Business Archives - Adedeji Olowe

Virtual accounts could be the next big thing in African payments

Let’s be real: innovation in Africa doesn’t get the recognition it deserves. The world tends to assume we’re just playing catch-up, but sometimes, we take an existing idea and run with it so effectively that we make it ours. Case in point: virtual accounts.

Now, virtual accounts aren’t a Nigerian invention. They’ve been around for years, quietly solving payment problems in other parts of the world. But Nigeria? We’ve taken this product and turned it into a payment powerhouse. Today, virtual accounts aren’t just another payment method here; they’re the payment method. Cards, POS terminals, even mobile wallets? All trailing behind.

If you’re reading this from a country like the US, Canada, or somewhere in Europe, you probably don’t get why virtual accounts are such a big deal. That’s because your payments ecosystem actually works. You’ve got working credit cards, smooth PayPal transactions, and Apple Pay that actually pays. Good for you.

But here in Africa and other parts of the world, where payment systems were stuck in the 2000s until recently, virtual accounts are a lifesaver.

So, what are virtual accounts, and why are they so important for Africa? I’ll explain, but first, let’s briefly discuss what problems virtual accounts solve.

The problem that a virtual account solves

For those unfamiliar, a virtual account is essentially a unique bank account number tied to a specific transaction or customer. It allows you to make payments via direct transfer — no cards, cash, or complicated hoops to jump through.

Why does this matter? Because in markets like Nigeria, payments via card or POS terminals are unreliable at best and a nightmare at worst. Imagine running a small business, and a customer wants to pay online. The card they’re using hasn’t been activated for online transactions. Or they don’t get the OTP on time. Or their card is expired, damaged, or lost. The transaction fails, and you’re left hanging.

Virtual accounts, however, eliminate drama by letting customers pay directly from their bank accounts — no cards, no delays, and no nonsense. It’s no surprise that businesses and individuals in Nigeria quickly embraced this method.

What started as a convenient alternative has now become the dominant payment channel.

Why Nigeria became Africa’s poster child for virtual accounts

The funny thing about Nigeria’s success with virtual accounts is that it wasn’t inevitable. In fact, it’s a story of two unlikely players — Moniepoint (then TeamApt) and Providus Bank — taking a huge gamble on a product that didn’t seem necessary at first.

Back in 2019, Moniepoint had just been issued its switching license by the Central Bank of Nigeria, and Providus was still finding its feet as a regional commercial bank. The payments landscape was crowded with established players like Paystack, Flutterwave, and Interswitch. Virtual accounts weren’t on anyone’s radar. Yet, these two took a chance, and the results were transformative.

At the time, everyone was focused on card payments. But the reality was bleak. Out of 100 bank account holders, typically, only about 60 have cards. Many of those cards were inactive or damaged. OTPs and online activation processes were another layer of inconvenience. Virtual accounts provided a simple alternative: direct transfers.

Within a year, virtual accounts were everywhere, powering everything from e-commerce to utility payments. Today, they’ve cemented their place as the backbone of Nigeria’s payment ecosystem.

So, why hasn’t the rest of Africa caught on? And should they care

This is the question that keeps me up at night. Virtual accounts have proven themselves in Nigeria, so why aren’t they taking off across the rest of the continent?

Of the 54 countries in Africa, 26 currently support faster payments, making them compatible with virtual account technology. This foundation is significant, but adoption hasn’t taken off continent-wide. Why?

Part of the answer lies in how payments work in other African countries. Take East Africa, for example. Mobile money reigns supreme. Payments systems like M-Pesa have made it so easy to transfer money to anyone and anything that banks have taken a back seat.

But here’s the catch: mobile money isn’t always the best solution. It’s great for peer-to-peer transfers and small transactions but struggles with larger payments or complex business needs. That’s where virtual accounts could come in, offering a bridge between mobile money and traditional banking systems.

Another factor is infrastructure. Virtual accounts rely on robust interbank transfer systems, and while 19 African countries, as of January 2025, have these systems in place, the remaining 28 lag behind. For these regions, faster payments are a prerequisite for virtual accounts to thrive.

