Yinka Adewale, the CEO of Nomba (formerly Kudi)

In the middle of 2016, after another frustrating banking experience, Yinka Adewale and Pelumi Aboluwarin founded Nomba (formerly Kudi) (YC W17) to drive a seamless banking experience in our local communities in Africa. Now, Nomba (formerly Kudi) is trusted by millions of people every day to send money, get cash and make bill payments across Nigeria.
In this video, Yinka Adewale shared his story - how Nomba (formerly Kudi) started as message commerce (Kudi.ai) and pivoted to agent banking after some time, the difficulty they faced raising seed for the business, plans for the future and lessons learned so far. He also shared the story behind how he resigned as co-founder/co-CEO and give up all his shares at a previous startup and much more. Go watch it on my RUclips channel.
01:12 - Growing up
08:00 - From EIR at Venture Garden Group to launching his first startup
10:55 - Launching his second company
13:00 - First $25k investment while he was still in University.
16:00 - Raised $100k seed and grow the team to about 10
17:05 - Resigning & Stepping down as Co-CEO and giving up all his shares
22:00 - Kudi time (lol). How Nomba (formerly Kudi) started
27:22 - Pivoting from Kudi.ai to Kudi.com
28:53 - Raising $500k for Nomba (formerly Kudi)
32:22 - Agent Banking
39:00 - Raising Series A
42:00 - Current Stats on Nomba (formerly Kudi) (+ Yinka's thought on the ecosystem)
44:35 - The best thing about what Kudi is building
47:33 - Challenges Building a Fintech in this market
49:45 - What will you do differently if you could do it all over again
52:30 - Biggest Hiring Mistake so Far & Favourite Personal Failure
1:03:00 - Exit plan for Nomba (formerly Kudi): IPO? Acquisition? Build for the long term?
Enjoy watching this episode? Please let me know - first in the comments but also on social media using #Foundersconnect and you can tag me @peaceitimi, @kudihq @waleyinks (on Twitter)
Learn more: kudi.com/
Get my new book - peaceitimi.com...

[@ogunnaikefolawe2835]

I love this series and I don't know why but I guess Yinka was a good speaker who spoke in a way anybody could understand and he was real

[@josephokoedookojie5205]

So it's 4:07 am right now, and I've been up since 1:00am watching different episodes of the founder series, and i must say this was amazing though the longest so far but i practically had a lot to jot down from the conversation... Weldon Peace... you just got yourself a new subscriber

[@PeaceItimiofficial]

Yayyy! Thank you for watching and subscribing. 🎉

[@giftwarieta]

Same here my brother. SO inspiring. Well done Peace.

[@festus-obi]

Okay it took away the hours I spend on Netflix and replaced it with this series and I’m glad to say that its the best decision I have made this year. Kudos for these contents Peace.

[@PeaceItimiofficial]

Thank you for watching! RUclips and Chill 😎

[@oyediranmayowa7495]

Yinka is such a phenomenon and exceptional founder. He talks about topics random founders won't even mention. Such a free-minded founder. His staff are the luckiest in this country. This is the most interesting #FoundersConnect episode for me so far. Weldone Peace, I can't wait to see our next guest. Peace.

[@PeaceItimiofficial]

Awww.
Glad you love it.
Thank you for watching.

[@francisozochi4932]

God Bless You

[@felixenyinnaya4575]

I always enjoy your videos. Can you work on improving the audio? It's not loud enough. 😥 Thanks!

[@oyediranmayowa7495]

I agree. Kindly work more on the audio

[@PeaceItimiofficial]

Thank you for watching.
The audio will be better in subsequent videos. 😊

[@inyangette]

I like how compose and open minded he is. A great motivation

[@agendagod]

Beautiful Conversation!

[@elmoks__]

So I watched (listened) this video while working… I had to occasionally pop in to see the facial expression at times 😅
This is a great episode. Never thought I would watch it till the end, seeing it's over one hour… but alas I did and I was inspired.

[@PeaceItimiofficial]

Yayyy! Thank you for watching

[@chibuokemchiorlu11]

I think you should have a podcast

[@aleairhub314]

I can't imagine watching this long duration interview... So inspired 🌠🎉

[@bolaji_]

He looks 20 honestly, love the interview 👍👍👍

[@PeaceItimiofficial]

Thank you for watching.

[@boladalesdairy]

I had sanwo card till the last days in Ife. Great guy!!!

[@codeWithMomo]

I really like your videos, it’s really inspiring but the sound is very low

[@EliasBakare]

Learnt a lot listening to Yinka’s interview. I remember when Sanwo launched on campus back then - was revolutionary. Just had to subscribe to this series. Some very helpful tips for dealing with investors - very timely and helpful. Well done, Peace.

[@PeaceItimiofficial]

Thank you!

[@ooreoluwaonamusi3768]

happy i stumbled on this vlog

[@ibijolaadetayo7563]

Just Do It!
I love these guys

[@PeaceItimiofficial]

🎉🎉

[@seunmichael852]

Beautiful things happen in this life.

