Bbbwings:

No sane country has her kids being labourers at age 11.

Quite true. That is why i wonder why people trumpet US as a sane country when kids have access to guns and are being taught sexual education. Every county with her own issues, wahala, sanity and insanity.

NL1960:


Quite true. That is why i wonder why people trumpet US as a sane country when kids have access to guns and are being taught sexual education. Every county with her own issues, wahala, sanity and insanity.

Nothing wrong with sex education
However access to guns that kill people is a minus on the part of the USA

Sexual education is imperative

NL1960:


Quite true. That is why i wonder why people trumpet US as a sane country when kids have access to guns and are being taught sexual education. Every county with her own issues, wahala, sanity and insanity.

Shitlib western degenerates are responsible for that, a soon to be imported ideology into Nigeria.

Regardless child labour is not allowed anywhere in the West.

Nigeria is a failed sovereign entity

#Revolution

The Youth voice will be heard and positive actions must be taken.

I concur with RCCG G.O

We need United States of Nigeria

Accountability of life and property is a must

We want a Nigeria society where a son of nobody can become somebody without knowing anybody.

I personally I have suffered so much in this country.


Against all odds I am still trying to be successful and one useless SARS operative will be extorting and killing young Nigerian's.

ahiboilandgas:
Wonderful .inflation above 13 t.b 1 percent .....strange country...

Good afternoon boss, please check your mail. I sent you some documents.

If Nigeria wants to increase her forex earning then our digital gig economy and tech based innovations has to be encouraged.

Stories like this makes me happy.

When Stripe announced earlier this year that it had picked up another $600 million in funding, it said one big reason for the funding was to expand its API-based payments services into more geographies. Today the company is coming good on that plan in the form of some M&A.

Stripe is acquiring Paystack, a startup out of Lagos, Nigeria that, like Stripe, provides a quick way to integrate payments services into an online or offline transaction by way of an API. (We and others have referred to it in the past as “the Stripe of Africa.”)

Paystack currently has around 60,000 customers, including small businesses, larger corporates, fintechs, educational institutions, and online betting companies, and the plan will be for it to continue operating independently, the companies said.

Terms of the deal are not being disclosed but sources close to it confirm that it’s over $200 million. That makes this the biggest startup acquisition to date to come out of Nigeria, as well as Stripe’s biggest acquisition to date anywhere. (Sendwave, acquired by WorldRemit in a $500 million deal in August, is based out of Kenya.)

It’s also a notable shift in Stripe’s strategy as it continues to mature: typically, it has only acquired smaller companies to expand its technology stack, rather than its global footprint.

The deal underscores two interesting points about Stripe, now valued at $36 billion and regularly tipped as an IPO candidate (note: it has never commented on those plans up to now). First is how it is doubling down on geographic expansion: even before this news, it had added 17 more countries to its platform in the last 18 months, along with progressive feature expansion. And second is how Stripe is putting a bet on the emerging markets of Africa specifically in the future of its own growth.

“There is enormous opportunity,” said Patrick Collison, Stripe’s co-founder and CEO, in an interview with TechCrunch. “In absolute numbers, Africa may be smaller right now than other regions, but online commerce will grow about 30% every year. And even with wider global declines, online shoppers are growing twice as fast. Stripe thinks on a longer time horizon than others because we are an infrastructure company. We are thinking of what the world will look like in 2040-2050.”

For Paystack, the deal will give the company a lot more fuel (that is, investment) to build out further in Nigeria and expand to other markets, CEO Shola Akinlade said in an interview.

“Paystack was not for sale when Stripe approached us,” said Akinlade, who co-founded the company with Ezra Olubi (who is the CTO). “For us, it’s about the mission. I’m driven by the mission to accelerate payments on the continent, and I am convinced that Stripe will help us get there faster. It is a very natural move.”

Paystack had been on Stripe’s radar for some time prior to acquiring it. Like its US counterpart, the Nigerian startup went through Y Combinator — that was in 2016, and it was actually the first-ever startup out of Nigeria to get into the world-famous incubator. Then, in 2018, Stripe led an $8 million funding round for Paystack, with others participating including Visa and Tencent. (And for the record, Akinlade said that Visa and Tencent had not also approached it for acquisition. Both have been regular investors in startups on the continent.)