Why fintechs should bet on virtual accounts

Let’s call it like it is: African fintechs need a new growth path, and virtual accounts might just be the answer. The card market? It’s tapped out. Not everyone has cards; even if they do, the infrastructure to support them is shaky. Failed transactions, delayed authorizations — it’s a mess.

And don’t get me started on International Money Transfer Operators (IMTOs). Once the golden child of fintech, the sector is now overcrowded. Margins are shrinking, competition is fierce, and any founder banking entirely on IMTOs is running on borrowed time.

But here’s where virtual accounts come in. Unlike some shiny new fintech trends, virtual accounts aren’t just theory. They’ve been stress-tested in Nigeria, and not only did they survive, they thrived. They’ve become the backbone of payments, handling everything from e-commerce transactions to utility bills with ease.

Of course, nothing worth doing comes without its hurdles. Virtual accounts rely on fast and reliable interbank transfers; a luxury not every African country has right now. Then there’s the regulatory elephant in the room. Some regulators might hesitate, not because virtual accounts are flawed, but because entrenched players like Mobile Money Operators (MMOs) will fight tooth and nail to keep their dominance.

However, these challenges aren’t insurmountable. Fintechs that lean into virtual accounts are positioning themselves for growth in a market hungry for innovation. If we’ve learned anything from Nigeria, it’s that virtual accounts don’t just work; they win. The rest of Africa is the next frontier, and anyone not paying attention is missing the plot.

A uniquely African solution

What I love about virtual accounts is how they’ve adapted to Africa’s realities. They’re not just a repackaged Silicon Valley solution. They’re built on the backbone of our banking systems, solving problems specific to our markets.

And let’s not forget the cost factor. For businesses, virtual accounts are often cheaper than card systems or mobile money. That’s a big deal in a continent where every naira, shilling, or rand counts.

During the Nigerian End SARS protests, which shockingly was 5 years ago, the power of virtual accounts was evident. As financial restrictions tightened, many turned to virtual accounts for transactions, further cementing their role in Nigeria’s payments ecosystem.

If you ask me, virtual accounts are just getting started. Nigeria has shown what’s possible, but the real potential lies in taking this product across Africa and even beyond.

Imagine virtual accounts in countries where cross-border trade is booming but payment systems are lagging behind. Or in regions where mobile money has hit its limits, and large corporations like Safaricom, Naspers, and Dangote Industries, among others, need a more reliable alternative. The possibilities are endless.

Virtual accounts aren’t just a Nigerian success story; they’re a blueprint for how Africa can lead in payments innovation. Imagine their potential in countries where cross-border trade is booming but payment systems are lagging. Or in regions where mobile money is showing its age and businesses need a more reliable alternative.

The bad economy makes a cashless Nigeria more realistic than ever

Inflation is driving Nigeria toward a cashless economy, making electronic payments essential. This shift, though challenging, offers opportunities for fintech growth and streamlined government oversight.

Anyone who’s been watching the fall of the Naira, can only be astonished by how many notes it takes to buy anything these days. Just four years ago, in January 2020, $1,000 was worth about N360,000 which meant you’d get 360 pieces of N1,000 notes or 3,600 pieces of N100 notes. By the way, that’s 3.6kg to log around if you went for the N100 notes and a N1,000,000 composed of ten N100,000 bundles are 1kg.

Fast forward to 2024, $1,000 is now a disastrous N1.6 million. To use that cash to make some payments, you need 1,600 pieces of N1,000 notes. So, you’d have to count out 16 bundles of N100,000. If you want that in N100 notes, that’s 16kg to carry around. The weight of this note is the testament of how bad things are for Nigerians.

With so much deadweight to carry around, everyone is looking for more and more notes to be able to do anything substantial and many are realizing that carrying the volume of cash required to do most things now is just simply impractical.

