Launch first, ask for forgiveness later
Licences, strikes, and exits: just another week in Nigerian tech.
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One of tech’s favourite maxims is that innovation moves faster than regulation. But these days, regulation has pretty much caught up.
Nigeria’s Central Bank, for instance, has a licence for everything: PSSP (Payment Service Provider), PTSP (Payment Terminal Service Provider), MMO (Mobile Money Operator). That’s not even the full list.
These licences cost time, money, and a healthy dose of patience. So, depending on the size of your operation, you either collect a few that matter and get to work, or, if you're a big dog, you collect as many as you can like. They might come in handy someday.
Now imagine you’re one of these big players and you’re about to launch a shiny new product. You could:
Check your licence library, realise you’re missing a key piece, and apply for it.
Squint at your collection, do some legal gymnastics, and decide that one of your existing licences can probably cover it.
If you choose Option B, you better be very precise with the legalese. For instance, insist you’re not a remittance app because remittance companies can’t hold deposits.
Or you can go old-school: launch first, ask for forgiveness later. The CBN says no to everything anyway. Once your app is out in the wild, you can always tweak things based on whatever letter they send you.
Compliance and legal folks get paid a fine buck to figure out which devil is the more bearable option.
Needless to say, this entire conversation is hypothetical.
Let’s move on to a conversation with actual names….
All hustle, no leverage
This week, Nigeria’s ride-hailing union held a 24-hour strike to demand “fair treatment” from Uber, Bolt, InDrive, and whichever new app is pitching “low commission, same hustle” this month.
The problem? They chose May 1st—Workers’ Day—for the strike. A public holiday when most people are home and not even requesting rides.
Here’s a soundbite from the union’s national treasurer, who must learn to choose better strike dates:
“We are using today to show the app companies that we are not their slaves. They’ve virtually turned our job into slavery. Deciding prices over the car they did not buy, the car they did not maintain or drive, or the rider they did not interface with.”
But let’s face it. Even if the strike had happened on any other day, it likely wouldn’t have landed. Why? Because ride-hailing strikes rarely work.
Too many drivers can’t afford to strike. With fuel prices, car loans, and inflation squeezing margins, skipping even one day of income isn’t realistic for most.
There’s always someone online. Enforcement is patchy, and many drivers (especially new ones) will stay logged in. If Bolt shows surge pricing, someone’s going to answer that trip.
The platforms don't flinch. Uber and friends rarely respond publicly. They just wait it out while passengers jump to the next available app.
Even if this May Day strike was symbolic, the reality is: Nigerian ride-hailing drivers don’t have much leverage. As I argued last week, they may be fighting the wrong battle.
Adedeji Olowe offered a thoughtful response to that point on LinkedIn. Here’s a lightly edited excerpt:
“I have a few predictions:
- The genie is out for car-hailing, it would always exist and would not disappear again
- The market would correct itself as anything that’s too heavy to fly is coming straight down
- Because the market is always there, but the economics are poor, someone will find a way to fix it and others would copy
- Yellow Cabs would never come back; their coffins are already sealed
- Unionized apps would never succeed as launching an app with envy is not the same as running it well
But how could this change?
- Expect someone to wake up one day and decide that quality is important, from the car to the driver to the experience
- But since most people cannot afford this quality, there would be stratification where you get gbogbo ero cab or premium cab
-Corporates may bring fleets where things are better run, with fixed salaries for drivers and proper training; this would be part of the stratification of quality”
Bonus: Not that anyone’s keeping track anymore, but Flutterwave’s C-suite has been playing musical chairs for a while. The latest exit? The company’s Chief Technical Officer (CTO), who announced his departure this week, though insiders say he’d been out of the building for months.
He joins a growing list: the CFO and two other finance execs left in November 2023, followed by the COO in March 2024. Both roles have since been filled.
Riddle: Is it really an acquisition if the CEO leaves immediately after the deal closes? If it looks like a fire sale, talks like a fire sale... you get the picture.
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See you on Sunday!
move fast, break things