Before launching a product, much of a Chief Product Officer’s work is centred on market fit: making sure the product solves a unique problem.
In this exclusive interview, Tobi Olusoga talks to TechCity about i-invest, a product that helps Nigerians save, invest, manage and increase their income, irrespective of their demography, age, or risk appetite. She also discusses her path into the tech space, what motivates her, and female representation in tech.
TechCity: Tobi, can you just give us a brief background of what you do and what your vision for tech is in Nigeria?
Tobi: My name is Tobi Olusoga. I am currently the Chief Product Officer at Parthian Partners. I basically head the operations of i-invest on a day-to-day basis; ensuring that the product performs optimally, our customers are satisfied, and just about everything else in between.
I strongly believe that tech is the future. If you look at where we are today, almost everything is driven by some technology or the other. We virtually live our lives on our phones, our laptops, and iPads. I have a three-year-old, and she is very familiar with how to use a tablet and how to ask Siri for answers. The reality is that we cannot escape tech as it drives the future direction of everything we do and I believe we will get more efficient as a result of it.
I foresee that in the next five to 10 years, we would have immersed ourselves with technology and it will change our way of life, but I believe strongly that it will make Nigeria more efficient.
TechCity: Give us an overview of the product. Why was it created?
Tobi: I will start with your second question. I always tell people that I feel that i-invest was created for me. I moved to Nigeria in 2012 and luckily, I was living with family, so I was able to put aside some cash. However, I was surprised to see that my bank didn’t really offer me anything good in terms of interest. I had to talk to people that I knew in the financial services world and they were able to get me investment opportunities such as Treasury bills and the likes with good rates. When I compared some of the opportunities that I was offered, they were very different from what I was offered by my account officer. So, I began to wonder why one has to be well-connected to get a good deal to grow your money.
In essence, i-invest was created to solve this gap, to give everybody access to financial products, that otherwise, are not readily available to the average person. Thankfully, with i-invest, you have a product that you can simply download and access various financial products that can help you grow your money. The good thing about the App is that you actually get very competitive rates and you can literally wake up in the middle of the night and invest ₦100,000 and be sure that at maturity, you would get your money back with no issues.
TechCity: Why is this product essential in today’s Nigerian economy?
Tobi: In the past, banking was reserved for the elite, not everybody could get a bank account or access products that help grow and manage money. So, a product like i-invest is democratizing that, in that, it is providing access. Now, people do not have to jump hurdles or fill 101 forms, you can simply download the app and get access. For instance, even if you do not have funds to invest today, you can log into the app and see what’s on offer. You can even begin to prepare and decide that, by the time you have ₦100,000, you will invest in a particular product and get a specific return. I am confident that the product is essential because we cannot continue to live in an age where only a select few have access to finance. We need a Nigeria where everybody has the opportunity to manage and grow their finances and progress in life.
TechCity: Who exactly are your clients/customers? And how has the market responded to the product since its launch?
Tobi: Our slogan is “make your money work for you”. So it is essentially the person who is clued on to the fact that the only way that they can accumulate wealth is by putting some money aside and then investing so that the money can multiply.
Our clients span across different demographics, we have the younger generation —the Gen Zs, who can come in, use our savings products, and put a little bit away at a time. This could mean starting with ₦1,000 a week or something like that and then that begins to grow. You also have the mid-career professional who comes in, has a bit more cash, and can invest more sizable amounts. Then we also have those who have even more disposable cash who can invest lump-sum amounts for longer periods. Our customers are diverse as a result of the variety of products that we have, there is something for everyone.
The market response since we started almost four years ago, has been good. We have grown our customer base year on year, and also our transaction volumes. As of today, we have seen over N100 billion go through the app. So, the growth has been steady and the response good.
TechCity: What makes the product stand out from others in the market?
Tobi: As someone in the market and tech space, I do a lot of research to understand what’s out there. So, I would say that what makes our product stand out is the fact that we have something for everybody. We offer products that speak to people who want to save and invest at whatever point that they are at in life, whatever their risk appetite. Some people are not interested in taking any risk; they want to put their money somewhere and make sure that when they come back, it’s there. When these kinds of investors get their interest, they are happy. But you have other people who want to take on slightly more risk so that they can get a higher return. So those people might choose to invest in equities.
The reality is that we are uniquely placed, and I am yet to see another product in the market which offers the same range of products that we have. What that means is that you can manage your portfolio of various products all in one place, you do not have to do your stocks with app A, do your fixed deposits with app B, or go to the bank to invest in any product. We can help you complete all your transactions on the i-invest app.
TechCity: What opportunities can people find when they download the Application?
