About Babs Ogundeyi
Babs Ogundeyi, founder and group CEO of Kuda, has described the digital-only bank as a full-service financial institution focused on Africa, offering services such as P2P transfers, debit cards, and fractional shares. He has stated that the company's mission is to make financial services more accessible, affordable, and rewarding for Africans, and that Kuda has grown to over seven million customers, with 90% based in Nigeria. Ogundeyi has said that the company is shifting its focus from aggressive growth to operational stability and sustainability, including a greater emphasis on credit products for salary earners and expanding business banking offerings.
Ogundeyi has commented on the broader tech ecosystem, predicting that 2024 would see fewer tech companies, ideally due to mergers and acquisitions rather than shutdowns)Skip. He has noted a shift in operator mindset toward profitability and sustainability, and has said that AI will be used for concrete use cases such as customer service to improve unit economics. Ogundeyi has also remarked that Nigeria's regulator has become more open to crypto, which he said would allow for greater innovation. He has stated that he does not focus on unicorn valuations, but rather on building a sustainable business that serves customers effectively.
Source: AI-verified profile updated from Babs Ogundeyi's recent appearances.
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Transcript (14 segments)
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Interviewer0:00
Babs, I want to run through some numbers with you. According to the World Bank, about 350 million adults in sub-Saharan Africa remain unbanked. That's 17% of the global unbanked population. For a variety of reasons that I'll ask you about, what led you to start Kuda Bank and what was the problem that you wanted to solve?
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Babs Ogundeyi0:23
Yeah, I think the statistics speak for themselves. We saw an opportunity to do something quite special in terms of making financial services more accessible to an African audience. One of the reasons we felt it was inaccessible, apart from some of the logistical issues, was also an affordability issue. So the ethos was really to create a financial institution that could offer financial services that were both accessible and affordable.
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Interviewer1:09
The UN's Economic Commission for Africa points to a significant increase in financial inclusion across the continent, largely due to the adoption of mobile money accounts. How can fintech be used as a tool to help reduce poverty?
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Babs Ogundeyi1:28
I think financial inclusion is a start to helping towards reduction of poverty. I don't think it reduces poverty in itself, but if you're not financially included, it makes it even more difficult to come out of poverty. So I think fintech has done a lot in terms of leveraging technology to bring financial services right to everybody's doorstep.
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Interviewer2:03
Do you think that it's helped with financial literacy on the continent?
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Babs Ogundeyi2:07
Definitely. One of the things we've been able to achieve at Kuda is to really simplify financial services. We make it really simple for everyday people to understand. I've spent most of my career in financial institutions and I still find it complicated, so you can imagine for normal everyday people that aren't in financial services, it can be complicated. So yes, I think that's the beginning: make it simple to understand and then offer different fun ways to educate everyday users about things like budgeting and savings.
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Interviewer2:54
Across the African continent, there are an estimated 400 million people that still receive and use cash as their form of payment. What would you say have been the biggest challenges in trying to turn that tide around?
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Babs Ogundeyi3:10
Sometimes it's difficult to convince somebody that has always dealt with cash to deal with a digital-only institution. So there is a challenge. As I said, there is an education challenge, a trust gap that needs to be closed, and also historically there has been a cost to actually bank. If you have a dollar and you put it under your pillow, it's always going to be a dollar so long as it's not stolen. But in most traditional financial institutions, if you put a dollar in the bank, you don't receive it back as a dollar. It costs money to put it in, costs money to take it out, costs money to keep it there. So when there is this low trust and a very sensitive attitude towards pricing, it becomes more difficult if you keep taking from the little that they have. So the tide is changing, but there's still a long way to go.
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Interviewer4:28
So when you have all this technology and all this new, bigger, better, how are you reaching communities that are underserved and may not even have the infrastructure?
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Babs Ogundeyi4:41
I think there are two things. Mobile phones and the internet have really penetrated even the most remote areas. In Nigeria, for example, there are more mobile phones than there are people. So internet penetration and mobile device penetration is relatively high. I think the work has been done there, and for us, all we need to do is to use the technology we have to build much better products. The distribution is already there, direct to your device. The internet works, though there are issues around stability and bandwidth clarity, but it's progressing. Over time, I think it's just going to be second nature even in the most remote areas.
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Interviewer5:45
China has emerged as a global leader in the fintech space overall. How would you say that has transformed what's happening around other parts of the world when it comes to fintech?
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Babs Ogundeyi5:57
They're doing things they've been doing for years that others are just getting started in. To be honest, I think as with many things, China has been at the forefront. When you look at manufacturing, for example, China has been able to mass-produce products at a relatively accessible price point. I see the same strategy adopted for things like software and fintech. So it's not a surprise. I do think there's innovation across the world across the board, and there's a lot of value in what has been done and the strides that have been made in the region for sure.
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Interviewer6:56
Babs, thank you so much for joining us.
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Babs Ogundeyi7:00
Thank you.
