#62: DPO Group - How the FinTech payments platform went from bootstrapping for 8+ years to strategically acquiring multiple companies, and exiting to Network International for $288M

https://is1-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Podcasts125/v4/68/eb/b5/68ebb54f-dd2f-73ee-5752-65091075f380/mza_1885806919795243604.jpg/600x600bb.jpg

Afrobility: Africa Tech and Business

Olumide Ogunsanwo and Bankole Makanju

81 episodes

5 days ago

Stories and analyses of African technology companies

Technology

RSS

All content for Afrobility: Africa Tech and Business is the property of Olumide Ogunsanwo and Bankole Makanju and is served directly from their servers with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.

Stories and analyses of African technology companies

Technology

https://d3t3ozftmdmh3i.cloudfront.net/production/podcast_uploaded_nologo/5625473/5625473-1592520113573-eab419dbe298d.jpg

#62: DPO Group - How the FinTech payments platform went from bootstrapping for 8+ years to strategically acquiring multiple companies, and exiting to Network International for $288M

Afrobility: Africa Tech and Business

1 hour 46 minutes 14 seconds

2 years ago

#62: DPO Group - How the FinTech payments platform went from bootstrapping for 8+ years to strategically acquiring multiple companies, and exiting to Network International for $288M

Overview: Today, we’re going to talk about DPO Group. We’ll explore the story across the following areas

African payments context
DPO group’s early history
Product & monetization strategy
Competitive positioning & potential exit options
overall outlook.

This episode was recorded on Mar 5, 2023

Companies discussed: DPO Group, Network International, Apis partners, Flutterwave, Paystack, Interswitch, Safaricom, MTN, Airtel, Takealot.com, Superbalist.com, Safaricom, Yoco, PayPal & Chipper Cash

Business concepts discussed: Bootstrapping, Payments ecosystem, payments partnerships strategy, payments infrastructure, low-end disruption, banking regulation, Mobile Money, E-commerce payments, Virtual cards & payments M&A strategy

Conversation highlights:

(04:40) - Africa Payment Context at time of DPO’s founding
(12:46) - DPO Group Founding and early history
(14:05) - Founder Background
(25:57) - Fundraising and Growth
(29:48) - Acquisitions and Partnerships
(51:30) - Product and Monetization Strategy
(1:00:05) - Competition
(1:08:35) - DPO’s exit to Network International
(1:27:15) - Bankole’s overall thoughts and outlook
(1:39:10) - Olumide’s overall thoughts and outlook
(1:47:01) - Recommendations and small wins

Olumide’s recommendations & small wins:

Recommendation: The War of Art: Book for creators and artists to get over the hump and release their inner creative expression to the world
Recommendation: Naval Ravikant podcast with David Deutsch talking about Physics. Amazing episode. Having two of them together is incredible. Like having a rap collabo.
Recommendation: Fela in Versace. Shit is too nice. I love songs that combine unrelated ideas
Small win: Soul Cycle for the First time. Dope shit.

Bankole’s recommendations & small wins:

Recommendation: Stratechery Podcast - Eric Seufert and Ben Thompson & Mike Munger on EconTalk on Decision-making
Small win: I signed up for a gym membership for the first time ever

Listeners: We’d love to hear from you. Email info@afrobility.com with feedback!

Founders & Operators: We'd love to hear about what you're working on, email us at info@afrobility.com

Investors: It would be great to link up with you. Contact us at info@afrobility.com

Join our insider mailing list where we get feedback on new episodes & find all episodes on Afrobility.com