A Two Year, Three Month Journey Ends

The start of the journey:

It was September 2021 when our Apostle made an announcement: [yes, I am a spiritual being]

He had said someone somewhere would receive a phone call after this service about that thing they had been waiting for. I had keyed into it, and immediately after church service, my phone rang, and the co-founder told me I had gotten the job with a little above what I had asked for.

He said, think about it, but I wanted to let you know we have a space we are looking at; you can come around if you are in Ikeja; [what do you mean - I am in Ikeja too]. I said I would think about it as I drove to a church colleague's house and in my hands were two offers.?[doesn't happen to me typically ??]

This one was God; I can't even remember what I said in the interview.

One was from a fintech I knew nothing about, and another was from a tech company with over five years in their industry.

If you are anything like me, then you will choose a start-up from scratch, which is what I did: “ I love a challenge,” but nothing prepared me for this two-year ride at Microvest.

What it feels like when you start:

One Tuesday in October, we were all invited to the proposed site for the office; an empty building with a previous office holder being a bank [I think]; the management and my new COO shared their office dreams, looks, feel, and where the team lead desk will be like.

For the first time, I got a desk of mine and not cubicles. I got to share [ I am a team lead now, you got to understand ] with my team members somewhere around where I could oversee their work.?

The excitement was super thrilling that a small boy from the other side of Lagos would be working for a fintech with the owners who dreamed of the world of solution providers and the possibilities of growth.

What I enjoyed most about the work culture:

Oh, the birthdays were one to cherish, and one of the first people to have a taste of birthdays was Ebuka and our then-COO, Rob. It was a surprise birthday celebration, and we had the opportunity to eat, drink and reflect.

The second thing I loved was no one asked me why I was not wearing a suit on a Monday morning even though we couldn't do like your tech bros and wear shorts; it was moderate and no overkill.

We could come in to work and not have someone breathing down on our neck on lateness to work, something I disliked about my other jobs [ I am not a latecomer ??]. That wasn't important, but output! loved it!

Third, I told myself I was going to shape the culture that I wanted by influence, and thinking about the days when we fought each other in meetings and coming to laugh about it is one memory that kept me going.

It's one thing to give feedback, and it is one thing to respect opinions. [Don't go where you are tolerated but where you are appreciated]

Building from Zero:

For my team, I decided to start with a graphic designer who would double as a video person, and I am not a user, but you have got to understand that start-up needs generalists. It is called a start-up [how many hands can employed when revenue is yet to be generated].

When we finally resumed, we were the first to test the website and sign up on our Android devices.

Some of the next assignments were getting our family and friends on board. At least you have to support your guy who just got a job.?

So far, we were able to round up a good number of users, but as we began to rank up the numbers, one question we were asked was how secure the platform was, and If I were you, I would probably ask the same. Too many fakes out there who are looking for gullible Nigerians LIKE YOU.

I started looking inward from my contacts in the PR industry who could do a piece on Microvest at no or little cost, and one of such persons was from TECHNEXT and TECHECONOMY.

They did a good job of interviewing the COO and asking relevant questions about the business model and the people behind the latest financial technology organization democratizing savings.

This was going to help credibility!

Off to Official launch:

As one who helped launch several events, it only made sense that we should do a launch, so I reached out to impeccable Busola Ajala, who gave me some leads whom I reach out and was willing to write a piece on the company while another article on TECHCABAL was in the works.

I reached out to ten Facebook influencers, and none of them were willing to write an introductory piece; five out of the seven Twitter influencers I reached out to said they were not interested in doing another piece about a Fintech.?[problem ??]

But I understood their fears, and it took me sharing my International ID card to one WhatsApp group, and a long 10 minutes, my LinkedIn profile and portfolio before a tweet by an influencer could go out.??

Too many things were going through my head, but my LinkedIn people came through about five of them even though others declined too and were willing to do a little piece.

Eventually, launch day arrived. I had two tweet influencers, five LinkedIn influencers, print articles, a live session, and a Techcabal article.

