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

Afrobility: Africa Tech and Business

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

1. Nigerian telco sector context
2. Globacom's early history
3. Globacom's telco & non-telco businesses
4. Globacom's potential exit options
5. 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 [e-mail]
• Founders looking for funding: If you're a B2B founder working on Education, Health, Finance or food, please contact me for funding at [e-mail]

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 [e-mail] to share feedback or propose topics you’d like to hear.