#70: Carbon - How the credit-led neobank is providing loans, BNPL and financial services across Nigeria and Africa

Afrobility: Africa Tech and Business

Overview: Today, we’re going to explore Carbon, the credit-led Neobank. We’ll discuss the Carbon story across the following areas:

1. African lending & consumer credit

2. Carbon's founding & early history

3. Product & monetization strategy

4. Competitive positioning & potential exit options

5. Overall outlook

This episode was recorded on Oct 15, 2023

Companies discussed: Carbon (PayLater, One Credit, OneFi, One Finance), Diamond Bank, Cafe Neo, Kaizen Venture Partners, FairMoney, Branch, Paga, Kuda Bank, GTBank, Access Bank, Chipper Cash, NuBank, Lesaka (NET1 UEPS), Lendable, Interswitch, Visa, RenMoney, Tala & Safaricom (M-Pesa)

Business concepts discussed: Smartphone credit assessment, consumer lending, unbanked population, Neobank strategy, Personal Finance OS & Buy Now Pay Later

Conversation highlights:

• (00:48) - Carbon context

• (08:15) - Consumer lending in Africa and Neobanks

• (15:32) - Background on African banking and Neobanks

• (32:02) - Founding story of Carbon & Founders’ background

• (54:04) - Fundraising

• (1:01:15) - Growth and Geographical Expansion

• (1:08:03) - Acquisitions and investments

• (1:15:54) - Team and organisation

• (1:19:35) - Key metrics

• (1:40:46) - Product strategy and monetization

• (2:00:08) - Competition and options for exit

• (2:10:33 - Olumide’s overall thoughts and outlook

• (2:20:38) - Bankole’s overall thoughts and outlook

• (2:30:15) - Recommendation and small wins

Olumide’s recommendations & small wins:

• Interested in investing in Africa Tech with Olumide: Read about Adamantium fund & contact me at [e-mail]. Founders looking for funding: If you're a B2B founder working on Education, Health, Finance or food, please contact me for funding at [e-mail]

• Checkout my FIREDOM book = FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) + Freedom = personal finance and financial independence book. Website, Read: Substack Newsletter & Buy: Print, eBook or Audiobook)

• Recommendation: Lil Kesh - Shoki Remix. Song is beyond nice. I probably understand 15% of it. Lil Kesh was 19 years old when the song was released. The power of young people to Incredible things. Wow!

• Recommendation: Lil Kesh - Don't Call Me (feat. Zinoleesky) [Lyrics Visualiser].

• Recommendation: Ruger - Ruger. The song literally starts with “Man, I spit fire…”. How can I not love it?

• Small win: Switched to Instacart (from Amazon Fresh) for groceries. Not going back

Bankole’s recommendations & small wins:

• Recommendation: Fair Isaac Company on Business Breakdowns, MTN on Business Breakdowns

• Small win: New phone

• Other content: Building Magic - The Cafe Neo story & Chipper Cash AI Day

Listeners: We’d love to hear from you. Email [e-mail] with feedback!

Founders & Operators: We'd love to hear about what you're working on, email us at [e-mail]

Investors: It would be great to link up with you. Contact us at [e-mail]

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