Bootstrapping to start an enterprise is very difficult. Regardless, Fisayo Oludare, the founder of Advancio Interactive was able to beat the odds and successfully set up his startup by bootstrapping. How was Oludare able to achieve this? He reveals this secret and more in this interview.
Can we meet you?
My name is Fisayo Oludare, I am the founder of Advancio Interactive.
Can you tell us about Advancio Interactive?
Advancio Interactive is a technology-driven ideas and Innovations Company founded in Nigeria, to develop cutting-edge technologies that would support Africa’s economic rise. We have developed powerful software technologies for Commercial Banks, Government and other private institutions within Nigeria. One of our products (Covr Branchless) currently powers some Commercial Bank’s agency/branchless banking operations and other finance companies in different capacities. We pride ourselves on having a lot of experience and market intelligence in servicing the formal & informal sector operations.
What was the motivation for establishing your startup?
We have always been passionate about helping Africa solve some of her problems and we identified the major one as financial access. So we decided to setup up a technology company that will combine technology to provide financial access to more Africans
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Advancio Interactive was recently named the winner of startup Istanbul. Can you share your experience with us?
The feeling is not describable as we haven’t even been an incorporated company for up to 1 year. We are just very happy to have represented Nigeria amongst the 21,000 applicants and chosen 100 from 65 countries.
How will you describe the business so far? And how has the reception being like?
The business has been good because even though we are a startup, we have been able to get the attention of some of the big name players in our industry and get a number of high profile clients to work with us.
How were you able to source for funds to run your business?
We haven’t sourced for funds to run the business, this has solely been a bootstrapped business in which the founders have brought everything the business needed.
What are the challenges you encountered in setting up your business?
To be honest, we haven’t encountered any challenges setting up a business, the major reason is that we are a technology company and we don’t need a lot of resources to start
A word for intending young Nigerian entrepreneurs?
If you want to start a business, take 6 months to read about other businesses, read about running a business then create your prototype, test it, validate it before launching your business. Some ideas maybe are good but they might not be solving a big enough problem that will make people pay for it.