Inflation continues to destroy the value of the Naira and no new higher denominations have been introduced. Even with the smaller notes, when was the last time you saw N10, N20 or N50? It’s almost like they’ve become entirely useless. So, what we’ve seen in recent times is that people are increasingly turning to electronic payments for their everyday transactions, shifting us further away from a cash-driven economy.

Cashless economy: the Government’s push vs the economy’s hard shove

I didn’t fully grasp the magnitude of this issue until someone from TechCabal reached out to me to discuss the line items of the national numbers. We saw that the number of electronic transactions had shot up significantly but there was something off with the revenue being paid to the Government from what the banks were reporting; it wasn’t commensurate with the volume of transactions.

Everyone expected more electronic transactions to have a commensurate increase in what the Government is earning with electronic transfer levy.

Looking at this more closely, we then figured out the reason for this. What has happened is that small ticket transactions are now being done electronically which wasn’t the case before now. Previously, most electronic transactions were for amounts over N10,000, which used to be a significant amount of cash to carry. And people would have to pay a N50 electronic transfer levy. Back then, we were primarily paying for small items with physical cash and electronic transactions were larger, which made it easier for the Government to collect revenue.

But now with inflation and the rising costs of living, how much cash can one carry around even to fulfill the most modest transactions? Over the last 4 years, items that cost N1,000 then are now N5,000 and above. So, if you withdrew N10,000 from the ATM and you could spend N1,000 ten times for various items, you need to withdraw N50,000 to do the same thing.

Beyond the fact that the average Nigerian is impoverished, they can’t even get the N50,000 from the ATM easily. Most ATMs now dispense a maximum of N5,000 per withdrawal, if you can get it to give you cash to start with.

It then makes sense for everyone to switch to digital payments. Yes, many of these individual transactions often fall below the threshold for fees like the electronic fund transfer levy.

Naturally because of this, the Government isn’t seeing the expected revenue (and we hope they don’t) because this Government will tax a dead man just to raise funds (and possibly waste it on useless expenditures).

The interesting thing is that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been pushing for a cashless economy sinc2 2012; but they have not been successful because of half-hearted implementation and multiple policy reversals. But it’s fascinating how the bad economy has led to changes in the trend of transactions, doing what the CBN couldn’t – shoving us, ruthlessly and mercilessly, toward a cashless Nigeria.

Electronic transactions are becoming increasingly essential, bringing the cashless economy closer than ever. If the Government doesn’t introduce higher Naira denominations and keeps us locked at the N1,000 note, we might just see all transactions move to electronic and a fully cashless economy may soon become unavoidable. If the situation worsens—say, if a sachet of pure water becomes N500 or the exchange rate reaches N3,000 to $1 (God forbid)—cash will become practically useless. But we never know, they may decide to introduce a higher value note.

Implications and Benefits of a Cashless Economy

As electronic payments become more prevalent, physical cash will become less necessary. People won’t need ATMs anymore but unfortunately businesses in that space will be destroyed. Also, the whole issue of the Government frowning against people spraying Naira at parties will vanish because where will the cash come from? Unless they want to spray dollars.

With the transition to electronic transactions, the Government will have a much better view of the real economy because all financial movements will have digital footprints.

Additionally, we can expect fintechs to remain very successful as this shift presents significant opportunities for them to thrive as they’ll need to meet the growing demand for digital payments. Banks will also benefit from streamlined operations since they won’t have to handle cash so much and shift their focus to digital transactions instead.

However, there are challenges to consider. Fraudsters will find new ways to exploit the system, especially for those who may take a while to understand how electronic payments work; making easier targets for phishing scams and likes.

What I don’t understand is how kidnappers will request for ransoms. I’m not sure the unavailability of Naira in cash might be enough to deter them. Perhaps they might shift to demanding ransoms in dollars. Whatever it is they decide to do, I hope they fail miserably at it and get caught.

But by and large, beyond the unfortunate and challenging circumstances driving this, a move towards a cashless economy could offer substantial benefits. Perhaps this is just what we need to give the Government a clearer understanding of what’s really going on with our economic activities. And if managed effectively, this shift could turn a difficult situation into an opportunity for significant improvement in our financial system and the Nigerian economy.

