#9: OPay (Opera Pay) - From Web Browser & Fintech to blitzscaling and building Africa's Super App
Overview: Today we’re going to talk about OPay - The African Payments startup, we’ll discuss its early history, initial focus on African payments, blitzscale attempt to become Africa’s Super App & OPay's future outlook. This episode was recorded on August 9, 2020 Companies discussed: Opera Group, OPay (Opera Pay), OCar, OFood, ORide, OExpress, OBus, OTrike, Beijing Kunlun, Meituan Dianping, Tencent (WeChat), Go-Jek, Grab, Jumia (Jumia Pay), AliPay & GTBank. Business concepts discussed: Blitzscaling, Super App strategy, Equity fundraising, Venture Capital (VC) / Entrepreneur risk dynamics, China Tech, Fintech, Betting Technology & Chinese investments in Africa tech. Conversation highlights: (00:40) - Why the OPay story is important (02:39) - Background on Opera and market share in Africa (05:24) - Background on Zhou Yahui and Beijing Kunlun Opera acquisition (08:25) - OPay fundraising (12:40) - OPay Blitzscaling approach, trade offs and other examples (23:15) - Super App strategy discussion: Great and not-yet great examples (32:30) - OPay in Nigeria and multiple business lines (37:22) - OPay refocusing on Fintech and reacting to COVID (43:30) - Bankole’s overall thoughts and outlook (49:00) - Olumide’s overall thoughts and outlook (54:30) - Bankole’s recommendations and small wins (56:07) - Olumide’s recommendations and small wins Olumide’s recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: How Innovation Works (by Matt Ridley) Small win: Good to be back in the gym after 5 months Other content mentioned: Blitzfail: How Not to Go off the Rails (by David Sacks) Bankole’s recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: The Worst Epidemic (from Waking Up Podcast by Sam Harris) Small win: Eloquent Chrome extension Other content mentioned: GTBank Habari - customer review We’d love to hear from you. If you have feedback, topics you’d like to hear, or just want to say hello, please email [email protected] Join our insider mailing list where we get feedback on new episodes & find all episodes at Afrobility.com