In 2020, Babatola Awe and Akintayo Okekunle, co-founded a value-driven technology solutions company, Revent Technologies, where Awe currently serves as the CEO and CTO. In a conversation with TechCity, Awe discusses how the company is bringing future solutions to existing technological problems by building/customizing software solutions, payment solutions for businesses and unlocking the power of tech talent outsourcing.
Kindly provide an overview of your role at Revent Technologies and your goals for a technology-first approach to payments?
As a business and a team, our goal is to empower businesses with cutting-edge software solutions that enable them to optimize their payment platforms. However, more importantly, at Revent Technologies, we believe that technology should make humans more human. Additionally, we believe that by providing prevailing solutions and telling the right stories, we can assist businesses streamline their finance operations and platforms to improve processing capacity, quicken project completion times, and meet other business imperatives that our clients have set as KPIs or OKRs.
Our goal is to provide our clients with seamless payment experiences. And how we accomplish this by utilizing the latest technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), new web tools, and mobile apps. We make intentional efforts to understand the customer’s journey and build software that meets their desired experience.
We have been successful in assisting numerous businesses of various sizes, both inside and outside of Nigeria. We never stop immersing ourselves in the businesses of our clients and in various industries across the continent.
Furthermore, we have a global perspective on how we wish to serve our clients, which enables us to continuously uphold our dedication to innovation and excellence. In order to keep up with the times and assist our clients accomplish their business objectives, we are constantly searching for fresh ideas and developing new capabilities.
Our ultimate goal is to provide our clients with the tools and technology they require to be successful. In addition, we provide the right talents to help them thrive in this ever-evolving digital age.
This was quite enlightening. You mentioned building software to meet specific customer goals. So, what are the various software customization services that you render to improve the payment infrastructures of businesses?
Although we provide a wide range of technology-related services, software engineering, particularly business process engineering, is at the heart of our operations.
We customize a lot of software for clients, and whenever we provide services, we put the needs of the client first. This applies to the other value-added services we provide, too. For instance, we may discuss integrations, invoicing, and billing when developing software for you.
One of our main products, Flowmono, is a SaaS platform that provides document signing tools and this is where we find customers needing such tools. We perform these integrations for them as well.
Currently, Revent Technologies is the sole integration partner for Flowmono in Africa and globally. Over time, as Flowmono grows, I am sure they will onboard other integrators. So yes, we do offer a variety of services to our clientele.
As I previously mentioned, our people-first approach helps us to sit down with our clients and learn about their unique needs before unpacking the services we can provide. Sometimes, it just ends up in a conversation at the coffee table during which we provide suggestions for solutions by asking, “why don’t you do this?” or “why don’t you do that?”
We have also had clients that we helped along on their journey—from defining their vision and mission statements to helping them in creating their brand assets and business plans to creating an entire roadmap on how to launch their businesses, and helping them in developing a website.
We also provide additional services, such as Product Strategy. Our focus on cloud integration services is also quite strong and our engineering services are built around DevOps. This entails assisting our clients in setting up the appropriate infrastructure required to power their cloud-based platforms or products. Additionally, we provide DevOps advisory services for clients who desire to automate their deployment processes.
Furthermore, we offer what we refer to as the “Digital Factory Service,” which enables startups and established companies who are unsure of how to proceed with product development to come to us for assistance. We assist them in visualizing their product’s entire lifecycle.
We also offer talent outsourcing services. Today, we have over 200 talents outsourced in different industries to countries around the world, including in Nigeria, Egypt, Ghana, and Canada.
There are other scenario services that we offer as well to help our clients. However, when it comes to payments, the financial sector is already aware of our existence. In fact, we serve some of the top banking institutions, like Sterling Bank and Zenith Bank. We have also done some work with Kuda Bank and other organizations.
That’s quite a resume. So, for businesses looking to automate their finance operations and maybe also integrate payments into their platforms, why do you think it is important to employ the services of your company? What exactly do you bring to the table?
With all humility, I would have preferred you asked our clients.
Having said that, I believe what sets us apart is the fact that value underscores everything we do. If you are one of our customers, exceeding your expectations is our first priority
Our talent and people are our greatest assets. We are not just a bunch of technical experts who force people to spend money without thinking about the return on their investments; rather, we are very deliberate in how we employ our services to our client’s businesses.
Here is where value realization and analysis for us come into play. Work is work, period. We complete the work necessary to satisfy our clients and enable them to succeed in their various industries.
I told you before that we have a tendency to be laser-focused on our clients by first learning about their problems before introducing technology to address them. Thus, one of the reasons why our customers retain us is because we assist them in delivering latent value that is visible, measurable, and beneficial to their businesses.
One of the things we try to do is avoid getting involved in projects that won’t benefit our clients. There is no value or advantage for us in a project if it does not advance your company or set you apart from competitors. You must have heard the adage, “When you please one customer, you please seven others.”
One other aspect that makes us stand out in the industry, in my opinion, is the care we take with our clients’ businesses. We employ experts who are big players in a variety of fields. Additionally, we invest heavily in research and development if an industry is new to us.
Value remains a major area of attention for us. That, in my judgment, is another crucial quality that characterizes us.
It is commendable that you prioritize your customers’ needs over just offering services/products. But how has the reception to your solutions been in the market? Who exactly are your clients?
For us at Revenue Technologies, our current and future customers are businesses of all sizes, but we are more focused on working with large enterprises and to some extent, startups.
Typically, you will find us offering services to banks, manufacturing companies, and multinationals. Of course, we like to play across all sectors, but we favour incorporations and organizations that are value-driven. This isn’t done to exclude anyone or any businesses; rather, it only goes to illustrate how deliberate we are about providing value.