In the last several years, Stripe has made a number of investments into startups building technology or businesses in areas where Stripe has yet to move. This year, those investments have included backing an investment in universal checkout service Fast, and backing the Philippines-based payment platform PayMongo.

Collison said that while acquiring Paystack after investing in it was a big move for the company, people also shouldn’t read too much into it in terms of Stripe’s bigger acquisition policy.

“When we invest in startups we’re not trying to tie them up with complicated strategic investments,” Collison said. “We try to understand the broader ecosystem, and keep our eyes pointed outwards and see where we can help.”

That is to say, there are no plans to acquire other regional companies or other operations simply to expand Stripe’s footprint, with the interest in Paystack being about how well they’d built the company, not just where they are located.

“A lot of companies have been, let’s say, heavily influenced by Stripe,” Collison said, raising his eyebrows a little. “But with Paystack, clearly they’ve put a lot of original thinking into how to do things better. There are some details of Stripe that we consider mistakes, but we can see that Paystack ‘gets it,’ it’s clear from the site and from the product sensibilities, and that has nothing to do with them being in Africa or African.”

Stripe, with its business firmly in the world of digital transactions, already has a strong line in the detection and prevention of fraud and other financial crimes. It has developed an extensive platform of fraud protection tools, but even with that incidents can slip through the cracks. Just last month, Stripe was ordered to pay $120,000 in a case in Massachusetts after failing to protect users in a $15 million cryptocurrency scam.

Now, bringing on a business from Nigeria could give the company a different kind of risk exposure. Nigeria is the biggest economy in Africa, but it is also one of the more corrupt on the continent, according to research from Transparency International.

And related to that, it also has a very contentious approach to law and order. Nigeria has been embroiled in protests in the last week with demonstrators calling for the disbanding of the country’s Special Anti-Robbery Squad, after multiple accusations of brutality, including extrajudicial killings, extortion and torture. In fact, Stripe and Paystack postponed the original announcement in part because of the current situation in the country.

But while those troubles continue to be worked through (and hopefully eventually resolved, by way of government reform in response to demonstrators’ demands), Paystack’s acquisition is a notable foil to those themes. It points to how talented people in the region are identifying problems in the market and building technology to help fix them, as a way of improving how people can transact, and in turn, economic outcomes more generally.

The company got its start back when Akinlade, for fun (!) built a quick way of integrating a card transaction into a web page, and it was the simplicity of how it worked that spurred him and his co-founder to think of how to develop that into something others could use. That became the germination of the idea that eventually landed them at YC and in the scope of Stripe.

“We’re still very early in the Paystack payments ecosystem, which is super broken,” said Akinlade. The company today provides a payments API, and it makes revenue every time a transaction is made using it. He wouldn’t talk about what else is on Paystack’s radar, but when you consider Stripe’s own product trajectory as a template, there is a wide range of accounting, fraud, card, cash advance and other services to meet business needs that could be built around that to expand the business. “Most of what we will be building in Africa has not been built yet.”

Last month, at Disrupt, we interviewed another successful entrepreneur in the country, Tunde Kehinde, who wisely noted that more exits of promising startups — either by going public or getting acquired — will help lift up the whole ecosystem. In that regard, Stripe’s move is a vote of confidence not just for the potential of the region, but for those putting in the efforts to build tech and continue improving outcomes for everyone.

https://techcrunch.com/2020/10/15/stripe-acquires-nigerias-paystack-for-200m-to-expand-into-the-african-continent/

DontBullshitMe:

The first prerequisite of "enabling environment" is : Peace and stability.

People are on the street delaying vehicular movements, occupying major roads etc. Are they creating enabling environment that way?

The Protests have outlived its purpose. Anyone arguing otherwise is just being emotional.

Things are seriously bad now and could degenerate further
We hope government dialog ur with youths and shift grounds because if this lingers for so long, would affect businesses drastically even more than covid

ojesymsym:
If Nigeria wants to increase her forex earning then our digital gig economy and tech based innovations has to be encouraged.

