Afropolitan

He had 4 hours to empty a beach club with 5 swimming pools. The bulldozers were already working down the shore. He puts the loss at over ₦2 billion, and says compensation didn't cover 2% of it.
Ten years earlier, Uber's launch lead walked into his club and asked for 3,000 cars. There were no cars. Just an app on a Lenovo laptop. "I can make you t-shirts. I can make you face caps. I didn't think about equity."
Adewunmi Adebesin, better known as Bankhead, has spent 21 years in hospitality and entertainment. He was running Rehab at 20, turned Sunday into a party day with Grill at the Pent, and built Truth Beach Club. Now he's building FanVault, a subscription platform that pays African creators in their own currencies.
In this episode we get into the hostesses who made ₦10 million in 2 months reselling his wristbands, the ₦60,000 weekly yam bill for 9 tubers, why he runs nightlife like a cartel, the day he passed on signing Davido, and why he thinks a ₦200 subscription beats a million views.
Become a Member of The Room (Afropolitan Private Membership)
Join our private community for deeper insights and exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/c/Afropolitanpodcast
EPISODE SPONSORS
Zobo Money — Zobo is a money transfer app built for Africans in the diaspora. It lets you send money from the US, UK, and Europe to countries like Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana, and more. https://www.zobo.money/afropolitan
BONUS OFFER: Use code AFROPOLITAN and get a $10 bonus when you sign up, complete your KYC, and send $50 or more to Africa.
Hisa — Hisa is an all-investments platform that lets you invest in Nigerian stocks, US stocks and ETFs from one app. https://invite.hisa.co/7fkf/AFROPOLITAN
BONUS OFFER: Use code AFROPOLITAN and get your first two trades commission-free.
CONVO BY AFROPOLITAN
Book 1:1 calls with Africa's boldest thinkers: https://convo.vip/
WHERE TO FIND BANKHEAD
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thatbankheadboy
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adebesin-adewunmi-92299875/
FANVAULT
Website: https://fanvault.vip/
AFROPOLITAN
Twitter/X: https://x.com/afropolitan
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afropolitanpodcast
Newsletter: https://www.afropolitan.io/newsletter
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/Afropolitanpodcast
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Four hours to move out
2:25 The biggest myth about opening a club
3:20 Who nightlife is really built for
4:13 The creator economy: $3B now, $17B by 2030
5:26 "Creativity is unlimited in Africa. Monetization is a problem."
5:58 Why he calls it modern day slavery
6:57 The ₦200 subscription math
8:02 Do Nigerians really not pay for content?
12:38 Why Twitch and OnlyFans can't take naira
14:16 Why are we watching Tesla ads?
14:59 Pay in shillings, get paid in naira
16:37 The Room on Patreon
17:28 Sponsor: Zobo Money
18:16 Sponsor: Hisa
19:43 Running Nigeria's biggest club at 20
21:34 The only job he ever had (4 weeks)
22:55 Booking Dotstar with no money to pay him
25:22 Passing on Davido
26:58 Before Lagos partied on Sundays
27:47 Fill an empty rooftop, take 20%
29:12 What Gen Z changed about nightlife
31:44 Why strict rules built the best clubs
32:31 Run the club like a cartel
33:50 Name 40 ways to steal from this business
34:36 The hostesses who made ₦10M in 2 months
39:03 Where the stolen money was hiding
41:44 Threatened at knifepoint for catching thieves
44:09 ₦60,000 of yam for 9 tubers
45:47 How kitchens recycle oil with baking powder
47:04 The coastal road comes for Landmark
47:56 The building that wasn't marked
49:06 The phone call that changed everything
50:10 "We lost over 2B"
50:50 The weeks he didn't pick up his phone
53:46 When connections stop working
55:25 Why he still smiles on the coastal road
57:09 Can you build generational wealth here?
58:26 The concession playbook
59:21 Why Ilashe beach houses won't last
1:03:23 "I started Uber in this country"
1:04:15 "I need 3,000 cars"
1:06:00 The 10% of Uber Nigeria he never asked for
1:08:52 Dashboard money
1:11:27 Why club money hits a ceiling
1:12:01 800 women and mocktails
1:14:28 Why Nollywood legends end up crowdfunding
1:17:18 Is Pella bigger than Kai Cenat in Africa?
1:20:10 Davido's ₦20M Twitch problem
1:21:33 The Cardi B content model
1:24:21 Pornhub vs OnlyFans: the $7.6B lesson
1:27:40 Will your audience follow you off YouTube?
1:31:13 The Onitsha marketer model
1:32:29 ₦22M in one hour
1:34:19 Revenue splits built into every post
1:37:02 Asleep by 9pm after 21 years
1:43:50 Rapid fire
1:44:46 The $20K tip from a man who wanted tea
1:45:44 His most expensive mistake
1:48:39 The debtor who sent ₦50M by mistake
1:49:45 A blacklist for club debtors
1:54:13 Who should be in this chair next
1:57:07 What Gege left on the table

