Interview with Gokada CEO - Deji Oduntan for 'LESSON FROM THE TOP' Series...



As earlier promised, we are bringing to you, 'LESSONS FROM THE TOP' (LFT) - an inspirational Podcast hosted on BUSINESS IN LAGOS that will feature the Biggest movers and shakers in the Entrepreneurial Space. We will bring them on the Show to share with you their Stories, Challenges and Victories.

From these Podcasts, you will learn lessons that will strengthen you on your own Entrepreneurial Journey and also inspire you to push harder until you reach the 'TOP'.

Who knows?! You could be the next Entrepreneur on LFT!

Read the Transcription below -

Thank you so much for coming on the program this is ‘LESSONS FROM THE TOP’ by BUSINESS IN LAGOS and we are with Mr Deji Oduntan. He is the CEO and founder of Gokada, a motorbike hailing service. You are based in Lagos for now but they are still plans for expansion maybe Abuja Port Harcourt and other states as well?



There are definitely plans for expansion to other cities and other verticals as well



Awesome. So let’s start from the top tell us about you - birth, education what was it like growing up basically?



Ok I guess my experience growing up it's somewhat like what most people would have experienced nothing out of the ordinary but information that will be key to this discussion is probably my background with respect to education



Sure



I studied computer science at the University of Lagos and I finished in 2009. I went straight to work for a bank so I did that for a couple of years working in the technology sector of the bank for about 3 to 4 years. That's a brief of my educational experience.



Thank you very much. I can obviously see where the tech background came from - University of Lagos, Computer Science. Sorry this is because we are really looking at the background. We want to know what really the secret of your success is. From the little research I did I know you guys are not after profits yet I saw this somewhere are we correct?



Well there was an article I did and at the time we were not profitable. We were basically looking to scale but now that has changed because we are profitable now due to the kind of model we run.



Awesome! So first of all when was Gokada established?



Our first ride was taken on the 20th of February (2018) about 9 months ago.



When did you register the company?



The company was registered in 2017. Between that time and when the first ride was taken, background activities were being done setting up. We were also identifying how to come to the market, identifying what exactly to do to really get traction, the team formations, the team structure, basically all the background activities you need to set things up where done within that time and we had done all that and by February 20th we took our first ride.



Awesome! Now I understand you actually have an MBA from Cornell Johnson?



Yes it's actually an MBA from IE Business School and I did half of the program at Cornell Johnson in the United States



So one can say you always knew you were going the entrepreneurial line?



Yes it was a conscious decision. The school I chose is actually the number one school in the United States for entrepreneurship that was the reason I chose to go to that school (IE Business School). It was a conscious decision to attend a program that was heavily focused on entrepreneurship because I was looking to build the skills and get the knowledge of starting a business so it was important I attended the school.



Okay. Now you worked in Guaranty Trust Bank so have some banking experience. Obviously it must have been lucrative to an extent?



I'm of the opinion that lucrative is relative so I will allow you land to get a perspective of the question you are asking.



I'm coming from this angle – why the shift from Career to Entrepreneur?[/b]



Ok so having spent about 3 to 4 years in the Bank at the time that was when the tech scene in Nigeria was growing and I had studied Computer Science. I was in the bank also doing tech and once you've worked in such structured organisation you get the skills to put those same structures in unstructured companies which is what Startups are. You go to a Startup, everything is basically unstructured and you basically put all the structures that you've learnt into those Startups so I saw an opportunity that I could fit into.

To build and scale, you need structures to be in place so it was something I was really looking to do. I was looking to transition from the Corporate world to the Startup world and that was what necessitated my move to do a business education in entrepreneurship. That was sort of the turning point. I joined Jumia which is arguably the most successful startup in Africa so I joined them at the time to further my move into the entrepreneurial space and once I left Jumia I started Gokada.



Why Gokada? Sorry let me break it down with your range of experience and knowledge there are so many areas in tech you could have gone into. For example you just came out of Jumia, you could have started your own e-commerce business, so why did you choose this kind of unconventional business? Did you want to reshape the transport sector why Gokada?



Well it was all about the IMPACT. Yes we could have started another e-commerce company, but again the competition is fierce in that market you could almost say you have more players than needed in that industry, however the transport sector is still largely informal and there's a lot of underutilisation in the sector and looking at space not only was there room for making money, there was room for empowering people, there was room for transforming the sector and there was room for large-scale impact.

There were a lot of opportunities and the market was still very innocent, nascent and when you are coming into a market that’s still largely undefined there are numerous opportunities so it wasn’t a very tough decision to move from ecommerce to transportation


And right now, within the nine months space since the first ride, you are profitable?



Yes, operationally.



Now somewhere else, you talked about having plans for 5000 bikes in Lagos?



Yes



Have you gotten the mark?

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