[@akinsolaoluwaseye4970]

Very nice interview

[@emekaezera]

I so much love this interview.
The grind that lead to in this present company is impressive

[@PeaceItimiofficial]

Glad you love it.
Thank you for watching ✨

[@SheyiShobayo]

So articulate with his answers.
Learnt a whole lot from this conversation. Startup might look so glamorous, but it's got its own disturbings too.
Thanks Yinka !

[@PeaceItimiofficial]

Gbam! Thanks for watching and commenting on my videos Sheyi

[@uknowamsaying]

This girl is a fantastic interviewer!

[@ajibademustapha2908]

Awesome Interview!

[@JohnOlaore]

Stuck for the 1hour plus interview with Yinka. Such a phenomenal human. Thanks for putting this together Peace

[@PeaceItimiofficial]

You're welcome!

[@adeyemoqudus]

My best so far.

[@optiontrader4512]

The volume needs adjusting higher

[@victorolatunde4926]

This is indeed an amazing Interview. Yinka was free and i love that.
Cheers to more wins

[@PeaceItimiofficial]

Thank you for watching.

[@successimamun5129]

This is the most intense interview I have watched yet on founders connect.

[@PeaceItimiofficial]

Oh yea! Why do you say so?

[@successimamun5129]

First thing this interview felt like Yinka is still actively on a journey even though he has already experience success that most would only dream of.
Then he went into intimate details of his experience as a co-founder and how he has been able to mine that experience and transferred it to his co-found at Kudi.
Yinka strikes me like a people person. This is what I mean; He cares about his business but much more, he cares about the people he works with.
He is the kind of leader that thinks about the consequence of titling...

[@kenemma3764]

Amazing

[@newtonruona3071]

No one really knows what they're doing. They're are just winging it." That's it! Thanks Peace.

[@PeaceItimiofficial]

✨✨🥳🥳

[@nkanugodswill6301]

Wow..... Truly truly, the successes of today were once failures yesterday. Thanks for doing this Peace

[@PeaceItimiofficial]

Thank you

[@timilehinifejoseph1025]

Brilliant

[@NnaemekaAbraham]

Thanks Peace for this

[@PeaceItimiofficial]

Thank you so much for watching

[@globaltechmastery2393]

awesome person!

[@PeaceItimiofficial]

Definitely!

[@JonathanArowolo]

Awesome. Yinka's story is so inspiring. Thank you Peace for bringing him on.

[@PeaceItimiofficial]

Right!😊
Thank you for watching.

[@majekbowale]

Lol, Peace, your social intervention is epic!

[@PeaceItimiofficial]

Ouuuu!😊🔥🔥
Thank you!

[@sokunbiyasser6099]

peace thank you for bringing yinka on board, i so much learnt a lot from him today..... he has really done a lot of invisible surgeries in me......... but then , peace you have to tell us what your perspective is to "milk before cereal or cereal after milk" i noticed you tried cutting your own idea of the clip........ i don't wanna miss any lesson in this video, so we await your response on this...
Thank you

[@courageidahortv7840]

Great interview! I learnt a lot. Yinka's story is inspiring. Thanks Peace for bringing him on board and thanks for what you're doing in general. Keep it up! God bless you.

[@PeaceItimiofficial]

Glad you learned a lot. Thank you for watching.

[@francisozochi4932]

Thanks!

[@PeaceItimiofficial]

Thank you for watching!

[@emekaani8873]

Interesting, thank you Peace.

[@PeaceItimiofficial]

Thank you for watching.

[@melanineyedoc]

Would love to see the CEO of flutterwave on here. Great work as always, Peace!!!!

[@mulerojames]

yeah, same here.

[@PeaceItimiofficial]

Thank you for watching 🎉✨

[@godspower_eze]

Wonderful interview. Very detailed once again.

[@PeaceItimiofficial]

Thank you for watching.

[@kayodeoyebanji2890]

Awesome interview ..very insightful

[@PeaceItimiofficial]

Thank you for watching.

[@babalolaolusegun3598]

Wow nice interview. This is one hour and it seems like 15min. Great content. Thanks a lot peace

[@tobicrusherfumigation1679]

Wowwww. I really learned a lot from this interview. Thanks peace.

[@PeaceItimiofficial]

Glad you did. Thank you for watching.

[@opeyimikaaremu5107]

Love this interview and series so much🥺💜🚀

[@PeaceItimiofficial]

Thank you for watching ✨✨

[@king_m]

I liked how open the conversation was 👍

[@PeaceItimiofficial]

Thank you George

[@king_m]

@@PeaceItimiofficial well done 👍🏼

[@PeaceItimiofficial]

Thank youuu

[@akintadetemitope399]

Love this interview. Really Inspiring.
Nice one Peace

[@ezehebuka3790]

❤️❤️

[@ifeoluwaAlao]

This guy is now the founder of Kuda yeah?

[@subomioluwalana]

Like you're putting garri in water. 😂💀😭