The myth of work-life balance

I strongly believe that true work-life balance is about prioritizing hard work and sacrifices now to secure future success and fulfillment, rather than juggling every single aspect of life including work and leisure.

I was at an event recently where we got to discussing the whole work-life balance conundrum. It was an interesting conversation because the panel at that event had a mix of business owners, founders, CEOs, etc. And then among the attendees, we had a very senior HR person, probably about 50 years old; so this person had had a lot of experience on the job.

We all started talking about work-life balance, which seems to be a hot topic these days, especially with younger people, and it was fascinating to hear from people on both sides of the argument.

I agree.

Most professionals believe that work-life balance is being able to juggle work, personal life, and everything else you want to do—which is great, right? Because life isn’t just about focusing on one single thing. But, on the flip side, you have people like me who others believe are against the concept of work-life balance.

To set the record straight, I’m not here to oppose the concept. In fact, I strongly believe in work-life balance but I just think we have different interpretations of what it means.

The most common picture of work-life balance is having a stable nine-to-five job, and making time for family, friends, and other interests outside of work. Work is often viewed simply as a means to an end, which is perfectly fine for many people. Not everyone wants to excel in every aspect of life.

However, for some of us, this traditional approach may not work. Why? Because in reality, if you’re ambitious and striving for outstanding success in what you do, trying to achieve the conventional work-life balance will never get you there. Anything that’s special literally has to be something that the average person can’t or won’t do. Success often requires going beyond the average and the inability or unwillingness to do that is why many people don’t succeed in their careers.

For instance, imagine you’re in school and your desire is to graduate with a First Class and get a scholarship for your Master’s degree. Naturally, you may need to sacrifice some ‘fun’ time to achieve your goals. If you attempt to ‘balance’ fun and academics like others, you might just end up with a second class upper, or even worse a “strong second class lower” as some people love to describe it. Of course, just say goodbye to your MSc/MBA scholarship aspirations.

Similarly, in your career, if 100 of you are employed at the same time but you aspire to climb the corporate ladder quickly and earn an attractive salary, you can’t be thinking about work-life balance in this way because that gets you nowhere. If you put in only the same amount of effort others do or only ever satisfy just the minimum required e.g nobody is able to reach you when there’s an emergency at work simply because it’s the weekend; obviously, what you wish to achieve isn’t going to happen.

I think everyone just needs to decide what they want. There’s nothing inherently wrong with wanting work-life balance, but it’s important to recognize and make peace with what you’d be giving up for it. Of course, there’s also nothing good about killing yourself over your work and missing out on important moments with the people or things you love. Everyone needs to decide what they want out of life and be prepared to make choices that align with those goals.

But if you’re fine with settling for average then yes, by all means, choose this approach to work-life balance.

I don’t agree.

When discussing whether work-life balance is all it’s made out to be, one of the most common questions people ask is, “What if you work so hard and you die suddenly and never get to enjoy the fruits of your labor?” Honestly, it’s a valid concern and there’s a real risk because pushing yourself so hard without taking care of your health can indeed lead to serious consequences for you, including death.

But the twist here is that if you’re also poor and become faced with health issues, you may not be able to save yourself.

The reality is, poor health and death doesn’t discriminate between the rich or poor. It comes for everyone.

Like I mentioned earlier, if you really desire to be very successful, you have to go the extra mile. There’s no debating that. If many people are in competition for a particular thing or role, only the absolute best will get it. And this principle isn’t limited to corporate careers only; even in sports, only the best of the best make it to the top. It’s now on you to decide how much you’re willing to fight and sacrifice to stand out.

Think about it—if you want to be a top footballer or an Olympian, you can’t expect to achieve greatness through a simple work-life balance routine. When others are taking breaks or going to meet up with friends after training, you’ll need to stay and keep pushing yourself; expanding your limits.

What do you want out of life?