The result; was a couple of sign-ups from early adopters and a sealed credibility stamp for a while.

Defining USP in a sea:

This perhaps was one of the defining points for me as some of our new users continued to ask the trust question despite showing them all the articles; you couldn’t still convince them, and you hear things like it is because of “this person I am keeping savings with you”

So, what we could bank on was referrals more than ever.

We moved to our first outing at the NYSC Camp in December 2021 where we met with corpers; got some games to engage them but we were turned between not being over salesy and letting them have fun at our tent.?

We got a good couple of sign-ups but later found out that the majority owned an IOS device that had yet to be fully launched but focused the conversation more on the need to save, which most people don’t care about, especially you.

They just want a platform where they can drop money and withdraw immediately, so if you think you understand the Nigerian customer. You don't.

Evaluating our Q1:

With our initial excitement about our product came the need to evaluate what our growth looked like and what it could be.

We begin to ask questions like our acquisition rate [Sign Ups], Transaction volume, and conversation rate. At the rate of growth we were headed, it was a ratio of 10% conversion rate. Not bad, but it could be better.

My next biggest task was looking to see how to scale the Q1 growth before my job said goodbye to me, but on evaluating current competition, none of them did ads; the next near competitor had a blog, but it was working. I didn't know, and there is too much hoarding information.

They were running all over as I never knew much about different models working for them, and you don’t want to copy verbatim.

Strategies that I thought would work:

I first tried the ambassador route; at least, I have seen it work for others. I sent out forms to some friends and student bodies across the southwest and southeast.?

The HR and I conducted inductions, sharing our mission and vision with undergraduates who were excited to join us and the possibility of the magic that we could make together. Still, the conversion rate was 2% as only a few of them could meet up to the targets we gave them, plus the logistics issues of having to send branded materials, which eventually died a natural death.

Most of them were unwilling to put in N100, so how do you sell a product you are not using? It didn’t make sense to be giving out referral money if their referees did not conduct transactions, as there would be a bunch of sign-ups but no transactions.

We didn't stop but limited what being an ambassador with Microvest meant.

The second thing I tried was to use micro-influencers with about 10-50k followers as a test, but I soon found that they rarely pulled a crowd. For instance, when I ran a Valentine's campaign promising some bonus on savings, it barely had enough reactions, and as a new company, some people still kept doubting.?

At the end of the campaign, the conversion was barely 0.02%,

I know we didn't spend too much, but if you spend a budget, you should at least expect returns either in sign-ups or conversions as ROI, but not in this case, despite acting a whole drama about Valentine and forcing Chioma and Funsho to act as Valentine lovers [sorry guys ??].

Now, is this a product problem or my inability to get it done because this fintech market for saving seems crazy because they don’t want to save money?

Going back to the drawing board:?

January to March allowed me to come up with a full 360-degree marketing plan, but this time, I stopped looking at fintech and went back to the traditional banks because these guys had probably hacked something that we may not be aware of, and our major issue was trust and reaching more people.?

So, how do we then reach more people, build trust, and get them to save?

“The big question”. Then, this faithful evening, I saw a Union Bank promo and realized what they had been doing as the goal was to get the whole together in a campaign called “ACQUISITION - ACTIVATION - RETENTION.

So, I suggested this promotion and shared it with the then Product Manager, Customer Experience, and Treasure and finance team, with whom we spent another two months coming up with a referral and financial returns model.

We were doing revenue models daily, and it felt like an MBA class.

It made sense because no one would give marketing money, but if there is one thing I have learned, for your budget to be approved faster, you must get all your team involved and show the ROI.

When we finally agreed on a campaign plan, I researched all the influencers I knew because, as said before, “trust and awareness are what we needed”. I selected this influencer, and we paid him.

Bro, I prayed hard after. I prayed..laughing out loud.

Scaling a little:?

By Q2, we had settled on the influencer and the campaign plan and decided we wanted it out on a holiday, but you know, influencers insisted on another date and posted it.?

