, OBus, OTrike, Beijing Kunlun, Meituan Dianping, Tencent (WeChat), Go-Jek, Grab, Jumia (Jumia Pay), AliPay & GTBank.
Business concepts discussed: Blitzscaling, Super App strategy, Equity fundraising, Venture Capital (VC) / Entrepreneur risk dynamics, China Tech, Fintech, Betting Technology & Chinese investments in Africa tech.
Conversation highlights:
(00:40) - Why the OPay story is important
(02:39) - Background on Opera and market share in Africa
(05:24) - Background on Zhou Yahui and Beijing Kunlun Opera acquisition
(08:25) - OPay fundraising
(12:40) - OPay Blitzscaling approach, trade offs and other examples
(23:15) - Super App strategy discussion: Great and not-yet great examples
(32:30) - OPay in Nigeria and multiple business lines
(37:22) - OPay refocusing on Fintech and reacting to COVID
(43:30) - Bankole’s overall thoughts and outlook
(49:00) - Olumide’s overall thoughts and outlook
(54:30) - Bankole’s recommendations and small wins
(56:07) - Olumide’s recommendations and small wins
Olumide’s recommendations & small wins:
Recommendation:
How Innovation Works (by Matt Ridley)
Small win: Good to be back in the gym after 5 months
Other content mentioned:
Blitzfail: How Not to Go off the Rails (by David Sacks)
Bankole’s recommendations & small wins:
Recommendation:
The Worst Epidemic (from Waking Up Podcast by Sam Harris)
Small win:
Eloquent Chrome extension
Other content mentioned:
GTBank Habari - customer review
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