If your ambition is to excel in your field, you can’t have work-life balance because that kind of success often demands relentless dedication and prioritizing your goals above all else.

So again, what do you want out of life? And what and how much are you willing to sacrifice for it?

Take a moment to think about your answers to these questions and then you have your bigger answer on if work-life balance is for you.

Here’s what I believe work-life balance actually is

I know all this must be quite confusing because I mentioned I believe in work-life balance right? Yes, I absolutely do but let me clarify what I mean. I believe that the real work-life (for those who wish to be successful) is about working now so you can balance later. This is the only approach to achieving success and fulfillment that makes sense to me.

The way I see it is that anyone who’s going anywhere in life needs to attack their goals with all of their mind in the present; putting in the hard work, making sacrifices, and pushing to achieve greatness. And of course, when you get this success, it’ll allow you to be able to enjoy yourself and find balance.

For instance, imagine giving your all to reach the top of your career; becoming a senior executive, winning gold medals as an Olympian, becoming a world-renowned artist, or an award-winning video producer. It’s about giving your all to reach that level where your efforts pay off and you can enjoy the rewards.

Picture a life after years of relentless effort, when you finally reach a point where you can relax and coast through life, content and fulfilled. When this happens, you can truly say you’ve earned your rest because the benefits and compensation for your time, effort and sacrifices would have finally fallen into place.

The risk with aiming for conventional work-life balance which is to work now and also balance now is that if you’re not careful and you focus too much on enjoying leisure so early on, without laying a solid foundation for achievement, you might find yourself working well into your later years and you still might not get to a level where your earnings and everything else you’ve accumulated is enough to create value for you to be able to really rest when the time comes.

Why do you think you still see people still searching for jobs past age 55, struggling financially? Forget those whom life probably dealt a really bad hand and they lost everything. For many others, it’s probably because they were busy lying flat, prioritizing leisure over long-term success earlier in life, without adequate savings or enough accomplishments to sustain them.

So, for me, work-life balance has nothing to do with evenly dividing your time between work and personal life—it’s about strategically investing your time and effort now to secure a future where you can truly enjoy personal fulfillment in the long run.

That’s true balance.

A few of the tools that make me effective

Efficiency isn’t about being perfect; it’s about knowing your limits and leveraging technology smartly. Tools like Todoist for tasks, voice notes for clarity, and VS Code for coding keep me on track. Success isn’t a destination but a journey of continuous improvement.

I wouldn’t call myself the most effective person, but I’m keenly aware of my limitations and a few strengths I have. Let’s just say I’m obsessed with personal efficiency.

Because I respect myself a lot and I don’t want to be insulted, I’ve respectfully cultivated a culture of using technology to make up for some of these limitations and I’m able to achieve a measure of personal effectiveness using different tools and techniques.

I mean, I’m not yet a billionaire (when will maga pay? 🥺), so I won’t say these tools have taken me to the top. But I can say for sure that they’ve definitely taken me far. Case in point, I have the worst memory in the world and I can’t remember sh*t to save my own life. As a matter of fact, as I’m writing this, I can’t even remember my name.

But in 2015, I discovered Todoist and just to show how bad my memory is, I don’t even remember how I managed to find it. Here’s the thing. There are so many task tracking tools in the market but this particular one caught my fancy because it was easy. It was love at first sight. The chemistry was amazing. I’m even considering getting married to it 🤣.

Something that stood out about Todoist was that I could use it not only on my phone, but on my laptop and PC as well, a feature which wasn’t common 10 years ago. The app allows me to record literally everything. I have details of everyone’s information like birthdays as well as all the tasks I have to do. I can set dates and times to these tasks and it has tons of reminders. I can’t say what exactly was so special about it. I guess I just fell in love with it. And one thing that made me stick with it is the fact that I literally get that dopamine hit when I mark something as done. It’s one of the most fulfilling things in the world, marking a task as done.

So Todoist is one of my best tools ever.

