Entrepreneur’s account: Dolapo Sanusi-Ola

The global fintech industry is big, $32.6 billion big to be exact, but that doesn’t mean the industry has matured just yet.

Entrepreneur’s account: Dolapo Sanusi-Ola

Opportunities for entrepreneurial Imperial graduates abound, especially in Latin America and Africa. Enter Dolapo Sanusi-Ola, Global MBA graduate, Venture Catalyst Challenge (VCC) 2018 semi-finalist and founder of Nestbank – a Nigerian fintech startup that is looking to scale, and fast!

Dolapo (MBA 2018) started Nestbank while working full-time at the Scotiabank, completing her Global MBA at Imperial, attaining her FCMA accreditation and also being a mother of three. While Dolapo had many excuses to delay launching Nestbank, she knew that she had the skills, expertise and experience to transform access to finance for Nigerian micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the here and now. “My fintech journey started with a desire to bridge the gaps of financial inclusion in Nigeria. This was something born out of my work with NGOs in Nigeria, mentoring youths and women in small businesses. One of the biggest issues was their access to credit but a deeper problem was the issue of financial literacy.” Dolapo’s solution was to create Nestbank, a new kind of customer-first banking experience which operates alongside a complementary organisation, Financial Savvy Academy, aimed at educating customers in effectively managing their finances.

But building a business in Africa can be complex, due to the crossover between target markets, consumer behaviour and educational, financial and technological disparity. Dolapo explains: “Everything in Africa can be a source of disruption and, because of that regulation, and policies always playing catch-up, this makes it hard for businesses to scale faster. However, Africa is a place where a lot of opportunities exist. My advice is to focus on the possibilities and your vision for starting the business, and let that be your motivation instead of allowing the many problems to overwhelm you. Tackle each problem as it comes, daily. The book Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy really helped me to deal with issues one at a time.”

Prior to starting her fintech ventures and her MBA, Dolapo built up her expertise via 15 years of finance-related roles across six industries, working for leading organisations such as Unicredit, Scotiabank and the Bank of Ireland. Dolapo decided to study the Global MBA programme because it offered a top-quality academic experience, the ability to work on many projects in parallel and amazing classmates. “Imperial and the people I met in my cohort have helped make my journey a lot more colourful. I have been able to meet people who have helped me to raise funds and make the connections I need to get things done.”

Imperial and the people I met in my cohort have helped make my journey a lot more colourful.

Find out more about the Global MBA at bit.ly/icglobalmba