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JasonNjoku

Aug 6, 2018 • 9 tweets • 5 min read • Read on X

Reading Golden Tap about hyper-funded Indian startups is amazing amazon.com/Golden-Tap-Ins…. More so because it was driven largely by Tiger Global (one of my investors). Anyone building companies in Africa must read this book. We have largely taken the US model of building startups

Wrongly I believe. We all built 1-dimensional co's. In India (more like Africa then any other country in my mind) and Russian and China and Africa* they are all essentially investment holding companies. Examples LSE listed $7.5B Mail RU Group = 30+ co's

NYSE listed $468B Alibaba Group = 50+ co's, JSE Naspers $104B = 30+, HK listed $868B Tencent = 50+ co's. MakeMyTrip $3.7B = 20+ co's, JPY listed Softbank is the most extreme example.

@instagram

Most of the biggest US internet cos are investment holding. Match Group, PayPal Holdings, Booking Holdings, Alphabet Holdings (Google), Facebook is a holding co in all but name. Their biggest hits were acquisitions @instagram & @whatsapp Imagine Fb without them?

I'm sure some will say a number of these US co's were successful first. Yes, perhaps. But in Russian & China & India & Naspers* management & investors backed a roll em up strategy, they saw the strength in a strong deck.

We have somehow discouraged ourselves from being adventurous in this regard. We have drunk the SV stay focused mantra. We have somehow decided to build business' the opposite way to how others are building them in emerging markets.

When I started creating new non-digital related businesses at Iroko. Board resistance was fiercely opposed. But in the end we demonstrated with deals and performance and they all became super supportive. Iroko has actually tried to acquire business' to grow non-digital revenues

@irokotv

In FY17 @irokotv represented <30% of total Iroko revenue. If we had focused just on 'the core business' then as I have said many times over the years we wouldn't have been in business. We should have died in 2015. The other business' pulled us through. @iroktv is strategically

stronger now than at any stage it its history because of this lack of focus. So. Anyway. Go ahead and buy this book and understand we are early and founders should build businesses they feel makes sense. And refer to this anytime someone (incl me) tells you to focus.

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More from @JasonNjoku

JasonNjoku

@JasonNjoku

Sep 7, 2022

For every $1B invested in African startups. The expectation = $10B in liquidity. So the $3B invested in H1 2022 needs to see $30B in liquidity. Incl 2021 ($5.2B) thats $82B in liquidity required. I believe at last glance the NSE is <$100B. 🇳🇬Financial services total market <$20B

The internet services opportunity is definitely massive. FOMO & funding environment definitely got ahead of our ability to create liquidity events. Globally the worst hit in terms of valuations appears to be fintech & crypto. An area where Africa over indexed in. Best time to see

who were the builders and the mercenary tourists. Capital efficiency >>> cancerous growth at all costs is the order of the day. Unit economics finally matter. Valuations may never be where they were in 2020-21. Thats a great thing. Real value will be created. 🙏🏿 No more fluff. 🙅🏿‍♂️

Read 4 tweets

JasonNjoku

@JasonNjoku

Jul 17, 2022

So I was stopped by the South African police (whilst in an uber) en route to the airport this afternoon. They asked me to see documents, I had my 🇬🇧passport in my pocket. They asked where I'm from in Africa. I said 🇳🇬. They made me come down for a thorough search. They saw sims

When they saw my dozens of sim cards & several phones they were 100% convinced I was into cyber crime. Apparently it's illegal to have so many sim cards 😂. I told them I was a product manager who travels testing different Momo across Africa. They had my passport stamps so 🤷🏾‍♂️

15mins in I literally had to force them to Google me to see I wasn't up to anything nefarious. I wondered the story I would have told if I didn't have that option. In the end they gave me their numbers to call them if I had any problems in JoBurg 😏

Read 5 tweets

JasonNjoku

@JasonNjoku

Jun 1, 2022

I have whiplash at how quickly advice has moved from sieze market share at any cost to survive survive hold onto your cash. Now is the perfect time to expand insanely (why PMF & strong unit economics is always important) Less competition😂.

I guess dumb unsustainable growth doesn't solve all problems afterall. I know NJOKU Holdings aren't hunkering. We've been in survival mode for years. It's what happens when there's an almost 100% failure rate for your funded startup in its core 🇳🇬market. SVOD in Africa ⚰️💀🙏🏾😇

NH's been adjusting costs for years. Strengthing our core ops & culture around sustainable growth. We always conserve cash but will now use that to steal a head start over the next 18mo. The winning input costs are going down. Talent, Marketing & most importantly dumb money👋🏾

Read 6 tweets

JasonNjoku

@JasonNjoku

Apr 14, 2022

Over the last year I have spent quite a lot of time speaking with friends / mentors in their early 50's. I thought life changed at 40. Wrong. At 50 it appears to be radically differently. Radically. Planning for retirement, kids leaving home, resizing, looking back at life etc

#1 regret was the limited time they spent with theirs loved ones, the impact the money game had on those relationships🥲. Its super daunting to be honest & definitely makes you reset & rethink. I am only 40+1 so by God's grace have many decades ahead.

Focusing on the regrets of others and making sure I learn from them as been my guiding principle. Of course life happens and I won't get it all right. Buts its not like i didn't know. This applies to 20's, speak to folks 10+ years ahead. Humans aren't that different afterall

Read 4 tweets

JasonNjoku

@JasonNjoku

Apr 13, 2022

Telling these stories are actually important in how we grow our ecosystem into self sustainability. In the long term thats all that matters. What we have now is hypebole to an extreme. Been saying it for years. Hot emerging market money poured into 🇳🇬 with zero checks & balances.

There is so much wrong doing happening right now across Nigeria. We need to heal. We fortunate enough to have the 💰 & chance need to hold ourselves to a higher standard. Nigeria Inc has been in the mud for a while now. We were supposed to be different. Time to show difference ✊🏿

Its actually great we report on our own. After-all it is we who are on ground. Whats better? That all these things emerge later on Bloomberg? I left a Tech Whatsapp group I was in yesterday because the echo chamber was sickening. Now is NOT the time to close ranks. F&(k your ROI

Read 7 tweets

JasonNjoku

@JasonNjoku

Apr 12, 2022

So I've never met my father before. So the most important job I simply prioritize is not failing at trying to be a good dad. Mrs says I'm an average husband (still work in progress still under training 😁) but a great father. I actually put in a ton of father led research 😇

Last year I travelled 20/30 days in a month. Honestly it almost broke my family. Wife unhappy, kids missed me dearly. Thankfully I control my time so I simply stopped. Right now it's 6/30. Everyone is happy. They have my time. For my kids that's all they want to be honest.

Yesterday Kaego & Nnenna unlocked new levels in Taekwondo, I thought it awesome to throw them all (+myself) fully clothed into the pool. Never swam with clothes before in any of our lives. Just felt like fun & a moment to remember. Life for me is finding these moments.