Stories like this makes me happy.


https://techcrunch.com/2020/10/15/stripe-acquires-nigerias-paystack-for-200m-to-expand-into-the-african-continent/

Good news, smart guys and businesspeople are cashing out big time.

I hope they won't say they were sacked as the CEO and CTO of the company, sometimes in the future.

The case of Health plus Pharmacy is still fresh.

This is a direct acquisition, I think it is different from Health plus scenario.

emmanuelewumi:



Good news, smart guys and businesspeople are cashing out big time.

I hope they won't say they were sacked as the CEO and CTO of the company, sometimes in the future.

The case of Health plus Pharmacy is still fresh.

ojesymsym:
This is a direct acquisition, I think it is different from Health plus scenario.

They can suffer from seller's remorse later in the future

The business was bought for $200 million by the buyer, could be worth $1 billion in the future

emmanuelewumi:



They can suffer from seller's remorse later in the future

The business was bought for $200 million by the buyer, could be worth $1 billion in the future

I would have preferred selling 80% of the company for $160 million and the founders will maintain 20% ownership of the company

ojesymsym:
If Nigeria wants to increase her forex earning then our digital gig economy and tech based innovations has to be encouraged.

Stories like this makes me happy.


https://techcrunch.com/2020/10/15/stripe-acquires-nigerias-paystack-for-200m-to-expand-into-the-african-continent/

I swear it beyond just oil but innovations...this almost 10m barrels of oil

lol... Of course, that is natural. they all do.

I recall reading a story of a guy who kept developing the same app after selling it as soon as he ran out of money.

$200M na small money if they do not invest it properly. Tax go wipe out a significant part of that money sef and I do see how Trump will allow that money move out of the USA economy, so I expect a staggered payment or some very funny payment terms.

If I were to ever sell something like this, I will always find a way to insist on having even if it is just 1% stake in the business. I like recurring income a lot. One gbosa payment can also disappear in one gbosa

emmanuelewumi:



They can suffer from seller's remorse later in the future

The business was bought for $200 million by the buyer, could be worth $1 billion in the future

I wrote my 1% before I saw this. But most times the buyers would not want the seller to have any meaningful stake. 20% is high o.

emmanuelewumi:



I would have preferred selling 80% of the company for $160 million and the founders will maintain 20% ownership of the company

It is the only way to go.

Put all the brains to good use. It is only in tech that you can grow from zero to multi billion, every other industry requires some form of political patronage or knowing someone who knows someone.

Tik Tok go fit feed WEst Africa I believe

ahiboilandgas:
I swear it beyond just oil but innovations...this almost 10m barrels of oil

Regarding Tbills hope is not lost. It went this low before around 2010.

ojesymsym:
lol... Of course, that is natural. they all do.

I recall reading a story of a guy who kept developing the same app after selling it as soon as he ran out of money.

$200M na small money if they do not invest it properly. Tax go wipe out a significant part of that money sef and I do see how Trump will allow that money move out of the USA economy, so I expect a staggered payment or some very funny payment terms.

If I were to ever sell something like this, I will always find a way to insist on having even if it is just 1% stake in the business. I like recurring income a lot. One gbosa payment can also disappear in one gbosa

$200 million is big money in Nigeria oo. The founders are young guys in their 30s, they can always start new businesses and make new innovations.

Bbbwings:
A known smuggler claiming to be patriotic.
Nothing we no go see for here.

This post cracked me up

Anywhere in the world it is a lot of money, but if left static and you are just plucking from it without growing it then it will become small.
It is what happens to footballers not long after they retire. That is the context I was talking from

emmanuelewumi:



$200 million is big money in Nigeria oo. The founders are young guys in their 30s, they always start new businesses and make new innovations

ojesymsym:
Anywhere in the world it is a lot of money, but if left static and you are just plucking from it without growing it then it will become small.
It is what happens to footballers not long after they retire. That is the context I was talking from

These guys are smarter than that, they are enterpreneurs and solution providers, they are different from sports and music stars..

Clearly they are different, but it is not easy to come up with another innovative product like that o.
The years ahead will determine if they are good entrepreneurs or not. I pray they are not a flash in the pan.

emmanuelewumi:



These guys are smarter than that, they are enterpreneurs and solution providers, they are different from sports and music stars..