Here are some of the other areas that I have applied tools to improve my efficiency

Recording voice messages

I work with a lot of writers at Lendsqr and personally. Before now, they sometimes got stuck when they needed directions for new writing directions or a summary of what to write about. Then I discovered that I could simply send a voice note when I am in between tasks or when I wasn’t using my hands. That made their lives so easy that they now love it..

The good thing is that I could send voice notes from different platforms – on Windows, I use the voice recorder. On my phone, I simply use WhatsApp to send quick notes. Google Workspace recently added voice notes to their mobile and web apps; I now terrorize everyone at Lendsqr with my half-baked ideas every minute of the day.

I’m so glad I don’t work for Adedeji Olowe 😂😂

Jokes apart, voice notes are incredibly helpful as it takes away the confusion and reduces the pain of so much back and forth or typing a lot. My fingers already hurt just thinking about this.

Note taking

For my notes, and things I keep to myself, I use Evernote, but I’m thinking of moving away from because they went shitty as f*.

Evernote used to be one of those tools that people used to praise and talk about, but they went bloaty, slow, and I’m sorry, extremely stupid. They’re just kind of irritating and I’m probably going to leave them.

I use Windows Notepad a lot, because sometimes I just want to take quick notes and I’ve found that Notepad, especially on Windows 11, is a really great tool to put my quick thoughts together. My brain is still begging to move to Notepad++.

Unfortunately for my PC at home, I still use Windows 10. Isn’t that shameful? Not my fault! I have this badass PC I’ve been using for a while that is old, unupgradable, but really chocks along well. I also use Notepad on my laptop and it works really well.

I use OneDrive to sync my personal information. But the Google Drive application on the PC is literally amazing. Instead of having to go into a browser to look through my files, Google Drive allows me to use it like it’s directly on my PC.

Programming

I still write codes. Yes, even at my ripe old age.

My tool of trade is VS code and I’ve a bunch of extensions and indexes like Prettier, Tabnine, etc. , which makes coding more fun and quite effective. I think I’m going to be working with data till the day I die. I have a feeling that even when I die, I’ll probably have a database of people that died before me and I’ll be arguing with the angels about the morality of using certain types of identity for each soul that gets into heaven.

I started my career with data on SQL Navigator, then I moved over to Toad. I actually miss Toad, especially when you launch it and it makes that creaky sound.

By the time I moved my ass to FCMB and the database was MSSQL, I switched to Microsoft SQL studio, which was pretty good. But now that I’m out of banking and life is different with everyone using MySQL, I switched to DBeaver.

DBeaver, an open source data software, is absolutely fantastic. Like it’s super awesome and works very well for me.

Security

At home, I have Ring cameras and they keep me safe and secure everytime. From anywhere in the world, I can see my doors and monitor everything happening inside my home. Best thing is, everyone around me knows I have these cameras.

Emails and contacts

Google handles my emails and contacts and this works pretty well for me. I have nothing to complain about. Like I earlier mentioned, I have the worst memory in the world. One thing that helps me remember tasks alongside Todoist is my emails. I always tell those who work with me that conversations should be recorded via emails.

Sometimes when I check-in on some tasks assigned, it’s easy to assume I go through my emails and remember all of them. I actually have a hack for this. I simply label the important threads as follow up and then add to my TO DO to check my follow up label periodically. Other times, I simply schedule an email ahead of time.

With this technique, I’m always on top of priority tasks and I ensure packets don’t drop.

When saving contacts, I make sure all my contacts are well saved with their emails, and recently this paid off as I was able to reach out to tons of my friends for marketing. I have a paid version of TrueCaller which ensures that when saving contacts, it finds their emails and save this as well

Video sharing

When it comes to being able to express my thoughts, Jam Dev is an amazing tool for use on the web. It’s able to show what you’re doing and help, say your developer, your friends or your customers with a lot of things by providing better clarity. It’s amazing.

Jam Dev is probably going to be way better than Loom down the line. Loom was a choice for everybody in the beginning, but they’re kind of screwing up.