40 million people have a government ID and no bank account. Olu Akanmu's fix: lock the regulators, the banks and the fintechs in one room and give them 3 months to go and find them.

During the cashless crunch, a bank that needed more server capacity had to write a board paper, get approval, source dollars, import the server, clear it through customs and install it. 3 to 4 months. OPay could look at capacity at 9pm, see 70%, and add 40% by morning. Traders in Balogun started telling customers to get OPay so they could be paid.

Olu was President and Co-CEO of OPay Nigeria from 2021 to 2023. Before that he was the third Nigerian hired for MTN's commercial launch, ran retail banking at Bank PHB and FCMB, and was CMO at Airtel. He started out as a pharmacist at Glaxo. Today he's academic director of the Lagos Business School Tech-Leap Initiative.

In this episode we get into the POS machine that costs 5% of a bank branch, why MTN sent its South African team home one month after launch, Airtel's 3G towers in places with no smartphones, the ₦10 million he'd put in a dollar bond at 30, and why digital payments grew from 22% to 56% while access to credit went from 2% to 6%.

Become a Member of The Room (Afropolitan Private Membership)
Join our private community for deeper insights and exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/c/Afropolitanpodcast

EPISODE SPONSORS
Zobo Money — Zobo is a money transfer app built for Africans in the diaspora. It lets you send money from the US, UK, and Europe to countries like Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana, and more. https://www.zobo.money/afropolitan
BONUS OFFER: Use code AFROPOLITAN and get a $10 bonus when you sign up, complete your KYC, and send $50 or more to Africa.

Hisa — Hisa is an all-investments platform that lets you invest in Nigerian stocks, US stocks and ETFs from one app. https://invite.hisa.co/7fkf/AFROPOLITAN
BONUS OFFER: Use code AFROPOLITAN and get your first two trades commission-free.

CONVO BY AFROPOLITAN
Book 1:1 calls with Africa's boldest thinkers: https://convo.vip/

WHERE TO FIND OLU AKANMU
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/olu-akanmu-88280a/
X/Twitter: https://x.com/OluAkanmu
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oluakanmu/

LAGOS BUSINESS SCHOOL TECH-LEAP INITIATIVE
Website: https://www.lbs.edu.ng/initiatives/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lbs_techleap/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LBSTech-LeapInitiative

AFROPOLITAN
Twitter/X: https://x.com/afropolitan
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afropolitanpodcast
Newsletter: https://www.afropolitan.io/newsletter
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/Afropolitanpodcast

