Kola is the founder of Ventures Platform, an early-stage fund and startup accelerator for founders across Africa. Within a year, Kola and his team have invested in over 20 startups through the programme.
Kola bootstrapped his original business, Emerging Platform from idea to a significant success by mixing a healthy dose of risks with grit.
I met Kola last year, and we seem to immediately connect due to our shared belief in entrepreneurship as a viable way to accelerate growth potentials in Africa.
He recently wrote a piece on what he learnt from investing in 21 startups in 2 years.
On the show, we discussed his journey to entrepreneurship from grad school to running a family business and starting Emerging Platforms. Kola also provides some insight into the kinds of businesses Ventures Platform would accept into its accelerator program.
On This Episode You’ll Learn:
- Important lessons about being a serial entrepreneur he learned from his father who took big risks bootstrapping several businesses with a family in tow.
- How to sell your product to big clients through ‘proof-of-concept’ sales pitch
- Handing a family business over to another family member may not necessarily be the best thing for the business.
- How productising your service business can significantly transform your revenue and make it more predictable.
- And much more
Selected links from this episode
- Ventures Platform Work Space
- Timeout Magazine
- The Purpose Driven Life – Rick Warren
- Rocket Internet
- Ventures Platform Accelerator
- Wifi.com.ng
- Zero to One – Peter Thiel
- BudgIT
This episode was brought to you by:
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Accounteer is a ridiculously simple online accounting platform specifically designed for small and medium scale businesses in Africa. Accounteer simplifies your financial report, help you to create invoices, track your expenses and avoid overpaying taxes.
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