Akinmade Akinrinmade

Fractional CPO | Product Leadership & Digital Transformation Advisor | Founder and CPO @asteriskrdtech | Building @oniiseafrica

[Akinmade Akinrinmade @akinmade_a]

I had a really good conversation with the team at @THISDAYLIVE about how African tech founders can build solutions that are actually designed for African problems, instead of adapting what works somewhere else and hoping it fits.

Thank you for the feature!

[THISDAY LIVE @THISDAYLIVE]

Akinmade Akinrinmade: African Tech Must Start With Local Problems. Vanessa Obioha For over two decades, Akinmade Akinrinmade has worked across various industries where decisions have real consequences. From government and healthcare to... https://t.co/egUABXwzL7

[Akinmade Akinrinmade @akinmade_a]

One of the biggest lessons I have learned from building AsteriskRD Tech is that innovation is not only about creating new technology. In fact, technology is often the easier part.

Read my thoughts in my latest LinkedIn article #InnovationNotes 👇🏿

[Akinmade Akinrinmade @akinmade_a]

What Building AsteriskRD Has Taught Me About Innovation

https://t.co/igHQ0OaM4v

[Akinmade Akinrinmade @akinmade_a]

What Building AsteriskRD Has Taught Me About Innovation

https://t.co/igHQ0OaM4v

[Oniise Africa @oniiseafrica]

Oniise is opening its doors!

We're onboarding early adopters — clients looking for verified service providers, and skilled professionals ready to be discovered.

Join the waitlist and get in early 👇

https://t.co/eMZG71Y8DX

[Akinmade Akinrinmade @akinmade_a]

𝗔𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 In August

𝗨𝗻𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 In August

𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵 In August

𝗨𝗻𝗯𝘂𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗱 In August

𝗦𝗲𝗹𝗳-𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁 In August

𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 In August

[Akinmade Akinrinmade @akinmade_a]

Welcome to #August

[Akinmade Akinrinmade @akinmade_a]

I've seen brilliant teams spend months refining features while ignoring their business model, customer economics, operating model, governance and market positioning.

They eventually learn that a great product cannot rescue a weak business.

[Benjamin Dada @DadaBen_]

We asked four investors, @damiteidi, @MonsieurUwem, @yewiedewie and @margentambi, which Nigerian startups to watch out for; here is how they answered.

FREE: @DecideAI_ by @Abiodun0x is one of them.

https://t.co/tBxTwxUHND

[Akinmade Akinrinmade @akinmade_a]

Why Your Business Doesn't Need to Be Big to Benefit From AI

https://t.co/as1zqRM58Q via @LinkedIn

[Akinmade Akinrinmade @akinmade_a]

Why Your Business Doesn't Need to Be Big to Benefit From AI

https://t.co/as1zqRM58Q via @LinkedIn

[Akinmade Akinrinmade @akinmade_a]

"It takes a brave man to face his own mind."

[Dr Aloy Chife @ChifeDr]

MANGO.
The acronym for the 5 AI focused companies.

It stands for Microsoft, Anthropic, Nvidia, Google DeepMind, and OpenAI.

In case you don’t already know.

[Akinmade Akinrinmade @akinmade_a]

When companies are open, follow the rules, and are creating jobs and opportunities, the right approach should be dialogue, not punishment.

[Akinmade Akinrinmade @akinmade_a]

This is why we've been saying government policy needs to move with the times.

Using old regulations to control modern platforms only creates confusion, scares away investors, and ends up hurting the same entrepreneurs the government is trying to support.

[Douglas Kendyson @KendysonD]

Hi @jidesanwoolu, @hanneymusawa

I'm deeply disappointed in your @lirs_govng team hounding Selar in the name of claiming creator royalty taxes. I turn 30 in Oct and I've spent the last 10 years building Selar, so this is what the youth mean by policies being created to crush growing businesses. We are the pioneering and largest creator company in Nigeria (Africa actually), and instead of being supported by the government, the LIRS team is keen on trying to scapegoat us to set a precident.

Beyond the huge numbers seen in the headlines, we are still a young company just trying to make our mark for the creator economy in a country where we've never been supported once, we're literally a bootstrapped company. In 2025 alone, we've fulfilled our tax obligation in almost 9 figures and we've never missed out on any of our tax obligation over the years. You can check the records.

We are a software company, we make our ecommerce software available to our thousands of creators in not just Nigeria but 13 other African countries and for that, we earn a small commission of 4%, most of which goes to our payment provider. This is the same business as shopify, teachable, e.t.c There is no reason LIRS is hounding us for a backdated 5% royalty fee on all sales when we've clearly explained our line of business to them and shared everything to prove we are not a royalty based business.

What they're asking us to do is raise our pricing to extort these funds from our creators which is odd considering our creators still pay taxes on their income. No creator company in the world charges as high as even 5%.

Also, less payment gateway charges we get 1-3% max, so where do we pay backdated 5% fees from?

The government would have to decide if it wants the Nigerian creative economy to grow or not.

This conversation is important to me because we pioneered this industry of monetizing digital products online in Nigeria and today we host over 400k creators selling using our platform.

This is an opportunity for the government to show it's committment to making Nigeria work for young Nigerians especially in the creator economy.

Time and money we should be spending investing into our business and it's growth for the GDP of this nation is being spent in long back and forth.

We can't catch up with the west if this is what we're facing at home. Above everything else, disputes like this are distracting from the real work.

If anything, for all our CSR contributions to the education system in the country with our Smart Hustle Anti fraud initiative and our other efforts, we should be getting tax rebates, but we're not even asking for anything but to be left alone to build our business.

Thank you.

[Akinmade Akinrinmade @akinmade_a]

You have a product. Great.

But who pays? How much? How do you reach them?

How will you make money consistently?

[Akinmade Akinrinmade @akinmade_a]

People like to think startups fail because the idea wasn't good enough. Most times, that's not it.

The real problem is that founders make avoidable mistakes right at the beginning.

By the time they realize it, they've already spent too much time, money, and energy.

[Akinmade Akinrinmade @akinmade_a]

"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away."

— Henry David Thoreau

[Kalu Aja @FinPlanKaluAja1]

A good name is better than Gold

[TechCabal is preparing for Moonshot2026 @TechCabal]

👨🏿‍🚀 TC Daily — Openview and watch ads

South Africa's eMedia has launched a platform that lets users watch content for free, but with one catch: they must view ads.

Read more on today's newsletter 👉
https://t.co/jUWVjR8KFz

[TechCabal is preparing for Moonshot2026 @TechCabal]

Are you earning what your role is actually worth in Africa’s tech market?

You don’t know. Neither do we. Yet.

TechCabal is building a salary report for African tech — and we need your numbers to make it honest.

Fill the survey. Send it to the group chat:
https://t.co/qqdVdhBbLR