TIMESTAMPS
0:00 40 million people with an ID and no bank account
2:50 The biggest myth about scaling in Africa
3:48 The managers behind the famous founders
6:44 Two founders in: who do you hire next?
8:45 The 21,000 agent ceiling OPay blew past
10:12 How business school teaches you to exclude half the market
12:03 A POS machine is 5% of the cost of a branch
13:44 Selling mobile to a country with 0.4 lines per 100 people
16:48 When 4 out of 5 Nigerians wanted to be on MTN
19:43 Influencer marketing is mercenary marketing
21:33 The Room on Patreon
23:04 Sponsor: Zobo Money
23:49 Sponsor: Hisa
24:58 What winners in telecoms, banking and fintech all do
27:35 Big Brother influencers and the wrong customer
28:38 "We're in the era of Indomie marketing"
30:48 From Glaxo pharmacist to banker
32:25 The evening Bank PHB came for a telco guy
35:00 "Give me two weeks": Googling retail banking
37:10 What foreign companies get wrong about Nigeria
38:05 Airtel's 3G towers in places with no smartphones
40:34 MTN sent the South Africans home a month after launch
42:32 Why Chinese managers show up in Balogun market
44:09 The cashless policy and OPay's 6x growth
46:05 Board papers, customs and a 4 month wait for a server
47:46 Adding 40% capacity overnight
49:42 Eche's two-minute OPay account test
52:46 Redesigning Nigeria's payments stack from scratch
57:28 The banking lobby vs the telco route
59:24 Lock them in a room for 3 months
1:01:29 Is Nigeria hard, or does it punish ignorance?
1:04:25 3 things to know before building wealth in Nigeria
1:06:23 30 years old with ₦10 million: what he'd do
1:08:05 Omoluwabi and the price of a good name
1:11:49 Compounding, excellence and peace of mind
1:14:21 The maths teacher who became a professor
1:16:03 Nigerian tech and the printing press
1:18:48 Rapid fire: beans, telecoms and "too late"
1:22:59 What the second seat learns that founders miss
1:25:01 Why big banks can't build fintechs
1:29:22 Payments grew. Credit didn't.
1:31:08 What credit does for a trader in the market
1:32:56 Who should be in this chair next
1:34:51 Would he go into politics?