On my phone when I want to record some of the things I share with people I use XRecorder. It’s also pretty amazing. I mean yeah, it has some ads but they’ve got to make money, right?

Financial management

When it comes to monitoring my finances across all my bank accounts and figuring out how broke I am, I make use of Kolo Finance, an app that we built at Lendsqr. It works really well for me. It’s able to show me everything about my accounts in one shot, including my international accounts.

For banking, Wise and Monzo are the best banking apps you could think of. For my individual account, of course I will give it to Monzo, but Wise is literally awesome in every possible way you can think of.

Receiving and making calls across the world

For telephone calls. I use Hushed. It’s an amazing tool for having virtual phone numbers. I’ve got a bunch of phone numbers with them, including the ones that I use for testing stuff.

And last but not the least, I know this might seem like just a hype, but ChatGPT is actually f* awesome. It helps me to do a lot of stuff. We’ve recently been experimenting with using embedded GPT at Lendsqr and so far it’s been pretty great.I love it
So there you are. To everyone who thinks Adedeji Olowe is highly efficient and disciplined, my secrets are in the open. And maybe one day, I’ll successfully clone myself and this version of me won’t need to get anything done.

Vanity metrics are deadly but a slow poison

Lendsqr’s journey warns against the allure of vanity metrics. Success hinges on metrics like loan uptake and profitability, not superficial engagement numbers. Focus on what truly drives business growth.

About a year ago, my loan management SaaS company, Lendsqr, partnered with one of the most recognized tech media startups in Africa. We experimented with activations and a whole lot of other stuff and spent thousands of dollars to push the Lendsqr brand out there. The team was pretty excited about the partnership and we caught a lot of eyeballs.

But you know what? What!

Despite all the attention we got, it translated to absolutely nothing tangible for the business. Zero. Zilch. And we only found out because we had put a system in place to track our inbound from all the activities.

This incident, amongst others, got me thinking deeper about some of the marketing efforts we’ve put in over the past couple of years at Lendsqr and their impact, and I realized just how dangerous vanity metrics can be. During those years, working with my technical assistant and marketing team, we designed different campaigns to drive traffic and sign ups, etc. and tried our hand at various marketing platforms.

Here’s the jarring thing; when dealing with these marketing platforms where we splash a boat load of cash to get noticed, they’d only ever report metrics like views, clicks, downloads, etc. Vanity. And whenever I chatted with my customers and their marketing teams, it was always the same story – hyping vanity metrics like they’re the best thing since the internet. They’d say things like “This was successful. There are x thousand clicks” But for me, I’d always roll my eyes and think “What the h*ll are you talking about? Yes, people clicked and saw our stuff but what use was this to the bottom line?”

If your marketing isn’t doing this, stop, it’s a waste

When it comes to evaluating the effectiveness of marketing efforts, I believe it’s crucial to look beyond surface performance and focus on what defines success for your business. It’s also important that whatever you are doing for marketing is worth the money spent. At a time when everyone is watching cost like weight watchers, ensuring your money provides a real return is the real deal.

I understand the temptation to boast about these surface level metrics; sometimes, I love to talk about the number of lenders we have at Lendsqr and the number of customers (borrowers) we have by proxy. But the truth is these things are like barometers; they’re not the real thing, simply tools meant to indicate something else.

What really counts are the tangible outcomes. Specific to my business, that’ll be things like how many people are actually taking out loans, how many of them pay back and ultimately, how much profit is being generated for our lenders and us? These are the real indicators of the health and sustainability of what we do. Anything else falls apart under scrutiny.

It’s easy for anyone to get caught up in the kumbaya of measuring some feel-good metrics

But if you don’t know what’s most important to your core objectives and then work backwards from there, any other thing you’re doing is a waste of time and resources.

For us at Lendsqr, the things that are important are the number of loans booked by customers, our ability to facilitate recovery and the overall profitability of our lenders. Everything else pales in comparison. So even if I bring out a babalawo (dark magic practitioner) to do his stuff and help me achieve these core numbers in a sustainable manner, then it’s more important than if the whole world is reading about me raising a gazillion in TechCrunch when I’m not able to achieve the important things.