Iogobenz:
The only way I fight my fights is by bringing economic value to my country which also gives value to young Nigerians.
Not by senseless protest,meanwhile I cant wait for the army to start giving it hot to protesters
Even the most liberal country in the world deployed the national guard when the people think they could be stupid and get away with it.

Oga, you smuggle contraband fake wine into this country. Not just that, you rebrand and sell them as original. Yet you want the government to use brute force on peaceful protesters who have genuine concerns.

Indeed, the joke writes itself.

Grupo:


Oga, you smuggle contraband fake wine into this country. Not just that, you rebrand and sell them as original. Yet you want the government to use brute force on peaceful protesters who have genuine concerns.

Indeed, the joke writes itself.

I don't even sell wine,so jokes on you.
.

Bbbwings:

No sane country has her kids being labourers at age 11.

Please read this to open your eyes. There are child laborers even in America.
http://ourownbackyard.org

mk82:

Please read this to open your eyes. There are child laborers even in America.
http://ourownbackyard.org

Illegal migrant abuse.

Iogobenz:
And you've had your 30seconds of schooling.
Rockefeller,Henry Ford,Vanderbilt and co had enabling environment too abi?
Don't go and work,be looking for government that will come and feed you,
Ode.

You and those who liked this post are bunch of nitwits. A leech that wants to benefit from peoples impoverishment. You that is claimjng CEO how many people have you employed? Onitsha tomato seller

Grupo:


Oga, you smuggle contraband fake wine into this country. Not just that, you rebrand and sell them as original. Yet you want the government to use brute force on peaceful protesters who have genuine concerns.

Indeed, the joke writes itself.

Don't mind the fool. He is a beneficiary of the system, that's why he is against the protest.

afroxyz:

You and those who liked this post are bunch of nitwits. A leech that wants to benefit from peoples impoverishment. You that is claimjng CEO how many people have you employed? Onitsha tomato seller

I am an Onitsha boy that pulled himself out of misery,comfortable enough to not want to destabilise a nation over my personal incompetence and failures.
I don't look for who to blame like some of you,reason I am not frustrated enough to be protesting senselessly on the streets of Nigeria.
Nigeria youths are lazy,irresponsible and are the reason for their misfortunes,not the government.
Especially this useless generation.
Make una no go find work,you will keep blaming government till you grow white hairs.
Anyways the army is coming to reset your brains soon.
Country of 200m people that still has crude oil as it's most significant source of fx should tell you a lot about its youths.
A smuggler is better than the average youth in my opinion that will sit at home and wait to be spoon fed and not want to take his destiny in his hands.
All sorts of rubbish socialist programs,yet no way.N power,you win,all those rubbish yet they still cant even feed themselves.
That is why they have all the time in the world to be protesting everyday.
You say I benefit from the system?Dude I didn't even graduate from university because I saw it as time wastage at that point in my life,neither have I ever seek for any job from your fùcked up government nor make any demands.
If all of you were like me,I'm sure Nigeria would not be the world poverty capital,ode!
Enough said.

Shebi I tell una?make una continue,na una go suffer am pass.
The elites have enough money to love very well even with naira at 1000/USD.
It's you the masses that will suffer and die of hunger and lack of medication.
Make una continue ooo,EndSARS

Iogobenz:
Shebi I tell una?make una continue,na una go suffer am pass.
The elites have enough money to love very well even with naira at 1000/USD.
It's you the masses that will suffer and die of hunger and lack of medication.
Make una continue ooo,EndSARS

You don change position, no be you they clamour for devaluation.

Grupo:


Oga, you smuggle contraband fake wine into this country. Not just that, you rebrand and sell them as original. Yet you want the government to use brute force on peaceful protesters who have genuine concerns.

Indeed, the joke writes itself.

The Guy is mentally Deranged, I have never seen a human being so selfish and self centered, the youths are being extorted and killed daily and all he cares about is his money and investment

Nigsrdumb:


You don change position, no be you they clamour for devaluation.

I swear, he's an attention seeker