For six months he lay in a hospital bed while the internet decided he had fallen off. "He doesn't shoot no more." "Nobody rocks with him anymore." "He has outpriced himself out of the market." He was fighting for his life.
The first kidney came from his brother. After a seven-hour surgery, the doctors came back with the news: no flow, his body wouldn't take it, and it had to come out. Before they wheeled him back into theatre he posted online and said what he believed was his last prayer. "God, let your will be done."
TG Omori is the Headies-winning director behind some of the defining videos of modern Afrobeats, from the Marlian era with Naira Marley to Asake's run of Terminator, Bandana and Organise. He started out making whole videos on ₦2 million budgets. Today a single video can run past $100,000.
In this episode we get into why a director can take a big budget and still go home with nothing, the year he and Asake worked like "two people in one body" with no treatments and no revisions, why he dropped his public fight for 10% of music video streams, what dialysis really costs in Nigeria (about ₦31 million a year), the "pull me on" texts from friends still in the hood, and why every day is a good day for greatness.
Become a Member of The Room (Afropolitan Private Membership)
Join our private community for deeper insights and exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/c/Afropolitanpodcast
EPISODE SPONSORS
Zobo Money — Zobo is a money transfer app built for Africans in the diaspora. It lets you send money from the US, UK, and Europe to countries like Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana, and more. https://www.zobo.money/afropolitan
BONUS OFFER: Use code AFROPOLITAN and get a $10 bonus when you sign up, complete your KYC, and send $50 or more to Africa.
Hisa — Hisa is an all-investments platform that lets you invest in Nigerian stocks, US stocks and ETFs from one app. https://invite.hisa.co/7fkf/AFROPOLITAN
BONUS OFFER: Use code AFROPOLITAN and get your first two trades commission-free.
CONVO BY AFROPOLITAN
Book 1:1 calls with Africa's boldest thinkers: https://convo.vip/
WHERE TO FIND TG OMORI
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/boy_director
X/Twitter: https://x.com/boy_director
Website: https://tgomori.com
AFROPOLITAN
Twitter/X: https://x.com/afropolitan
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afropolitanpodcast
Newsletter: https://www.afropolitan.io/newsletter
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/Afropolitanpodcast
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 "I said my last prayer"
1:52 The biggest myth about music video directors
2:52 Why directors go home with nothing
4:22 Why a $100,000 video pays more in Lagos than LA
5:59 The hidden cost of shooting in Lagos
6:52 Area boys at 3 a.m. on a private set
10:44 The video that made him feel he'd arrived
12:58 "It was a cult": first taste of real fame
14:25 Organise and the poetry of Parajanov
15:04 The backlash he got for shooting to the emotion
16:57 "I want to create madness"
19:00 Let directors have a system
21:34 When fans started following the director
22:25 He was supposed to be an actor
24:19 No new videos in 3 years, and the love stayed
26:17 The Room on Patreon
27:06 Sponsor: Zobo Money
27:51 Sponsor: Hisa
29:47 Why artists leave the director who made them
33:46 Why stars stop jumping for the camera
35:35 "I had the best of Asake's years"
37:43 The Asake run, video after video
38:36 "Two people in one body"
42:52 The first cut that went straight to YouTube
44:54 The video where he couldn't read Asake anymore
46:28 When artists outgrow the people who got them out
48:20 Nothing is permanent. Build your own ecosystem
51:40 The chapter of his life he couldn't direct
54:47 The diagnosis
56:33 "You don't have insurance. Go back to Nigeria"
57:43 In hospital while people said he fell off
59:09 His brother's kidney
59:47 "My body is not accepting it"
1:01:47 Why he couldn't call his mum
1:02:47 A second transplant
1:03:36 200,000 messages and a deactivated Instagram
1:08:57 Shoot every video like it's your last
1:10:20 What dialysis really costs in Nigeria
1:12:01 A $2.5 million transplant insurance wouldn't cover
1:14:22 His dad's ₦50K salary
1:18:47 The business of music videos for young directors
1:22:58 "When you're in demand, they'll pay"
1:26:03 The lesson that cost him the most
1:28:06 "Every day is a good day for greatness"
1:30:48 Why he fought for 10% of video streams
1:33:24 Why he dropped the royalty fight
1:36:02 Before your body sends you the bill
1:38:22 Rapid fire
1:39:05 The people Afrobeats doesn't credit enough
1:41:07 The Asake song he wishes he shot
1:42:49 Survivor's guilt
1:44:42 He didn't know directing existed until 16
1:45:57 "Put you on to my pain?"
1:48:03 Who should be in this chair next