As soon as the post was made, our phones, Instagram accounts, and Facebook buzzed non-stop as people signed up in their thousands with transactions buzzing in and out of the system. I had hit a campaign jackpot.

God did not forget me.??

We also took our campaign offline radio station, and some mad dancers, like my former COO, would say [LOL] from Ogba through to Ikeja and Agege, sharing flyers with a couple of activators to add as other stopgaps while interacting with customers about the new app.

Some of my friends called me and were excited about the offline and online ads. For two months, we were busy and even employed more hands. I finally rested and got a good well done and a free lunch.

The Switch to Retention:

If you are a marketer reading this or a salesperson, you know that conversion is a numbers game, and the plan is to activate more people along the line before they fall off/drop off.

Your contingency plans are follow-up calls on drop-offs like those who couldn’t finish registration alone, those who downloaded the app and didn’t know the next stage, or those who didn’t know what the referral system is, amongst others.?

For Retention, work began on emails and calls, and as usual, Nigerian customers are tough on startups with questions like “Is my money safe? Can I withdraw anytime? You are just like the rest; you have no fund manager license, and the list goes on and on.”

The proverbial cancer that refused to leave. As we save one planet, another danger comes up.

More PR:

Having spent so much online, the next stop is to focus on other offline adventures, and this time, start again at another school in Lagos but with a different approach; instead of ambassadorship, which didn’t work, we could keep a small circle.?

I reached out to a LinkedIn friend who also had a thriving community on Facebook, and he suggested a popcorn and meet. He shared the flyers as we planned a popcorn and drink session in front of one of the hostels. I also had to make sure that it was approved because many schools can move mad as well.

Luckily, we had a good number of shows, and it was a success, yet again proving that more outings helped us establish trust better with new users because they could see us physically; in the months to come, we added a couple more outings, and turnout where always positive even though numbers are not as generous as using an Influencer.

More Merch:

One of the things that helped us connect more was the merchandise; they liked the T-shirts, caps, and pens, but the water bottles are a gold mine; Just offer someone a water bottle or a Tote Bag, and you have a customer.

I can’t really tell why, but people love their water bottles and tote bags. But of course, we still need to stay within budget.

The team didn’t just dash [give our free items]. It was timed to some conditions that needed to be fulfilled. So, merch was a good play that has closed gaps, especially in offline campaigns.

Just two weeks ago, a former colleague said he saw our branded hand fan with someone at The Experience. [Do you still think it doesn't work]

The fuss about Super Bowl-like events:?

Going into the new year, my best strategy would be looking at offline events and a couple of influencer marketing.

One of the strategies I have never really thought of using significant events like Big Brother for growth because every Kobo masters, especially as a start-up.

Two things would happen: they could love your product and go with it or hate it. Whatever they do take in p, prayers, my fellow sister, but the e, excitement of sponsoring a big event like this is nothing short of aww.

So, when such an event presented itself, we jumped on it [can't give you the exact details]. We had prepared for the biggest campaign and the results from it.

I put all my eggs in this basket and spent a big number of my budget, but it fell short of the result we had dreamed of. if you ask me, the Super Bowl may not be useful for your product, and the hype is not equal to the result.

Save yourself a sleepless night.

Managing my budget for the rest of the year:

I shifted the focus to low-hanging fruits like Facebook Ads that I have a love-hate relationship with and drew from the activation of a Growth executive[s] who would be on the field to activate new customers for the team.

The goal is to identify events and places where we can find potential customers offline and engage them from activation to conversation.?

In December, this year, I put together a couple of events to attend, but fortunately, my journey ended. I received positive feedback and am hopeful it will be ongoing into the new year.

Overall, I suffered, I smiled, and I won, but I will never trade this experience for anything. if you are looking for someone to help you drive your marketing campaigns, then reach out.

However, I am not accepting roles but am open to consulting opportunities, and just maybe if your offer bangs I can consider a role.

Follow me on LinkedIn or send me an email: [email protected]