Again, everyone who joins our company is aware that having a strong work ethic is one of our key values. For us, it goes beyond just a catchphrase. It is a trait that is ingrained in our DNA. Our doors are always open to any organization—small, large, or medium—that is committed to these same ideals.
Our outstanding customer service and responsiveness to customers’ needs is another quality that has helped us succeed. For instance, yesterday I received a call from a client wanting us to deliver a proposal that same day. And I said, “Sure, let’s see what we can do.” We rallied around ourselves and we delivered the proposal.
Would you say in the last three years your products and solutions have been received with open arms? Who are the people who have welcomed you the most?
In particular, the financial services industry has welcomed us the most. We have worked with banks on a lot of projects. However, the manufacturing and food industries are some of our other clients. In general, both domestically and globally, I would say that we are doing well with banks.
What challenges have you encountered so far, and how have you overcome them?
Revent Technologies started off on the back of the COVID-19 pandemic. That in itself was a risk that my co-founder, Akintayo, and I took, and it was quite challenging. However, in retrospect, it was worthwhile. Being conscious that our success is closely linked to the success of our clientele is one thing that has motivated us. Our sole concern is making sure that our customers receive the best services possible.
Even in the face of challenges, we keep providing our clients with the right set of solutions and talents to run their businesses and keep them coming back. I believe it’s more important to be able to retain customers than it is to have a large clientele. This is where building capacity to deliver value comes in. Even if you have just 100 clients, if you overextend yourself beyond your small capacity, you might not be able to provide high-quality services. However, if you increase your capacity, you will be able to serve 1,000 customers and provide top-notch services on a global scale. The latter is where we are right now.
If I were a potential client in need of expert integration guidance for accepting payments or upgrading existing systems, walk me through the process of getting your services and what I stand to enjoy.
Customers can get in touch with us directly via our website if they want expert guidance on payment integration or wish to upgrade their existing systems.
We make an attempt to take the time to get to know each of our clients personally and strive to understand their specific problems. We constantly insist on having one-on-one interactions with our clients to truly grasp what they want in terms of their payments integration needs, just like in a doctor-patient relationship.
As you may be aware, there are several providers and aggregators in the market. In order to differentiate ourselves, we consistently put our clients’ needs for payment integration at the top of our priority list.
Again, more importantly, we try to stay up-to-date with what’s happening across the industry, follow new technologies, and build new capabilities that will ensure that we provide whatever form of payment integration that our customers want. This allows us to set up the right infrastructure that will give them that optimal value.
For us, it is about integrity and a sense of responsibility to manage a client’s business as if it were our own, while they let us focus on what we do best. Additionally, we never feel embarrassed to tell our clients when we fall short at a task. Failures teach us lessons fast, and we apply those lessons to better serve our customers.
Looking at how far you’ve come in three years, when you think of the future of Revent Technologies, what is that one thing that excites you the most? What is it about where you are heading that gets you the most excited?
One thing that excites me is believing that, some day, we will manufacture our own electric vehicles (EVs). Yes, I keep saying this to colleagues, and they always laugh. But I believe that one day we will become Africa’s Tesla. Even so, I am aware that there are pathways to achieving anything. Comparing this desire for EVs to business, it’s important to remember that in order to accomplish your ideal goal, you must be able utilize all the resources available, better yourself, and expand your talents.
For each product we develop at Revent Technologies, we aim to bring about a global disruption. For instance, we have Vybecash, which will be the Netflix of payments in Africa. We also have Flowmono, which performs duties akin to that of DocuSign. But beyond signing, Flowmono is used by banks in Nigeria and a couple of other financial service institutions. You no longer need to continue paying for DocuSign; instead, you can sign up for a free account at flowmono.com today and begin exchanging documents, contracts, and agreements with your partners, stakeholders, and vendors on our platform.
R and D is what we do. We don’t just call ourselves a tech company for the sake of it. We are always looking for innovative ways to affect our market and upend the industries in which we operate. But our greatest resource is our workforce. As a result, I always look forward to working with my team of fantastic people every morning when I wake up. Together, we are always working hard to find new and improved methods to enable our clients to enjoy the world of technology.
In light of what we have created and our accomplishments, the future for us is one in which we will leave a lasting impression not only in Nigeria or Africa but also on a global level. We are motivated by this.
Tell me about how you improve your clients’ businesses by helping them find the best developers and talents.
Outsourcing for us is broken down into four areas: Talent Outsourcing, Developer Outsourcing, Managed Services, and Tech Talent Training.
When we talk about talent outsourcing, we mean to all talents in general. In collaboration with our sister company, Revent Advisory Partners, we partner with organizations to provide tech-related outsourcing, such as tech talents training to help organizations find the right blend of talents.
We also assist our clients in managing the payroll and welfare of the developers that we outsource to them as part of our Managed Services.
We also help our clients recruit top talents, including CFOs, CTOs, CIOs, CSiOs, Chief Solution Architects, Heads of Operations, CHROs, Heads of Finance etc. We have recorded some success and traction in these areas. This year alone, we have been able to help some of our clients to the tune of about three to five executive talents.
Our goal in outsourcing is: While you focus on your business, let’s help you hire smart and scale faster by doing the heavy lifting.
Anything else you’d like to tell your clients?
To our current and potential customers, we say thank you for your patronage. Remember, we are your one-stop-shop when it comes to technology solution services. We look forward to working with you as we continue to change the game of software development, payments integrations, and talent outsourcing in Africa and globally.