A major label signed her, handed her enough money to go buy a car, and then let her music sit. So she asked to leave. Less than a month after she got out, "Intentions" took off and it hasn't slowed down since.
Fave doesn't dance around why she walked. "What I want as an artist from my label is the money to market my music," she says. "I don't think they truly understand how things work here in Africa." Two years into a deal with Atlantic, she decided she would rather bet on herself than keep fighting to be somebody's priority.
She started as a law student posting one-minute freestyles to Twitter. Within 24 hours the internet couldn't look away. Since then she's been named Rookie of the Year, tapped as an Apple Music Africa Rising act and a Spotify EQUAL Africa ambassador, and pulled onto tracks by some of the biggest names in the game. This is the artist behind Baby Riddim, Kante and Intentions.
In this episode we get into the double standard female artists face across Africa, the "Afrobeats Queen" label and why crowning one woman for 200 million people makes no sense, rebelling against a strict Pentecostal home to chase music, getting stranded at a Kenyan airport by a promoter who cancelled the flights home, why she left Atlantic, and how Kante with Davido actually came together.
Become a Member of The Room (Afropolitan Private Membership)
Join our private community for deeper insights and exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/c/Afropolitanpodcast
EPISODE SPONSORS
Zobo Money — Zobo is a money transfer app built for Africans in the diaspora. It lets you send money from the US, UK, and Europe to countries like Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana, and more. https://www.zobo.money/afropolitan
BONUS OFFER: Use code AFROPOLITAN and get a $10 bonus when you sign up, complete your KYC, and send $50 or more to Africa.
Hisa — Hisa is an all-investments platform that lets you invest in Nigerian stocks, US stocks and ETFs from one app. https://invite.hisa.co/7fkf/AFROPOLITAN
BONUS OFFER: Use code AFROPOLITAN and get your first two trades commission-free.
CONVO BY AFROPOLITAN
Book 1:1 calls with Africa's boldest thinkers: https://convo.vip/
WHERE TO FIND FAVE
Music: https://onerpm.link/RNBling
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/faveszn
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@favesavage
X/Twitter: https://x.com/faveszn
AFROPOLITAN
Twitter/X: https://x.com/afropolitan
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afropolitanpodcast
Newsletter: https://www.afropolitan.io/newsletter
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/Afropolitanpodcast
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 "It's hard to manage a female artist"
0:23 The law student who went viral in 24 hours
2:08 Subscribe to the Afropolitan family
2:36 The difficulty of a male-dominated industry
3:00 "We're held to very different standards"
3:45 Judged by everything but the music
4:16 Why female artists give more on stage
5:06 Sexual advances just to get in the room
5:21 The labels that won't sign women
6:33 Wanting to put other women on
7:18 How streaming changed who gets to blow
7:47 Grouped together, never seen as individuals
8:31 Tiwa Savage vs Ayra Starr makes no sense
9:00 Too scared to headline a show at home
9:52 "Afrobeats Queen? One woman for 200 million?"
10:57 Why the comments still keep her up
12:24 A strict home and the case for rebellion
13:42 The talent her parents wouldn't let her nurture
15:31 The viral video before the song existed
16:40 A text from Olamide and a run to Lagos
17:43 Follow Chika and Eche on Snapchat
18:23 The Room: join the Afropolitan Patreon
19:14 Sponsor: Zobo Money
20:02 Sponsor: Hissa
21:06 "Wage war against your parents"
22:01 Studying law and why she couldn't be a lawyer
22:48 Baby Riddim was too big to ignore
23:31 Building a team you can actually trust
25:32 "It's a jungle, especially in Lagos"
27:00 Did law school help the business of music
30:43 Where "Dutchie girl" came from
32:00 Rebelling against the stylist template
33:49 Why she keeps getting compared to Tems
36:15 Men, women, and thumbnails that perform
37:45 Leaving Atlantic Records
38:24 "Money to ball vs money to market"
39:53 What Don Jazzy spent on Calm Down
40:52 Independent, then Intentions exploded
41:10 Is independence actually worth it
43:00 The Kenyan promoter who stranded her team
46:26 The artist's side of leaving a label
48:00 "I was very depressed at my label"
50:08 Kante with Davido: how it came together
52:55 The European tour and reaching the diaspora
54:00 Does music travel organically
56:03 Rapid fire begins
56:33 Studio at 2am, the night crawler
57:02 Dating apps or meeting organically
58:45 Why she's building on Snapchat
1:00:08 Favorite Nigerian food and city
1:01:49 Why artists are leaving Nigeria
1:03:11 The first time she hit the stage
1:05:10 Who should be in this chair next

