Nnamdi Chineme

Founder, Investor, Advisor and CEO | Lexel Digital · Lexel Consulting

[Nnamdi Chineme @nchineme]

The Feedback Loop - Build, Measure, Learn

[Nnamdi Chineme @nchineme]

So proud of my wife Ugo 🙌🏾

After months of hard work, her first book is HERE.

WOW, GOD! — 100 Amazing Bible Facts Every Kid Should Know

The same heart she pours into our kids is on every page.

Grab a copy 👇🏾

https://t.co/jQ43wmeo91

https://t.co/6AucK3JE2N

[Nnamdi Chineme @nchineme]

I had an insightful interview with Dr. Una on her EntreMD channel!

We discussed how physicians who use AI will outperform the rest.

Check out the full video here:

https://t.co/ILWs4Djyg8

[STONΞ @StoneAtwine]

My tweet yesterday generated a lot of buzz. I was invited to a WhatsApp group of entrepreneurs where the question was: How is this possible? 500,000 customers with $1.2M in funding.

My answer:

1. Data-Driven Decision Making:
At the heart of our approach is a maniacal focus on unit economics. Anyone who has ever interacted with me knows this. We operate with an unwavering dedication to data, allowing us to make smart spending decisions. We closely monitor the cost to acquire a customer and the revenue they generate, ensuring that we only spend what we're confident we can recoup. If the metrics indicate a poor return on investment, we don't hesitate to cease expenditure.

2. Understanding the Market:
A deep and ongoing understanding of our market has been crucial. We've realized that the African market behaves differently to incentives. It's very different from the blitzscaling style of Silicon Valley. You'll lose your shirt, spend 100s of millions, and still have nothing at the end of the day. Though free money attracts users, it doesn't guarantee customer retention, especially when you begin to charge for services. Instead, customers will say: X is cheating me. We opted for a different approach: we started with a higher pricing structure but share any cost savings we make with our customers by reducing prices. This model has fostered loyalty and trust among our user base. They know if we can reduce pricing, we will.

3. Running Lean:
Efficiency is paramount in our operations. We do not hire unnecessarily. We have a lean team of 25 people today. We have one major office in Uganda with additional co-working spaces as required in Lagos, London, and Paris. We have more people in Nairobi and Lagos that work remotely. This lean approach minimizes overheads and allows us to direct resources where they are most needed.

4. Revenue First Philosophy:
We adopted a 'revenue-first' model from our inception. Our first transaction generated revenue, and we have steered clear of subsidizing services in the name of growth. We consciously chose to focus on Foreign Exchange services, a sector with substantial revenue, as opposed to plain banking services, which, while attracting large user numbers, may not necessarily generate significant revenue quickly for startups. This has helped us to identify what we are good at. If you try to pay a market vendor from Eversend to mobile money, that transaction may be delayed for 3 minutes, and that would be a horrible experience, so we don't do that. When we are bigger, and the vendor also has Eversend (https://t.co/renaVu778e), this will be a great instant experience. But if you want to move money from Cameroon to Ghana, you won't find a better experience than Eversend. We know FX.

While we've been predominantly funded by our own revenue and maintained fair pricing, we acknowledge the potential benefits of substantial external funding. As much as we are proud of our achievements, we recognize that additional capital will be required to scale and implement further innovations. However, we know that prematurely securing external funding can lead to waste, particularly given the complex market lessons we're still learning.

Make no mistake, we envy our contemporaries when they raise massive rounds and sell secondaries; they've gotten rich while we are toiling. But we like to play the long game vs. playing the VC ponzi and handing over the shit stick to the next speculator. Soon, we will bump into someone who appreciates building a stable, lasting business that could be worth a lot of money in the future.

Our strategy is centered on sustainable growth, deeply rooted in data, market understanding, and financial pragmatism. I hope this provides some valuable insights.

[Nnamdi Chineme @nchineme]

@tosinolaseinde Looking at the figures as a ratio of the population of the countries paints an ever more interesting picture.

[Parkway @ParkwayNG]

1. Today, we are introducing a new brand identity for Parkway to reinforce our role as enablers for financial and banking service providers in Nigeria.

For almost 2 decades we have played the part, it is time for us to also dress the part.

#ParkwayAhead

[Nnamdi Chineme @nchineme]

@iaboyeji @Mr_Galadima @cyberomin Never is a pretty strong word. It's been done before. It largely depends on the nature of the business.

[Nnamdi Chineme @nchineme]

@asemota @morganhousel Thanks for this tweet @asemota. I just finished listening to the audio book. Gold!

[Nnamdi Chineme @nchineme]

@samuelekpe Not always but I strongly agree.

[Nnamdi Chineme @nchineme]

No one wants to use your software, they just want to solve a problem. If your software solves their problem, they'll use it.

[Prof. Feynman @ProfFeynman]

Don’t use your energy to worry!

Use your energy to believe, to create, to learn, to think, and to grow. 🧠

[Nnamdi Chineme @nchineme]

🔥🔥🔥

Is Your Self-Identity Limiting Your Potential? | Vusi Thembekwayo on Impact Theory

https://t.co/8pILvFehIm

[Nnamdi Chineme @nchineme]

@OkunadeGoodMan @hingees It looks better left aligned because you've got an image on the left.

[Nnamdi Chineme @nchineme]

@freekmurze DM your phone number.

[Nnamdi Chineme @nchineme]

Pretty interesting approach.

[Sahil Lavingia @shl]

Business idea: a better version of the worst thing you pay for.

[Tayo Aina @tayoainafilms]

New video: He Left Nigeria to Build a Multi-Million Dollar Real Estate Company for Africa

Link: https://t.co/ZEAlj7jKqC

Retweet’s Appreciated! 🙏🏾

[Nnamdi Chineme @nchineme]

What he said 👇🏾

[Arvid Kahl @arvidkahl]

Whenever you choose a third-party service for your SaaS, you add risk.

If you build the feature yourself, you add at least ten times the risk.

[Nnamdi Chineme @nchineme]

@markessien Cloudflare is even cheaper 😉

[Nnamdi Chineme @nchineme]

@DrDotun Congrats Dotun!