It’s hard for a company not to take on the personality of its founders. They’re the ones who set the culture, express the vision, and make those first crucial hires. Luckily for Flutterwave, Olugbenga “GB” Agboola has the kind of work ethic and demeanor that’s built for success.
The way a founder’s personality seeps into their company is plain to see across almost every industry. Jeff Bezos’ ultra-competitive spirit pervades the machinations of Amazon. Apple still follows Steve Jobs’ form-follows-function ethos and emphasis on simplicity. And who can deny that Tesla is the very manifestation of Elon Musk’s idiosyncratic style and outsider positioning?
So how does a conscientious overachiever like Olugbenga Agboola affect a payment services company that has gone from simple startup to Africa’s first unicorn? It may be harder to notice the personality of a tech company focused on finance, but it’s there. It just takes a little bit of digging to uncover how the company seems to reflect everything about how he is and how he conducts business.
Olugbenga Agboola: ‘People Are the Secret Sauce’
For starters, look at how the company has grown.
“I have to admit that I am very people-centric,” Olugbenga Agboola said. “I listen to people a lot. I think of what people will feel. I think of their own career growth, what will work for them. I do this because I realized very early that people are the secret sauce of the company. It’s not our technology. It’s our people.”
A company that focuses on people doesn’t grow according to data trends. It grows according to user needs and employee availability. By that metric, it’s easy to see how Olugbenga Agboola’s outgoing personality and thoughtful disposition are baked into the strategy that’s led Flutterwave to its most recent $3 billion valuation.
“It’s the people that come to work every day that put in their shift, those are the people that matter,” he stated. “So I put them ahead of my investors, ahead of my board.”
That’s one way that Flutterwave has been able to keep growing amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the post-pandemic economic challenges. Flutterwave’s emphasis on employee morale has kept it chugging along at its typical breakneck speed.
As it turns out, when employees feel valued, well compensated, and important, they work harder and stay longer. That ensures that Flutterwave doesn’t suffer from brain drain and that legacy information remains with the company, even as it grows into new markets and launches new products.
The other way that Flutterwave manifests the personality of Olugbenga Agboola is through its product strategy.
“I rely on the Colin Powell rule, which is that you have to be data-aware, not data-dependent,” he said. “When you know too much about something, it’s too late. For example, I imagine that to make a decision, I need just 60% of the information required. By the time I get to 95% or 90% and I’m sure, then it’s too late for a decision to be made. It’s already in the past, and the right time to act is long gone. I believe in that a lot. It’s something that I use in my work, and it’s worked for me all my life. That’s one [piece of] advice that I would give and also to ensure that I do that.”
Flutterwave began by helping large companies navigate payments across national borders. International corporations are great clients because they have lots of money. But instead of continuing to focus solely on the biggest fish, Flutterwave pivoted toward helping small businesses and, eventually, individuals.
Those were moves that seem prescient in retrospect but had a risky feeling at the time. The company made the moves anyway, relying on Olugbenga Agboola’s intuition and understanding of the facts.
“The other thing I do is to trust my gut,” he shared. “That’s something that has always driven me in the right direction and really helped me stay true to what I want to accomplish. It helps me do the right thing and act quickly.”