Tobi: When you download the App, you would be able to access the various products that we have on offer. Beyond just investing and saving, you can use the app for your day-to-day transactions, like paying utility bills or buying airtime and data. We also have newsfeeds — with real-time news updates and market information within the app. Apart from investing, there is a lot of useful information that you can gather by just logging into the App.
TechCity: Walkthrough of the process from downloading the application to making the first investment
Tobi: To download the app, you can either go to Google Play Store or the App Store. You can find the App by searching for i-invest on Google. Once you get to the App Store, click on ‘download’. Once you’ve downloaded, open the app and you will be given the option to register. Registering is pretty seamless and just takes a couple of minutes. All you are required to do is enter basic information such as your name, email, and phone number. You will also be asked to create a secret pin for security. To complete the process, you will be sent an OTP to verify your email address. And that’s pretty much it — you are in the app!
Once you get into the app, there are a few more stages required for our Know Your Customer (KYC), but that does not stop you from seeing what’s on offer and getting a feel of the app.
TechCity: When you think about the future of i-invest, what are you most excited about?
Tobi: When I think about the future of i-invest, it is generally very exciting. The reason for that is that the tech space is growing, and the opportunities are endless.
I believe that, ultimately, we will get to a place where banking as we know it is completely transformed and transacting on an app becomes the norm. So, I think that the opportunity for growth and to evolve is endless. In Nigeria, we now have the eNaira. That’s an indication that financial services are ultimately going digital. As a result, the realm of what we can do with i-invest is only great and that, for me, is what’s most exciting.
TechCity: Can you share a little bit about what it is that you do and what a typical day for you is like?
Every day, we look at what to do with the App to solve the problem that we’ve identified.
So typically, a day for me would start by catching up with the team, to understand what issues we have. I also look at what projects we are trying to drive forward to implementation. The team is cross-functional— we have developers, finance, operations, customer care, etc but we all come together. The beauty of that is that we are all able to share ideas and perspectives. This directs how the rest of the day would look as we determine what’s on the table and prioritize accordingly.
TechCity: What made you decide to go into tech?
Tobi: I don’t think that I had, at any point in time, made a conscious decision that I was going into tech — I think I kind of fell into it. As I said, somehow, although I started as an auditor, I was always drawn in the direction of tech. I started my career working with tech clients (e.g. Electronic Arts and SAP). As I progressed, I found that I always worked on projects delivering a software that was to solve a problem for some unit of the business. Everything that I have done before now has shown me how technology makes things a lot more efficient and this is something I love to see.
TechCity: What has been your driving force to get to where you are today?
Tobi: I would say it is the desire to drive change because I am that person who believes that things can always be done better. I have the view that, although something might be working, there’s always a better way to do it. Interestingly, in tech, things are constantly evolving. Even when you think that you’ve cracked something, you will find that there’s a new technology that can do it better. The growth in technology is exponential. The fact that things are evolving all the time is something that I enjoy. This keeps me going because it means that there’s always a new challenge.
TechCity: What are the challenges that you have faced as a woman in Tech? And why do you think there are still few women in tech today?
Tobi: In answering this question, I ask myself, “Is there a particular challenge that is associated with tech itself?” And, for me, the answer is no. I think that, ultimately, it still stems down to the same thing, which is the fact that we generally have an underrepresentation of women in the leadership of most industries.
Female representation in tech in particular is probably less when compared to other industries. I think it’s generally because there’s this mindset that tech is for men. What you find, as a woman in this space, is that you have to speak up more to be heard. There’s a general expectation that, as a woman in tech, you need to be more aggressive than the average woman. This is not the case for me, anyway. I am not the type of person who shouts or is aggressive. So it means that I have to be a bit more tactful in the way that I communicate. This is particularly important to get the same respect as your male counterparts, especially as most of the people you would work with are male. For example, my tech team is 100% male at the moment. This is not by choice but because we struggle to find female developers. Obviously, as the only female in the room, I have to find ways to connect differently.
Ultimately, as I said before tech is the future so we have to encourage girls who have an interest in STEM subjects and provide them the same opportunities as boys, and eventually the number of females in tech will increase.
TechCity: What advice would you give to upcoming women in the tech industry?
Tobi: My advice to them is to go out there and show the world what they are made of. There’s the tendency to hold back, be fearful, or feel like the tech space is not the place for women because we don’t see anyone that looks like us. The reality is, if we all think like that, there will never be female representation. So, if you have an interest in tech, you should go for it no matter what anybody else has to say. If you are good at what you do, your work will speak for you. It’s about going out there being courageous and bold. Several women in tech have done it and there’s no reason why upcoming women cannot do the same.
TechCity: Thank you for the great work you’re doing and for helping us understand i-invest better.
Tobi: Thank you. I hope this was helpful!
