This season of Building the Future was made possible by Moniepoint

My guest today is Bode Abifarin, one of the leading startup operators I know on the continent.

I first met Bode in 2017 when she had just joined Flutterwave, where she served as Chief Operating Officer. I've been continually impressed by Bode’s unique ability to blend operational dexterity with high level strategic thinking. Bode has a background in consulting for KPMG and worked closely with banks in Nigeria to develop and articulate their go to market strategies. Flutterwave gave her the opportunity to operationalize many of her PowerPoint presentations in a high growth, high intensity startup environment. Bode joined the company in its early days, and since then, it has become one of the few unicorns on the continent, valued at $3 billion in its most recent fundraising round. This conversation was recorded while she was still the COO.

In this episode, we discuss:

• The key mental frames and thought process for transitioning from a large corporation to a startup. Including: 1/ the challenges she faced during this transition, 2/ the relationships and other advantages she brought from her corporate experience, as well as, 3/ her learning curve in adapting to the startup environment.
• Efficiency, operations standardization, and the evolution of the COO role as a company scales.
• Key actions to take while penetrating into a new market:, blending experienced personnel with local talent, adapting to cultural and regulatory nuances as well as continuous learning and improving.
• Her approach to finding, shaping, and mentoring talent as a business leader on the continent.

Book: Imagine Africa

Quote: “Once your strategy, in terms of go-to-market, product, and focus is crisp and clear. Spend time getting that crispiness and the clarity in your own local markets, right? Go deep, go wide, listen to customers, iterate, and be the champion of that market.

CREDITS

Host: Dr. Dotun Olowoporoku
Produced by: The Subtext
Editing: Osarumen Osamuyi, Chinedu Anatune
Show Notes: Grace Obaloluwa
Design: Jonathan Nwachukwu
Voice Overs & Project Coordination: Damilola Teidi
Season Intro Video: Chukwuka Ezeiruaku