On today’s episode, we have Kendall Ananyi, co-founder of Tizeti which operates as Wifi.com.ng. Wifi.com.ng provides unlimited uncapped internet to users for less than $25 per month.
I met Kendall Ananyi in his office in Lagos. We had a good debate about the state of startups in Africa, funding, challenges…..
Few days after, he was at my place in Lagos to record this episode. I really enjoyed it. He is honest. He says what he thinks. But more than that…he has an interesting story about how he built Tizeti (wifi.com.ng) from his savings to $1 million revenue, despite all the odds.
And it’s not a lifestyle business. It’s high-growth tech startup, with upfront capex. He turned down a significant investment from a VC!
He said the deal would have changed his plan and execution. He decided to stay true to his original mission.
In this episode, he shared his story, the high and low points. And he had lots of advice for those that want to thread the same path.
Few days after we recorded this conversation, he announced that they just closed $2.1 million in seed funding to extend Wifi services across Nigeria. It was one of the biggest seed funding for startups in Africa.
On this episode, you’ll learn:
- What the original idea for the business was and how they started wifi.com.ng
- How to go after and actualize an audacious goal
- Why several people told them the idea wasn’t going to work and what they did
- That wifi.com.ng was a side hustle and that Kendall had a full-time job
- How to turn a personal problem into a business opportunity
- Why competition is not bad for you
- How to identify your unique selling point
- How they bootstrapped their company to massive revenue
- Why they turned down $1m VC funding
- How they got into Y Combinator
- Why they launched as Wifi.com.ng instead of Tizeti
- The lessons they learned from YC
- The next challenge Kendall intends to solve after Wifi.com.ng
- And more
Listen to the podcast