The entire stock market of Africa's biggest economy is worth about $114 billion. One refinery just outside Lagos is asking investors to value it at $50 billion. On day one. That is one company reaching for almost half of a whole national exchange, and it just opened its doors to outside money through a private placement that raised billions.
So we brought in someone who actually builds the rails for this. Eke Urum walks through what the Dangote Refinery IPO really is, why he calls it "anchor infrastructure," and why he thinks it joins the short list of Nigerian companies you can almost never go wrong buying. He also names his own reservations, from the crude supply risk to the way the business has leaned on the Nigerian system.
Eke Urum is the founder and CEO of Risevest, the dollar investment platform that acquired Chaka and now runs Hisa, the app letting everyday people own Nigerian and US stocks in minutes. He has spent years tearing down the paperwork that kept regular people out of the market. Sign up for Hisa - https://invite.hisa.co/7fkf/AFROPOLITAN
In this episode we get into where a Nigerian in the diaspora should actually put money right now, why refineries make money from far more than fuel, the $80 to $100 billion number Eke puts on Dangote over the next decade, how private placements work and who really gets in first, the 600,000 trading accounts in a country of 200 million people, and a step by step plan to get ready for the September IPO.
Become a Member of The Room (Afropolitan Private Membership)
Join our private community for deeper insights and exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/c/Afropolitanpodcast
EPISODE SPONSORS
Zobo Money — Zobo is a money transfer app built for Africans in the diaspora. It lets you send money from the US, UK, and Europe to countries like Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana, and more. https://www.zobo.money/afropolitan
BONUS OFFER: Use code AFROPOLITAN and get a $10 bonus when you sign up, complete your KYC, and send $50 or more to Africa.
Hisa — Hisa is an all in one investing app that lets you own Nigerian and US stocks. Sign up with your BVN or NIN and start trading in minutes. https://invite.hisa.co/7fkf/AFROPOLITAN
BONUS OFFER: Use code AFROPOLITAN and get your first two trades for free. Download on the App Store or Google Play.
CONVO BY AFROPOLITAN
Book 1:1 calls with Africa's boldest thinkers: https://convo.vip/
WHERE TO FIND EKE URUM
X/Twitter: https://x.com/eldivine
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ekeurum
RISEVEST
Website: https://www.risevest.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rise.vest
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rise-vest
HISA
Website: https://hisa.co
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hisaapp
AFROPOLITAN
Twitter/X: https://x.com/afropolitan
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afropolitanpodcast
Newsletter: https://www.afropolitan.io/newsletter
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/Afropolitanpodcast
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Owning a piece of Dangote
1:23 Quick one: subscribe to the family
1:40 Where should I put my money in Nigeria?
2:19 Start with the stock market
3:35 Real estate in Lagos and the liquidity trap
4:23 The small businesses nobody is funding yet
5:33 Robinhood, Hisa and democratizing access
6:56 Own things that go up in value
7:45 Our parents did it the broker way
9:17 Why we made this episode
9:50 What the refinery really represents
10:46 Why refineries print money through byproducts
11:42 Getting the shares before the open market
12:16 A $50B valuation next to the whole NGX
12:37 Stop anchoring to the past
14:53 Why it could be worth $80 to $100B in 10 years
15:49 The 4 or 5 stocks you can't go wrong buying
16:40 50/50 diaspora signups since relaunch
17:54 Dividends in dollars and currency risk
19:15 Follow Chika and Eche on Snapchat
19:55 The Room on Patreon
20:47 Sponsor: Zobo Money
21:35 Sponsor: Hisa
22:39 A rocket, two chopsticks, and a fact
23:54 Story vs numbers in the internet era
25:45 His reservations about Dangote and the system
27:03 The $20B in remittances that just gets consumed
31:01 Money you consume is gone
31:55 What private placements actually are
33:47 Don't chase the IPO, own the business
35:50 India and Kenya as diaspora playbooks
38:35 A stock market built by colonial masters
41:45 The 7-Eleven that doesn't exist in Nigeria
43:40 Wounded by paperwork at the exchange
46:29 600K accounts in a country of 200 million
48:43 Betting everything on convenience
50:26 The real risks: crude supply and the debt
51:47 The crude supply risk nobody talks about
52:50 How to prepare for the September IPO
56:18 Can you become a millionaire off Nigerian stocks?
1:00:53 Proof homegrown capital can build Nigeria
1:02:57 $1M per megawatt: the power plant nobody built
1:04:10 Rapid fire
1:06:19 Give your money a worldview
1:08:16 Who should be in this chair next