In 2016, Olugbenga “GB” Agboola started a company to fix something obvious: Money didn’t move smoothly across Africa. Wiring funds across national borders often meant waiting days for a transaction to complete, which frustrated Western companies and prevented investment.
So Agboola set out to fix it. The result was Flutterwave, a company that became the leading payments platform on the continent. Named after the butterfly effect, which describes how a small action can lead to massive changes, the startup has helped to spur a revolution across Africa.
“We are a 1 billion people continent,” Agboola says. “This is the opportunity continent. I think it’s really about showing [naysayers] the opportunity here, and the fact that capital can unlock that opportunity if properly deployed.”
Although it started small, Flutterwave now operates across more than 30 countries, offering a fast and secure platform that helped bring African commerce into the modern era.
Clearly, this was an idea whose time had come. But Agboola isn’t finished yet. When he started the company, he didn’t only envision a payment system on his home continent. He envisioned a modern way to connect Africa’s disparate payment ecosystem.
Mending a Broken System
Africa’s economic system has always been complicated. There are many countries with many different currencies, regulations, and barriers.
“I recall when I was working for a particular bank, we were trying to help a large corporation pay its vendors. They were going from Nigeria to South Africa, and it was hard to do so,” Agboola said. “And it wasn’t because the bank I worked in couldn’t do it. We just lacked the technology, infrastructure, the will, the scale to get it done.”
Even though his employer had branches in both countries, moving money from one country to another took a long time. Africa, at that time, simply lacked the infrastructure to make digital payments fast and easy.
“That was one of the triggers behind Flutterwave,” he said. “I was wondering, ‘Why can’t we just build this infrastructure? Why, if I want to send money to Ghana, does money have to move from Lagos to New York, and from New York to Ghana?”
Having worked at both PayPal and Google Wallet, Agboola knew what modern financial technology could provide. He knew that modern technology was capable of providing a platform that could bring Western fintech solutions to his home continent. He wanted Africans to benefit from the ability to pay for goods and services in their local currency in the same ways that Americans and Europeans do.
But he also knew that African problems would require African solutions. He couldn’t simply copy what he’d seen elsewhere. If he wanted to create something to manage the continent’s unique challenges, he would have to work from the ground up, keeping in mind how the wide variety of cultures and economies affect the way people use money.
“The way Africa is, different payment methods work for different regions and different markets,” he said. “Bank transfers are very popular in Nigeria, but not popular in South Africa. Mobile money is very popular in East Africa.”
The resulting company became one of the first tech startups in Africa to achieve unicorn status (a valuation of more than $1 billion). Today, it has processed over 890 million transactions, helping users pay for goods and services in ways that feel natural and convenient.
“When we were starting Flutterwave, a major core thesis has always been about making Africa feel like a country,” Agboola said. “It’s not a country, but when it comes to payments, let’s make it feel like one in Flutterwave. Payments is extremely broken in Africa, but it can be simple. We’re the largest payment network today in Africa, we have the most licenses in Africa today, we have the most reach in Africa today.”
The Opportunities Beyond Payments
Flutterwave didn’t stop at fixing payments — the company took on bigger problems. It implemented programs designed to help Africans seize the future by introducing young talent into the technology industry and funding STEM-related initiatives at high school level.
The company works through home-grown offerings like its graduate trainee program, which gives young Africans a pathway into the tech sector through 12-month internships, as well as its grant program that awards substantial sums to women-led businesses in Africa.
At the heart of it all is Agboola’s belief that Africa doesn’t have to trail Western nations in the modern era. He believes the world’s youngest continent has the duty — and increasingly, the opportunity — to lead. It’s part of his drive.
“Every day, we come to work, and we live and breathe innovation,” Agboola said. “There are so many problems to solve on the continent. So many things to build. And we’re here to do it.”
As he works to change the future of Africans, Agboola continues to lead by example. Flutterwave’s creative solutions to finance was enough for Fast Company to rank the company as its No. 1 Most Innovative Company in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Closer to home, Flutterwave earned the distinction of Fintech of the Year by the African Banker Awards.
“This recognition is a testament to the hard work, dedication, and creativity of the entire team at Flutterwave,” Agboola said. “It also reaffirms our mission to simplify payments for endless possibilities, and we remain committed to building solutions that enable multinationals to expand in and within Africa, and also supporting African companies to compete globally.”