Do this to beat the vanity trap

Given how easy it is to get swept by vanity metrics, how do you avoid that for your business? Well, it’s all about setting the right priorities from the jump (or doing a reset if you’ve already lost your way). Whether you’re a founder, stakeholder, or investor; you MUST figure out what truly matters for your business to survive and eventually thrive.

Start by identifying those core metrics that really determine sustainable success. Maybe it’s profitability or the journey towards profitability. Break that down further into details like unit economics. How much are you making now, and how much could you make if you run your business as well as you possibly can?

Once you’ve gotten these details sorted then you can get down to it and take a look at what you need to do to achieve these vital metrics.You might even find that the path to achieving these is surprisingly simple. This assessment will make you face the reality; whether you’re on the right track or not.

So this means that as a founder, leader, or investor, it’s your responsibility to sit down with your team and guide them to distill the tangible results from the hype and noise. Ask the tough questions – “it’s okay that this content is trending and gathering views on social media but how does it translate to *insert your core metric here*?”

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that those who quote these vanity metrics are bad people who are out to deceive you. Not at all. They’re just operating based on what they know. It’s up to us as leaders to reorient them and make it clear that if whatever they’re doing doesn’t translate to real value, it’s a distraction.

So, the next time your marketing team comes to you with a proposal, challenge them to connect the dots. For instance, “if we invest in this video and rack up a million views, what does it really get us? How many new customers can we expect to sign up, and what’s their long-term value to the business?” That’s how you determine the success of your efforts. But if you don’t have these numbers, then it’s a waste.

Let’s find balance: Intangible results matter too

Before even my own marketing team comes for me, of course, I recognize that not all marketing efforts are about immediate addition to the bottom line. Sometimes, we’re aiming for those intangible wins like brand recognition and top of mind awareness which are also important and contribute to the groundwork for future success.

Think about Coca-Cola or Apple. We all know that these names mean something and add substance to anything they’re affiliated with right? It’s clear it’s not just about the products; brands like these have proven that building brand trust and a good reputation matter too.

So, we can also say, “Let’s grow our brand equity,” because sometimes, that also paves the way to real value. Not every marketing effort will translate to Naira and kobo or Dollars and cents. Having a strong brand means people trust you, they’re willing to pay more for your stuff, and they’re more likely to buy from you in the first place. This is an intangible asset you can leverage to improve your earning margins significantly and boost your core business results down the line.

Additionally, beyond external projection of your brand; what goes on internally matters. How are your employees performing? Sure, a lot of people want to build a happy workplace. This is good. But here’s the thing: if your business is dying, no amount of employee happiness will save it.

You have to stay focused and ensure that your measure of employee happiness or the employee experience in your company is assessed within the context of sustainability. What benefit is it to you to have happy staff and a dead business? It’s utterly useless. But obviously, if you also have unhappy staff and you’re only fixated on numbers and driving results, your business will die.

It’s all about finding balance. Happy staff produce good business and good business makes staff happy. Don’t break that cycle.

Find what’s right for you, today and every day after that

As a company, you’ve got to know which metrics really matter, and that can change from time to time. The metrics that are important this year, may not be important next year.

Maybe in the early stages of your startup, you’re all about survival then growth before paying attention to profitability. Not because profitability is wrong but because you know that survival and growth are crucial to charting the course to profitability.

For a B2C company, you may have to work a lot on your brand equity and find a good way to measure it, because you know that down the line, brand equity will translate to easier ways to sell and better margins.

Whatever the case may be, you’ve got to be able to call b*llsh*t on the fakes and focus on what truly drives success.

Lastly, do views, clicks, downloads have their benefits? I really can’t say but what I will say is that they have to lead somewhere meaningful. If a marketing agency tells you to spend $100,000, they better have an answer for what’s in it for the business, beyond the feel-good stuff, because if it doesn’t add up, you might as well just set that pile of cash on fire.