#49: Glo (Globacom) - How the private telecommunications company expanded across Nigeria & West Africa

Afrobility: Africa Tech and Business

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2y ago 1:55:49

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Overview: Today we’re going to talk about Globacom - The Nigerian telecommunications company. We’ll explore the Globacom story across 5 areas:

Nigerian telco sector context
Globacom's early history
Globacom's telco & non-telco businesses
Globacom's potential exit options
Outlook

This episode was recorded on Apr 10, 2022

Companies discussed: Glo (Globacom), MTN, Airtel, NITEL (Nigerian Telecommunications Limited), Econet Wireless & 9mobile (Etisalat)

Business concepts discussed: Telecommunications (Telco) strategy, Mobile money, Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs), Telco regulation, Celebrity advertising, Low-price telecoms strategy.

Conversation highlights:

(01:00) - Globacom background and why we’re talking about it
(07:40) - Globacom founding and spectrum auction
(20:30) - Mike Adenuga background
(30:20) - Globacom launch
(44:36) - Globacom African Expansion
(56:50) - Globacom core Telecom business
(1:07:58) - Globacom non-telco business
(1:19:50) - Competition and IPO / spinoff?
(1:29:48) - Bankole’s overall thoughts and outlook
(1:40:10) - Olumide’s overall thoughts and outlook
(1:46:30) - Recommendations & small wins

Olumide’s recommendations & small wins:

Recommendation: Marc Andreessen Blog archive ebook. Aggregates some of Marc's posts from the late 2000s. Insightful and very funny
Small win: Hung out with my friend who was visiting from out of town (on a Wed night!)
Thanks to Ifunanya Chiegboka for helping me think about Glo Story
Interested in investing in Africa Tech with Olumide: Read about Adamantium fund & contact me at olumide@afrobility.com
Founders looking for funding: If you're a B2B founder working on Education, Health, Finance or food, please contact me for funding at olumide@afrobility.com

Bankole’s recommendations & small wins:

Recommendation: Invest Like The Best with David Rubinstein, We Need A Standard Unit Of Measure For Risk & The Next Google | DKB
Small win: New whiteboard markers, changed the game. Good example of something small that changed the quality of my whiteboarding
Other content: Nigerian Songs Referencing Mike Adenuga, Wizkid, Davido, Sunny Ade etc in Globacom advert & MTN - I don port commercial

Investors, Operators, Entrepreneurs - We’d love to hear from you. Please email info@afrobility.com to share feedback or propose topics you’d like to hear.

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