Author Archives: Oo

Happy Birthday Joel Gascoigne!

 

Joel is one of the very few truly great guys I have met in my life. I am not ‘famzing’ because he recently raised $400k for his startup Buffer. Anyone that can live with Oo for 4  months+ and attempt to run a business with him without running mad, is truly a great person.

Few people know how I met Mr Gascoigne.

Back in ’08 I got admitted to Warwick. I was in Nigeria when  I created a group called “Warwick Internet Entrepreneurs”, he was the only person that joined. When I eventually got my visa (I get faith sha) and arrived Warwick, we met up, got talking about his projects, mine, etc. We eventually started OnePage together. Even though I was EXTREMELY self conscious about being Nigerian (my “Yes, I Am Nigerian” tees were just fronting), it was as if this dude did not realize. He trusted me more than I would have imagined.  He has no idea how much it helped me. Thanks buddy!

When OnePage did not go as planned, we needed lawyers to tidy up a few things as we decided Joel would be taking it forward. What I realized much later was that his lawyers  ( I did not have one) wanted to insert clauses that would have given him the option to “screw me” if he so wanted. He asked them not to.

There was a period we got a mini grant (about 1500 quid) to do market research. Now at that moment, we did not need any damn market research but Joel needed a computer to build the product we were to research for. I needed the ‘seed money for a space over my head. Even though there was a ‘way out’,  Joel consistently refused to do anything remotely borderline against the rule even though it was what we sorely needed. So we forfeited the grant. :(

Of course he acted as my translator on quite a number of occasions when I did not sound Bri ish enough to be understood.  I even got him to enjoy a helping of Nkwobi.

So Joel, as you turn 25 (Haha! You are damn old man! 25?? Really? You are that old??) do have fun and keep being a great person.

I am Oo, founder of GBEDU.FM where I hope to make sense of this business of music. I once tried to kill the business card with OnePage.

Will The Real Nigerian Mobile Money Companies Please Stand Up?

 

I am just waking up after a very short sleep and I have a few minutes before preparing to attend  The Future Awards Symposium. So this has to be brief and i hope it is as articulate I want it to be.

Here is the issue, I do not get Mobile Money as it is being attempted in Nigeria. The companies I have heard of seem to be more interested in in painting BRT buses and large billboards rather than being Mobile Money companies.

However, this post is not about my disappointment with the “Mobile Money” companies but rather an opportunity for them. Any real/serious Mobile Money company in Nigeria will salivate at this

Crowd funding and A grand opportunity.

Crowd funding is is one of the few killer applications that makes a business case for Mobile Money and there is a grand opportunity waiting to be taken.

There is a young man called Oke who needs some money to save his legs and his life. (If you get mind, here is the link to his story) The fact of the matter is the money he needs (N5million) can be raised in a single day if there was an easy way to send money to him. At the moment, Twitter is virtually saying “shut up and take my money”. But the true problem for the young man is HOW? The sad truth of the matter is this, 95% of the people absolutely willing to give 1000 or more will not because going to deposit money in a bank account is a really long thing. That is the absolute reality.

If only there was a way we could send money without the hassle of going to a bank, queuing, etc etc… Wait!! that is what the entire premise of Mobile Money is all about. This is the perfect opportunity to prove and show how this thing works! It is one thing to go back slapping yourselves at Mobile Money conferences around the world and claiming to be the next M-Pesa and another to actually do stuff.

What Serious Mobile Money companies should do NOW!

It is a no brainier for a Mobile Money company to provide matching funding for money raised for Oke through their platform. You will be committing bird genocide with a single stone (showing how/that your stuff really work, doing good, awesome PR, acquiring real users, jump starting the industry, having a very relevant case study, etcetc gbogbotigbo).

So MTN, Paga, VCash, PoketMoni, GLO, VTN, Airtel, what are you guys really waiting for. Are you guys real? Can you already grab this opportunity with both hands?

When CCHUB tried to raise money for a roofing project at the police barracks in Yaba, you guys failed, but the implication was a few wet mattresses. However, this time is someones life. Do the right thing for Oke and yourselves.

I am Oo, founder of GBEDU.FM where I hope to make sense of this business of music. I once tried to kill the business card with OnePage.

As Posterous Flies To Twitter, I Remember This Post

Just over a year ago, I wrote the following about Posterous.

The problem with Posterous that they are not the best at anything.

via The Problem With Posterous

Sadly, nothing changed. They just did not double down on any aspect of their product. I would have paid if they allowed better customization and plugins the their present offering (If Oo will pay for your product, then congratulations, you have a tested business model!)

Their pivot to ‘Spaces’ was really cool, but they struggled to communicate it in a simple way.  I really really liked Posterous. I recommended them to quite a lot of people. I feel really sad the way things have turned out.

Startups are hard. REALLY HARD. And it is REAL EASY to theorize from outside. But there is one thing I know, Sachin gave it his all. I look forward to what he plans to do next after he leaves Twitter.

Now, where do I move my bloggage to?

*sigh*

I am Oo, founder of GBEDU.FM where I hope to make sense of this business of music. I once tried to kill the business card with OnePage.

Personal Blogging: Linda Ikeji Is On Another Level.

Yes, I read Ms Ikeji’s blog. And yes, I am very ashamed of myself. Can we discuss that later?

Yesterday, Linda wrote a rather normal post about a previous post, in which people commenting on the post were too hard on the person the post was about. So she sent a private tweet to the person the post was about apologizing about the comments in the post, the person now posted the…… I can yard dust and beat around bush sha (no, not that bush). But you get the gist.

Well, this post is not about the contents in the post but the fact that it ganared 800+ COMMENTS!!!! Nope, this is not a picture of a cat being shared on facebook. Or a front page item on reddit. This is a sub domain on blogger that has a rather ugly commenting system that requires a login. And it still got 750 COMMENTS!

image

I had always known her blog is popular. But I thought it was Nigerian standard popular. 800 comments is on a worldwide big deal level. There is a massive potential for her to be undisputedly number 1 in Africa digitalmedia wise, and worldwide relevant when it comes to entertainment and gossip (TMZ and Perez Hilton level). She can also go Huffington. Arriana started blogging personally about left wing politics; 5 years and $200 million later, we know every.

However, her reaching those heights will require Messianic and not Mikelist sized ambitions (As at 2005, Mikel and Messi used to be mentioned in the same sentence. While Messi had his sight set on being the greatest ever, the 60k/week from Chelsea no let Obi see road he thought he had arrived ).

Whatever the road she decides to take, I have to say, I hail. She is a true testament of how the internet and blogging tools have democratized publishing. I mean, anyone, can start from anywhere and rise to the top.

I am Oo, founder of GBEDU.FM where I hope to make sense of this business of music. I once tried to kill the business card with OnePage.