United Bank for Africa Plc is bringing together music entrepreneur M.I Abaga, Chowdeck co-founder Femi Aluko and venture capitalist Ashim Egunjobi for a discussion on building technology businesses around the practical needs of African consumers.
The session, scheduled for Thursday, July 16, 2026, at 11:00 a.m. West African Time, is the latest edition of the quarterly UBA Business Series.
It will examine how companies can convert customer feedback into technology-driven products suited to African markets.
Media entrepreneur Adaora Mbelu will moderate the conversation, which will be available virtually through UBA’s digital platforms.
The event’s theme, “Building for Africa’s Realities: Turning Consumer Feedback into Technology-Driven Solutions,” reflects a growing debate within the continent’s startup industry.
While African technology companies have attracted significant capital and expanded into new markets, many continue to face difficulties retaining customers, controlling operating costs and adapting products across countries with different infrastructure and spending patterns.
These conditions make customer feedback more than a public relations exercise. For businesses operating in sectors such as financial services, food delivery, retail and entertainment, it can provide early evidence of pricing problems, service failures and features that customers do not consider valuable.
UBA’s decision to centre the programme on locally informed product development suggests that the conversation around African startups is gradually moving beyond fundraising announcements and rapid expansion.
Investors are increasingly interested in companies that can demonstrate repeat usage, manageable customer-acquisition costs and a credible path to profitability.
Femi Aluko is expected to bring an operational perspective from Chowdeck, the on-demand delivery company he founded with Olumide Ojo and Lanre Yusuf in 2021.
The platform has expanded its services beyond restaurant deliveries as it attempts to build a broader logistics and consumer-services network.
Chowdeck says it has surpassed two million registered users and operates across 14 cities in Nigeria and Ghana.
M.I Abaga, whose full name is Jude Lemfani Abaga, will contribute experience from the creative and entertainment economy.
Beyond his music career, he founded TASCK, a platform connecting African creative professionals with commercial and social-impact opportunities.
His participation broadens the discussion by highlighting how technology can support businesses outside the conventional fintech and logistics segments.
Egunjobi will provide the investor’s viewpoint. As co-founder and managing partner of Octerra Capital, she focuses on early-stage technology companies and will likely address the standards founders must meet when seeking capital in a more selective funding environment.
For UBA, the programme also strengthens its engagement with entrepreneurs who could become important users of its payment, credit and business-banking products.
The bank describes the Business Series as a knowledge-sharing initiative covering enterprise growth, financial management, technology adoption and changing industry conditions. Participation is open to UBA customers and non-customers.
However, listening to customers will not remove every obstacle confronting African startups. Unstable exchange rates, limited access to affordable capital, regulatory differences and weak physical infrastructure can still undermine a well-designed product.
Companies must therefore balance consumer preferences with operational discipline and an understanding of the economic conditions in each market.
The value of the UBA conversation will ultimately depend on whether it produces practical lessons that founders can apply to product development, financing and expansion.
Its combination of creative, operational and investment experience nevertheless offers a useful reminder: technology succeeds in Africa when it responds to how people actually live and spend—not merely to how founders expect them to behave.
